I went to the courtroom, looked at the docket, and then entered the clerk’s office. “Zoey Marshall Bronx CSP, I am here for the…”
“Callahan case. Sign in and Prosecutor Roark will be out to talk to you in a few minutes,” the clerk said and I nodded.
“Is there a room we can have to discuss plans for the family?” The woman pointed across the hall. Wow, she was really helpful and friendly. With a smile I nodded. “Tell her I will be in C.”
“You got it,” was said over her shoulder as she turned back to her computer. I frowned; I hated court. I walked into the room to wait.
I pulled out my files and when a tall, gorgeous woman in a nice pinstripe business suit, high heels, which made her legs look like they went on forever, and black hair that was so dark it looked blue, walked in I totally wanted to cry. She was perfect, and I was frumpy, stupid hormones, I thought as I looked down at my clothes. I needed a makeover.
“Hey,” the woman said with a grin and I nodded. Please make her a bitch so I can hate her, was all I thought as she held out her hand.
“Maria Roark,” she introduced herself and I nodded, taking her hand.
“Zoey Marshall.”
“Oh I know you,” the woman said and I felt my eyes widen. I hadn’t been here long enough to get a rep, shit, starting off on the wrong foot with the Prosecuting Attorney was not a good idea.
“I, uh, well.” She laughed as I stuttered. Damn it, even that was cute on her, I hated her.
“Zoey, my brother is Anthony Roark who just so happens to be engaged to Brooklyn, Reese’s sister. All I have heard since Saturday night is my phone ringing, my mother is a tad depressed since Reese and Michael have gotten the drop on the whole grandkid debate. Yeah, thanks for that, she is currently setting me up with the butcher, the cab driver, and the guy that stands on the corner and dances with a sign. It seems I am letting her down and she is desperate.”
My mouth dropped open, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”
The beautiful woman laughed and waved her hand. “No worries, I told her Brooklyn was looking a little ill this weekend. Mentioned that maybe she had morning sickness.” I couldn’t help it, a loud laugh burst from my mouth. Maria shrugged. “All is fair in love and mother avoidance.”
We settled down and talked about our case. By the end of it, I no longer hated Maria, I loved her. She had given me a few tips to deal with Reese and Michael, whom she had known since their birth. As we entered into the courtroom I stiffened. The boys with the yellow bandanas were sitting in the back of the room looking menacing.
“Hey,” I said to Maria who was a step ahead. She slowed and smiled at me. “Who are those kids affiliated with?”
She looked around me and frowned and shook her head. “Not sure.”
“Ahh,” the judge said loudly, “just who I was looking for. Roark, I need a prosecutor for this case, can you stand in? It seems your colleague is stuck in traffic.”
Maria stepped forward and nodded and I slid into the pew that was right behind her and settled down. My case was up next. I pulled out my file to review and tuned out a little. It wasn’t until I heard, “Ms. Marshall?” Which was said loudly and caused me to look up and catch the frown the judge was aiming at me. How many times had he said my name?
“Sir?” I stood.
“I need a CPS worker as well.” Now I frowned.
“Who is the case manager?” Thinking I could just get a postponement.
“He doesn’t have one,” the judge said and then leaned forward, “Ms. Roark, fill her in quickly so we can get this done.”
Maria nodded and leaned over the banister. “Jorge Vasquez is sixteen, he was picked up in our borough in a sweep to break up a fighting ring. So far, he has refused to talk, his parents have not been located, and we need him held as a material witness. We are asking placement at Southside Haven.”
I nodded, stood and grabbed the file, skimming the contents, and then stepping forward to the defense table. The young boy was leaning back in his chair glaring at not only the judge but everyone else in the room. He had tattoos on his hands, and I could see one on his neck. There was also an outline of a tear drop at the corner of his eye that wasn’t filled in, first impression: not a kid who was going to like being put in a group home.
“Jorge.” I leaned over, his eyes shifted to me and he glared. “I am going to recommend placement at Southside Haven.”
