“Mr. Elson, I have never done a portrait. I paint abstract line art mostly with modern abstract pieces thrown in. The money is not the issue for me either, Mr. Elson, it is the quality of my painting. I cannot simply paint a portrait because someone wants it done. My art is drawn because that is what I am feeling at the time,” I said and Mr. Elson’s expression changed.
“Perhaps you don’t know who my father is, Mr. Holmes. He runs the Elson family, the Russian Elson family.”
“That’s great for him, family is everything but I have to decline. Thanks for the interest in my work my art.”
“Bogdan, the man cannot paint portraits. You don’t want to give your father a substandard piece that he would be ashamed to hang for all to view in his house. Mr...” Yuri spoke to Bogdan but looked at me.
“Holmes. J. Holmes,” I reminded the man.
“Yes, Mr. Holmes has been honest with you. You cannot fault the man for that,” Yuri finished.
“Yes, yes. I know. It was just a thought since father suffered the heart attack while looking over the warehouses I purchased. His death would have been a great loss for the family, Yuri.” Bogdan looked at Yuri and Yuri nodded and almost looked relieved.
“Mr. Holmes, if you change your mind, please call my home. Here is my card, it would mean so much to him to have a piece you painted just for him.” Bogdan stuck his hand out and I shook it. I noticed Yuri nodded to the two men at the doorway and one turned and walked out while the other held his position.
“I’ll think about, Mr. Elson,” I said and took his card. They said goodbye and walked out of the area. I walked the room and as I passed each painting, I remembered how each piece came to be, mostly from things with my family: a phone call with my dad telling me some story, my mother, my brothers and sister, everyone in the family had something to do with each piece I painted. I stopped in front of the most recent, it was a variation of the template I had drawn up for Zoey. Just one of life’s coincidences when she told me what she wanted. It had been easy to outline, I’d already done the one before me: two hearts connected with the seven smaller ones hooked and hanging off them. And if anyone looked close enough, what looked like a dot in the middle of each one was actually a tiny letter. The first letter from my parents, and each of us kids’ names.
I touched the painting, then turned and walked out. Mrs. Grossman waved as I headed out the door to hail a cab. I didn’t have to wait long before I was on my way back to the Bronx. I would make my doctor’s appointment as long as there were no traffic jams. I leaned my head back on the seat and closed my eyes for the trip.
Maybe Sean was right. It was time to share the piece of me I held back.
“Well, Mr. O’Malley, for someone who took two bullets, you are the example of what keeping your body in top shape can mean for one’s recovery. Still have some healing to do but overall, excellent. The knot from your fall is almost gone and the bruising around your chin and cheek is fading nicely. If you could stay out of anymore skirmishes, it would definitely keep your healing on the upside.” I smiled at the doctor, if the man only knew how I kept in shape, that too could be an example. As for the other, well, it wasn’t like I asked for trouble, at least not intentionally.
“Can I get back to driving, doc? Being dependent on others is driving me crazy.”
“Yes, I see no reason you can’t get back behind the wheel of a car. Now this here is the slip for you to have blood drawn at the lab for the testing you requested. The results will be mailed to you in about ten days.” The doctor handed me the paperwork and I headed out of the examine room to make my way to the lab.
I had STD testing done six months ago, but I wanted an up-to-date one. I never went bare with any woman before, but I wanted that experience with Mel.
I went into the lab, had my blood drawn, and as I walked out I threw the piece of paper with the tech’s number on it into the first trashcan I came to. I looked up just in time as a woman walked out of one of the other rooms and we collided. When the woman looked up at me her eyes went wide.
“What are you doing here, Falon?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Brook,” I spoke but looked around for Fin or Tony. “Where are your bookends? They let you out by yourself?” I asked and watched Brooklyn bite down on her lip.
“Uh...yeah I...umm...had a doctor’s appointment and she...”
I looked closely at Brooklyn. Her face was paler than usual but her eyes were shining, underneath her eyes were faint dark circles, that if you didn’t look at her up close they would go unseen.
“Are you sick, Brooklyn?” God, Tony and Fin, hell, the whole family would be devastated but we would all do whatever it took to make her better. Fate would not be so cruel. My heart sank when she burst into tears.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my chest and held her while she cried.
“Oh, honey, don’t cry. The whole family will help you get through this. There is no disease or sickness you can have that we won’t find you the best care for. We all love you, Brook.” When I finished, Brook pushed back and I released her. Her hands went to wipe the tears that ran down her face and then she smiled. Christ, talk about mood changes. Well, damn.
“Sonofabitch, you’re pregnant!”
“You are not to say one word; do you hear me? I want to tell Fin and Tony first.”
“Fine, but you better control the spinning of your head, Regan, or they are going to know something is up.”
“Really? You are going to compare me to the chick in The Exorcist?” Brook shook her head. “And you didn’t tell me what you are doing here?”
“STD testing. Want to make Mel feel safe with me.” Brooklyn burst out laughing and I frowned at her.
“Stop frowning. I’m laughing because well, only you could make that sound like a sweet gesture. I seriously don’t know of anyone else who could.”
