Red Eyes MC: Books 1 - 3

by Grey, Blair

  Rachel shook her head, but she was giggling. Then, she gave me another of her serious looks. “How is it that you always give me such great relationship advice even though you never take any of it yourself?”

  I sighed and looked away from her. “You know why I don’t do relationships,” I told her. “I’m too busy for that stuff. And I hardly ever meet guys who even might be worthwhile.”

  “Uhn-uhn,” Rachel said. She pointed a finger at me. “I think you’ve been lying to me all these years. It’s not that you don’t have the time or that your standards are too high. It’s what you said about this guy Marcus, isn’t it? He reminds you too much of your father. Every guy reminds you too much of your father.”

  “Marcus more than most,” I muttered, even though I knew that wasn’t helping my case.

  “Oh, Leila,” Rachel said sadly. “Let me give you a little advice. Not every guy is going to be like your father. I know things were rough for you, growing up. And I know you’re glad that you don’t have anything to do with that guy anymore. I’m glad for you; he’s an ass. But not every man that you date is going to be like your father. Especially not with you as a wife. You’re smart, and you’re sexy, and you’re driven, and I bet whoever you finally allow to be your lucky man is going to get on his knees and worship you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not interested in that,” I said, but I could feel the blush spread over my cheeks as I thought back to Saturday night, with Marcus on the ground in front of me, eating me out as I leaned against the arm of the couch.

  Rachel quirked an eyebrow at me, but I shook my head. Some details were better left out, especially since it had been her shoes I was wearing and nothing else.

  “I know not every man is going to be my father,” I sighed. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m interested in sorting through to find the ones who are going to be good guys. I’d rather just skip that whole part and start a family on my own. I know I can raise a child by myself. It’ll be hard, sure. But I can do it.”

  “I never said you couldn’t,” Rachel said, but I could tell that she was still feeling sorry for me.

  “Come on, let’s stop talking about this,” I said, grabbing the folder off the table and shoving it into my bag. “Today’s supposed to be fun.”

  Rachel put her hand over mine, squeezing lightly. “I support you no matter what,” she repeated.

  I stared at her for a long moment, but I could tell she was serious. All of this was just her way of looking out for me; I knew that. I smiled back at her. “I know that,” I said quietly. “Thanks.”

  19

  Marcus

  Friday

  On Friday morning, I got to the fairgrounds slightly early. I wasn’t entirely sure what sort of equipment Leila needed help with, or even what sort of fundraiser this was. But I was eager to get into her good graces by helping out. Not to mention the fact that it was nice to have something to do with my day. Even though I had plenty of side projects, it was weird not having anything to do for Red Eyes. I’d been finding weird gaps in my schedule over the course of the week.

  I got out of my car, surprised to see that there were plenty of people already milling around the fairgrounds. I grabbed a flier off one of the tables and saw that the fundraiser was for children with cancer.

  It wasn’t much of a surprise when I thought about it. I could imagine Leila totally devoting herself to that cause, based on what I knew about her. But at the same time, I was surprised that she had asked me to come help out there.

  “Aren’t you afraid I’m going to scare all the children away?” I asked, grinning at her when I finally managed to track her down.

  Leila rolled her eyes. “Honestly, in my experience, kids are light-years ahead of the adults I know in terms of these things,” she told me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “They’re not going to take one look at your tattoos and decide you’re an arrogant ass,” she said, and I couldn’t help laughing.

  “You mean they’re not going to have the same first impression of me as you did?” I asked. “What a shame.”

  Leila grinned over at me and handed me a box. “I need you to take that over to the blue tent on the far side of the field. Get it all set up, and then I need you to man that booth for a little while. Take their money, hand them their raffle tickets, and point them in the direction of the rides and things. People should start getting here in about half an hour, so you’ll need to have it all ready to go by then. Can you do that?”

  “Uh, sure,” I said, even though I really wasn’t. “I thought you were going to have me helping out with equipment, though. Like, setting things up.”

  “Yeah, I was, but Manny, the guy who was supposed to be at the admissions tent, called in sick this morning,” Leila said impatiently. “If you don’t think you can do it, I can try to find someone else, but I’m just about at wits’ end at the moment.”

  “No problem,” I said quickly, heading off in search of the blue tent that she had referenced. The last thing I wanted was for her to get the wrong idea and think that I didn’t want to help her out. But putting me on the admissions booth didn’t sound like a very good idea to me. I was serious when I asked Leila if she was worried that people weren’t going to want to see me there. I wasn’t exactly the kind of guy people generally wanted around their children.

  In fact, I was more the kind of guy where if people saw me coming down the street toward them and their children, they would cross the street to the other sidewalk, giving me a wide berth. But I didn’t want her to panic or to tell me to just get out of there if I couldn’t handle it.

  If this was what she wanted me to do, if this was the only way I could have a chance at talking to her again, I was going to do it.

  The morning was incredibly awkward, right from the first people to arrive.

  “Hi,” the mom said, giving me a suspicious look. “Is this the carnival that the hospital is putting on?” she asked, checking the fliers like she might possibly in the wrong place.

  “Yes, it is,” I said, doing my best to be pleasant, even though I wanted to grind my teeth.

