by Blair Grey
I grinned at Rachel. “I wasn’t thinking for Gavin.”
Rachel raised an eyebrow at me. “Is there something you’re not telling me?” she asked teasingly.
I laughed. “No, I’m not pregnant,” I told her, rolling my eyes. “Trust me; you’d know it if I was. But aren’t these the cutest things you’ve ever seen?”
“They are pretty cute,” she agreed. Her eyes twinkled. “Why don’t you get them and put them away for when you have your little one?”
I rolled my eyes. “Not happening,” I said, even though I was filled with a slight regret as I put the shoes back down on the shelf. “Even if I only bought one thing every time I came shopping with you and Gavin, I’d have closets full of stuff for my unborn child by now. I just can’t help it; it’s all so adorable.”
“You gotta get yourself a man so you can get your family started,” Rachel said, kneeling down to help Gavin try on a pair of shoes.
“Where’s Victor anyway?” I asked while I watched mother and son.
Rachel glanced over her shoulder at me, a small frown on her lips. “Away on business. As usual.”
“I knew that,” I said. “But where in the world?”
“London. I think.” Rachel frowned. “Yeah, I think it’s London. And then Belgium later this week.” She sighed. “This one’s a long one.”
“Seems like they’re all long ones.”
“Yeah,” Rachel said. “And I love having a hubby who’s good at what he does, don’t get me wrong. I’m so proud of him. I never thought his start-up would take off like this. But I just wish we got more time with him.”
“See, this is exactly why I don’t want a man,” I joked, hoping to lighten the mood. “They’re always gone away. I’d rather have no one than have someone that I was always missing.”
Rachel snorted. “You just don’t know what you’re missing out on,” she told me.
“How are those superhero kicks feeling, Gavin?” I asked, watching in amusement as he jumped up and down at the far end of the aisle to make them light up. Of course he had found what must be the one pair of shoes that had everything he wanted: cool colors, lights, and superheroes. Kid was living the dream.
“They’re awesome!” Gavin cheered.
I raised an eyebrow at Rachel, who laughed. “I guess we have a winner,” she said. “Come back over here, bud, so I can make sure they fit right. We want to get them a little big, right, so that your toes have room to grow in them.”
She fussed around with the shoes for a couple of minutes while I browsed over in the women’s section. God, they had some killer shoes here. Not that I would ever have a reason to wear half of these things. I was lucky to make it out of my sneakers most days. With the amount that I worked, I pretty much only existed in comfortable footwear. The nicest shoes I had was probably a pair of tan, strappy sandals, but I couldn’t remember the last time I had worn them. I wasn’t sure I even owned a pair of heels anymore.
“You should buy those,” Rachel said, appearing just over my shoulder while I was admiring a pair of heeled black booties.
I rolled my eyes. “When would I ever wear them?” I asked. “I don’t even know if I remember how to wear heels anymore.”
Rachel giggled. “It’s like riding a bike,” she said. She frowned. “I don’t remember the last time I wore heels either, though. I think it must have been to one of Victor’s work shindigs.”
“At least you have those,” I sighed.
“We should go out together soon,” Rachel said, sounding excited. “I’ll get a babysitter for the night, and we can get all dolled up like we don’t normally get to do.”
“Sure,” I said, even though I doubted it would actually happen. Rachel liked to suggest things like that every now and then, but usually on the rare nights when we both actually had a little free time, between her motherly duties and my work duties, we were both so pooped that we opted to just stay in, watch a chick flick, and eat junk food.
And I liked that about our relationship. It was relaxing and comfortable.
I led the way out of the store before Rachel could talk me into buying some entirely impractical footwear, steering us toward the food court. Gavin had changed into his new shoes, so he’d run ahead of us for a couple of paces and then run back to us, watching as his shoes lit up. Unfortunately, he was so caught up in the way his shoes looked that he didn’t notice the woman just coming out of the bathroom, and he slammed right into her legs, bouncing off and falling over. He immediately started wailing.
Rachel and I exchanged a glance, and both hurried over. While she apologized to the woman, I knelt down next to Gavin. “Hey, buddy, did you get a boo-boo?” I asked, using my best soothing tone. “Do you think you can be a big boy and tell me where?”
Gavin was accident-prone, like most boys his age, and this wasn’t the first time we’d gone through this. He knew exactly what to do by now, taking a big breath, his tears slowing. He nodded, his lower lip wobbling, and held out his hand, which he had probably slammed down onto the tiles when he fell back. It was a little red, but I could tell there was no lasting damage.
I bent down and blew a raspberry on his hand, grinning as the boy giggled. “How about this?” I suggested. “Rachel and I will monkey-swing you between us all the way to the food court. But every time you land, you’ve got to give a really big stomp so that your shoes stay lit up until your next stomp. Do you think you can do that?”
“Yeah!” Gavin said enthusiastically, already forgetting that he had fallen over. He jumped to his feet and held his hands up expectantly, waiting for me to take one and Rachel to take the other. Together, the three of us made our way to the food court.