The young kid sat up quickly and snapped, “The fuck you say, I ain’t going to no Haven, do your job and get me off, bitch.”
In my mind I reminded myself ‘the good with the bad’ but whispered to my young client, “Listen here, you are facing charges of assault, running from the police and possession. I don’t think you are in any place—”
“Yo, did I stutter, bitch. I said get me off, ‘cause there ain’t no way I’m goin’ anywhere but with my boys.” The kid pointed his finger in my face.
“Yeah,” I stood and looked down at him and sneered, “Listen, homes, your boys do not factor into this, unless we have a parent here who wants to take responsibility for you and guarantee you make it back for court, you’re stuck. So, Jorge, suck it up. And next time you call me a bitch, I will make sure you are assigned to bathroom duty at Southside, maybe if you have to clean up the bathroom you can learn something.”
“Fuck you,” the kid grumbled and I rolled my eyes and turned back to the judge who was looking at me expectantly.
“Your Honor. We request Jorge be transferred to Southside Haven until such time his parents are found. I will make a plan for rehabilitation as well a counseling for him. If the prosecutor will agree to allow us some time to get things moving before setting a court date, I would appreciate it.”
The judge looked at me, nodded, then looked at Maria who was also already nodding. “I will agree to that, as long as the minor is given an ankle monitor to make sure he remains where he is supposed to. Jorge is a member of a local gang, and if he can be removed from their influence, his situation may improve.”
A loud thunk from the back of the court room had everyone turning to see the four men who obviously belonged to a gang stand and begin to shuffle their way out of the courtroom. From the look on the judge’s face, he was less than impressed with the action of the boys.
“In the future, gentlemen, coming to court with the intent of intimidation is not wise, if I see you again you will be brought forward to answer to me.” The largest boy grinned and held up a hand and pointed out his finger and thumb making a gun out of his hand and then motioned as if to he pulled the trigger and winked. I felt a chill go up my spine, they might have been young boys but dangerous exuded from them.
Chapter Twelve
Reese
I looked around my office and wondered for a brief moment if I should get one of those portable crib things. Smiling, I wondered how the guys were going to feel about that. Daycare in a gym, tattoo parlor, and security office, what would be more safe.
I turned to my computer and checked the search engine I had running, so far nothing, and yet once again there had been a body turn up, this time in New Jersey, same M.O. It was getting frustrating. Michael and his brothers were turning it up a notch as well, and Tony was making calls, especially to Ranger, Zoey’s brother. We needed someone on the inside who knew what we were doing.
The videos, which had been appearing on social media sites, had all but disappeared. I was now going into the deep net, that was where we were going to find shit. The only problem was the Feds usually monitored it. I was going to need to make some phone calls so the gym wouldn’t be fucking raided. Fun times, the only good part was, my old boss had connections and I was calling in my markers from him.
My phone rang and I picked it up. “Reese.”
“We are having a dinner,” my mother said into the phone without even a hello.
“Um, okay, why?”
My mother made an impatient noise, “So your sister and her men can meet Zoey of course.” Like I wa
sn’t paying attention.
“Mom,” I placed my hand to my face, “you gotta give us a chance to talk to Zoey about all this. We haven’t been able to get her alone for like a second. We need to work this out on our own.”
There was silence and then, “I love you, but I am still saying this for your own good. You and Michael already screwed this up. I am not losing my grandbaby because you boys are socially inept.”
“Seriously?” I couldn’t keep the grin forming, the woman didn’t even try to hid her agenda anymore.
“Yes, now suck it up. Bring Zoey tomorrow night to the house, everyone is going to be there.”
I laughed, “Mom?” there was no answer. “Mom?” The dial tone beep could be heard—the woman had hung up on me.
I leaned back in my chair and smiled, I hadn’t been this happy in a long time. Moving away from home had been a good decision at the time. I had needed to leave to know this was where I belonged. Knowing Michael and I were embarking on this new journey with Zoey was exciting. My best friend, and my new woman. What more could a man want?
