When we walked in the house, Tony’s ma and my ma were helping Ms. Maddie get set up at one end of the couch. The three women’s eyes turned toward the entranceway when we entered the room. And I never wanted to take a picture so bad as I watched in amusement as our mas walked up and began hugging the huge tough men standing in the living room. The looks on their faces were priceless.
“Kink, get over here and give this injured woman a hug, son,” Ms. Maddie was getting stronger with every day that passed by. The woman never gives up, and the only one of the parents to call Kevin by Kink. Said it had to do with her being a hipster. I chuckle just thinking about that. But if we could give her the knowledge that her shooter had been found it would help more. I just hoped Hector kept his part of the bargain and it would happen in less than a week.
I laughed when Kink stood back up from hugging Ms. Maddie and she looked toward the other men, “Well, just ‘cause I was injured doesn’t mean I can’t have some hugs from some hot younger men.” Each man went to her, and I swear I thought their cheeks held a tint of red when they were done.
“Brant, why are you chuckling?” Tony asked and looked back at Brant who stood behind both of us as though hiding. I knew the young man wasn’t shy and no way he was intimidated around the other men.
“Dudes,” he whispered and looked at us, “I’ve been dealing with this for a week, it’s just nice someone else is getting it for a change.” Tony and I chuckled and so did our dads. The kid would have to be around a lot longer to catch up with the stuff we have endured from the women in this room.
“Please, grow up with my ma, then tell me something I don’t know,” Tony said.
Anthony Sr. slapped his son on the back and laughed, “You didn’t turn out so bad.”
And he was right, our moms could make most grown men cringe but deep down everything they did they did with love. If it meant they had to invade every part of your life to show it, they did it with no apologies.
Everyone found a seat in the living room and I weighed telling the folks what was going to take place this week but I don’t know why I bothered.
“Okay, Fin, you and Tony fill us in on everything we don’t know. Reilly and Anthony Sr. will be going to the fight and there be no argument about that. And get that expression off your faces. They told us about the fight but didn’t know much else. So you boys spill. Before you start, Sonia, Madeline, and I want to tell Kink and the others that we appreciate them making the trip to give back up.” I looked at my mom as she spoke and I should have known nothing ever did get by these women. Well shit.
When I looked at my dad, he just shrugged, no help there. And Tony’s dad?
“Really, Dad?” Tony said. His dad just smiled and said nothing. No help there either.
“Fine, we will tell you everything we know. But before we do, this will be followed and there will be no argument as you so often say, Ma. Maxi and Numbers will watch you women, because we are taking no chances on what Hector or anyone he is associated with will do. So protection you got, deal with it. Brant, you will stay here too with the women. Maxi and Numbers will probably need help with them and you don’t need to be near the fight after what happened to you,” I said and looked at our moms and Ms. Maddie and to my surprise no one argued, so between Tony and I we continued. Telling them everything we knew up to that point. Through it all they listened and no one interrupted. If all was as easy as this, no doubt everything was going to work out great.
Tony
We talked a little longer with the parents and Ms. Maddie, and I was surprised how each handled the information Fin and I dumped on them. They were of course worried about Brooklyn but they also agreed we could handle her protection with ease. They even agreed to gather at Fin’s parents’ house so everyone would be in one place each day and they could watch out for each other.
My mother even seemed to be taken by Maxi. I’d heard her ask him a dozen times how it got that name and finally he told her. Instead of being embarrassed, my mom went on the defense, telling Kink that was plain mean of the club to label him with a feminine hygiene product.
It took everything the men had not to laugh out loud, but Maxi sat with his arms over his chest acting smug as my mother went on and on defending him.
“Really, Maxi? Hiding behind Tony’s mom,” Raven said when the moms helped Ms. Maddie back upstairs to lay down.
“I told you women loved me. Doesn’t matter what age they are?” Maxi said.
