by A. J. Downey
“We good?” I asked the Captain about the bathroom and he nodded.
“We’re good.”
“You want to take your Jeep or you want to leave it here and ride with me?” I asked.
“I’ll ride with you, if that’s okay.”
“It’s more than okay.”
“Gimme your bag, Nothing,” Cutter held out his hands and I tossed it to him without a second thought. He slung it over his shoulders to ride along his back. Guess Hope had ridden over here on her own.
I hit the garage door opener and asked, “Front door and back slider locked?”
“Yep,” Hope answered me.
“Cool. Let me back the bike out and you can get on,” I told Charity. Cutter and Hope went to their bikes, sitting at the curb. I fired mine up and backed it out of the garage, Charity climbed on, her gym bag riding along her back in an imitation of what Cutter had done with mine.
“Hold on tight,” I told her, and once the garage door was down, I pointed us towards the end of the drive, put her in gear and pulled smoothly into the street behind Cutter and Hope. We rode swiftly, back to Cutter’s place and pulled into the tree and shrub lined circular drive, backing our bikes into the line of them parked around the outer edge of the drive.
Charity had hopped off to allow me to back in, and with a swift peck on my mouth, had made a beeline to the house’s front door. It opened, Marlin, standing there with a frightened Faith tucked into his side. Faith cried out as soon as she saw her sister and in a flash, she and Charity were a tangled mess. Faith sobbed and Marlin stood grim behind his woman. We made eye contact, and something new and different passed between us. He nodded and I nodded back. No words needed. We’d done what’d been required of us to protect the ones we loved and it was a mixed bag. As shitty as it was to hurt or even kill another human being, we were two men on top of the world that the ones precious to us were safe and there wasn’t anything more we could really ask for. It was simple, for as complex as it was.
“You good, bro?” Marlin asked me as I ascended the steps. I held out a hand and he grasped it. We pulled each other in and bumped shoulders.
“I’m okay,” I said, unwilling to go as far as ‘good’ given the circumstances, “What about you?”
“As well as can be expected, was wondering if you could watch my girl and yours while me and a couple of guys handled some business.”
I nodded, “Not a problem.”
“Good deal,” he said.
“Need me to look at any of those?” I asked, giving a chin lift to the impressive array of bruises blossoming across half of my VP’s face.
“Maybe when we get back,” he said and called out, “Pyro! Gator! Let’s roll, guys.”
I moved aside and let them file past me, Hope joining in on hugging Faith and uttering to her sisters that we should all move inside. Cutter and Hope corralled the girls, while I brought up the rear, shutting the front door on the roar of three bikes starting up.
“Guys heading out on clean up?” Radar asked, coming down the stairs and I put my finger to my lips, indicating the girls who were settling on the living room couch.
“Shit, sorry.”
I lifted a shoulder in a shrug and Cutter dragged his eyes away from the trio saying, “’S okay, man.”
I sighed and went around the couch to find a place to sit nearby, but far enough to give the women their space. Charity met my eyes above the heaving shoulders of her sister and I gave her a small smile. She gave me a single nod and mouthed ‘thank you’ and I gave a slight shake of my head, a ‘think nothing of it’ sort of thing. Her lips lifted a touch and fell, and she went back to focusing her full attention on Faith, the most fragile one of them all.
I hoped like fuck that a solution was reached and soon, because it wasn’t fair for these girls to be living like this. In fact, it was a damn fucking shame.
Chapter 35
Charity
It was late and it was quiet, we were all still on the couch, the television playing some random movie quietly, but I don’t think any of us were watching. At least, not really. I was sitting, bare feet propped on the coffee table, Faith’s head in my lap, stroking her hair. She’d fallen asleep.
Hope was sitting on the floor, staring at Faith, and Nothing? Well, Nothing was sitting nearby watching me. Meanwhile, Cutter, Atlas, and Radar were in the dining room, piled around glowing laptop and computer screens. They were talking softly, but I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention, though Hope was listening, looking over her shoulder every once in a while and frowning.
