He might have said something, or he might have simply moved his lips in some sort of ancient dance. I had no idea because those eyes—they wouldn’t let me go.
“Back off, Parris,” Finn said, startling me out of whatever spell the biker had put me under.
Heart pounding, face hot, I crossed my arms over my chest and stepped away from the counter. It was time for that man to leave. “You are insane. Finn, he is insane.”
“Nah, I’m just a man who knows what he wants.” Parris moved away, backing toward the door even as his mouth kept moving. “I’d say see you later tonight, my beauty, but I’ve got plans already.”
“I’d say this playboy attitude is overcompensating for what you lack, you presumptuous asshole, but I prefer to be unique and not follow the trend of every woman you’ve ever met.”
His laugh filled the store, chipping away at my confidence. “You’ll give in eventually.”
The hell I would. “Never going to happen.”
“We’ll see.”
“You can just keep on looking because the only thing you’ll see is my middle finger.” I showed him that particular digit, shooting him an eyebrow arch simply because I could. The one my mom had always said was the physical representation of the phrase Try me.
Parris apparently didn’t get the message. “Do you not want me to leave, or are you just the type of woman who has to get the last word?”
I…had nothing to say to that. I clenched my teeth and held my tongue as I counted to five in my head, then turned to the other man in the room. “It’s good to see you, Finn. Tell Katie to pop over if she needs anything. And try to keep your guard dogs chained up, would you?”
I turned on my heel and strode into the storage room, too pissed off and on edge to stand still but not wanting to give Parris any more ammunition against me. Who did he think he was anyway? This was my store, my town, and he had no right to come in and—
“Mom?”
I froze, closing my eyes and giving myself three glorious seconds to shove my temper deep down inside myself before turning to Beckett. “Yeah, baby?”
“Are we going to school now?”
Because, of course, he still had school. And I still had work. And there were still bikers to deal with. Ones not named Parris.
This day was going to need a lot of wine.
“Sure are, buddy. Come on—let’s go grab your bag.”
Chapter Three
PARRIS
“TALE AS OLD AS TIME…”
I sang the stupid song for the millionth time as I made my way back to Justice. Beauty…Mercy. One and the same, and I was definitely a beast to her. That chick had grabbed hold of my balls the second her eyes had met mine, and she’d refused to let me go. Sure, she was hot and curvy, just the way I liked my women. But she was strong, too. Feisty. The woman had a backbone and a smart mouth—those characteristics appealed to me in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I wanted to know more about her, to learn everything I could. To discover all her secrets. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her all day, which might have been why I’d taken my bike out for one last spin around town even though my hands were about ready to fall off from hypothermia.
A day on my bike had once been a dream, but the cold of October in Colorado was seriously cutting into my enjoyment. Still, even after so many hours of riding, I wasn’t cranky enough not to lean into the curve heading off the highway and toward Main Street in Justice. It helped that I was on my way to spy on that sweet-ass little woman at the hardware store and that my day had been somewhat productive—I’d had lunch with Finn after making sure the town was clear—not that I’d been worried anyone had hung around. If Cartel had told them to handle the morning as a drive-by mission, that’s what the guys would have done—drive by. And then leave.
After lunch, I’d coordinated with the Black Angels on a guard schedule for Rock Falls, did a little recon on the Soul Suckers with Deacon, and hadn’t killed anyone. All in all, a good day. The best part—after meeting my beauty—had been talking to Finn. The kid had been to prison, something I hadn’t expected to learn, and he had a hard-on for a Soul Sucker named Coyote. One I was pretty sure I’d be able to find as I’d met the dude a few times over the years. Finn would owe me for that, and a blanket favor owed from a Kennard might as well have been gold in my world. I needed to work all the angles of that particular task. And I would because I wanted that open-ended favor. If I ever got a lead on Wolf, I’d need backup, and this town had a fuckton of it.