“You’re so good with him,” Rachel said, once we were seated with our food. “Like really good with him. You’re going to make a great mother.”
“One day, maybe,” I sighed, trying not to feel too down about it. Just because things hadn’t happened yet, it wasn’t the end of the world. Plenty of people waited until their thirties before they even started considering having kids.
But there was a part of me, the part that had studied medicine, that insisted on reminding me about how much my chances dropped with each passing year. Especially because, statistically speaking, any guy that I got serious about was probably going to be older than me, at least by a year or two, and that meant that his success rate for insemination would be dropping as well.
“Well, if you would just find yourself a man,” Rachel said, but she gave me a fond look.
“It’s not as easy for most of us as it was for you,” I retorted. “We don’t all have the luck of falling for our neighbor in college.”
“No, your neighbor was pretty terrible,” Rachel said, grinning. “But I don’t know, do you ever think maybe your standards are just a little too high? What’s your idea of the perfect man for you, anyway?”
I shrugged. “Wants to have kids, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. “And the s-e-x is good too, that goes without saying.”
“Exactly,” I agreed, giggling. But after that, I drew a blank. I shrugged again. “I don’t have time to dream. I don’t really know what I’m looking for.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Rachel declared. “Everyone’s got a type. You have to at least know what kind of guy you’ve been attracted to in the past.”
“I don’t know if there was a type,” I said. “They were just… attractive guys.”
“That narrows it down,” Rachel said sarcastically. She clapped her hands together. “That settles it. You and I have to go out on a girl night. Tomorrow. I’ll find a sitter, and we’ll get dressed up. I want to see you looking smoking hot, and don’t tell me you don’t think you can do that because you have an amazing bod. I’d kill to have curves like you. Or hair like you.”
I grinned at her. “Thanks,” I said, even though I could feel a blush spreading across my cheeks. I had never been too caught up in appearances, and especial
ly not since I’d started as a nurse. Most people I interacted with only ever saw me in scrubs, with my long, dark hair in a messy bun to keep it out of my face. Compliments like that were rare.
“So you’ll come out with me tomorrow?” Rachel pressed.
I laughed and shook my head. “I can’t, sorry.” When she threw a fry at me, I threw it right back. “Is that any example to set for your son?” I teased. But Gavin was caught up in playing with the toy that had come with his meal, hardly paying attention to the two of us.
“Come on, we haven’t gone out in forever,” Rachel said. “How are we going to find you the perfect man if you never have a chance to actually meet any men? And what else are you going to do anyway?”
“Work!” I told her. “I have another night shift tomorrow. To help out with all the disasters who got dressed up and went out to the bars.”
Rachel sighed. “Again?” she asked, sounding disappointed.
I felt bad, almost. She had sounded so excited about the prospect of the two of us going out. “Raincheck,” I promised, holding out my pinky finger.
A slow grin spread across her face as she linked pinkies with mine. “Next time you have an evening off, we are going out,” she declared.
“All right,” I agreed wearily, even though I didn’t really want to go out looking for a man in a bar. What kind of relationship would I start there? I’d probably just end up with some drunken idiot who just wanted to get laid. Then, he’d never call me again, and I’d be right back where I started.
But I didn’t say any of that to Rachel. She looked too pleased with my promise. At least I had a little bit of time to figure out how to get out of it the next time this conversation came up.
5
Marcus
Friday
I frowned down at my phone when I saw it was Ray calling. Had he finally come to the conclusion that it was time to act on the threat that the Unknowns posed? No, that was probably too much to ask. More likely, Cameron had mentioned the incident the previous day. Ray was probably calling to ream me out for the way that I had handled things.
I rolled my eyes but picked up the phone. “I’d like to see you here at headquarters,” Ray said cryptically, giving no indication of what reason he might have. It was a typical Ray power move, leaving everyone else guessing what he was thinking. I no longer got worked up about this kind of stuff.
“Be there in ten,” I told him, hanging up the phone.
When I got there, I knocked on Ray’s office and then entered, dropping into a seat opposite him. “What’s up?” I asked.
Ray stared at me for a moment. Was he hoping to see me squirm? I hadn’t done anything wrong. I kept staring coolly back at him until Ray’s expression became the ghost of a grin. It was a little routine that he and I had had, for as long as I could remember now. Ever since I’d been a cocky little shit of a teenager.
“Cameron told me about yesterday,” Ray said. “About how you treated Lex’s nephew.”
“Just to clarify, I didn’t know that he was Lex’s nephew when I pounded his head into the table,” I said. The last thing I needed was for Ray to think that I had already disobeyed his orders to wait for the signal before going after the Unknowns. If he thought that was what had happened, he’d shorten my leash, keep me watched, and that would make taking that next step even more difficult.
But Ray waved my words away. “Cameron made it clear that neither of you knew what was going on. And that Pete looked to you for help in the situation,” he said. “But he also made it clear that whoever the nephew’s friend was, he was certain that Lex would be coming after you now.”
