by J. M. Walker
Jaron
It was the following Friday. I had been home for a week and while things weren’t perfect, we were slowly falling into a routine.
I would get Brynn up in the mornings so Piper could sleep in a little longer, since I was the one who made her go to bed late each night.
Whenever I went into Brynn’s room in the morning, she would be standing in her crib and her chubby little body would jump whenever she saw me approach her.
It was the start to my day that I never knew I needed and looked forward to each morning. I would get her changed, place her in her playpen out in the living room, and wake up Piper with a kiss to any part of her body that was exposed.
It was now Friday and Sammy and Cyrus were coming over for supper later that evening.
“Did you want me to grab something for supper tonight?” I asked Piper as she fed Brynlee an afternoon snack of soft crackers.
“We can order pizza so you don’t have to go to the store.”
I kissed her head. “I don’t mind.”
“Okay, well whatever you want, I can cook it.” She smiled up at me.
“Okay.” I placed a peck on Brynlee’s cheek before giving her mama another kiss. “Thank you for this morning,” I whispered.
She laughed, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. “Thank you for this week.”
“One day at a time, baby.” I gave her one final kiss and left the house.
We spent the week slowly reconnecting. We talked some more and even though it was only a couple of words shared between us, it was a start in the right direction.
When I reached the driveway, I hesitated between taking my bike or Piper’s car. I knew she wasn’t going anywhere, so she wouldn’t care if I drove it.
Our fighting had been limited this week, thankfully, but we still had our moments. Of pushing. And then at the same time, a constant taking. I wanted to give, take, fight, and more. A part of me, that sick part, enjoyed fighting with her because I loved her angry eyes on me as they heated my skin until I felt like I was going to combust from the fiery stare. I bet my life that angry sex with her was dirty and hot as fuck.
Piper walked on eggshells around me. Not always. It had mostly been in the mornings after I woke up from a nightmare. She probably wondered when I would blow. I wouldn’t. Because none of this was her fault. But I was itching for something. Not sex. She took care of that. Blood maybe? A fight? She had mentioned a gym in the basement. Maybe working out would help me. I could spar with Sammy. He was a dirty fighter, but it always helped my moods after getting into it with him. Maybe I could convince both him and Cyrus to fight me. I needed to fight. To hurt. To get fucking bloody.
Forcing myself out of my head, I took Piper’s car and drove to the grocery store to grab some food and hopefully, better tasting formula for Brynn. I could still remember the taste perfectly. It was like rotten milk. Or worse. It was disgusting and there was no way I would feed that shit to her again. I found another brand in the kitchen cupboard that tasted a bit better at least, so we made sure to feed that to Brynn instead.
Piper wasn’t aware but I had arranged for my dad to set up automatic deposits to her bank account. Every time I got paid from the club, it went to her and our daughter. It started as soon as I found out she was pregnant. My dad told me that she had thanked both him and my mom for the money. He never told her that it was me who was sending the money because he felt I should have been the one to tell her.
She spent some of it on groceries, but it made me wonder what else she spent it on. If it were me, I would pay the bills and set aside the rest as a college fund for Brynlee. That was probably what Piper did. I wouldn’t have minded if she spent some of it on herself either. That had been why I sent the money to her in the first place. Since I couldn’t be there for her, making sure she was financially taken care of was the least I could do.
When I reached the store, I leaned forward, peering at the large building. I remembered coming here as a child when my parents would need to grab some things on the way home from Uncle Coby and Aunt Brogan’s place. It was bigger than before but not by much.
Putting the car in park, I took a breath and left the vehicle. It had been a long time since I was around people I didn’t know. Even being in jail, you got to know everyone. Especially when you made a name for yourself. Word about who I was got around rather quickly. Whether I liked it or not.
Grabbing a cart from the rack, I wheeled it into the store when someone stepped out of the large building. They stopped in front of me, followed by two men dressed in black suits.
My chest tightened; my hands white-knuckling the bar of the cart. “Price.”
Price Davies grinned, running two fingers along his mouth. He looked different than the last time I saw him, which would have been before I went to jail. He had lost quite a bit of weight and appeared as if he had taken up working out. His dark hair held some silver in it. Even the scruff on his jaw had some gray in it. While he may have changed his appearance, his eyes hadn’t changed. They held so much damn hate for me, a tremor of unease rippled down my spine.
“You look well, Jaron.” He cocked his head to the side. “It’s been a while. How’s that pretty little thing of yours? She still pining after you or did she smarten the fuck up and finally get herself a real man?”
I twisted my head to the side, looking around me. Two black SUVs sat at the outer edge of the parking lot, meaning the mayor had more security detail with him than the two men standing on either side of him.
“What do you want?” I asked instead, knowing full well he was trying to get a reaction from me. But I refused. It would come. In time. But not now and especially not when I was alone.
“I want to chat.” Price jutted his chin. The two men behind him, stepped forward.
“We’re in public,” I bit out. “Don’t be stupid.”