  “I see,” she said. “I was under the impression that it was being run by the people who work at the hospital.”

  “What makes you think that I don’t?” I asked, fighting the urge to fold my arms across my chest in a way that would really show off my tattoos.

  She frowned at me. “We’ll take four raffle tickets and six of the ride tickets,” she said, counting out her cash. She looked like she didn’t want to hand it to me, but I held the tickets.

  Finally, one of her kids spoke up. “Is that a pirate tattoo?” he asked, pointing at the ship that ran down one of my forearms. “That’s so neat! Did you get it because of Pirates of the Caribbean?”

  I gritted my teeth at that comment, but I decided to let it slide. “Yeah, of course,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound sarcastic.

  “Man, I want to get one of those someday,” the kid said. He was probably only seven or so, not that I was really around kids often enough to judge, but his mom didn’t look pleased. She thrust her money at me, grabbed her kid’s hand, and headed into the carnival.

  “Kill me now,” I muttered under my breath.

  But the next set of people had arrived at my table.

  “Do you work at the hospital?” one of the kids, a bored-looking punk/Goth-princess of a teenager, asked. “Can you be my doctor next time I’m in there? You look way cooler than Dr. Brown.”

  “What can you expect, with a name like Dr. Brown,” I muttered, unable to help myself. I looked up at her parents, who looked less than impressed. Jesus, I was getting shot down left and right here. Hadn’t anyone ever seen a big guy with tattoos before? Maybe I was security; did they ever think of that?

  I was starting to get peeved, but the more pissed off I got, the harder it was to hang on to those feelings of anger. Instead, I just felt deeply uncomfortable.

  The truth was, I had never really
spent much time around kids. When would I? I didn’t have any family, didn’t have friends who had kids. I didn’t volunteer at the hospital normally. I just never came into contact with anyone under the age of, oh, twenty-one? There was no reason for me to.

  Not that I had anything against them, I decided as the morning wore on. Most of the kids, at least other than the few who were frightened of me and hid behind their parents’ legs, were pretty cool. I liked that they spoke their minds. It was their parents who were the nightmares.

  “How are things going over here?” Leila asked a little after one, when things were starting to finally calm down. She sounded breathless, and her hair was sticking to her sweaty forehead. But she still somehow looked good. It was the first time I had really gotten a good look at her that day. That morning, I’d been too preoccupied with trying to find her, and the next thing I’d known, she was shoving a box of tickets and booklets and other miscellaneous things into my arms.

  She wasn’t in her scrubs today. Nor was she in a nice dress. No, she was wearing jean shorts and a plain red T-shirt, along with red canvas sneakers. She looked cute and bubbly and energetic, which I assumed was what she was going for.

  I shook my head, realizing that I’d been staring. “Things are good,” I said. “Brought in quite a bit of cash, and it’s starting to die down now.”

  “Great,” Leila said. “Has anyone brought you lunch yet?”

  “Nope,” I said. Now that she mentioned it, I was getting pretty hungry. Another thing I hadn’t noticed since I’d been so caught up in doing what she wanted.

  “I’ll get someone on that,” she said. “Sorry, things got a little crazy.”

  “How are things going with you?” I asked. “You look like you’ve been running around all morning.”

  Leila smiled. “That’s because I have,” she said. “But like you said, things are starting to slow down finally. You sure you’re okay over here?”

  I grimaced. “I still don’t think this was the right place for me,” I told her. “I’m more than happy to keep doing it, but I’m sorry if you get any complaints about me.”

  Leila’s eyes danced. “There’ve been a couple already,” she admitted. “I think the best one was the parents who were upset because you agreed with their daughter that she could see you as her primary doctor instead of Dr. Brown?”

  “I did no such thing!” I said indignantly.

  Leila giggled. “Well, I hope things haven’t been too bad. Keep up the good work; I’ll be back in a little while. And text me if you don’t get your lunch in the next twenty minutes or so.”

  “Will do,” I promised her.

  The next time she stopped by the admissions booth, things were pretty dead over there. By this point, everyone was pretty much in the festival, so they didn’t need me anymore. I was enjoying the peace.

  “Hey,” Leila said, coming over along with another woman and a young boy. I hurriedly got to my feet, trying to place the two. Was this another of the complaints? Did Leila want me to address it in person? But they were all smiling. “This is my friend Rachel and her son, Gavin,” she said.

  I blinked at her, surprised that she was introducing me to them. I knew they were important to her, and I was still trying to figure out just where she and I stood. I reached out a hand and shook Rachel’s hand. Then, I crouched down next to Gavin, holding out my fist for an awkward fist bump which… never happened. After a moment, I lowered my fist. “How’s it going, little man?” I asked.

  Gavin just stared at me, and after a second, I slowly stood back up. Leila burst out laughing, while Rachel scolded the boy. “Gavin, be polite,” she said. “And take your fingers out of your mouth.”

  “Is this how it’s been over here all day?” Leila asked. “Man, you are not a kid person.”

  I shrugged, shoving my hands into my pockets. “I don’t get much practice around them,” I said defensively.