I jumped when the front door opened and I saw Nothing sit up sharply out of the corner of my eye. I cursed my jumpiness because it jolted Faith awake, although that might not be such a bad thing in this case.
She pushed herself up into a sitting position just as Marlin came through the door after Pyro, he smiled down at her tiredly, his face swelling something awful and mumbled out of swollen lips, “Hey, Baby Girl.”
My sister instantly became weepy at the sight of him, and I couldn’t blame her. He looked something awful. I sighed and pushed to my feet.
“Come into the dining room and let me have a look at you, please?”
“Thank you,” Faith said to me and I smiled at her.
“Of course,” I said and Marlin didn’t argue, humoring me for my sister’s sake. I think I loved him for that.
He dropped into a chair at the end of the table and I declared, “Light,” in warning to the three piled around their laptops.
“Get anything?” Marlin asked.
“Getting there,” Atlas declared, and Radar nodded.
“Gonna need the girls to go upstairs, and honestly, bro? You look like hamburger, so it’s best you sit this one out.”
“Fuck you too, Buddy.”
Radar shrugged and Cutter cut in, “He speaks the truth, my friend. You look like shit, and we need a show of force on this end. Having a dude in front of the camera who looks like he was on the losing end of a fight ain’t going to help our cause, even if we know you won.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got better places to be anyways,” he said looking at my sister.
All the while they were talking, I was trying to get a good look at him, Nothing already filling a Ziploc bag with ice. I shook my head and Marlin said, “Ow!” when I put my hand under his chin to get him to look into the light for me.
“Well! You going to let me help or not?” I demanded.
“Fine, you ain’t gotta go all Nurse Rachet on me, shit.”
I rolled my eyes, “Big damn baby,” I jibed and turned to Nothing to ask, “Got any frozen peas in there? They’ll mold to his face better and will be a little gentler than ice like that.”
“No frozen peas, but I got a hammer and can crush it up.”
“That’ll work,” I said.
“Use the counter, and don’t fuckin’ chip it. I got the storm shutters closed back here for a reason, so you can’t go out back and use the patio,” Cutter said and I looked out the sliding glass door. I hadn’t realized the shutters were closed with the kitchen light reflecting off the inside of the glass like it was. I assumed it was so no one could see to shoot from the beach and I suppressed a shudder. Hope and I traded knowing looks over Faith’s head who was glued to Marlin’s side.
Nothing crushed up the ice finely and emptied it into another, sturdier, Ziploc. He passed it to me wordlessly and I eased it over the half of Marlin’s face that would likely look worse in the morning. I pressed one of his large hands over it and he sighed.
“Got any anti-inflammatories around here?” I asked Cutter.
“Like what?” he asked, and Nothing answered for me.
“Like an NSAID, or Naproxen? Ibuprofen?”
“Check the medicine cabinet,” Cutter said and jerked his head behind him to the darkened portal of the bathroom door. I went in and turned on the light, digging through the medicine cabinet which was well stocked. I came up with a name brand NSAID and shook two of the b
lue liquid capsules into my palm.
“Marlin, I’m going to need you to take the girls upstairs. Nothing, you mind staying down here for this?” Cutter asked.
“Not at all,” he said and caught me around the waist as I went to go by. I looked up into his eyes, not at all happy about having to leave him down here. Frustrated but understanding why I was being sent to my room like a child while the adults had their talk.
“I’ll be up as soon as I can,” he murmured and I nodded. He kissed me, and I kissed him back. After all, it wasn’t him or any of the rest of the guys I was upset at. It was the jerks that had us all in this situation to begin with, the fucking assholes.
“Come on, Honey. Let’s help your man-child to bed,” I said to Faith and she gave me a tiny secret smile.
“Ooo, sisters. Never done that before. See you guys,” Marlin joked but Cutter was far too serious, waving us off absently. We took the back stairs from the dining room and kitchen as it was closer to the bedroom Marlin and Faith would stay in.
