by Blair Grey
Bill leaned forward, putting both his hands flat on his desk. “When I ran for this office, I promised the people that we were going to clean things up around here,” he said. “Some people call me a hard nose. And you know what? They’re right. I’m a stickler for the rules. I’m all about sticking up for the little person, the local business owners. The people that you cheat out of hard-earned money every month.”
Ray was silent, and I could practically see the gears turning in his head. Bill seemed to have no interest in even listening to us, and I tried to figure out why he had even agreed to this meeting. There had to be some sort of motive behind it.
“I’m going to bring your MC to the ground,” the sheriff hissed. He paused. “That is, if the Unknowns don’t beat me to it.”
There it was: our reason. I started to stand, already ready for a fight. What a no-good, lying scumbag. He’d been elected promising that he would clean up the city, and what he really meant was that he was going to get rid of us, the Red Eyes. But he was a member of the Unknowns, I was sure of it. He meant to clean us out, under the guise of strict, lawful behavior, so that he could leave space for the Unknowns to walk right in.
Before I could call the two-timing fucker on it, though, Ray put a hand on my shoulder, holding me in my seat. “Well, we’ll just have to let time tell,” he said coolly. “See how good of a sheriff you really are.”
Nothing to give away any sort of emotion, even though he must be just as pissed as I was. There was a stare-off for a moment, there in the office, before Ray got to his feet. “Again, Sheriff, thanks for taking the time to meet with us. Hope you have a nice day.”
With that, he strode out of there. I gave Bill one last venomous look, debating jumping the guy on my own now that Ray was out of the office, but if there was one thing that was sure to bring the feds down on our heads, it was murdering the new local sheriff. I stalked out after Ray.
As soon as I hit the pavement, I angrily rolled my sleeves up. It was so damned hot, and my blood was raging for a fight, but the look in Ray’s eyes stopped me.
“What the hell happened to your arm?”
I groaned inwardly. Of course there had been a reason I had worn long sleeves today. My boiling blood had distracted me, though. I shrugged, glancing away. “I’m diverting the Unknowns’ attention away from Red Eyes,” I said. It was true. “I’m getting them to focus on me instead. One person at a time.”
Ray stared at me for a long moment. “That’s the stupidest plan that I’ve ever heard,” he said. “Now, what the hell happened?”
“I swung by their place on Friday night,” I admitted. “Wreaked a little havoc. Not much, not like anything they’ve done. Just put one of their guys out cold on the doorstep to their hideout.”
Ray scowled. “And what, got yourself cut up in the process?”
“Just a scratch,” I said carelessly. “Besides, I think it’s a good idea. The more wound up I can get them, the more likely they’re gonna do something stupid, to make some mistake. And then as a group, we can go after them.”
Ray shook his head and turned around, jerking his head for me to follow him. “Marcus, you’ve been with me for a long time, but if you ever hide anything from me again, or if you ever go against my words, I swear to god that I’ll deal with you myself.”
I thought about protesting about how I didn’t need the twins with me, how their presence would have been unnecessary and how they would have distracted from what I wanted to do the other night. I didn’t want the Unknowns to think that all of Red Eyes was after them. I wanted them to fixate on me. I wanted them to circle like sharks so that we could pick them off one by one.
I didn’t need to pull Braxton and Landon into this with me.
But I knew Ray was already pissed enough, and I was lucky he wasn’t already making vows to deal with me. It was a sign of how much he trusted me, and the last thing I needed was to make him rethink that trust by complaining like a child about how unfair it was that Ray wanted the twins to come along and babysit me.
Especially since I knew he didn’t mean it that way at all. He was just trying to look out for me. He would do the same for any other member of the club. It was just Ray’s way of dealing with things.
So I nodded at him. “I’ll keep you informed of my plans in future,” I promised him. “I won’t give you a reason to come after me.”
“Good,” Ray growled, and even though I could tell he was still pretty peeved, he didn’t sound like he wanted to take my head off, or like he wanted to continue this discussion any further. I had to count that as a win.
