Center of Gravity (Marauders Book 3)

by Lina Andersson

  “As a mater of fact, I do.”

  “You’re scary.” Mitch started laughing. “Why not Mac? He’s your oldest.”

  “Because Mac’s the VP. You have the vision, and he’s the guy who can haul your ass back when you’re out of line.”

  “Like you and Bear?”

  “Like me and Bear,” he confirmed with a smile and tossed the smoke away. “How’s the ballerina?”

  The fact that his dad asked about her after the conversation they’d just had, worried him a little. Obviously Anna was a part of his plans, or it might just be that he wanted to make sure Mitch’s head was screwed on right. No matter what happened with Anna, he didn’t think it really mattered. Whatever plans Brick had, they were years ahead, because that’s how his dad made his plans.

  “She’s good. She felt Sprout kick the other day, and I’m taking her to the ballet this weekend.”

  “You’re going to the ballet?” Brick asked with a raised eyebrow. “Just how long did she have to work on her knees for you to agree to that?”

  Mitch knew he was blushing, which wasn’t all that fucking common when it came to him, so his dad started laughing.

  “You’re shitting me? You’re still not getting any,” he continued. “How the fuck did you agree to that deal? No pussy but ballet is okay.”

  “It’s kind of a long story. I took her to the shooting range months ago, and… I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I offered. She didn’t want to shoot or go the ballet, and I thought it’d be easier if I was with her.”

  The smile his dad gave him completely baffled him. It was genuine, warm, and… proud? Mitch was pretty sure he saw pride in the old man’s eyes.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Nah,” Brick said, still smiling and shaking his head. “Kind of glad to see you grew into a man even outside the club. Always nice to see you’ve done something right as a parent.”

  “Didn’t do everything right,” Mitch muttered. “She’s pissed at me, and I’m not really sure why.”

  “Would this have something to do with your little brain?”

  “Maybe.”

  “If you want to understand crazy, go have a talk with your mom,” Brick laughed. “I bet she’s got some good advice for you.” He got up and patted Mitch’s shoulder. “You’ll figure it out, son. There’s a reason I call you Genius, and once your brain adapts to thinking of women as something besides pussy, you’re gonna figure that girl of yours out.”

  “She’s not my girl,” Mitch yelled after him.

  “Remind your dick about that,” Brick yelled back with a laugh as he strode away.

  As much as his dad annoyed him, he did have a point about talking to his mom. She tended to know how things worked, and she’d lived with Brick for a big part of her life. She could probably tell him what the problem was. Most likely in a very undiplomatic way that would include calling Mitch ‘an idiot,’ but he could live with that.

  -o0o-

  He walked into the small shop located opposite his mom’s hair salon. He’d been there loads of times, and the lady who owned it, Patricia, was one of those slightly older ladies who flirted with everyone. He liked her, and he loved teasing her about her teenage daughter.

  “You are a good son,” she mused when he walked inside. “Visiting your mom like this. Send her my love.”

  “How do you know I haven’t already been and just stopped by to ravage you on the desk?”

  “Darlin’, you are always handsome, but that raggedy mane on your head tells me you haven’t been yet. She’d never let you out of her salon looking like that.”

  “You’re a very observant woman,” he said with a wink. “Bet you know what kind of smokes I want.”

  “Obviously,” she said and reached for a pack of his brand and dropped it on the counter. “Anything else?”

  “If you’re not gonna even give me a little kiss, that’s it, baby.”

  “No kiss today,” she laughed. “Everything okay with you, honey?”

  “Yeah. Kind of in need of my mom’s love and advice, but I’m fine,” he smiled and grabbed his pack. “Keep the change, and say hi to your lovely daughter from me.”

  “She’s fourteen,” Patricia yelled after him with a laugh. “You stay the hell away from her.”

  When he entered the salon, his mom came towards him, holding out her arms.

  “The soon-to-be father!”

  “The soon-to-be grandmother,” he answered as he gave her a hug. “Or grandmother of two, at least.”