“Son, you are going to have to grow a hell of a lot more to deal with a woman like my Sonia. I’m still not old enough myself for her,” my dad said and we all laughed.
“Tony, your mom is a lovely woman, why do you give her a hard time. I’ve been sitting beside her talking and she has been as sweet as the taste of a virgin pus—”
“Maxi, don’t finish that statement,” Kink growled.
“Tasted a lot of those have you, son?” Anthony Sr. asked.
“Dad, please don’t encourage him? He is like feeding a stray dog, he will keep coming back,” I said, and the guys laughed.
“You are just jealous that your mother likes me,” Maxi said.
I laughed, “We will see by the end of the week if you still think that is a great thing.”
“Dude,” Brant hadn’t spoken a whole lot so him addressing one of the men showed he was getting comfortable around them. “I’m with Tony, I’m eighteen and today when I came in from school, she made me a snack,” Brant looked at my dad and my dad looked back at Brant, nodded and smiled.
“So, doesn’t sound like a bad life, she fixed you a snack,” Maxi said. Oh, if he only knew, I smiled.
“Yeah, it wasn’t the snacks, it was the talk she wanted to have that had her giving me the snack. The Birds and the Bees, man,” Brant finished and we all laughed. That was my mother, you always waited for the other shoe with her.
“Well, we better be going, I promised Brook we would bring dinner home when we brought the guys home,” Fin said and we stood, preparing to leave.
We’d reached the door when the moms came downstairs and everyone was giving their goodbyes.
“Mrs. Roark, I will see you tomorrow when I start my protection assignment,” Maxi said and hugged my mom. The man was playing with fire and had no clue.
“Oh wait, that reminds me, I have something to show you I’ll be right back.” It didn’t take her long to get back and in her hand she held a fucking Taser.
“Ma, what the fuck!” I yelled, then turned to my dad, “WTF, Dad!” My dad had spent most of his life smiling and this was no different. The men stood around watching the play-by-play. I asked myself again, why me?
“I had a friend give this to me. Now, I know you think we need someone here, but I think maybe you need Maxi more than we do. I can protect myself and everyone else too,” she said, looking down at the buttons, “You can take them down for the count on high or just take them down for a few seconds on stun. It is a cool little gadget you know, I was going to buy them for everyone.”
“Ma, don’t touch those buttons and give me that thing,” I said, the woman had no clue what a Taser could do.
“Leave your mother alone, man. She’s not hurting nothing,” Maxi said, then moved toward her, stopping in front of her. “You need some help, Ms. Roark?”
“No thank you, here it is.” And that was all she got out as we watched Maxi hit the ground. A pin could have been heard hitting the ground, no one spoke, we just stared down at Maxi.
“Oh dear, that was the engage button, thank God it was only set on stun,” she said, still looking at the Taser. I fought the laughter as she leaned over Maxi, “Is it normal to see only the whites in a man’s eyes when he has been tased, it seems a little weird.” The silence was gone as I doubled over and laughter filled the house. Yeah, Maxi got his first lesson with Sonia Roark.
It didn’t take long for Maxi to come around and less time for him to say he was fine and able to ride his bike to our house. When we got outside away
from the parents, he asked if Brook had a Taser.
Fin and I got in the truck laughing when we heard Numbers as he got on his bike. “Brothers, I’m not sure I want to help Maxi here.”
Things would get back to normal and we would get to start our future with Brook, it was just going to take a step at a time. But as I laughed I thought with friends backing you, there was nothing that couldn’t be done. Fin must have been thinking on the same lines as me because when I looked over at him, he gave a quick glance before looking back to the road, “Yeah, we are lucky bastards.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Brooklyn
Last night had been awesome, and the only reason I was back to work was because the guys had been happy to have the backup of the Warriors. I trusted Tony and Fin but I was worried about them. I had to admit, I was glad these guys were taking their back.