Finn was also chasing Jinx’s tail, which could solve another problem I had—what to do with the girl to keep her safe. If Finn was anything like his brother Alder, he’d be busting his ass to protect hers in no time. That worked in my favor. It also freed me up to chase a little tail myself, one belonging to a woman who likely hated me. Not that I was too worried about that—I’d change her mind.
I was about to pass the corner where Bell’s Hardware sat when I noticed a couple of shadows working away under the awning. Mercy and the little boy who must have been her son—Beckett, if I remembered right—stood outside the front of the store. Mercy on a ladder and Beckett holding what looked like lightbulbs.
Time to show my beauty I wasn’t just some dumb beast.
I pulled into a spot in front of the store and climbed off my bike, removing my helmet as I did. “You two look like you could use a little help.”
Mercy didn’t even bother to shoot me a glare. “Funny. I think we look like we’re handling things just fine.”
And she was…sort of. That ladder wasn’t quite tall enough for her, so she was stretched onto the balls of her feet and reaching for the burned-out bulb. Nice view for me, certainly, but that couldn’t be safe.
I grabbed her hip and tugged slightly, making her drop her weight back into her heels. “I’ve got at least a foot on you. Why don’t you let me get up there?”
Those light eyes of hers—blue and icy cold—practically sliced through me. “I can change a light bulb.”
So much fire, this girl. “I’m sure you can, and with a taller ladder, I bet you’d already be done. But you looked like you were struggling as I drove by, so I’m here to help.”
“At what cost?”
“Pardon?”
“Guys like you don’t do anything for free.”
“I’m not going to charge you to change a light bulb.”
She cocked her head, her dark blond hair falling over her shoulder. “And I’m not going to think you’re some sort of nice guy because you stepped in when I didn’t need you to.”
Oh. She thought I was trying to get in her pants again. Not that I wouldn’t mind taking a trip between those shapely legs, but that hadn’t been my goal. Not yet, at least.
“I swear, there’s no payment of any sort required here.” I stepped back as she descended the ladder, giving her room to move out of the way.
She never once even came close to smiling. “Fine. I think the base of the bulb has rusted a bit. I couldn’t get it to turn.”
“No problem.” Hustling up the ladder, I inspected the fixture. Damn thing looked older than I was, which was saying something. “You know how to turn off the power to these? Not just the switch—the breakers?”
“Yeah. Why?”
I grabbed the bulb, using my other hand to hold the socket in place. “In case I break this thing.”
“Ah, well, that’s an easy fix, then—just don’t break it.”
I chuckled and shook my head, muttering “ballbuster” under my breath as I braced myself. As I twisted the delicate glass slowly, keeping a firm grip. Thankfully, the bulb eventually spun without anything breaking. “Got it.”
“Really?” Mercy leaned in close, setting her hand on my thigh as she craned her neck to look up. Fuck me. That put her pretty face so damn close to my cock. The reaction in my body was immediate, the blood rushing south and my thoughts turning decidedly not G-rated. Those lips right there? Yeah. I was going to be jerking it to that
image later for sure. Maybe more than once.
But first, I had a job to do, which meant I needed to not act like an animal. “You got a new bulb for me?”
Her eyes met mine, and she jolted back, her cheeks flushing. As if she’d only just realized our positions. Not surprising because that was the same moment I remembered there was a little boy five feet away watching our every move.
“Beckett, right?” I said, nodding his way. “Are those the new bulbs?”
“Yeah,” he said, far more wary than anyone his size should have been. He stepped closer, holding out a bulb. Walking right between his mom and me. “Uncle Gage told me bikers are bad and to run home if any show up.”
Of course he had. And there I was on my hog with my club colors bright as day. “Not all bikers are bad.”
Mercy huffed a sarcastic-sounding laugh. “Is that like that not all men talk bullshit? Because, seriously—you’ll have to do more than vomit some cheap words to convince me you’re not like those Soul Suckers.”