“Reese?” my sister yelled from the outer office and I smiled. I missed her too when I lived faraway.
“In here, sis,” I yelled back and heard her stomping her way down the hall.
“How could you not call me? I waited two days,” Brooklyn said from the doorway and I grinned.
“About what?” I snickered before I could stop myself.
“Don’t you play that innocent game with me, mister. You and Michael totally set us up. Impregnating a woman to be the first one with a kid, really? I was on the phone for like three hours listening to Sonia cry about not having a grandbaby to cuddle and take care of, and that was on the first day. Hell, Sunday she practically ordered me to put holes in the guys’ condoms if I had to. I’d never been so glad for the workweek to start as I was yesterday. What the hell?” Brooklyn plopped down in the chair across from my desk with a loud sigh and kicked her shoes off. She had to have come straight from work today since she was still in her dress clothes. “We have too much going on right now to deal with this. Then last night she called after I got home, and let me tell you, I really didn’t need to get instructions on what position we needed to have sex in either in order to have a girl or a boy. Mind you she wants one of each, and since I have two men, she decided I should be able to get pregnant with twins, oh and might I add, to do this she has done research.”
I burst out laughing and shook my head as my sister glared at me. Seriously, being gone from home for so long had made me forget how nuts the matriarchs of the typical Italian family could be.
“Oh don’t laugh, mister, I so threw you under the bus. I told the moms that you and Michael hadn’t decorated or done any renovations on his house besides the master bedroom and bath, I told them you still had boxes sitting in the living room and dining room and that you both were eating on paper plates. Then, I may or may not have, expressed my concern over Zoey seeing your place for the first time, a confirmed bachelor pad, and how she was going to react. I mean, you can’t raise a baby in an almost empty house.” My eyes widened with each of her words.
“You did not.” Okay, so maybe I didn’t miss her that much when I was gone.
“Oh yeah I did, I even told them that the bathroom on the main floor didn’t even have a tissue holder.” Brook laughed so loud I figured everyone in all three of the businesses heard her.
“Michael is gonna kick your ass,” I growled. “Hell, I am gonna kick your ass, but Michael is gonna even more.”
“Serves you guys right.” Brooklyn shrugged. “So, since this is the first day both of you have been out of the house, I would guess about right now,” she looked down at her watch, then back to me, “the moms have already broken into the bachelor pad and made a complete list.”
Michael
“Okay, so the ink is almost done, I changed the formula slightly and now it should increase the ability with the tracking machines,” I said into the phone.
“How soon before the first batch will be available for us?” my contact at the military said. I had done it, I had gotten the patent for my ink and put some feelers out to government agencies to see if they were interested. All of them had been, but the military jumped on it fast.
Right now, they were making plans on using the ink on their soldiers who were going out on missions behind enemy lines. This way they would be able to track and extract them if something happened, I couldn’t wait to tell my brothers.
I finished the call and grinned. Things were finally going our way, I had an appointment with the first of the thugs I was gonna tat with my ink. Hopefully this was going to give them a starting point to finding these fuckers. Fin and Tony had also been talking to Brant, the kid wanted to fucking go undercover, and we weren’t willing to chance him getting killed. So for now, Jet and Reed were making sure the kid wasn’t doing something stupid. We had to keep our thumb on him right now, things were gonna start heating up and damn, I wasn’t going to fucking lose someone else.
Cal was working on the wand, and hopefully soon they would have more than what they originally planned to have. They had a plan, but until we had everyone in place, it was just that—a plan. The talk on the street had gone silent, someone had locked down the people and told them to shut up, we just didn’t know who.