When my boss called last night and asked if it was possible for me to come back to work the next day, if even for a few hours, I had said yes without asking. This led to a fight, but it was one I won. The guys were going to have to suck it up, I know the stuff going on was important, but so was my job. I really couldn’t afford to lose too much time or I could lose my job. Of course, they had said it didn’t matter, which pissed me the heck off and caused me to lose my temper a little.
Needless to say, the guys had slept in another room last night, they needed to learn they couldn’t bully me into doing everything they wanted. They didn’t even see my tattoo, which I was glad about, if they had, I certainly wouldn’t be here right now. They would have locked me up, at least that is what Kink said.
I smiled at my co-worker and then went into my office. It was good to be back at work, even if I had a babysitter of sorts. I got a ride to and from work, and wasn’t supposed to leave the secure building. Thank goodness it was Mel who was still on leave, I planned on doing just a little detour tonight to run across the street to the lingerie shop and pick something up for the guys. I had already asked Mel, and she said it would be fine as long as it was quick. It would be, I already called and had what I wanted set aside, all I had to do was walk in and pay.
“Hey, Brooklyn,” my boss said from the doorway. I smiled. Mr. Fredrick was a nice man, almost like a grandfather. He was retiring next year and I was already slotted to move up the ladder once he did, taking over as one of the lead accountants for the bigger accounts. It would mean a pay raise and also I would have a secretary. It may sound dumb, but I was looking forward to having someone file all the documents. I hated that.
“John,” I said with a smile. He had insisted my second day I use his first name, this was why I loved this place, they weren’t stiff and obnoxious. They were nice normal people, they didn’t get shot at, they were too boring for that.
“I am so glad you are back, how is your mother?” he asked. See, this was what I was talking about, people in New York got a bad rap, we were not all rude and uncaring. Heck no, we were busy and focused but we learned how to stop and pay attention when needed. This was why I loved this town.
After I filled John in on what was going on he left me to my work. I sighed and looked at the large pile of paperwork and dug in. For the next few hours, I did catching up, and fielded questions from co-workers about Mom. By the time lunch rolled around I was ready for a much needed break.
I knew I wasn’t able to leave the building, the guys had made it clear for safety I had to follow the rules or I would have someone on me all the time. They were so cute when they got all demanding and bossy. I picked up my purse from the drawer and walked out of my office. One of my co-workers yelled at me to wait for a few minutes while he shut down his computer and then we went down to the lobby of the building.
I loved my office building, on the first floor the entire thing held a food court. The perfect part was the food court was in the secured section of the building. Kurt babbled about how much work he had, blah blah blah. I forgot how much he could talk.
“So now I have an extra client that is so high maintenance he calls me every day,” Kurt said and I wanted to pull my hair out already. “Hey look, Mr. Volt is back.”
I stopped and looked out the courtyard where my favorite burrito cart was. Mr. Volt had been absent for the last few months much to my disappointment. According to another vendor, his wife had been sick and he stopped working to take care of her. I bit my lip and then looked at Kurt who was already moving to the doors.
It was right outside the doors where the security people could see, and was in full view of a ton of people. Nothing could happen to me there. I followed Kurt to the doors and then paused, looking around to make sure I didn’t see anyone out of place. I walked back and whispered to the security guard where I was going since I already knew that Mel had talked with them this morning. At least when I got yelled at I would be able to say I took some precautions.
I stepped out of the doors and walked to the cart where Kurt was already waiting in line. Mr. Volt was very popular and yes, the line was a bit long. Kurt turned and nodded to me.
“He is busy probably ‘cause everyone in the building had been whining for the last few months about not having his amazing burritos.” Kurt laughed. It was true though, the older man’s wife cooked the meat, and the green chili used was mouth-watering and I sometimes got more than one to put in the refrigerator for dinner.
I glanced around while I waited, I still didn’t see anything out of place. One more person got their food and I moved up another few steps when I felt someone brush up against my back. There was sharp poke in my neck and before I could scream things began to get a little blurry.