I stared after her as she headed toward the garbage can at the far side of the sidewalk, unable not to look at the way her hips swung and those jeans hugged her ass. That attitude and those curves might as well have been catnip for me, and I was the biggest tomcat around.
At least until a little voice filled with anger said, “That’s my mom.”
I glanced at Beckett, almost withering under the glare of the kid. “I know that.”
“Stop looking at her like that.”
I stepped off the ladder, holding his gaze. The kid didn’t back down for a second, didn’t even waver. I had to respect that, so I offered him my knuckles for a bump. “Sorry, little man. It won’t happen again.”
“What won’t happen?” Mercy asked as she joined us.
Beckett didn’t say a word, so I took the lead on that answer. “Just a moment between men, beauty.”
She huffed again, adding in an eye roll this time. “Are you done being a thorn in my side? Beckett and I have plans.”
“It’s my birthday tomorrow,” Beckett said. “We need to bake the cake tonight.”
“You bake?”
He shrugged as if that should have been a given. “Yeah. Don’t you?”
“No.” Had I been with the guys from the club, I’d have said I didn’t bake because it was too girlie or some shit. That wasn’t really the truth, though, and the kid deserved honesty. So I dropped down into a crouch, putting me at eye level with the little man, and I gave it to him. “I don’t know how.”
“Your mom didn’t teach you?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t have a mom—it was just my dad and me growing up.”
“Oh.” Beckett looked at his own mom, his brain obviously spinning. And then he nodded his head once. Decision made. “Come on, then.”
“Come where?”
“Upstairs with us. My mom taught me—she can teach you, too.”
Mercy suddenly looked awfully pale. “Oh no. I’m sure Mister Par—”
“Thanks. I’d love to learn.” I grinned at the woman, loving this particular development. Fuck yeah, I’d bake with the kid if it meant getting a little time to show my beauty I wasn’t the big, bad wolf she assumed I was. Plus, the little guy seemed cool as hell. Total bonus for me.
Mercy looked pissed, but she didn’t argue with her son. Instead, she huffed and headed for the back of the store, glaring at me when I took the ladder from her. Sassy woman. We entered the building via a door in the alley. The back room was what you would expect—concrete and bland with boxes stacked on metal shelving units and products for the store in bins.
“The ladder goes over here.” Mercy led the way to the far wall, leaving Beckett to stand by the stairs leading up. Once we were out of earshot, her attack began. “You can just go.”
“Maybe I don’t want to.”
“Maybe I would rather you did.”
“Beckett invited me.”
“Yeah, well…” She sighed. “He’s too nice for his own good.”
I set down the ladder and turned to face her. “If you really want me to go, I’ll be the bad guy and tell Beckett I can’t come bake with him. But he invited me, and I’d actually like to stay. No assumptions, no games—just a baking lesson I should have gotten a few decades ago.”
Her frown deepened, and her lips tightened. “I’m not afraid to call a Kennard and have you tossed out of my house.”
“And I’m not stupid enough to give you a reason to do that.”
Her silence hung heavy, her face devoid of any emotion other than irritation for a long pause. But then she huffed. “Fine.”
Jackpot. “I promise to behave.”
“Why do I doubt you can live up to that?”
I didn’t answer her, instead, following her across the floor. Breaking my promise to Beckett and watching his mom’s ass as the three of us climbed the back stairs. Couldn’t help myself. It was a spank-worthy, bitable piece of art that deserved to be worshiped and admired. And I certainly spent some time admiring it. I could look and behave at the same time.
“What’s your favorite cake flavor?” Beckett asked as soon as we’d crossed the threshold into their apartment, taking my attention from something bitable to something…edible. Cake.
“Chocolate. For sure.” I did my best not to look as if I were casing the place, but I couldn’t stop myself. I needed to know more about Mercy and Beckett, wanted to discover any shortcut to her attention. The apartment didn’t give away much other than that they certainly didn’t live an extravagant lifestyle. The place was neat and clean but plain. Simple. The two deserved to be spoiled, and it certainly didn’t appear as if anyone was doing that for them.
