Red Eyes MC: Books 1 - 3

by Grey, Blair

  “Another date?” I asked.

  Leila laughed. “Hardly,” she said. “I just have to work tonight. I take a lot of the evening shifts. No one else really wants them.” She paused. “Anyway, that’s when the most interesting things happen.”

  “Like meeting me?” I asked teasingly. “You’d better not be using your evening shifts to meet someone else!”

  Leila giggled. “That’s not likely to happen,” she said. “Or at least, in all the years of me being a nurse, I have never done anything as unprofessional as this before.”

  “I’m unprofessional now, am I?” I asked.

  “You were my patient, and now you’re…” Leila trailed off, looking embarrassed.

  I didn’t know what to call this either. I didn’t know how to label us. Were we dating? Was she my girlfriend? I sort of liked the sound of that, despite all the complications it would bring. But I wasn’t sure we were ready for that talk just yet.

  “So other than work, what are you up to today?” I asked, changing the subject.

  Leila shrugged. “Not much,” she said. “I have some errands I need to run. Things I probably won’t have time for later in the week, given the way my schedule is this week.” She made a face. “Or I guess, I’ll probably have time for a lot of it, but I won’t necessarily want to do any of it.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I get that,” I said, nodding.

  “What about you, what are you up to?” Leila asked.

  I grinned at her. “Well, I was thinking that once we finished breakfast, I’d take you back to the bedroom and have my way with you again. Tease you a little since I didn’t do enough of that last night.” I watched the way she shivered at the thought of that, her fingers clenching around the edge of the table. “And then I thought I’d go home and try to get some work done,” I finished.

  “Sounds like a pretty good start to the day,” Leila said slowly.

  “Indeed,” I agreed, smirking at her as she looked down at her plate like she was surprised at how much food was still there.

  Like she wanted me to drag her off to bed again right now. But she was going to have to wait.

  I took a bite of my eggs to hide my amused grin.

  We chatted as we finished up breakfast, and then I dragged her off to her bedroom, just like I had promised her, taking my time to work her over. Eventually, I disentangled myself from her, pressing a soft kiss to her temple as she protested my movement. “Can’t just stay in bed all day,” I chided. “You said you had errands to do.”

  “I know,” Leila moaned, running a hand over her face. She grinned at me. “I just feel like I can’t string together two thoughts at the moment.”

  “Good.” My phone chirped, and I glanced down at it. Shit, I had more than one missed call from Ray. I hoped nothing had happened. “I have to go,” I told Leila.

  “I know,” she sighed. She paused. “You know, if you still wanted to take me out again, I’m not working tomorrow night,” she said slowly.

  I grinned at her and then came back to the bed, catching her arm and tugging her up into one final kiss. “Tomorrow night,” I agreed as she nuzzled me.

  When I got back to my house, Ray was there waiting for me. “Where the hell have you been?” Ray asked, raising an eyebrow at me. He didn’t seem upset, though. More curious than anything else.

  I shrugged and ducked my head, feeling almost like a young schoolboy in the face of Ray’s questioning. “Spent the night with a friend,” I told him gruffly. “A woman.” My girlfriend? Yet again, I didn’t know if it was maybe too soon to be calling her that. But I kind of liked the sound of it.

  Ray was staring at me. “Be very careful with her, whoever she is,” he said slowly.

  I rolled my eyes. “What do you care?” I asked. “It’s not like I’m dating Belle. It’s none of your business if I break her heart.” Not that I had any intention of breaking Leila’s heart. In fact, I hated the very thought of that. But still. I didn’t need Ray telling me to be careful with her.

  Ray frowned. “That’s not what I meant,” he said. He paused. “You know as well as I do that this is a tricky time for Red Eyes. We don’t exactly know what the Unknowns could be up to.”

  “So, what, I should refrain from getting myself killed?” I asked, not understanding where he was going with this.

  “I was thinking more that you should watch out for this woman and make sure that the Unknowns can’t use her against you,” Ray said gravely.

  I stared at him for a long moment. I remembered what I had been thinking before, about how I had to tell Leila what I was involved in if this relationship of ours was going to go anywhere. But that had been because of some nebulous worry about the future. Not because I really thought someone might go after her, and certainly not right now.

  I tried to think about everything I knew about the Unknowns. Would they really go after her?

  They just might. I had to accept that.

  Ray shook his head and clapped me on the shoulder. “Just be careful,” he repeated.

  “Yeah,” I echoed faintly. I was already tempted to rush back over to Leila’s house, to make sure she was okay. What if someone had seen us out together the previous night? What if they were already there waiting for her?

  But no, that was stupid. They wouldn’t move that quickly. For all they knew, I was just sleeping with her. For all they knew, I didn’t care about her at all.

  The trouble was that I did care about her, though, but there wasn’t much I could do to protect her right now. I couldn’t keep my eye on her at all hours of the day. And night, because she worked nights as well. I couldn’t watch her constantly, just making sure she was okay. I had to trust that she could take care of herself.

  But she didn’t even know what she had to protect herself from. She didn’t even know what I had dragged her into the middle of.