8
Leila
Tuesday
I woke up to the doorbell ringing on Tuesday morning, and I groaned, looking over at the clock. Probably someone delivering a package or something like that. The worst thing about having an irregular schedule like mine was that the rest of the world just expected you to be on the same time schedule as them, awake when they were and asleep when they were. Now, I had finally fallen into my first really good sleep in a while, and I was getting woken up to sign for some stupid package that I didn’t even remember ordering.
Or worse, it’ll be someone wanting to do some idiotic poll, I thought as I stumbled toward the door. I didn’t bother wondering what my hair or my sleep-rumpled clothes looked like.
But it was neither package deliverer nor pollster at the door. Instead, it was Rachel and Gavin.
“What’s up?” I asked, confused. Had we made some sort of plans I had forgotten about? But it was eight-thirty in the morning. I wouldn’t have made plans for that early, especially not on a day when I wasn’t working.
“Did we wake you up?” Rachel asked, looking apologetic. “God, I’m sorry. I knew I should have called first. Or just taken him into the hospital to see whoever was on duty. But he wanted to see his Auntie Leila, and he was feeling so miserable that I gave in.”
I stepped back to let them in, shutting the door and then kneeling down next to Gavin. I knew I should assure Rachel that it was no problem, that she wasn’t bothering me, but I was already entering into crisis mode. If it was serious enough that she was considering taking him into the hospital, I had to know what was wrong with him.
He wasn’t my kid, but he still made me worried every time even the smallest sickness or injury happened to him.
“You’re feeling yucky this morning, buddy?” I asked Gavin.
He nodded his head, clinging to his mom’s hand and leaning into her leg. He was nowhere near his usually buoyant self, and I felt another stab of worry go through me.
“Can you tell me where you’re feeling yucky?” I asked.
“Just everywhere,” Gavin said, his lower lip trembling.
“Okay,” I soothed. “Shh. Is it your tummy? Is your tummy feeling yucky, like you might be sick?”
Gavin paused and then shook his head. No, it wasn’t that. He sniffled.
“Your nose?” I asked. “Are you having the sneezes and the sniffles?”
At that, Gavin nodded. Now we were getting somewhere.
“He’s running a temperature, I think,” Rachel piped up. Then she winced. “I mean, I don’t know for sure. I couldn’t find the thermometer.”
“I’ve got one, no problem,” I said, putting on a big smile all for Gavin’s sake. “Rach, why don’t you go into the kitchen? There’s some apple juice in the fridge, and I remember this little munchkin loving his apple juice. Isn’t that right, Gavin?” He nodded. “And Gavin, you go lie down on the couch, okay? Auntie Leila is just going to go get the thermometer. The good one, though. The one for your ear, not the one that goes under your tongue.”
“Okay,” Gavin whispered. His voice sounded off, and I bet he had a sore throat. Another piece of the puzzle.
Sure enough, he was running just the tiniest bit of a fever when I checked him, and between that, the sniffles, and the sore throat, it was easy enough to diagnose him.
“Nothing to be worried about,” I told Rachel. �
�Just a bit of a respiratory infection. He’ll need lots of fluids and a lot of sleep, but he’ll bounce back in no time. I’ll just write him a prescription and have it sent right over to one of the pharmacies that we partner with, I’ll give you the address, so you can get some medicine for him and he should be all set.”
Relief crossed Rachel’s face. “I’m so glad to hear that,” she said. She gave a small laugh. “I know it’s silly, but every time he’s even the slightest bit sick, I feel like, I don’t know, he’s going to die or something. That must sound stupid.”
I laughed and gave her a hug, knowing that her nerves must have been on edge all morning. “That’s not stupid at all,” I told her. “To be honest, I was pretty nervous when you guys showed up here this morning. I thought there might be something seriously wrong.”