“He doesn’t know that I’m Red Eyes, or at least I don’t think he does,” I said. I shrugged. “They didn’t seem to have any idea what they were dealing with yesterday. Just some dumb kids.”
“Be that as it may, I’d rather not wait to see what Lex’s next move is,” Ray said.
I blinked, wondering if I had heard him correctly. If I didn’t know better, it sounded like he was suggesting that it was time for Red Eyes to make a move on the Unknowns before we gathered any more information.
Sure enough, when Ray continued, he left no doubt about it. “I want you to take the twins with you,” he said. “I assume you know where the Unknowns’ hideout is?”
“Yeah,” I said. One of my guys had told me that information months ago. It was part of why I’d been raring to go after the fuckers, especially after they’d disrespected us by going through our clubhouse and destroying the place. We should have done the same to them.
Not that their place was anything like ours. Where ours was a proper clubhouse, theirs was definitely a hideout. Hidden up above one of the local businesses, in a place that used to be a yoga studio. It had fallen into disrepair years ago, and half the windows were boarded up. I’d gone by to check it out a couple times, and nothing had changed about it, at least not from what I could see. It was still just a shithole on the edge of the city. They weren’t ready to make their presence known. Not really.
“I want you to take the twins,” Ray repeated, more firmly this time. “The last thing I need is you heading over there by yourself. We don’t know how many people are involved in their gig. You have no idea what you might be walking into. Do you understand me?”
“Yeah, I understand you,” I said. It was a simple enough lie; I did understand him, but it didn’t mean that I was going to listen to him. I had no intention of taking Braxton and Landon over with me. I had no intention of putting myself into a situation where I needed additional muscle as backup.
Besides, they would just hinder me. One person could watch a place without arousing suspicion. Throw three big biker dudes on the sidewalk opposite the place, and people were going to notice. I was already formulating a plan, and it was one that would be easy enough to carry out on my own. I didn’t need the twins, and I didn’t want them either.
But I wasn’t about to tell Ray that. Instead, I let him believe I would do as he said and bring the twins. Otherwise, he might rescind his agreement to let me do what I wanted with the Unknowns. Which would just be a shame now that I already had the beginnings of a plan.
That evening, I waited outside the Unknowns’ hideout. I’d long since figured out that they tended to meet up there on Friday nights before going out to the bars. And that night was no different. I watched them stream out in clumps, a surprising number of people. They had to be letting friends in as well; these couldn’t all be members of their wannabe MC.
As I’d suspected, there was one straggler, the guy who shut the lights off, the last guy to come down the stairs. He paused and fumbled with the keys, locking the place up while the others went on ahead. He’d run to catch up to them in a minute. He wasn’t one of the guys from the previous day, and I didn’t recognize him. But he had the look of one of the guys from the Unknowns. Runty, as far as enforcers went, but with plenty of tattoos and a grizzled face and beard.
But for right now, it was just the two of us. I darted across the street and used my forearm to slam him forward against the door so that his face was pressed tight against the metal. “What’s the plan?” I asked him immediately, not wasting time on establishing who he was or who I was. If his buddies noticed that he was lagging too far behind, they might get curious, and they might come back for him. I planned to be long gone before that could happen.
“What plan?” the dude had the gall to spit.
“With the Unknowns,” I said impatiently. “What’s your next move? What are you fuckers planning?”
I wasn’t expecting the sudden flash of a knife. It had materialized from somewhere, his pocket maybe, a nifty little switchblade. He reached back and managed to drag a long cut down the forearm that wasn’t pressed against his shoulder blades. It hurt, but I immediately went into fight mode, bringing my knee up between his legs and then sweeping his feet out from under him, effectively sending him sprawling.
I kicked him hard, first in the gut and then in th
e head, a kick designed to take him out. Just before he dropped off into unconsciousness, though, I leaned down, grabbing the collar of his shirt. “If you know what’s good for you,” I growled, “you’ll tell the others to back off. Leave Red Eyes alone, and don’t fuck with our territory.”
His eyes fluttered shut. I could only hope he had heard me.
To be honest, I was kicking myself. I shouldn’t have lost my temper like that. I should have gotten more out of him. I was never going to be able to run this same plan again; they’d know what could happen now, and they’d be more careful. I should have gotten him to talk about plans.
But I still couldn’t believe the fucker had drawn a knife on me. It was yet another in the string of plays that the Unknowns made that showed their cowardice. They weren’t willing to play by the rules, to throw down for a fair fight. The slimy bastards.
I gave the dude another kick in the gut and then turned and stalked off, slipping into the shadows before he could wake up or his mates could come looking for him. I needed a beer. I needed to regroup and figure out what my next course of action should be.
I should have gotten more out of him. The thought just kept playing over and over in my mind, and my mood grew increasingly sour every time.
When I got back to a better part of town, I finally looked down at the cut on my arm. It was pretty long. Jagged, no doubt because of the angle the guy had come at me from. And it was surprisingly deep. Now that I had turned my attention to it, it stung like fucking fire, and it just made me even angrier. I had to take a couple deep breaths to calm myself down.