We helped him to lay down and I made sure his ice was working for him and told him how long to leave it on for. Faith hugged me tight and I smiled, “I love you, Sis.”
“I love you, too,” she said and we broke apart.
“Don’t do anything I would do,” I told them and left to go down the hall to my own room; as much as I wanted to sneak back down and listen in, I really didn’t feel like pissing off Cutter or bringing Corporal Badass out of my sister. All of my ornery had just plain fled and I figured I would just go lay down and wait for Nothing.
It’d been a long and crazy, crazy, day. Hell, it’d been a series of long and crazy days ever since I’d gotten here. One right after the other, bleeding into the next until I couldn’t really tell where one had left off and another began. Just so much had been happening in such a short amount of time I couldn’t even keep track. It felt like I’d been here for months when in reality, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks.
Still, I was with my sisters, and I had met an incredible, if difficult man. One who, by all accounts, was just as crazy about me as I was for him; at least now that our shit had been straightened out and we were on the same page.
I slipped into one of my nicer sleep sets, a peach pair of satin shorts with a matching satin and lace cami, and got into bed. I left the light on and turned on my side, tucking my hands beneath my cheek and waited for my white knight, determined to stay awake for him.
You know what they say about best laid plans and all of that, though…
Chapter 36
Nothing
I knew better than to ask questions when the Captain was as engrossed as he was, and I caught Hope’s eye to warn her off, but she was just as intent as the Captain was when it came to what was going on, on the screen.
“Pyro, Gator, get in here!” The Captain barked and we ranged out behind him. He had Skype up and ready to rock and roll. It looked like, for all intents and purposes, it was show time. We all dropped expressions into neutral badass territory and he triggered the call. We waited, and the screen flickered to life, the scowling face of someone who was clearly in charge filling the screen on the other end.
“Who is this?” he demanded in heavily accented English.
“Well, now! By and far, I’d say your worst nightmare. Now how many more men of yours you want to keep throwing in our direction, eh? Because we can keep right on disappearing ‘em. By my tally, we’re winning this game, and from what I hear, you really can’t afford to lose any more personnel, now can you Mr. Tsaritsyn?”
The man on the other end looked suspicious, a glint of something akin to anger mixed with fear in his eyes.
“I do not understand what you mean…”
“Aw, cut the bullshit, will you? This is a secure line, I’ve got the best of the best on that. You stop sending your men to my town, you forget the girl, and you’ll never have to think about us again.” Cutter cut right to the chase, and I felt myself go on edge, hoping the Captain knew what he was doing here. This was a dangerous game and these were dangerous people that weren’t prone to just letting it go…
“Let me ask you this, what is this girl to you?”
“Family,” Cutter replied without missing a beat, “I’m sure you know what that’s like, having family you would do absolutely anything for, am I right?” Cutter demanded.
“I do, yes. And what about my family?”
“You send some out here?” Cutter demanded.
“Niet, but my men, are they not family like your men are family?”
Cutter scoffed, “Not even fucking close, my friend.”
The man scowled, “We are not friends, Mr…”
“Cutter.”
“Mr. Cutter.”
“No, no we are not, but there’s no reason to not keep it friendly, despite our little difference of opinion. Now, your men took someone who didn’t belong to them, and we tracked her down and took her back. That needs to be the end of this now, because I can’t have y’all traipsing into my town. We can keep adding to the body count, or you can just let sleeping dogs lie. We got what we wanted and left y’all alone, it’s time for you to do the same, now. Y’hear.”
“I do not like to be told what to do,” the man said.
“That makes two of us, but we ain’t givin’ her back, so you can just forget about that.”
“We do not want the girl, she has become too much trouble,” he said waving dismissively, and I could see Hope tense where she was standing off camera.
“Then I think that settles it then, now don’t it?” Cutter asked and we all held our collective breath.