  “You look like shit.” She leaned back and took a good look at him. “How about a haircut?”

  “Sounds good,” he said and sat down on her chair.

  He didn’t even bother to try to tell her what he wanted; she never gave a shit and instead experimented with whatever new hairstyles were up and coming. He didn’t mind, and it always turned out good. Mac never let her do that, but he was a lot more conservative when it came to his hair, which meant he was boring.

  Mitch looked at his still-beautiful mom, and her eyes met his through the mirror.

  “Uh-oh. I know that look. What’s up, hon’?”

  “What?”

  “I’m your mother, I’ve seen your facial expressions since the day you were born, and I know them all, so tell me what’s wrong.”

  “Actually, Dad suggested I talked to you,” he admitted. “Think it might be a good idea.”

  “Did he say something that included the word ‘crazy’?” she smiled. “And is it regarding a woman, because I know he doesn’t know shit about women.”

  “Yeah, it’s Anna,” he said with a sigh.

  Strangely, he’d always been more comfortable with talking about sex with his mom. It was strange mainly since he’d actually had sex in front of his dad, but it was still easier to talk to his mom. Probably because she never looked uncomfortable when he did. She shrugged, gave her honest opinion, but never judged him. She sometimes verbally judged him, calling him an idiot or manwhore or something like it, but never with her eyes. The other reason he liked talking to her was that she most often had great advice.

  “What about Anna?” she asked him when he lost track.

  “She said she was horny and I…”

  “I can imagine what you did,” she chuckled. “In your own horny daze you offered to help her.”

  “Yeah. She got pissed.”

  “You know, this might be a totally radical idea in the ears of a biker, but have you considered just telling her how you feel? I mean, if she didn’t really care about that, she would’ve let you hump her, because the pregnancy horniness, oh my fucking god! Girl’s gotta be stubborn as hell to not just jump you.”

  “Mom! For fuck’s sake! I don’t wanna know that about... oh Jesus!” He didn’t mind talking to her, but he didn’t want her details.

  “Well, both you and Mac have pretty little dimples from all the fucking me and your dad did. Quite possibly some brain damage from all the bump—”

  “Mom! Please, just get to the point.” He glared at her. “And I don’t have dimples.”

  “I know. My point is, what you are feeling for her, is it for the long haul?”

  “We’re having a kid.”

  “Not what I asked you, honey. What you’re feeling for Anna? Is it an itch, or do you think you want to be with her forever?”

  “No one knows that!” He knew he was just avoiding the question, and judging by his mom’s glare, she knew it too.

  “No one knows if they are going to be together forever, but we know if we would want to be. When I’d been with your dad for a few months, I could feel it in my bones that I wanted to be with until I died. We didn’t turn out to be forever, but I wouldn’t have had kids with him if I didn’t think we were going to be.” When Mitch opened his mouth she hushed him and continued. “You knocked her up and that’s not the same, I know, but if you’re starting something with her now, you need to at least think that you’re going to be with her forever.”

&nbs
p; He thought about it, but at the same time he knew, he wanted to be with her, and finally he nodded and took his mom’s hand to give her a kiss. “Thank you.”

  “One more thing: if you’re thinking about being with her forever, that means just her. If you go into a relationship thinking you can fuck others when you’re bored, it’s doomed.”

  “I’m a slut, not an idiot,” he said, and the guy in the chair next to his didn’t have time to hide his surprised laugh.

  When Mitch looked at him, the guy pointed at his mom. “Smart woman, I’d listen if I was you.”

  “Thanks,” he answered with a sarcastic smile.

  “I like you,” his mom said while pointing at the other guy with a pair of scissors and then turned back to Mitch. “Really, tell her! She’s horny and in love with you, and I know you’re crazy about her, so tell her that. And tell her how serious you are about her.”

  “I will.”

  “So, did you feel her yet, the baby?”

  “No.”

  “Any other news about her? She’s my first granddaughter, you know. I’m very eager. I saw this really cute princess dress the other day. My granddaughter would love it.”