“I’m a giver, what can I say. You aren’t by chance going by the gym are you?” I couldn’t wait to pick my car up so I didn’t have to bum rides.
“Yep, need a lift?”
“Yes, but before we go, if you don’t want Fin and Tony to ask questions yet, you better fix your face.”
“Okay, give me a minute and I will be meet you at the entrance doors,” Brook said and headed toward the restroom.
“You got it,” I answered and made my way to the front doors of the hospital to wait for Brooklyn. I couldn’t wait to see Mel. I actually missed not having her around.
Chapter Eleven
Mel
Damn, I was running just a little behind and when I walked into the gym, I had been stopped by every single woman who was working out, asking me about their techniques. I loved it, and I finally realized I had found my place. I knew that the meeting was important, but so were these women. I smiled as I walked up the stairs to the offices and the conference room.
Everyone was already in the room and Tony saw me and waved me in. “Hey, sorry I am late,” I said and went to the chair.
“Mel, we were just getting into things,” Tony said and motioned to Ranger who was leaning against the wall. “Ranger talked to Juarez and apparently, he has been looking at the Russian family for a while now. He is certain that there is something going on with them, but he can’t nail the father or the son down for anything, he is still digging, something is just off about the son and the way he is buying all of the warehouses.”
“He said he would keep me clued in, on the down low of course, because his boss is a ball breaker,” Ranger said.
I listened as they talked about what was going on, damn everything was all over the map, yet they were all tied together, they just couldn’t figure out how. It was fucking annoying, but honestly, there was nothing they could do because the way things were going, they were gonna be lucky if they got out of this unscathed.
“Mel,” Tony said and I nodded and looked at him. “Harm is on the phone right now, they called about the fight. They want you this weekend, which gives us
five days to figure out how we are gonna play this.”
I shrugged and then said, “It is cool, I’m ready.”
“That isn’t what I’m talking about, I know you are ready, I was referring to the way they apparently have no rules whatsoever. I don’t want the same thing that happened to Reed to happen to you. Now, we need to figure out how to make sure that isn’t going to happen.”
“Well,” I said slowly, “we have no idea what the hell they are going to use. So short of taking a whole bunch of shit to counteract whatever they have, we are going to need to wing it, make sure my opponent doesn’t get too close to me.”
The guys looked at her skeptically, they didn’t think I could do it, come out of this without my opponent touching me. They were right, no one could do that in a fight, but I really didn’t want to admit that, they may change their minds if I did.
“Well, thanks to Ranger we know how to counteract the drugs,” I said and leaned back. “Anything else they have; I will just need to be ready for.”
Fin leaned and said, “What about you? Are you going to do anything?”
I was silent as I thought, I really didn’t need anything, finally I shrugged. “I will talk to Mace about it later, maybe we can come up with something.”
The men nodded and then Bry said, “The Warriors are leaving, but Bear and Bob are staying behind for now, until it’s safe to travel across country. Maybe Bear will be up for a little fun, having someone who no one knows could help us out as well.”
Tony turned back to the large board they had set up, trying to figure out how this all was connected. “Okay,” he said and pointed to the board. “We have Cora who was involved in finding kids in the system to turn over to the fighting ring, someone was protecting her until she was killed because she either knew something, or they were cleaning up the mess since Ms. Maddie was shot. Then we have the fighting ring itself, who no one knows who is running it since Hector was killed. Once again, I think someone is trying to clean up the mess they made. This whole thing is centered around a fighting ring, which has so many fucking arms that someone needs to be protecting them. That leaves someone in the department who knows exactly what is going on, and they are covering it up.”
Ranger stepped forward and nodded and pointed. “Add in Noel’s murder and so far these fuckers have killed more the five people, all to cover their shit up. So whoever it is, they are high up, I would say they are getting the reports without anyone questioning it at all.”
Harm walked back into the room and shook his head. “We couldn’t trace it. We tried. So it is the same as last time, we meet at a parking garage, which they will give us a few hours before we go. Then they will pick us up, take us to the fight and bring us back.”
Tony nodded and looked at Jet and said, “This time, let’s try to have everyone situated at the warehouses to follow people as they leave.”
He nodded, then stood and walked out of the room. They had rented black SUVs last time, and I’m assuming they will again.
Michael shifted in his seat and looked at me and said, “I know you have been tatted with the ink, but I’m thinking we should also try to use a tracker.”
I frowned and said, “They search us; I’m not sure we can actually do that.”
Sean leaned forward and said, “Petal and I were talking, we think we can make one that looks like either a belly ring, or an earring, you wear and take out at the fight.”
I sat back. “If I do the belly ring, then I can play it like I didn’t remember I had it in, and just before the fight take it out and hand it to Harm. But they might get suspicious, most fighters would remember to take out the jewelry.”
Michael cleared his throat and his face turned red. I wondered what the hell that was about. He looked to his side and Fin cleared his throat and said, “Okay, I am just laying this out, before I say this, I want you to know it was Petal who thought of the idea, not me. Please for the love of God make sure you tell Brooklyn that, I don’t want her to think I was thinking of another woman’s, well you know, body,” Fin said slowly and I waited. Everyone in the room looked like they would rather be anywhere but here. I was so not getting what they were trying to say. I really wanted to spare them this but I was clueless.
