Men in Charge: A Contemporary Romance Box Set

by Natasha L. Black

  I didn’t say anything for a moment, letting him get the cussing out of his system. He was livid, and I understood why. But I wished he’d recognize he could walk away from everything if he really wanted to.

  “Be careful, Cutter,” I said. “Is this really worth your life?”

  “My MC is worth everything,” he replied instantly, looking down at the floor. I wished he’d look at me, but he didn’t. He turned and walked through the hall and back out the door, leaving me reeling from what had just happened.

  7

  Trip

  “Easy does it, easy! Come on, you want to put a scratch on this thing? I don’t think so!” Axle and I struggled to get the engine back under the hood of the thunderbird. I’d never really cared for the cars myself, but damn, the owner of this one sure treated it like it was made of gold.

  Being a nineteen-sixty and still in pristine shape, I could see why they wanted to keep it nice, but I would much rather put my money into my bike than into an old car. Either way, we had a reputation of returning vehicles to their owners better than when they dropped them off, and that meant no scratches.

  “I’m doing my best, but this thing is fucking heavy,” Axle grunted. I trusted him with getting the part back into the vehicle, and it wasn’t easy on either of us. But we still struggled.

  Finally, we eased it back into place.

  “That was shitty,” Axle said as he wiped his hand across his forehead. He left a streak of grime, but I didn’t give a damn, and neither would he.

  “That’s all this thing needed isn’t it?” I asked. “We need to get these things going before we get too backed up.”

  He nodded. There was a car show coming up in town, and many of the owners wanted us to give their vehicles a tune-up before the event. There were a lot of owners that knew how to do the auto maintenance themselves, but then there were those who preferred to just pay us to do it instead.

  It was good for business, but we didn’t always have the time to keep up with all the work that came through our doors, especially with the bike repair and modification services we also offered.

  “What’s next?” he asked.

  “Gunner’s going to bring the Mustang in next, and we’re going to look under the hood. If I remember right, we’re just looking it over to make sure everything is as it should be. I don’t think we actually need to fix anything,” I replied.

  “Thank God,” he wiped his hand across his forehead again. It had to be pressing ninety-five degrees out, and our AC hadn’t been working for over a week. We were getting tired of the heat and pissy with each other, but still managing to get the cars through the shop and out the doors on time.

  “I’m going to head back to the office and see if we can switch around some of the appointments. I want to get these fast projects out the door as quick as we can since I’ve got both of you here today. We can worry about the bigger projects when Brutus’s back tomorrow,” I said.

  Brutus didn’t live in Ridgecrest like most of the men who worked at the shop did. He was further south, so he would spend days he wasn’t working with his dad doing patrols and keeping up with what was going on in Barstow.

  Other days, when he wanted to make the drive, he’d come up to give us a hand with the shop, which happened about once or twice a week.

  With all the hands I had working for me at the shop, we were open seven days, so he had the flexibility to come in when he wanted, as long as he gave me notice to plan around his schedule.

  “Isn’t the new kid supposed to be here today?” Axle asked.

  “Odie? No, he’s down with Brutus doing some of the patrols. I want him to know how to do it in case we need it when shit hits the fan,” I replied.

  “You really think it’s going to, don’t you?” Axle asked.

  “I don’t see how it can’t. if Cutter is stupid enough to be messing with the Cartel, it’s just a matter of time before one or the other feels that they’ve been cheated, or the drugs start pouring in so fast we’re going to have to take the fight to them and not just worry about what’s going on up here,” I replied.

  “Ironically, it’s not the drugs that I’m worried about,” Axle replied. I looked at him, and he turned to me. “It’s the guns.”

  I nodded again. With all the fights about gun control raging across the country, there were a lot of people who were willing to pay a lot of money to get their hands on one. And those were just private sales. They had nothing to do with other mercenaries who were making bigger orders for their stock.

  “We’re just going to have to take it as it comes,” I said. “I don’t want to worry about something that’s not even here yet. We’ll be ready for them, but we aren’t going to stress about it.”

  “Maybe you aren’t, but I happen to know a lot of Yahoos who would love to get their hands on a gun and can’t for reasons that are valid,” Axle said. I laughed.

  “I can agree with you there,” I shook my head. “Fucking idiots don’t need to be running around with shit they don’t know how to handle.”

  “Fucking right,” Alex laughed.

  Our conversation was interrupted with the sound of engines filling the air. We didn’t have to see them to know there was more than one, and we exchanged a look. They were coming in fast and furious, something had to be amiss.

  “Fuck me,” I said when Brutus and Odie came screeching into the parking lot. Odie looked panicked, and Brutus hopped off his bike, putting his hand to his arm before checking to see how bad the damage truly was.

  “What the fuck happened?” I demanded as I walked up to both. Odie threw his helmet on the ground and was walking back and forth, his elbows in the air with his hands on top of his head. He kept shaking his head, and Brutus pulled off his cut.

  There was a deep gash on the side of his left bicep. It was bleeding, but not too badly. He swore again when he saw it, then he pointed over his shoulder at Odie.