  Mitch sighed. He very clearly saw a future of princess dresses, pink tutus, and fairy wings. No matter what he thought about it, it was obvious that every other woman even remotely involved in his life was eagerly waiting for the baby girl about to be born into the club family, just so they could buy her all the pink shit they never got to buy to their own kids.

  He’d just left the salon when his phone rang. It was Mech.

  “The idiot did it. He DoS-ed us. Nothing serious, and the good news is that he used the Low Orbit Ion Cannon to do it.”

  A DoS—denial-of-service—attack basically meant overloading a server to knock it out. It was annoying more than damaging in most cases. And when it was done with the Low Orbit Ion Cannon, which any idiot could use, it was very easily done. It was also not very hard to track.

  “You’re shitting me?” Mitch laughed. “We got him?”

  “We got him. Give Russ a call. I talked to him and he’s already on his way there.”

  Mitch couldn’t believe it. The Low Orbit Ion Cannon was an open source application that anyone could download and use. It wasn’t actually illegal to have it, but it was illegal to use. Not many hackers would ever use it, other than as stress testing. Partly because it made the systems unusable, which wasn’t what hackers wanted, but also because it was way too easy to track. It had been used in hacktivism a few times to take down sites belonging to people they didn’t like, but that was about it. A firewall could often stop it if it was set up properly, but he and Mech had decided to leave their firewall open, and use it as their honeypot; they’d basically opened up for a DoS attack for the very reason that it would be worth catching him no matter what work it might mean later on. They were both tired of the pathetic hacking attempts interrupting their sleep.

  Mitch immediately called Russ.

  “Fill me in,” he said when Russ answered.

  “We’re closing in. Anything you want us to ask him? Or do you want us to keep him until you get here?”

  He thought about it, but he honestly didn’t haven anything to ask the guy. He knew what he needed to know, Hump was behind it, and he had a fairly good idea about how the hacker had gotten involved. All he wanted was for him to stop; to back the fuck off.

  “I don’t need to be there, just get the basics. I doubt he’ll be able to help us. Hump wouldn’t have been stupid enough to keep him close or tell him where he is.”

  “His daughter might’ve been stupid.”

  “That’s true. Just get everything we need, and I know you know what that is.”

  “And then?”

  “I trust your judgment about that. You’ll know if he’s just a geek looking for pussy, or if he might become a problem later.”

  “I’m good at judging that,” Russ chuckled. “I’ll let you know what we do with him and what he says.”

  Again, Mitch had no hope that it would lead them to Hump, but he was happy enough about being rid of one stress element in his life, because he was about to blow up. He needed something to go his way, and this was that something.

  -o0o-

  It was Friday, and the post-church party was more intense that it had been in quite a while, partly because they’d caught the guy who’d been trying to hack them, but also because Wrench had been voted in as a prospect with Dawg as his sponsor. Mitch was sitting on a couch, looking at the guy with long black hair and slightly crazy blue eyes while he was getting drunk as a skunk and had two half-naked girls around him at all times. Wrench had the smarts to enjoy it—he knew the coming year wouldn’t be easy.

  Mitch liked Wrench, and he was glad he was in the club, but since the talk with his dad a few days earlier, he’d caught himself looking at the members differently—wondering how they’d fit in if he was the president. He cursed both himself and his dad every fucking time it happened, because his dad sure as shit knew how to work people.

  The hacker, a pimpled guy from a small town in northern Texas, had literally peed his pants when Russ and two of the other nomads had barged into his apartment. Russ had laughed so hard when he told Mitch that, and said he was pretty sure the little shrimp really had told him everything he knew. Hump’s daughter had not only lured him with pussy, there had also been some talk about doing the good, heroic thing by taking down the big bad MC club, so the kid had been pretty deflated when he’d realized who he had really been helping. Russ had decided to leave the dude breathing. The idea was that Hump or his daughter might come back, maybe even to kill the guy, and it might be a good way to get the real prize. Mitch wasn’t convinced, but thought it was at least a lead, which was about as good a lead as they’d had so far.