“Just say it,” I snapped.
Fin cleared his throat again and Tony shook his head and looked at the floor. I looked around the table and none of them could meet my eyes. What on earth? I thought and folded my arms and waited.
“Well,” Fin finally said, “you um, well we know you have your um, breasts pierced.”
I smiled and shook my head. “Uh yeah, do you want me to take out the barbells and put in some new ones with a tracker in them.”
“No!” Fin yelled and his face turned red. “No, ‘cause we know that would be slightly dangerous in a fight to wear, and taking them out, would mean you and Harm would be in the same room, and yeah, I’m not telling Falon that at all. So we uh thought, you know about a place you could wear a piercing that wouldn’t um, be detectable, and it would be out of the way.”
I frowned and tilted my head, where in the fuck were they talking about? Nothing on the face, that would hurt like a bitch to get them ripped off. I tried to go through every place they could pierce that was…oh fuck…that could seriously hurt.
My eyes had to show my surprise because when I looked up the guys had practically all turned a scary shade of red while looking at the ceiling or the door.
“Okay, let me get this straight,” I said slowly and looked Fin in the eyes. “You want me to get my…”
“Stop!” Fin yelled and everyone jumped. “Don’t say the word, seriously, don’t.”
I grinned and shook my head. I was so not going there, but honestly, this was too good to pass up. I know they wanted to keep me safe, I know they were nervous about me going in there, but seriously who the fuck thinks of this shit. Really it was brilliant, no one was going to check there, and if they did, well let’s just say I would certainly kick their ass if they tried. But regardless, they knew how Falon felt about me, no one was blind, and so they were protecting family. Dammit, that was nice, like way too nice, and I didn’t know what to do with that. I only had my sister to rely on, she was all I had but suddenly, it looked like I was getting a ton of brothers.
“Come on,” I said with a smile. “You know if you can’t say it, I’m sure I have no clue what you are talking about, I mean, do you want me to pierce the webbing between my toes?”
Fin glared at me and Tony let a small chuckle escape, and I grinned. “I’m not going to talk about this. You need to go see Petal; Bry and Reed are the ones who thought of it.”
“Oh hell no, I did not think Mel needed to get her…” Bry yelled.
“Don’t fucking say it. Damn you people, do you know what would happen if Falon showed up while we were discussing this in the same room as Mel. He would go ballistic,” Fin growled. “I do not have time to listen to his whining and bitching. Now, go and talk to Petal.”
“I just want it on the record I did not give her that idea. She came up with it on her own, and asked us to bring it up,” Reed said and folded his arms across his chest.
“Really? That is what you are going with?” Fin snapped and Reed nodded briskly. “Whatever, go see Petal.”
“Why? I know what you want me to do, duh. It is cool, I will go and talk to her, see what the deal is,” I said and stood. “Is there anything I should know before I leave?”
Harm nodded and said, “When you are done, with well you know. Come to the gym, we are going to test out the tape we wrap you with.”
I frowned and said, “Test what?”
Michael smiled and leaned forward. “The ink we sold to the government to help them track their men? Well, I tweaked it a little over the last few weeks, I think if we put a layer on the tape, you will be able to transfer the ink to whoever you touch with your knuckles.”
I nodded and then turned to walk through the door. “You know you guys are a
little scary with the shit you think up. I mean, special ink, trackers, what are you all going to do when this shit is over?”
Cal laughed loudly and I looked at the large man. “Honey, you don’t know the half of it. I swear, we were all raised watching MacGyver, and so yeah, we pretty much can get out of anything with a paperclip and maybe a pen.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head and said loudly, “Okay, well cool. I’m gonna go to Petal and see what she thinks, but if you hear me screaming in pain and crying for my teddy bear, you know you owe me for getting my…”
“Don’t fucking say it!” Fin said with a panicked tone.
I turned around and put my hands on my hips and yelled loudly, “CLIT! I’M GETTING MY CLIT PIERCED FOR YOU!”
“The fuck you say,” I heard behind me and I turned, oh shit, when had he come in? Falon stood in the doorway looking pissed as all get out, and Brooklyn stood behind him looking pale, her mouth opening and closing and then she burst into tears and turned and ran down the stairs.
“Shit,” Fin and Tony said at the same time and they stood and followed their woman.
Falon only had eyes for me and he glared. “Wanna run that by me again?”
“No!” I said honestly and he rolled his eyes.
“Let me rephrase that. Fucking tell me why the fuck you are getting your clit pierced for Fin?”
The guys in the room busted out laughing and I smiled and shook my head. “Listen, you walked in at the worst time. They want to be able to track me, you know in case something happens.”
“And this means getting your clit pierced? How?” Falon growled.
“Geez, they have a small bar bell that Petal can use with a tracking device.”
Falon leaned around, pointed to his remaining brothers and the other men at the table, and said, “You bastards want my woman to put a tracking device up her hoo-ha? Have you lost your fucking minds?”
Tatted and Tamed (KO Ink Book 5) Page 8