by Blair Grey
It wouldn’t have surprised me, but Cameron didn’t show any signs of having been roughed up. And besides, he would probably go to Ray if that was the case, rather than coming to me. Ray might be keeping the peace vow at the moment, but if he found out that one of the Unknowns had jumped Cameron, of all people, he would be livid. That could be the match that finally ignited his fury and turned his careful planning into calls for action.
But I couldn’t think of anything else that could have him so edgy. I hoped I was just reading him wrong, that there was nothing abnormal about the way he was acting. Maybe I was reading too much into his body language.
I knew that was wishful thinking, though.
“What have you been up to this week?” Cameron asked once we had placed our orders.
“You mean with the Unknowns?” I asked. I grimaced. “Nothing since last Friday night, and I didn’t exactly get much out of them then, either.”
“Yeah, Ray mentioned that,” Cameron said.
“I just can’t think of where to go from here,” I complained. “It would be easy enough if it was the whole club taking a stand against them, but when it’s just me, it limits what I can do. I’m not suicidal.”
“Didn’t Ray tell you to take the twins with you?” Cameron asked.
“I’m not suicidal,” I repeated. “I’m not walking into their hideout with just the twins to guard my back. Will, maybe. Or Ray. But not the twins.”
Cameron snorted. “How’s your arm?” he asked, gesturing at the bandages I still had wrapped around it.
“Healing,” I told him. I thought about telling him about my date the following evening, but I decided against it. Cameron and I didn’t exactly have that kind of relationship. We were friendly enough, sure. And I knew he wouldn’t make it all about sex like the twins would. But there was just something strange about telling him that I was headed out on a date with the sexiest woman in the city.
Especially since she had made it very clear that this was only a date, no hanky-panky included. I was still hoping I could change her mind on that, but if I couldn’t, I actually didn’t really care. I liked spending time with her, and I was looking forward to our date as much for the conversation as for other things.
It was weird. I pushed those thoughts aside as our food arrived, fresh and hot.
“We’ve got a problem,” Cameron finally said as the waitress retreated behind the counter.
“Oh?” I asked. “You mean something other than the Unknowns.”
Cameron grimaced. “Well, it’s all part and parcel of the same problem,” he admitted.
“What have they done now?” I asked, on edge again. Maybe they really had gone after Cameron.
“Relax,” Cameron said. “It’s nothing new. I just finally figured out the reason Ray has been so cautious when it comes to making a move on them.”
“Because he’s too gentrified to think that violence is the answer?” I suggested.
Cameron snorted. “I know I don’t know him as well as you do, but Ray hardly seems gentrified to me.” He shook his head. “I think Ray is really worried that the wrong move could be the end of Red Eyes.”
“Because of the new sheriff?” I asked in confusion.
“No, because of the way that the Unknowns are coming after us,” Cameron said. He shook his head. “They’re not coming after us with their fists. They’re not trying to fight us off our territory. What they’re doing is a lot subtler than that.”
“Ransacking our clubhouse wasn’t exactly subtle,” I said, not understanding what Cameron was getting at.
“Right, but that wasn’t an attempt to get us off our territory,” Cameron said, his eyes gleaming. “We knew when they did that that what they were really trying to do was discredit us in the eyes of local businesses. They wanted to embarrass us. They wanted to make things awkward for us.”
He lowered his voice and leaned in closer. “There are local businesses that are threatening to stop paying because of the pressure being applied from the Unknowns and the new sheriff.”
I blinked at him in surprise. “This is news to me,” I said. I paused. “What kind of pressure are the Unknowns putting on them anyway?”
“Remember when you and Will went to that new mercantile to make sure the new owner knew that he had to pay up?” Cameron said. “Only when you got there, the guy told you that the Unknowns had already been through there and demanded that the guy pay them instead? Apparently, they’re doing more of the same of that, only they’re swinging through businesses that have already been paying us for years, telling them that there’s a new top dog in town and that there’ll be consequences if they don’t change who they’re paying.”
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. It made a lot of sense, really. They didn’t just want to lay claim to the city; they wanted all the perks that came along with having Las Cruces in their pockets. I shook my head. “But surely no one is going to buy that. They know what we can do. There’s loyalty to us.”
“I don’t know,” Cameron said flatly. He paused. “If things keep going the way that they have been, Red Eyes will be out of money by the end of the year.”
“What?” I asked in surprise. “Didn’t Ray just say on Monday that we’re doing better than ever? He wasn’t lying to us, was he?”
Cameron grimaced. “He doesn’t want you guys to think this is a sinking ship, and I can’t blame him for that. And part of me thinks that he doesn’t want to think of it that way either. The truth is we’re barely scraping by at the moment. We’re paying salaries, and we’re paying back a little bit of the debt to Will every month, but that’s it. We’re not making a profit.”
“Shit,” I murmured, thinking about that. Of course, if Ray was trying to hide how much trouble we were in, he wasn’t going to quit paying Will back. That would only worry everyone. But it felt like he was driving things into the ground. “Doesn’t that mean that now, more than ever, we need to act?”