  I swallowed hard, feeling like an asshole. I knew that she hadn’t wanted to go out with me from the start, that she had been concerned about the sorts of things I was involved in. Which was only fair, after I had shown up at the hospital needing stitches from a knife cut along my forearm. She hadn’t wanted to get involved, and I had forced her to.

  If something happened to her, it would kill me. I needed to figure out some way to make sure she was safe.

  The only way I could think to do that, though, was to make sure the Unknowns were no longer a problem.

  24

  Leila

  Sunday

  I spent Sunday feeling goofily happy with the way the previous night, and that morning, had gone. I still wasn’t sure I had made the right call in asking Marcus to sleep over, but I felt like our relationship was really growing. And I wanted that.

  Even though I knew there were complications to wanting it.

  I was happy, though, that was the thing. I couldn’t seem to keep the pep out of my step after spending time with Marcus. He had made me breakfast. I just felt so comfortable with him, whether we were out on a date or there at my house. It felt right in a way that I just couldn’t explain. I kept trying to tell myself all the reasons why I shouldn’t be involved with him, but I was having a hard time staying away from him.

  Now, as much as I loved work, it felt like I was just killing time until I got to see Marcus again. Which would be the next day. I couldn’t wait.

  I had to focus on work, though. I couldn’t let myself start to slip just because I was starting to develop feelings for some guy.

  Some guy. Marcus wasn’t just some guy. No, he was sweet, and he was good with kids, if a little awkward, and he gave me everything I needed in terms of companionship and… physical needs. I blushed, just thinking about it. The sex was probably some of the hottest sex I’d ever had in my life. I didn’t know what I would do if things ended with him. It would never be as good with anyone else, I was sure of it.

  It was more than just that, though. I was actually starting to picture a future to our relationship. More dates, more breakfasts together in
my kitchen. I steered clear of picturing a real life together. I didn’t imagine us with kids or anything like that. I didn’t know him well enough for that, and we were going to need to have some serious talks first.

  But the idea of it all wasn’t too terrible.

  A woman came into the hospital carrying her child and looking worried. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” she immediately told me. “Can you help us?”

  “Of course,” I said. “You’re going to need to fill out paperwork first, so if you just come over this way.”

  “I know, I know,” the woman said, sounding frazzled. “But is there any way I can fill it out while you look him over? I’m really worried. He was throwing up pretty bad this morning; he couldn’t even keep water down.”

  “You poor thing,” I said to the kid, putting a hand on his forehead to feel for a temperature. “What’s your name, buddy?”

  “Jimmy,” the kid said, sniffling a little.

  God, he reminded me so much of Gavin.

  I felt my heart constrict, just thinking about that. What if this was Gavin and he was the one who couldn’t keep water down? I could understand the mom’s panic.

  “Come on,” I said, leading her toward a room. “I don’t usually do this, but this time, I think I can make an exception.”

  It wasn’t like the hospital was very busy at the moment anyway. I didn’t have any other patients to see; it wasn’t like they were cutting the line or anything like that.

  And to be honest, there was no way I was going to be able to see someone else while I was worrying about this child. It made me wonder if I was ever going to be ready to have a child of my own. I tried not to get too invested when it came to patients at the hospital. I wanted them to get better, sure, but I knew that if I went around panicking on behalf of all of them, I would never get anything done. Plus, I would just make them panic as well.

  But when it came to little kids like this, I couldn’t seem to turn it off. I did my best never to let my worry show, but even if I didn’t know the kid, I couldn’t help thinking that this was someone’s son or this was someone’s daughter. That if anything happened to them, it would be devastating.

  I absolutely understood this mom’s worry when it came to her son. I could only imagine how scared Jimmy must be too if he could even find it in himself to be worried. He might be feeling too miserable to be afraid, and I hated to think about that, either.

  As Cynthia, Jimmy’s mom, went through all the paperwork, I ran through a series of general tests on Jimmy. If he really couldn’t keep down water, he would need to stay overnight at the hospital. Probably get hooked up to an IV and everything. Again, I could only imagine how frightening that would be for the five-year-old boy.

  But fortunately, he was able to sip at some water and even eat a couple of plain crackers while Cynthia finished the forms.

  “I don’t know what it was,” Cynthia fretted, watching her son. “Maybe I just overreacted in bringing him in here. Maybe it’s just some normal bug.”

  “I think it probably was,” I told her. “Actually, I’m pretty sure it was food poisoning. That would have given him all the symptoms he had. And food poisoning tends to clear up pretty fast once there’s nothing left in the system. But you were right to bring him in here. It’s never a mistake to bring him in if you’re really worried about him. We’re more than happy to make sure he’s okay. And better safe than sorry, right?”

  “Right,” Cynthia said, sounding relieved.

  “Still feeling all right, Jimmy?” I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder.

  He nodded. “Can I have some more crackers?” he asked. “I’m really hungry.”

  I laughed. “I bet you are. Here you go. But eat them slowly, okay? I don’t want your tummy getting all upset again.”