  “I’m guessing that was the first time this kid’s ever seen a man shot,” he said. “He must have been a paper pusher in the service.”

  “Hey fuck you old man, I’ve seen combat too. I’ve just never been shot at while driving eighty on only two wheels. Excuse me if it got me a little rattled.”

  “What happened?” I asked again, waving them off one another. “Where were you when this all went down? Was this retaliation from the bar fight?”

  “I don’t think it was the Souls,” Brutus shook his head. “But I think whoever it was thought we were.”

  “We were riding around the south side of Barstow. Brutus didn’t want to go in because he thought it would be best to avoid the place after what went down the other night, and with it just being the two of us, we didn’t want to get in trouble with the Souls,” Odie explained.

  “So we were taking the freeway around the place. But we didn’t get far around before someone opened fire on us from the rocks on the outskirts,” Brutus said.

  “Like not even in town?” I asked.

  “I’m guessing whoever it was camped out, waiting for bikers to come around that way. They were good shots, but we were at a bad angle for them to get any aim. I’m surprised they were able to get me where they did,” Brutus answered.

  “Who the fuck?” Axle turned to me and I shook my head.

  “That’s not like the Souls at all. They’d want to take you in town if they were going to at all,” I said. “There’s no way they’re going to be hiding out in the rocks and picking off stragglers.”

  “So who was it? I’m not seeing really any other MC feeling the need to do that to us. I mean, if they were allies with the Souls wouldn’t they want to be in town?” Brutus asked.

  I was going to reply, but at that moment Javi rode up. He was also coming in fast, but not with the same frantic panic as Brutus and Odie had had. He skidded to a stop, sending bits of gravel into the air. Taking off his helmet, he walked over to us, nodding to me then looking at Brutus’s arm.

  “I see you found the cartel,” he sai
d.

  “No, I fucking didn’t,” Brutus shot back. “I’m not sure who this is, but I didn’t see any cartel members.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t. They aren’t supposed to be here, so they aren’t going to be showing themselves much. At least, not the kind you ran in to. These are the guys who are hired to thin the herd, so to speak,” Javi replied.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Brutus asked.

  “You’re always down there closer to the border than the rest of us. Well, it turns out Cutter fucked up with the cartel the other night, and since then, there’s been nothing but fighting between the two. I’d say since you were there, they must have thought you were either part of the Souls, or you were affiliated with them in some way,” Javi replied.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up,” I said as I held my hand out. “What do you mean Cutter fucked up?”

  “They aren’t entirely sure what happened, but the word on the street is that it was a drug deal went wrong. Some of the cartel guys were in the wrong place at the wrong time, you might say, on their way to a drop off location. Didn’t know the right neighborhoods to head through – or the ones to stay out of,” Javi looked from me to Axle and back again.

  “They got themselves killed, didn’t they?” Axle asked.

  “Four dead in the street, one died in the hospital later,” Javi put his hands in his pockets as he relayed the information. “After the news spread, some of the men in charge paid Cutter and some of his brothers a visit in the pub we fought in the other night. Cutter lost two of his men and was injured himself.”

  “Fuck,” I said as I shook my head. “He’s not dead?”

  “No one knows for sure where he is, but he’s not dead,” Javi confirmed. “He tried to send word to Pedro, the leader of this whole operation, and explain to him what he thought happened to those men, but Pedro laughed in his face. He doesn’t believe a damn word of it and thinks Cutter tried to pull a fast one on him.”

  “Shit,” Axle said. “I don’t think I want to know what happens when you piss off a drug lord.”

  “A lot of blood is spilled,” Javi said with a small nod. “They’ve been at each other’s throats ever since.”

  “I guess that’s a good thing?” Brutus chimed in. “If they spend all their time killing each other, we don’t have to worry about taking care of them or any of their drug shit.”

  I nodded. “But that also means I don’t want anyone going down there unless they absolutely have to. There’s no reason to flirt with death.”

  I looked at each of the faces that were gathered around me, and they all nodded. Brutus would be closer to the fighting than the rest of them, but I knew he was smart. He wasn’t going to get himself in a situation that got him killed. He wasn’t afraid of danger and being a former SEAL taught him how to handle intense situations, but he still wasn’t stupid.

  “Alright gentleman, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Let’s forget about Cutter and let him deal with his own shit. He should have known this was going to come back to bite him in the ass eventually. Right now, there’s cars to be done,” I nodded toward the parking lot, and the guys moved their bikes out of the way.

  I couldn’t say that I felt bad for Cutter, but I did wonder what it was like to be in trouble with the cartel. We had spent so much time clearing that kind of activity out of the city, I couldn’t imagine doing anything that would intentionally bring it back in.

  But that was Cutter’s problem. If he was stupid enough to get himself killed through this, that had nothing to do with me. I was fine maintaining order in my town further north.

  If they left us alone, we’d leave them alone.

  That’s all there was to it.

  8

  Megan

  “Okay, Sam, I think you did a wonderful job with that project. Now, for this week, I want you to write down all your ambitions for college, and what you are going to do – what you can practically do – that’s going to land you your goals,” I said as I wrote down the directions on a piece of paper.