“The trouble is, I don’t think Ray knows how to act,” Cameron said, shaking his head. “If we go after the Unknowns with our fists, the sheriff will get involved, and that’ll be the end of Red Eyes. He’s already made it clear he’s not on our side. If we go after our businesses to try to convince them to keep paying up, we’re going to make other enemies around town. They’ll start to resent us, and then it’ll be an easy matter for some other MC to sweep them all into their protection.”
“But if we don’t do anything, we’re bankrupt within the year,” I said. “That has to count for something.”
“It does,” Cameron agreed. “It means that Ray wants to make sure he makes the perfect move when the time is right. Whatever it might be.”
I shook my head. “That’s bullshit,” I said.
Cameron shrugged. “Be that as it may, that’s the way things are.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to take care of this,” I growled, my hand clenching on the table. “I’m going to make sure those Unknowns stop fucking around with our business. Once and for all.”
I didn’t have a plan, not yet, but this made me positive that I needed to form one. Now. Even if it meant I ended up injured, I couldn’t turn my back on my family, on the MC that had practically raised me. I had to take action.
“Hey,” Cameron said. “Just don’t do anything too stupid, okay? The last thing we need is the sheriff locking you up while the Unknowns are still a threat to us.”
I grinned at him, showing all my teeth. “You underestimate me,” I told him.
“Good,” Cameron said, and I could hear the challenge in his voice. There was a reason he had brought this information to me. He trusted me to do something about it. And I was going to do something about it. There was no other way.
12
Leila
Friday
I went over to Rachel’s house for dinner on Friday night and kept Gavin occupied while Rachel put the finishing touches on the meal. “All right, you two, go wash up,” Rachel finally said, putting he
r hands on her hips with mock sternness, even as she was smiling down at us.
“You heard her, bug,” I said to Gavin, hoisting him into my arms and marching him off to the bathroom while he giggled and twisted in an attempt to get away from me. We got all washed up and then went back to the other room for dinner.
“Looks and smells amazing, as always,” I told Rachel.
She snorted. “You only say that because if I left you to your own devices at home, you’d be having a TV dinner on the couch,” she said. Speaking of which, she led Gavin over to his special seat near the TV and got him settled in with a small plate of food. Sometimes he joined us at the table for dinner, but he got pretty bored of listening to Rachel and I chitchat, so this was a way for us to have a little girl time while he still was entertained.
“Not true!” I said and grinned. “Only because I still have some of that frozen lasagna that you sent home with me a couple weeks ago.”
She rolled her eyes, but I could tell she was amused. “So what’s new anyway?” she asked as she dished out salad, mashed potatoes, and salmon. “How was your week?”
“It was good,” I told her. “Work was good. Busy enough to keep me on my toes.”
“Meaning you’re exhausted, and you’re going to spend your next day off hermitted away in your apartment?”
I laughed. “Probably. Although I don’t feel too bad at the moment.” The truth was, I was too keyed up to be exhausted.
“Anything new going on?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah, actually.” I paused. “I’ve really been thinking about having a child.”
“That’s not new,” Rachel said, sounding exasperated. “You’ve been thinking about having a child since before I had Gavin.”
“And you having him just cemented my desire to have one,” I joked.
“Like I said, this is nothing new. Unless you’re telling me that you have a man in your life that I don’t know about and that the two of you are getting serious.”
I laughed. “Nah, I just finally did some real research into artificial insemination,” I told her. “I have an appointment for a consultation and everything.”
Rachel gaped at me. “You’re not serious, are you?”
“Uh yeah, I am,” I said, frowning at her. “Why?”
“I just think it’s a horrible idea,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “I read a couple stories.”
“Uh-oh,” I said, shaking my head. Sometimes, I thought Rachel had a little too much time on her hands, even though she spent so much of her time being a mom. She read some of the most sensationalist bullshit that was out there. Absolute garbage clickbait. And she believed a lot of it.
“Look, I’m not saying that everything you read on the internet is true, but just think for a minute,” she said impatiently. “What kind of person goes in to donate sperm at those clinics? What if you get the daddy DNA of a murderer or something like that?”
“I doubt they let murderers go into sperm banks, jizz into a cup, and then bring them back to the state penitentiary,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“What if he hasn’t committed the crime yet, but he does later?” Rachel pressed. “I mean, there’s something to be said about a guy who wants to leave a legacy that badly that he’s willing to go whack off into a cup, isn’t there?”
“Maybe he just wants to help women who can’t get pregnant any other way,” I suggested.
“Or maybe he’s a fucking weirdo,” Rachel said. Then, she glanced over at Gavin, covering up her mouth. It was a mark of how against this she was that she had dropped the f-bomb in front of her kid.
I shook my head, though. “Look, I’m just going in to talk about my options. It’s not like anything’s going to happen just yet. And sometimes it takes women years to conceive babies. Even if I decide that this is something that I want to do, it’s not like I’m going to pop out the kid tomorrow.”
“I know,” Rachel sighed. “And I’m sorry to be so against it. I just don’t want you to have a little monster on your hands.”