“Wash your hands,” Mercy said, directing her words to Beckett but giving me a look that said you as well. I knew when to follow orders, so I stepped in front of her and turned on the water in the kitchen sink, scrubbing my hands. A towel appeared at my elbow along with a toothy grin. Well, mostly toothy.
“You’ve got a hole in your smile.”
Beckett grinned even wider. “Yup. Lost that tooth forever ago. I have more wiggly ones too.”
I knelt down, looking him square in the eye as I leaned forward and quietly asked, “Did the tooth fairy show up here?”
Beckett’s eyes grew larger, and his mouth fell open. “She did.”
I nodded, catching Mercy’s eye over his shoulder. Winking at her when I thought I could get away with it. “And did she bring you a present for that tooth?”
Beckett took off like a shot, running past me and down the hallway. Mercy laughed.
“What did I do?”
She shook her head as she moved to the refrigerator, pulling out eggs and butter. “He won’t tell you—he’ll want to show you.”
I nodded and took a spot next to the counter where I figured I’d be out of the way. “Was it a good present?”
“I did what I could.”
Honest answer. “I never had a visit from the tooth fairy.”
“No?”
“No. Grew up on a military base, and my dad didn’t believe in fostering childish things. No Santa, no Easter Bunny, no tooth fairy.”
She frowned as she measured sugar into the bowl of a big, blue mixer. “That sounds sad.”
“Nah, just forthright.”
The thunder of little feet on wood floors sounded through the kitchen, and Beckett appeared from the hall at a full run. “This. I got this.”
He held up what looked like a block of plastic—square, green, and…I had no idea what. “And what is that?”
“It’s a creeper.”
I looked at Mercy, hoping for a little help but not receiving any. “What’s a creeper?”
“It’s from a video game he plays,” Mercy said before focusing in on the stand mixer in front of her. “Okay, so this bowl is for the wet ingredients—you always mix your wet stuff first. Beckett, are you going to help me crack the eggs?”
“Yeah!”
And with th
at, the creepy green guy was forgotten and Beckett took his spot on a stool next to his mom. The two worked together to crack a ridiculous number of eggs, then poured something from a dark bottle into the bowl. Mercy kept a running commentary on what she was doing—teaching me, apparently—but I couldn’t focus on her words. Too caught up in the feeling of rightness being in this place with these two brought me. The sense of home I’d never once experienced before.
“Ready to mix,” Mercy said when she had everything liquid in the bowl. And sugar, though she’d specifically said you started with your wet ingredients. Why sugar was with the wet, I had no idea.
Beckett was the one who got to turn on the machine. The look of excitement on his face, the obvious thrill of something so simple, called to my heart. As did the gentle smile on Mercy’s face as she watched her son. The moment almost froze, the view cementing itself in my mind as my heart fucking lurched.
This.
This moment right here was what life was all about. Not stuff or outside world bullshit. This sort of quiet, calm, everyday shit. I wanted it. Wanted it so bad, I knew right then I’d walk through fire for these two. I’d barely met them, knew very little about them, but this was it. They were mine.
The buzzing of my cell phone in my pocket shattered that moment, bringing me back to the reality of my life. No way was that a friendly What’s up or How you doing text. It would be for the crew or for the protection of Justice, and there was no way I couldn’t answer it.
“Nice and slow,” Mercy said, helping Beckett add the white, flour mixture to the bowl. I kept my eyes on them as long as I could, kept the dread of having to leave this warm little bubble shoved down in my gut until the last possible second. And then I read the screen.
Get your ass to the camp now.
Fucking Edge. The asshole was likely still hunting down Jinx, or he’d figured out where she was and wanted me to bring her to him. Not that I would. I technically couldn’t hide Jinx from them, but I certainly wasn’t plopping her into their laps.
Sabotage: A Vigilante Justice Novel Page 3