  “Thank you, Miss Ward. I don’t know what I can do. I feel so stuck right now. I work and come to school, but when I get home, I have to take care of my little brother and sister until my mom gets home from work. By the time we have dinner and everything, there’s not a lot of time left for me to really do anything for my future,” Sam shook his head.

  There was a pang in my heart as I tore the paper from the notepad and handed it to him. “I know it’s tough, and there are a lot of challenges that you’re going to have to overcome. But I have faith in you. I know if you work hard and you fight against all the roadblocks life put in your way, you’re going to get there.”

  “I hope you’re right,” he said as he took the paper from me.

  “I am,” I said with a grin. “We all have our own battles to win, and if we stay strong, we’ll win them, trust me. And I’ll always be here to help you in any way I can.”

  He took the paper but didn’t look convinced as he rose from his chair and headed to the door of my office. I smiled when he looked back at me, but it faded as soon as he was gone. He was one of the many students I worried about, but one of the few that I really felt was at risk for giving up.

  His mother was doing her best, but he felt lost in the world. His dad wasn’t in the picture, and with two other siblings who needed care he was right, he didn’t have the time to do it all. I believed the desire was there, but he didn’t have an easy way to make it happen.

  I tried to tell him that it wasn’t easy for anyone, but I knew he saw through my bullshit. Everyone had to fight to succeed, but he was one who had to fight harder than many of the others. And he knew it.

  Just stay focused and do what you came here to do. You can’t save them all, but you can be there to push them in the right direction.

  I sighed and looked through the glass in my door. The students were between classes and were milling about the halls. Suddenly, I saw one in particular I really wanted to talk to.

  Joshua hadn’t been in to see me for the past couple sessions, and when I talked to a couple of the other teachers, I learned that he had been skipping school. Of all the students who were on my list, he was the number one I worried about. I quickly got up from my seat and headed through the door, eager to catch up with him before he made it to the next class.

  He rounded the corner ahead of me, so I picked up the pace. But when I reached the corner myself, I realized he wasn’t heading to another class. He was on his way to the Principal’s office.

  Principle Meyers was at lunch. All the students knew that, but perhaps he had to leave the man a note to let him know why he had been absent so many days this week. I continued to follow him. I knew he’d be in a hurry, and I really wanted to talk.

  When I stepped into the secretary’s office, I expected to find Joshua had walked right through to the Principal. Instead, he nearly leapt out of his skin when I walked in, dropping a piece of paper on the ground.

  Immediately, I was suspicious. I knew enough of that kind of behavior to know he had to be hiding something. I immediately wanted to know what it was.

  “Hey Joshua,” I said nonchalantly. The look on his face told me plainly he saw right through my tone.

  “Hey, Miss Ward,” he said.

  “What’re you doing?” I asked.

  “Nothing,” he replied.

  “You haven’t been in school,” I pressed. “Is everything alright?”

  “Just fine. I wasn’t feeling well earlier this week, and I thought it would be better to stay home so no one else got sick,” he said.

  He was trying to play it off, but I could see the twitches in his face. Little indicators that old me he was lying.

  “I see,” I said. “What do you have there?”

  I pointed down at his feet. The paper was still lying on the floor, and he smiled again.

  “Oh, that’s nothing. I was going to put it in an envelope, but Miss Saint wasn’t here. So I thought she woul
dn’t mind if I just took one,” he said.

  “I’m sure she wouldn’t,” I agreed. “But what is it?”

  “Just a note is all,” he tried to brush it off.

  “For who?” I asked.

  “No one,” he said quickly.

  “May I see?”

  “You’ll think it’s dumb,” he said. Then, I saw the light in his eye as he got an idea. “It’s for a girl.”

  “That’s not dumb, it’s really sweet,” I said with a laugh. I bent over and picked it up. He started to reach for it, but then stopped himself. I skimmed the note.

  It’ll be in the back around eight. Four yards East.

  “What does that mean?” I asked, the little frown around my mouth letting him know I caught him in the lie.

  “Oh, come on, Miss Ward, you know you don’t want to know the details of what we do,” he said with another smile. He was nervous. His eyes darted around the room, and I knew he was looking for an escape, but I wasn’t giving it to him. I wanted to know more.

  “You’re going to meet a girl?” I asked. He quickly nodded.

  “And I really don’t want anyone else to know about this,” he said.

  “You know you aren’t supposed to be out that late with the trouble we’re having,” I reminded him. The cops had put the entire town on curfew, telling everyone under eighteen to be in their homes by seven. Only those who were actively going to or coming from work could be on the streets, and only those at work could stay there.

  Even restaurants were closing down due to the cartel fighting with the Souls.

  “I know, but it would be a good time to, you know. No one would find out about it,” he put his hand on the back of his head, roughing up his hair. He was clearly going to stick to his story about meeting up with a girl, though I knew it had to be something drug related.

  If he was out that late, he had to be working with the cartel, or some other gang.