  “Me neither,” he said fervently, his eyes wide in his little face.

  I smiled at him and turned back to his mom. “So where do we go from here?” she asked.

  “Just keep him on a mild diet for a few days,” I told her. “Think of it like he’s recovering from any other sickness. Nothing too heavy or too sweet. Toast, crackers, bananas, things like that. Lots of fluids, as much as he can handle. And if he starts getting sick again, bring him back in. But I don’t think he’s going to; I think he’s through the worst of it now.”

  “Oh good,” Cynthia said, clearly relieved. She paused. “I think it must have been the chicken sandwiches I made for lunch. I wasn’t sure about it; I couldn’t remember how long it had been in the fridge. I ate some, too, and my stomach was feeling a little off. Not nearly as bad as his, though.”

  “Your immune system has built up a lot more than his,” I pointed out. “He’s still young.”

  “Yeah.” Cynthia rubbed a hand over her face. “But I poisoned him. That’s what food poisoning is, right? Poison. My little baby.” She looked devastated, and I could imagine what she was thinking. How many mothers had come in here who were convinced they were the worst parent in the world because something had happened to their kid? It wasn’t always in their control, as much as they might like it to be.

  “It could happen to anyone,” I soothed. “You’d be surprised at how many mothers come in here with their kids. You can’t keep them safe from everything.” I laughed. “To be honest, I don’t know how you do it. I don’t know if I could ever have kids with the amount of worry you must have all the time.”

  Cynthia smiled and shook her head. “It is constantly a worry,” she agreed, looking at her little boy. “But he’s also the greatest joy in my life.” She paused. “There’s always going to be things to worry about, and it’s never going to be easy to be a mother, I don’t think. But having my child is something that I would never trade. Not for the world.”

  I smiled at her. “Well, this is one thing you don’t have to worry about,” I said, noting the color in Jimmy’s cheeks. “It looks like he’s going to be A-okay. Why don’t I take those forms from you, and you can head home? I’m sure the little guy could use some sleep.”

  Cynthia picked up her son, and Jimmy put his head down on her shoulder, already looking like he was falling asleep. “Thank you so much,” the woman said softly.

  “Don’t mention it,” I said, watching the two of them leave.

  I could feel a certain warmth in my chest, watching the two of them. I remembered what Cynthia had said: that being a mother was never going to be easy, but it was worth it. It was the same thing I’d been hearing from Rachel for years now.

  And suddenly, I knew that I needed to go back to the clinic. To follow up on that consultation I’d had. I wanted to have that—that special bond between mother and child. Rachel might be against it, but I was sure she would come around.

  I didn’t want to put this off any longer. I didn’t want to give myself more time to talk myself out of it. I loved my job, but some days, I felt like I had spent so much time taking care of other people that it was time I deserved something for myself. I wanted to have a child.

  25

  Marcus

  Monday

  In light of what Ray had said, I debated not going to see Leila on Monday as we’d agreed upon. But I didn’t want to quit seeing her. I would just have to be careful. Take care of her. Besides, my mind insisted, if the Unknowns were going to find out about her and go after her, they would have already done so. This thing between us had already been building for quite some time, and we’d been out in public together numerous times.

  I had to assume she was going to be safe, even if things continued between us. Because the thought of not getting to see her ever again, for the sake of her safety, just killed me.

  When she answered the door, she raised an eyebrow at me. “I thought you said you wanted to see me tonight,” she said, but she didn’t sound upset.

  I shrugged. “I had been planning on taking you out on another dinner-date,” I told her. “But the weather’s so nice that I thought maybe you’d want to go for a motorcycle ride with me.
”

  Leila frowned at me, looking torn between wanting to go and being unsure about it.

  “Come on,” I said. “You told me we could keep seeing one another as long as I behaved myself. And I know that motorcycles are more badass than what you normally ride, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. I’ll drive carefully. You’ll be fine.”

  Leila laughed. “Okay, okay,” she said, putting her hands up. “I should probably change into something else.” She frowned. “What am I supposed to wear anyway? I don’t think I have any leather or anything like that. It’s not my usual style.”

  I grinned and held up a bag. “I think these’ll fit you,” I told her. “I borrowed them from a buddy’s wife.” Belle and Leila weren’t exactly the same size, but they were close enough that it shouldn’t matter. And even though it had been years since I’d had any sort of crash on my bike, and even though I had never had a major crash, better safe than sorry. I didn’t want to risk Leila getting hurt.

  She headed into her room to change, shutting the door behind herself. I was grateful for that, actually; otherwise, we would never make it on the bike. I would be only too happy to keep her naked and in bed for the rest of the afternoon.

  But I had plans for us.

  When she came back out into the living room, I couldn’t help but stare.

  “What?” Leila asked nervously, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and looking down at the tight pants and the jacket. “Is there something wrong?”

  I strode quickly over to her and grabbed her, pulling her against me and kissing her for all I was worth. “You look incredible,” I said. She looked sexy and dangerous, like a proper biker chick. I almost had to rethink the planned outing. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to just haul her back into her room.