Price grinned. He smoothed his hands down the front of his gray suit jacket. The weight he was sporting around the middle the last time I saw him, no longer there. I had never been attracted to men but even I noticed how better looking he had become. I wondered why. Price Davies had a reason for everything he did. He might have even been a half-decent human being in another life, but not in this one. No. He liked little girls and that didn’t sit well with me, but it was something I had never been able to prove.
“What are you doing here anyway? Don’t you have people that do this for you?” I leaned my arms on the bar of the cart, scratching my jaw.
“If you’re referring to grocery shopping, yes.” Price nodded. “I do. But I much prefer to do this part on my own. You see.” He took a step toward me. “You took something important from me.”
The hackles rose on the back of my neck. “What are you getting at?” His son had deserved what he got. Sure, I reacted first before thinking of the consequences, but he had attacked my girl. He was lucky I didn’t do worse to him.
“My son was going to be the next mayor,” Price said, his jaw ticking.
I rolled my eyes then. “Right.” Brody Davies never wanted anything to do with politics. Of all the research I had done on him, he often looked bored in the pictures of him and his dad during his many public appearances and campaigns.
Price’s brows dropped in the middle. “You questioning me, boy?”
I chuckled then. “You don’t scare me, Price. Never have. Never will.”
“That’s Mr. Mayor to you, fuck—Jaron.” His cheeks reddened.
I grinned. “Nice catch, Price,” I said, drawing out his name. Calling him Mr. Mayor meant that I respected him. And that was something I had never done.
Price took a step toward me while his men stayed back. When he stood a couple of inches away, I could see the evil swimming in his deep sapphire eyes. “You want to know something?” he asked, low enough for only me to hear. “I don’t actually give a fuck that you killed my son.” He stepped closer. “He wasn’t even my blood anyway.”
That revelation didn’t sit well wi
th me. It meant that he threw me in jail, made a huge fucking scene about it, just to get under my skin. Because of him, my daughter didn’t know her father the first ten months of her life. Because of him, my mother’s heart shattered. And because of him, I could have lost Piper forever.
Price smirked, curling his fingers around the handlebar between my hands. “I suggest watching your back, Jaron. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to those pretty little girls in your family. I could get a lot of money for your daughter. She would grow up in my world. She would be trained. She would be the perfect pet because she wouldn’t have the influence of the world hanging over her.” He leaned toward my ear. “I’d also have so much fun breaking Piper.”
“You even think of going after my girls…”
“You’ll what?” Price chuckled. “Remember what happened last time. You ended up in jail. Too bad it wasn’t longer.” He turned around, walking away from me but stopped suddenly. “I’d be careful if I were you. Your girls won’t always be protected. And your daughter will grow up.” He continued walking away, his wicked grin the last thing I saw before he stepped into the black SUV.
As soon as both vehicles sped away, I let out a sigh of relief but before I did what I came there to do, I called Cyrus.
“Yeah,” came his deep reply after the first ring.
“I need you to go to Piper’s sooner,” I told him, heading into the grocery store.
“On it. Where are you?”
“At the grocery store getting Brynlee some better formula and I was going to pick up food for Piper to cook but she needs a break.” I suddenly felt all eyes on me. I looked down at myself. I wasn’t wearing my cut. What could these people be looking at?
“Is it weird??” Cyrus asked.
I cleared my throat, not wanting to get into this with him. “Listen, just go to Piper’s and I’ll be there soon.”
I disconnected the call before he could ask any more questions. He wouldn’t. That was Sammy. He was the talker while Cyrus was the quiet, brooding type. That was how it used to be anyway. But maybe things had changed while I was away. I had found out during the times the twins came to visit me that there was a woman Sammy was sniffing around. But he refused to talk any more about it. So I never asked.
Quickly grabbing some food and more formula for Brynn, I made it to the checkout when the hairs on the back of my neck tingled. I looked around me, finding nothing out of the ordinary. People shopped, like they were supposed to be doing at a grocery store.
Biting back a sigh, I turned around and was greeted with a friendly smile from the young man working the cash.
“Newborn?” he asked, picking up the formula and scanning it.
“She’s almost ten months actually,” I told him.
“Ah. My sister uses this stuff for my nephew. She said it’s the best she’s found,” he added, continuing to scan the items and placing them in bags.
My gaze landed on a stack of flowers. All different types and colors. I didn’t know much about them. I probably should have paid more attention when my mom made me help her with the gardens in their backyard.
I picked up a bouquet of blue flowers, making a mental note to ask my mom what they were but I thought they looked nice, so it was worth a shot.
“Those are pretty.”
My gaze flicked to the woman standing behind me with a cart full of food and other items.
“I think whoever they’re for, will like them.” She smiled.
“I hope so.” I handed them to the cashier. “These too, please.”
He nodded, scanning them and giving me my final total.
Handing him the exact cash, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and saw a text from Sammy that they were heading to Piper’s.
“You’re Jaron Mercer, aren’t you?”
I frowned, glancing at the same woman behind me. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“Nope, you don’t.” Her gaze roamed down the length of me. “But I’ve seen your girl around.”
I grabbed my items, bouquet of flowers, and rushed out of the store. As soon as I reached the car, my phone rang. Fucking hell.