  They were going to Amsterdam the following week, and he was worried about leaving everyone—Anna—behind while Hump was still out there. He’d brought it up during church, and Brick had suggested that Anna could stay with Mel for the week while they were away. It sounded like a good idea, but there was no way in hell Anna would agree to leave Irina behind if he told her she might be in danger. The sheer panic of it all made it hard for him to breathe. He had no fucking clue how to handle anything that included Anna at the moment, and didn’t know how to keep her and Sprout safe.

  In general, he had a hard time talking to Anna at all. They’d seen each other a few times since the argument, and it had been slightly weird. Just short meet-ups, and he missed her. He felt like a sucker for admitting it, but he did miss her and everything about her.

  His inner monologue was interrupted when Mac fell onto the couch next to him.

  “Are you drunk?”

  “As fuck!” Mac yelled.

  He eyed his brother. It was unusual for Mac to get piss drunk during a Friday night party. Most often he didn’t even stay that long. “Something up?”

  “Nah. My wife told me to get drunk as fuck and stay the night at the clubhouse. Apparently I’ve earned it.”

  “How many times did you make her come last night?”

  “Many. And once again this morning.” Mac’s smile grew wide. “Jealous?”

  “I hate you.”

  Mac laughed. “Speaking of jealousy and things I’m not jealous of, is it true that you’re going to the ballet?”

  “Dad told you?” Mitch sighed, and Mac nodded, still wearing that annoying and silly smile. “Tomorrow.”

  “And?” Mac wiggled his eyebrows. “Tell me you got a plan. For once, I think planning might be a good idea.”

  “I’m taking her to dinner afterwards,” he admitted. “At a nice place.”

  “Oh, admit it, you’re gonna tell her you lurve her.”

  “Jesus christ, you are drunk as fuck,” Mitch laughed. “I might have planned that, though… Sort of thought it could be a good opportunity.”

  Mac eyed him. “You talked to Mom.”

  “Shut up!” He tried to hold
back, but finally admitted it with a laugh. “Yeah. I talked to Mom.”

  “What are you going to wear?”

  Mitch stared at Mac and wondered if aliens had abducted his brother and replaced him with this grinning, drunken idiot. “What the fuck? Are we gay now?”

  “No. Just thinking that worn jeans, t-shirt, and a cut or a hoodie might not be the best fucking thing to wear when you’re taking a prima ballerina to the fucking ballet.”

  Mitch honestly hadn’t thought about, not for a second, but Mac was right. It wasn’t like taking her to the movies.

  “Fuck,” he muttered.

  “I got something for you. Stop by tomorrow before you pick her up,” Mac said. “I’ll get you laid, brother. Cross my heart.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Ask Me

  -o0o-

  I’d spent the day with Lisa, and she’d tried to psyche me up for the ballet. In all honesty, the fact that I was spending the entire night with Mitch was, at the moment, making me way more nervous than the fact that I was going to see a ballet for the first time since my accident. We were going to watch ‘Giselle,’ a ballet I’d danced, but then I’d danced most of the classical ballets. It was still sort of neutral ground, not like ‘Swan Lake’ or ‘La Bayadère’—my favorites.

  I’d mentioned the horniness to Lisa, and to my relief she hadn’t suggested I’d just let Mitch take care of it. Instead she’d agreed that Mitch’s idea had been good, and she’d taken me to the sex shop. Once again, she’d sent out the guy who was working and told me to grab what I wanted. This time I wasn’t embarrassed, and I had grabbed quite a few things. She’d also told me how the worst horniness was a passing thing, and that it would sort out itself. Which had made me very relieved.

  Until I open the door and found myself looking at Mitch in a suit.

  “Oh!” was the only thing that came out of my mouth.

  He wasn’t wearing a tie, but he had a vest, and he looked… so god damn amazing it was quite possible I almost came a little. There were at least miniature ripples through my body. Even his hair was perfect, and it looked as if he’d trimmed his beard.

  “You like it?” he asked with a laugh. “I’ve had three texts with penguin jokes from Dad so far. Think I’ll fit in?”