Rachel grimaced. “I am really sorry that we woke you up.” She paused. “Why don’t I run to grab Gavin’s medicine, and I’ll stop on the way back to get muffins from the bakery on the corner? You could take a shower in the meantime.”
“What, are you saying I stink?” I joked.
“Nah, you just don’t look quite awake yet!” Rachel said.
I grinned. “You’re probably right,” I said. I glanced into the living room, but Gavin was curled up on the couch with his eyes closed even though one of his favorite cartoons was on TV. He probably wasn’t going to move anytime soon, and we had him all set up with a bell in case he needed to call for one of us. “Sounds like a plan,” I said, turning back to Rachel.
“All right, I’ll be back in a jiff,” Rachel said, already heading for the door.
Later, we sat out on my balcony eating our muffins and sipping coffee, both of our seats turned toward the open door so that we could see if Gavin made even the slightest move. But his medicine had made him sleepy, and he was pretty out of it.
“Thanks again for being here for us, always,” Rachel said softly. “I mean it, I don’t know what I would do without you most days.”
I shook my head. “It’s all you, Mama,” I told her. “You’re the one who managed to raise a perfect angel.”
“You’ll have one, too, someday,” Rachel said. “Or many, I don’t know.”
I laughed. “I’d settle for one,” I said. I couldn’t help it; the more I helped out with Gavin, the more I wanted all those special motherhood moments for myself. Sure, it was sometimes terrifying. Gavin wasn’t even mine, and I worried about him when he was sick, so I could only imagine what it was like when the real mother-bear instincts kicked in.
But at the same time, the rewards of motherhood were ten times what I could imagine, no matter how close I was to Rachel and Gavin. I knew she must be damned proud of her kid. He was a good one. And smart, too. He was already learning to read and do math and all sorts of different things.
“Got to find you a man,” Rachel said, shaking her head with a grin on her face.
For a second, I almost told her about the guy the other night at the hospital. Marcus. But I didn’t know why. Sure, I had met a man, and sure, he had been attractive. He’d also come in there with a nasty knife cut and a bad attitude. He might have charmed me by the end, but nothing was ever going to come of it. Especially because I refused to look in his file to get his phone number.
There was no reason to tell Rachel about him.
Instead, I just shrugged. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately,” I admitted. “I’m wondering if maybe it would make sense to just do it without the man.”
Rachel frowned. “I don’t think it works that way, no matter how badly you want one,” she said.
I rolled my eyes, but I had to laugh. “Remember, I’m a nurse,” I said. “I know how all of it works. But I’ve been considering artificial insemination.”
“What?” Rachel asked in shock.
I was quiet for a moment. “I’m only getting older,” I finally said. “And I’m not sure that I could ever find a man that I would be okay with being around, not for the long term. I don’t think I’m ever going to find something like what you and Victor have.”
“Oh, honey,” Rachel said sadly. “I’m sure you’re going to find the right guy someday. Someday soon, even. You’re a good person. You help others. Karma and all of that, right? The universe will sort you out.”
I grinned at her, not wanting to really bring the mood down, especially not when she was already worrying about Gavin today. “Aren’t you the one who was just saying that maybe my standards are too high?” I asked. “You can’t agree that I’m going to find the perfect man while also doubting my ability to choose the right guy for me.”
Rachel laughed and held up both hands. “Okay, maybe not,” she agreed. “But I bet you can find someone who at least fits my standards. You just have to go out and meet more guys. We still haven’t had that girls’ night that you promised me.”
I gave Gavin a pointed look, where he was still lying on my couch. “Are you about to suggest leaving your poor, sick baby boy with a babysitter in his current condition?” I asked teasingly.
Rachel smiled. “Well, maybe not,” she agreed. “But one of these days, the stars are going to align for us, and we are going out.”
“I’ve already agreed to that, so there’s no point in me promising it again,” I said, giving a jokingly aggrieved sigh.