The last thing I remembered was an arm sliding around my waist holding me up, and Kurt and Mr. Volt screaming at whoever was behind me, dragging me away from the line. Great, I thought, I was so going to be in trouble for this.
Fin
I moved around the ring and studied the biker who was challenging me. The other guys at the gym would have made good sparing partners, but Poke was a dirty fighter, and I knew that Hector was going to be dirty as well. So when the man had suggested I spar with him. I had taken him up on it.
Poke was taller than Hector but no less lethal, I thought as I watched the way he studied me as well. We circled each other and then I saw it, his weak area, and I struck. I caught the man off guard for a second, but it wasn’t nearly long enough to do any damage. Poke adjusted and then struck out at me. I grinned when I realized he had found my weak point as well. Although I already knew what he would see, and I compensated for it.
I was focused, and so was Poke when suddenly Easy was in the ring with us, it surprised both of us. We were both sweating since we had been at this for a while. I pulled out my mouth guard, “What’s up?”
“Tony just got a call, someone took Brook,” Easy said grimly.
“Fuck,” I yelled and got out of the ring. Not bothering to remove the tape on my hands, I went directly to the stairs and was in Tony’s office in a second, with both Easy and Poke behind me.
Tony was yelling into the phone and I had to wait for him to get off.
“Fucking right, get more patrols in the South Bronx, that is where he had to have taken her,” Tony snapped. “I don’t care who you have to pull, if you don’t do it I will send my men out, and then call the Chief and tell him one of his commanders didn’t think a kidnapping was important enough to provide extra men for. Especially when it is Ms. Maddie’s daughter, and the Chief sits on the Board of Southside Haven.” He was silent for a second, “Yeah you do that.”
He hung up the phone and looked at me and shook his head. “Right now, we don’t know much, Mel is getting witnesses gathered so we can question them when we get there. I called the Chief and he gave us a little leeway since we have been investigating Hector and Manny. Since the cops can’t seem to get anything on them, the Chief is hoping we will be able to. Mace had followed Hector to the gym this morning. When Brook was taken, he went inside to ch
eck if Hector was still in there. A window upstairs was opened to the back and the dumpster was pushed under the window.”
I nodded and said, “Let’s go, fill me in on the way.”
The guys all followed as I moved quickly to the SUV. I needed to get there fast before I exploded. “Tell me.”
“According to the guards, Brook asked them to watch her while she stepped outside and grabbed her lunch from a cart right outside the main door. The guard said he was watching her closely since Mel told him about the situation. There was another office worker with her when she was taken. But everything happened too fast, there was a van right there with its side door open and the guy just dragged her and then threw her in,” Tony said grimly.
“Why did she leave the building?” I snapped. “She knew she was supposed to stay inside.”
Tony sighed. “According to the office worker, the man who ran the cart had been gone for a few months because his wife was sick. Today was his first day back.”
I growled. “And Brooklyn of course wanted to say hi and check on the wife because that is how she is.”
“Yep,” Tony said and I shook my head.
“Damn it,” I snapped.
The drive seemed to take forever, but when we finally arrived I could see there was still a flurry of activity around the outside of the building. That meant the witnesses had not left yet, which was a good thing. We needed a description.
I got out of the SUV practically before it stopped and spotted Mel who was talking to an older gentleman. It must be the cart owner. I moved directly for them as Mel lifted her head and saw me and nodded.
“Mr. Volt,” Mel said softly. “This is Fin O’Malley; he is Brooklyn’s boyfriend.”
“Oh my,” the man sighed. “I am so sorry, I tried to stop him but it was too fast. Brooklyn is a sweet young woman, did you know when my wife became ill, she sent a week’s worth of frozen meals for me so I wouldn’t have to cook. She is just so caring; why would anyone want to hurt her?”
Vengeance: MMA/Ink Romance (KO Ink Book 1) Page 20