“Then I’ll just have to raise him to be just like Gavin,” I said, winking at her in an attempt to lighten the mood.
But she shook her head. “I guess I also just want to keep believing that one day you’re going to find the right man and fall in love and that’s when you’re going to have those babies of yours. Hopefully that’ll happen soon enough anyway.”
I didn’t want to tell her that I had pretty much given up on the idea of that ever happening. Let her keep her fantasy. It was harmless enough, anyway. She’d come around to the idea of artificial insemination if that was really what I wanted to do. She’d probably want to help me choose which sperm donor to go with.
For now, I’d throw her a little bone.
“Speaking of falling in love, I actually have a date tomorrow night,” I told her. I regretted the words the moment they were out of my mouth. God, what awkward phrasing. “I mean, not that I’m falling in love with him. I barely even know the guy. And he’s attractive, but that doesn’t mean I’m planning on falling in love with him, either.”
Rachel looked excited. “Who is he?” she asked. “How did you meet? Oh, that’s such good news!”
I rolled my eyes, but I was grinning as well. “His name is Marcus. I met him at the hospital.”
“He’s a doctor?” Rachel asked, looking like she might swoon.
“Nope,” I said, shaking my head.
“Or a nurse,” she said hurriedly. “I know there aren’t really those gender barriers anymore. Or a lab tech? Who is he?”
“He was a patient, actually. Twice.” Although at the time I’d been absolutely exasperated with the way he was wasting my time and hospital resources, I couldn’t deny that I was happy Marcus had come in to see me with those “chest pains” of his. He was bold; I had to give him that.
But Rachel looked concerned. “He’s not dying, is he?”
“No, he’s not dying,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He came in on Friday night because he got cut.” I wasn’t about to tell her with what or how severely. The last thing I needed was for her to worry about me. If she knew that he had been in a position to be cut that badly with a knife, she would swear up and down that he must be involved in some sort of gang or something. Or that he was a drug dealer.
Even though I knew getting involved with Marcus was a terrible idea, I just wanted to have this one date with him without having to worry about all of that. I wanted to have a little fun. There was something flattering about being desired by someone who was so damned sexy.
“And the second time he came in, he wasn’t actually injured or sick, he just wanted to get my number,” I said before Rachel could ask any questions.
She giggled. “That’s awesome!” she said. She shook her head. “I’m so happy for you. Where’s he taking you?”
“I don’t know yet,” I told her. “He texted me to tell me that he’s still debating where to take me. But he hinted that it’s going to be somewhere nice and that I should put on a nice dress for it.”
“I told you, you should have bought those heels you were looking at,” Rachel chided. “What are you going to wear?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t even know how to date anymore. It feels like it’s been forever.”
“That’s because it has been,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes. “We’ll go through my closet after dinner. Maybe I have something that’ll work.”
“When was the last time you wore anything fancy?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow.
“You know I go to a lot of receptions and things with Victor.”
“True,” I said. “But I’m not looking for something businesslike.”
“I know,” Rachel said. She paused and then blushed. “Actually, I still have a ton of old stuff, hot stuff, from when we were in college. I just couldn’t bring myself to get rid of some of it. It’s got memories, you know?”
I laughed and shook my head. “You pack rat,” I chided. But inwardly, I
was relieved that she might have something for me. I had gotten rid of most of my impractical clothing ages ago. If I couldn’t wear it to work and I couldn’t wear it around the house and it wasn’t comfortable enough for day-to-day outings like getting coffee or going to the park with Rachel, then it wasn’t worth taking up space in my closet with.
Now, I kind of regretted that I’d had that mentality. I wasn’t sure that I had anything fancy left, not even a simple black dress.
“We’ll sort you out,” Rachel promised me. Then, she grinned wickedly at me. “We’ll get you in the kind of outfit where he just has to agree to be your sperm donor.”
“Not going to happen,” I said cheerfully.
“Uh-oh, isn’t he attractive?” Rachel asked. “This isn’t just one of those pity dates, is it?”
“I would never do that!” I protested.
“I don’t know… You have that whole thing about helping people and making them feel better. I don’t know where you draw the line.”
I shook my head. “He’s super attractive,” I admitted. “He’s got an incredible body. When he took his shirt off, it was—”
“When he took his shirt off?” Rachel interrupted. “Why did he take his shirt off? Have the two of you already, you know, done it?”
“No!” I said, shocked she would even ask that.
“Just checking,” Rachel said. “I’ve seen those Hollywood movies. The ones with the sexy nurse and the hot patient.”
“Are you sure those weren’t pornos?” I quipped.
“Hey, not in front of the kid!” Rachel said, even though Gavin was clearly still involved in watching his show. She laughed and shook her head. “Just, why have you seen him shirtless already? Was it one of those weird guy things, to get you to agree to go out with him?”
I giggled. “No, of course not. I wouldn’t have gone out with him if so. But the second time he came in, he was complaining of chest pains, so I had to hook him up to all the machines.”
“Of course you did,” Rachel said, sounding amused. “So tell me again why you’re not interested in having sex with him?”