9
Marcus
Wednesday
Even though I didn’t want to cross Ray, I was still frustrated at his lack of action on anything. It was Wednesday, and despite the veiled threat from the sheriff, despite everything we’d seen from the Unknowns, there was still no reaction. We still were doing jack shit in response. And it was still bugging me.
I spent Wednesday morning practically pacing a hole in my living room floor as I tried to think of something I could do. Ray had as much as warned me not to have anything else to do with the Unknowns without his say-so. Whatever grace period I’d had, I’d blown it. With that stupid guy outside their hideout. It still irked me that I hadn’t gotten a single piece of information out of the dude. I didn’t even know who he was or what his role was in the club.
I wondered if I approached Ray and suggested that I try again, this time promising to take the twins with me, if Ray would let me have another crack at them. But I couldn’t even start to formulate a plan there. I just didn’t want the twins to blunder into this with me, plain and simple. And if Ray trusted me, I didn’t see why I should have to take them.
I thought about calling Cameron and having another chat with him. Maybe he would see some angle that I didn’t. But I knew that if he had any plans, he would have come to me about them. If I hadn’t heard from him, it meant he was just as stumped on how to proceed as I was.
No, I needed to get Ray on my side, somehow. I needed to get him to see that violence was the only way any of this shit was going to get solved. Especially now that the sheriff wanted to root us out of town as well. But I wasn’t sure what to say to Ray to get him to agree. And I knew that if I went in there hot-headed and guns blazing, Ray was never going to listen to a word that I had to say.
I had to calm myself down first, but I couldn’t seem to do that either.
Finally, I decided that I had to get out of my apartment. I needed to pay my hospital bill as well, speaking of the Friday night incident, and since I was planning on paying in cash, what better way to do that than to walk over there and do it? It was as good a way as any to get out of the house. And maybe while I was there, I might run into Leila again.
I knew that the odds of her being on duty were pretty slim. The hospital wasn’t that small; they had to have a number of nurses working there. It wasn’t like I was hitting the same shift, either. They probably had different nurses working on Wednesday afternoons than they did on Friday evenings. What’s more, even if she was there, she’d probably be in with a client, not just hanging out where she’d see whoever was paying their bills.
I didn’t know why I cared, anyway. She had made it pretty clear that she wasn’
t wholly interested in me, and I still wasn’t sure how I had felt about that advice she’d given me. Who was she to remind me that shit was going to catch up to me if I kept involved with the kind of thing that led to me getting stabbed with a knife? Like I didn’t know that already.
But something about the way she’d worked on me told me that she did know. She had seen some shit in her time there at the hospital. She wasn’t afraid of it, either. And I liked that.
When I got to the hospital, there was no sign of her, and I felt an irrational flash of disappointment course through me even though I hadn’t expected that I might see her. I went to the desk and settled my bill. Then, as I turned around, sticking my wallet back in my pocket, there she was.
I couldn’t help the grin that broke out on my face. “Hey, Leila!” I said, waving at her.
She looked surprised to see me. Another emotion flitted across her face, too, there for just an instant, but then she settled on suspicion. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “You didn’t get yourself hurt again, did you?”
“Nope,” I said, shaking my head. Even her exasperated, almost condescending tone couldn’t dampen my spirits. “I just came to settle my bill. Are you getting off duty?”
Leila paused for a minute like she was trying to decide what to tell me. “I was just heading to lunch, actually,” she said slowly. “How’s your arm, though?”
“I’ve been taking care of it,” I promised her. “Changing the bandages and whatnot. Not getting it wet. All the good stuff.”
Leila looked like she didn’t believe me. She looked toward the doors and then sighed, beckoning toward me. “Come on, let’s have a look at it,” she said, leading me back to one of the rooms.
I smirked at her back, wondering if she was really concerned about my arm or if she just wanted to spend another couple of minutes chatting with me. I, of course, wasn’t opposed to spending all the time in the world with her. I liked our banter; I had to admit. She kept me interested in what she was going to say next, something that most of the guys from the MC failed miserably at.