My brothers had been docile all day, which meant something was up. It’d been a few days since the bomb was dropped and not one word from any of them. They’d come into the shop this morning as if it were any other Tuesday and the day had gone by rather uneventful. Tuesdays were the first workday of the week for us. We were closed on Sunday and Mondays. I wasn’t stupid enough to think I was going to get out of any type of ribbing as I sat at the end of the day at the counter closing out the books. I wanted out of here so Reese and I could get on with the plan to get our woman. We’d stayed away Sunday, only calling. Monday we let her get back to work, only checking on her after she’d gotten home. Today, we had plans to take her to dinner when she got off work.
Cal walked from the back with his customer, giving the man final instructions on the care of the tattoo. After the second sitting the man had done, he’d have three more to get to the completion of the full back tat.
“Thanks, Cal. It’s coming along great. I’m really pleased with the work. Trying to get my wife in here for another one but she doesn’t want any more ink, she wants to get a couple piercings though. You guys know of a good one in the area by chance?”
“Who’d she use on the ones she has?” I knew there were a couple in and around the Bronx who were licensed. I had heard of several that were doing piercing under the table at a cheaper rate but that was because they had no license. Granted, a customer wanting an eyebrow piercing, you could wing, a clit piercing or the hardware on a man’s penis, yeah, clients should ask to see the license. Clit piercings wouldn’t be much good for the woman if done wrong and she lost the feeling in it. That would suck.
“Nah, she got her belly ring and nipples done in Texas when we were there. Only been here a year and she hasn’t had any more done yet. Got someone to recommend?”
“Nah, Skeet, sure don’t. We keep up our certification and could do piercings here but we really never thought of having that part offered until recently. Got an ad out for one, though.”
“You’ll make a mint. Lots of interest here for them, just not enough quality piercers to go around. Stan, a guy I work with, his wife got her nipples done by a yahoo, and she is fighting a major infection, they are hoping they don’t need to remove the nipple.”
“Damn, hope it works out for her.” Cal handed Skeet his card.
“Thanks, guys. See you in a couple weeks.”
“Later, man. Take it easy.” Skeet lifted his hand and stepped out the door.
I started back to filling in the calendar, inputting info of the clients for the next day. “Going to have a late night tomorrow, had four people call in for evening appointments.” The others walked u
p front and when I looked up they were staring at me.
“What?”
“Plan to tell us or were you just going to wait for the kid to be able to talk and it could introduce itself as our niece or nephew then?” Well, Bry was pissed.
“When does an O’Malley wait for anyone to tell them shit? I expected to get phone calls as soon as you assholes found out, or at the very least a bunch of crap thrown at me this morning. You can’t tell me our mother who has for the three years we’ve been back has blatantly talk of grandkids was able to keep quiet for almost three days.” I cocked and eyebrow at them and waited.
“Yeah, dickwad, think again. Our mother didn’t have a chance to getting around to tell us—our father called five seconds after he got home,” Bry said.
“No way?” I laughed.
“Oh way. I was on a date, sitting next to the woman when he called. You know how loud he talks so I might as well let Cheri have the phone because she heard everything anyway. I didn’t have time to stop him or get up and move out of ear shot. I got in “Hey, Dad” and he started. ‘Michael and Reese are giving me a grandbaby, I know you have had enough women so why can’t you find one like they did to settle down with, instead of the loose ones you seem to prefer.’ He had more to say but I was barely listening because I was watching Cheri’s back as she walked out the door.” Falon pointed at me. “Do you know how long it has been since I’ve went a Saturday night and hadn’t been laid? I’ll tell you, six months.”
“Bro, you get laid every Saturday night?” We all looked at Cal. “What, you know you thought it? I just asked.”
“So he called each of you?” I still couldn’t believe my dad had done this.
“Mine was ‘Cal, Fin and Tony brought Brooklyn into the family, Michael and Reese are in the lead now, with a grandbaby for me, and a beautiful woman to boot. Can’t wait to see who tops this.’ I didn’t get a chance to say shit, he yelled got to go, still got to call Sean and then I got the beep of being disconnect.”
Pierced and Inked (KO Ink Book 2) Page 9