These people needed to leave us the hell alone. Piper and I had shit to work through. While we were slowly getting into a routine, we still needed to learn to raise Brynlee together. We needed to not fight and actually talk about our problems instead of fucking our way through them. But I knew it would be a long time before that happened.
If ever at all.
***
(Piper)
After I had put Brynlee down for a nap, I decided to get some cleaning done. Turning the music on low, I inhaled a deep breath, letting the deep melody wash over me and guide my feet. An hour later and the floors were swept and mopped, the bathrooms cleaned, and toys picked up. I was just getting ready to grab a glass of wine when I heard the front door open and the alarm disengage.
My heart jumped, waiting for Jaron to greet me with a kiss, but it wasn’t him at the door.
“Hey, kiddo.” Cyrus came toward me, holding a case of beer. He brought it to the kitchen, placed it on the floor, and started putting some of the bottles in the fridge.
“What are you guys doing here already?”
“Jaron called us and asked us to come over early.” Sammy raised an eyebrow. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Not that you were coming over early, no.” I blew a loose strand out of my face.
“We’ll order pizza later, so you can have a break,” Cyrus said from the kitchen. “Where is he anyway?” He grabbed a beer and popped the cap off. “He should be here already.”
I glanced at the doorway, expecting Jaron to show up.
Sammy handed me a beer and sat at the table. “Something wrong?”
“Jaron left over an hour ago.” Maybe he got caught in traffic. Not that there would be a lot between the grocery store and here. “Or maybe…” A tremor of fear rushed through me when suddenly, the front door opened.
I passed the guys a glance.
Jaron entered the house, a scowl on his face. He held a bouquet of beautiful blue flowers in one hand and a bag in the other. He walked past me, bringing them to the kitchen.
I followed him, the air suddenly becoming thick around us.
“These are for you,” he mumbled.
“Thank you. They’re beautiful.” I put the flowers in a vase and was filling it up with water when I noticed that he hadn’t budged from his spot beside me.
He gripped the edge of the counter, the muscles in his back, jumping beneath his shirt. He looked over his shoulder. When his slate eyes landed on me, his face softened.
My heart skipped a beat, the smoldering look making me pause.
“Thank you for the flowers, Jaron,” I murmured, turning off the water and setting the vase on the counter.
He nodded, his jaw clenching.
Before I could ask what was wrong, he came toward me and cupped my face. “Have you ever had any problems?” he asked, running his thumb along the edge of my jaw.
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
He grabbed my hand, bringing it up to his mouth. “Have you ever had issues with anyone? Women. Men. Anyone at all.”
“What’s going on?” Cyrus asked, coming up behind him.
Jaron searched my face, something flashing behind his eyes. “Have you ever run into the mayor?”
“No. I haven’t seen him since your trial.” I shivered, remembering the way he looked at my pregnant body. I was huge and he looked at me like I was a piece of steak and he was the dog who wanted to rip me apart.
Jaron released me and started pacing back and forth. “I had an unexpected meeting with the good mayor at the grocery store.”
“The fuck? Why? Doesn’t he have people who do that shit for him?” As soon as the question left Sammy’s mouth, a cry sounded from the baby monitor I kept on the kitchen counter. “I got her.” He left, heading to Brynn’s room.
Jaron stared after him, his jaw ticking.
My chest tightened. I knew that tick. I knew what it meant. He was pissed and he was going to blow. On his cousins. On me. On someone. I wasn’t sure who, but I had a feeling that before the night ended, I would find out.
“This little one wanted to come and see what all the fuss was about,” Sammy said, holding Brynn in his arms. She had her arms wrapped around her stuffed pig, sucking on her favorite soother.
I passed a glance at Jaron. He didn’t budge. No emotion splayed on his face. “Um…can you guys give us a moment?”
“Of course.” Cyrus clapped Jaron’s shoulder, leaning down to his ear and whispering something I couldn’t hear.
Jaron’s gaze flicked to mine.
My heart jumped, the blood pounding in my ears.
Cyrus released him, gave me a small smile, and headed out to the backyard with Sammy following behind him.
When the patio door closed, leaving Jaron and I alone, I was expecting him to blow up. But when he only remained silent, it made the nerves fluttering through me that much more pronounced.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, needing to break the silence. I stepped in front of him, placing my hand on his chest. Expecting his heart to be thumping hard like mine, I was surprised when it was calm. My eyes popped to his, finding him staring down at me. “Jaron.”
“How long has he been helping you with Brynn?”
My throat went dry. I went to pull my hand away but in a quick move, Jaron grabbed a hold of my wrist and pushed me into the kitchen out of view.
“I…” He took a deep inhale and blew it out slowly. “I know I asked them to help you, but I don’t like that they know Brynn better than I do. I don’t like that she knows them better than she knows me. Her father. And I especially don’t like that they know you better than I do.”
“No.” I cupped his face. “They don’t. No one knows me like you know me. I haven’t slept with anyone since you, I wouldn’t do that. I’m not in…I don’t like them like that. I don’t…” My throat worked hard over a lump that suddenly lodged its way inside. “Jaron, please trust me. Nothing’s happened. I promise.”