  “Guess not,” Leila said, shaking her head. “Well, now’s the time to change that. Rachel and I have some catching up to do. Do you think you could hang out with Gavin for a little bit?”

  I blinked at her, wondering if this was some sort of test. If I didn’t manage to kill the kid in the next half hour, she’d go on another date with me?

  I didn’t realize I had said the words out loud until she and Rachel both started giggling. “Here,” Leila said, pushing some tickets into my hand. “Take him on the whirlybird and the roller coaster.” She leaned in close. “To be honest, Rachel’s too scared to do those ones because the whirlybird will make her sick, and the roller coaster will make her panic. So you’re doing me a huge favor right now.”

  I slowly put the tickets in my pocket and knelt down next to Gavin. “Hey, buddy, have you ever been on the roller coaster before?” I asked him.

  Gavin shook his head. “Mama won’t let me ’cause she’s a ‘fraidy-cat,” he said, his voice quiet but strong.

  I grinned at him. “Do you think you might want to go on it with me?”

  Gavin looked up at his mom, who nodded at him. Then, he cheered. “Let’s go,” he said, already racing off. I hurried after him, worried that I’d lose him in the crowds.

  Half an hour later, we went back to the admissions booth. Gavin flung himself at his mom. “He’s the best,” he said.

  “High praise,” Leila said.

  I ducked my head. “There may or may not have been a brownie somewhere in there,” I admitted. “Hope that’s okay.” The women both laughed, and Leila reached out to pat my head. “We’ll make an okay dude of you yet,” she said.

  “Mama, can we go on the big slide again?” Gavin asked, already pulling his mom away.

  “I guess that’s my cue,” Rachel said. “Marcus, it was nice meeting you, and thanks for helping out with Gavin. Leila, I’ll see you soon for dinner, okay?”

  “Sounds good,” Leila said, waving at them.

  I raised an eyebrow at Leila. “What, so she gets another date, and I don’t?” I teased.

  Leila burst out laughing. “Seriously, thanks for everything today. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  I wanted to wrap my arms around her, but I held back, grinning at her as though I didn’t feel some crazy-intense, almost magnetic pull between the two of us. “You would have managed,” I said, shaking my head. “I know you would have.”

  “I would have,” Leila agreed. “But I’m so glad you were here.” She paused. “Unfortunately, there’s no pay for volunteers.”

  “I figured that,” I said. “And that’s good anyway. Get those kids cancer-free.” God, it was such a stupid thing to say, and I knew it the moment it was out of my mouth.

  But Leila smiled at me. “Even though there’s no pay for volunteers, I was thinking that maybe I could buy you dinner sometime to thank you,” she said, sounding almost shy.

  “I’d like that,” I said immediately, even though I was surprised at her words. I just couldn’t figure her out. Last Saturday, it had seemed like everything was going fine, until it wasn’t. I hadn’t heard from her for days, not until I went and confronted her at her work. She hadn’t seemed like she wanted to see me then, but she’d brought me here.

  When I’d gotten there that morning, she still hadn’t seemed too thrilled to see me. I knew she was busy and that she was stressed about pulling off the event, but she had barely even paused to say hi to me.

  Yet now, she was asking me to have dinner with her again sometime. Not that I was complaining. It was like a puzzle. She was maddeningly unpredictable, and it kept me on my toes. I wanted to figure her out, and I wanted to be with her. Of course, I was going to go to dinner with her.

  “It’s not going to be like the last date,” Leila said quickly. “It’s not going to be fancy. I want to go somewhere casual. Comfortable.” She paused. “And I’ll probably drink a little less this time.”

  I laughed, unable to stop myself from reaching out and cupping her cheek in my palm. “That sounds like a plan,” I told
her, lightly stroking her cheekbone before letting my hand fall back to my side. “Is there a day that works for you? I know you’re busy with the hospital.”

  “Tomorrow night?” Leila suggested, biting her lower lip as she peered up at me.

  “That sounds perfect,” I told her, nodding.

  “Then it’s a date,” she said, exhaling noisily. She glanced at her watch. “I think you’re good to take off now, but I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” I agreed. For a moment, I was struck by the urge to kiss her, but I wasn’t sure how she would react to that, and I didn’t want to press my luck. Tomorrow—I would kiss her tomorrow.

  But was that the faintest trace of disappointment on her face as I turned to leave? Nah, I must have imagined it. I remembered Leila the previous Saturday night, the way she had boldly grabbed my shirt and pulled me into a kiss. If she wanted to kiss me, she would have done so.

  Right? The truth was, I just didn’t know with her. And that was part of the intrigue.

  20

  Leila

  Saturday

  On Saturday morning, I woke up to Rachel banging on the door. “I’m never going to get any sleep with you around,” I moaned, rubbing my eyes.

  “It’s almost noon,” Rachel said. “And anyway, this is a big day.”

  “Why is it such a big day?” I asked confusedly, trying to remember if there was any particular reason she would be there. “Where’s Gavin anyway?”

  “His preschool took a field trip to the museum today,” Rachel said. “There’s some sort of paleontologist there or something, with a bunch of neat fossils from a bunch of exhibits around the world. Or something like that. But don’t try to distract me.”