“I have lost many men, what is in it for me? As you Americans like to say.”
“You don’t lose any more, and you stop dividing your man power.” Cutter said succinctly and the man frowned.
“I don’t understand, how do you mean?”
“You’re not a stupid man, Mr. Tsaritsyn,” Cutter said leaning back nonchalantly.
“I am not,” the man agreed.
Radar tapped his watch and held up three fingers off camera, “So, you leave us alone, and we’ll leave you be and we part ways, here and now, before things get even bloodier,” Cutter said.
“I do not think so,” the man said with a sneer, and Cutter laughed.
“I think you’re missing the point here, Mr. Tsaritsyn. I’m not asking, I’m tellin’ you this is what you’re gonna do.”
The man’s nostrils flared and his eyes sparked and ignited with rage, but he held his composure. Radar held up one finger and Cutter cocked his head to the side, waiting the man out, whose chest rose and fell with deep even breaths in an effort, I think, to calm down. I gritted my teeth, and hoped like hell our Pres knew what the fuck he was doing here.
“What d’you say, Mr. Tsaritsyn? We have a deal?”
“Niet!”
“Well, I thought you’d say that,” Cutter said sitting up and readjusting his position, just as the door behind the man crashed inward, a blur of black leather, some rapid gunfire and when the smoke cleared and the laptop righted on the desk, Baby Ruth’s face filled the screen.
“Well! Thank you kindly, Cutter, my friend. I do believe we have helped each other out tonight.” I felt my shoulders sag with relief.
“No problem there, Ruth, sorry it took my guys so long to get through the fire walls, of course, the cheap bastard should have realized, if we could get through to call him, it meant we could get through to locate him. Nicely done, my friend, nicely done.”
“Again, why thank you, kindly. Sorry you had to keep him talkin’ so long.”
“No worries, let us know when you boys want to head our way for that R&R, you hear?”
“Absolutely!” We could hear groaning behind Ruth and he turned and let off a few rounds at the floor. “Oo-we! These Russians can be tough bastards! We gotta go, talk soon.”
“You have a good night, now, y’hear?”
“Oh, I’m bettin’ it’ll be on
e hell of a party!” Ruth declared and the call ended.
“Atlas, wipe all traces of us out of that system,” Cutter ordered.
“Already on it, Captain.”
“So that’s it?” Hope asked, and she was just as poleaxed as me.
“I do believe that’s it, yes. Grigori gave us what we needed; it was just buying Atlas and Radar the time to do it in. Unfortunately, that gave Tsaritsyn’s men the time to rally for an assault, but like always, these dumb motherfuckers underestimate us,” Cutter said and sighed.
“Oh, I am so gonna fuck your brains out,” Hope said, dropping into the Captain’s lap. Hell, I would never admit it out loud, but if he told me to drop and blow him in that moment, I was so grateful, I’d seriously consider it. I shook my head and scoffed a laugh.
“You did it again, you clever bastard,” I muttered, and Cutter held up a fist, his mouth glued to his woman’s. I knocked mine into it and went to find my own woman, heading up the stairs, two at a time.
I knocked twice on the door, and popped it open to find Charity sound asleep, her hands tucked beneath her cheek like some kind of angel. I wanted so badly to wake her up and tell her it was cool, that she was safe, that her sister was safe, but I just didn’t have it in my heart to do it with how peaceful she looked.
Instead, I got undressed, tucking my clothes away neatly on top of my bag, and I got into bed with her, laying down so I could just stare at her, and stare at her I did, probably for an hour or more until she turned away from me in her sleep. I smiled then, and carefully pulled her back into the protective curve of my body, hers warm and soft where it fitted against mine.
Chapter 37
Charity
“Hi,” he uttered, and I stretched luxuriously, like a cat, along the length of his warm, hard, body beneath the comforter.
“Hi,” I muttered back and sighed, freshly awake, “How long have you been awake?” I asked.