Dazzled and Dazed

by Harley McRide

  “Oh yes,” Olivia said in a loud whisper, “But this one is the one where they tied her up in that swing!”

  “For fuck’s sake. What the hell did you write?”

  “I told you I wrote erotica!” he hissed back.

  “Well yeah, but bondage?” I said and looked at him. “You never said bondage!”

  Sean rolled his eyes, “There are only so many positions for vanilla, after that you have to get creative. You know, to keep it fresh, just like in marriages.”

  I glared at him, and then snapped, “Okay, yeah, I can think about Brit, but your mother? Fuck no.”

  “Well, excuse me for being a popular author!” Sean hissed.

  “We need to exchange these with each other. I think Anthony would love to…” Sonia said, and I blocked it out. Yep, that was right, blocked. I was in control.

  “Don’t listen, don’t listen!”

  “How’s that working for you?!” Sean whispered.

  “You are going to need to come out,” I said with a growl. “I can’t keep hearing these bad things.”

  “Fuck you! It didn’t bother you too much when you were texting Brit,” Sean growled and damned if I hadn’t smiled.

  “Yeah, that’s the awesome part. Still won’t be me who is gonna get in trouble. How about at the family dinner?”

  Sean shook his head. “Um...fuck no, not there. I do not need to come out to the whole family, just Brit. The others can wait. Like until this is over and shit.

  Jeremy said something, and I shushed Sean and listened, “Ladies, I’m serious. You are gonna need to order something, or my boss will get real mad.”

  I cursed under my breath. No, the women needed to grab the books and leave.

  “Fuck,” I whispered, and then made sure none of them were looking, and I crawled quickly behind the counter and turned and plopped my ass next to Jeremy’s legs. “Stop saying that to them. We want them to leave,” I whispered.

  Jeremy squatted down and whispered, “But it’s true. My boss will be mad.”

  “I will pay for the next fifty customers’ coffee if you will just stop saying that,” I hissed.

  “And a muffin or scone to go with it?” Jeremy asked and cocked his brow. Little bastard knew he had us.

  “Fine, and a muffin or scone.” Jeremy smiled and stood.

  “Never mind, someone is paying for the next fifty customers’ coffee with a pick of a muffin or scone,” he said loudly, and I groaned and put my hand over my face.

  Of course, he didn’t get I meant after he got the women to leave. I heard the bell ring over the door again, and there was no way for me to move without being seen. I could see Sean still struggling to stay hidden. Shit, his huge form squished into the small place, he was going to need to sit in the sauna to untighten his muscles. I shook my head and grinned. I loved this family. I swear nothing was ever normal, and I loved it. Except thinking about sex and any of them...um no. Maybe if we were lucky, someone would piss Petal off, and she would light them on fire, and we could end this torture.

  “Oh my God, can you believe we are the first ones here?” I heard Brit’s voice. Well, we knew who walked in. “Thank goodness the guys were already gone, it would have been hard to get away.”

  FINALLY! She arrived, now maybe we would hear something good. Maybe she would give me a few hints.

  Brooklyn laughed. “I was with Fin and got up and just left the house. He called me three times before I sent him a text telling him I was fine and that Zoey needed me to get her something.”

  “Oh, dear,” I heard a woman say, “I love this author. Hazel, come here and bring Joanna, Magenta O’Reilly’s books are here and signed. We lucked out!”

  I needed the women to be quiet. Where was Brit? Who was this woman? I chanced a peek, and my eyes got wide. The woman was like seventy or eighty.

  “Oh my God, old women read your stuff?” Sean nodded. “Are you serious?”

  “What? Do you think they forget how to do it?” I saw Sean roll his eyes.

  “Good to know, though.”

  “If we ever get the fuck out of here, remind me and I will tell you about Maimeó moving into assisted living and us finding a vibrator and lube in her nightstand when we moved her. Talk about nightmares,” Sean said, and I placed my hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t laugh out loud.

  Okay, I composed myself and concentrated on all the voices. Where was Brit? She should be picking out a book and talking. What the hell? I couldn’t check, it would get me seen.

  Jeremy said, “The books are free, and so is a coffee and your choice of a muffin or scone to go with it if you want one.” I glared up at him and shook my head. The kid may not make it to his next birthday, and it wouldn’t be the women who killed him. This generation had issues, I swear.

  I hit the young man in the leg, and he moved farther away. The bell rang again, and then I cringed at the voice.

  “There are our girls!” Reilly yelled. Hell, soon the rest of the family was gonna show up. I heard Brit laugh, but she was still far enough away. Why hadn’t she come up and grab one?

  “Oh, Zoey,” I heard Oliva. “Sit down. I will bring you one over.”

  “No, I want to pick,” Zoey said eagerly, but I could hear the other three strangers chattering about the books. Shit, they needed to leave, the books weren’t for them.

  “I will come with you. Sorry, I got distracted talking to Brooklyn,” Brit said. About fucking time was my thought as I waited. Yep, soon she would pick her favorite, and we would know then. So far, she was the only one who hadn’t shared her favorite. If it was killing me, I knew it was killing Sean, too.

  The three older women continued to chat. I rolled my eyes more and more as my patience waned. Maybe I could distract them. I looked up at Jeremy who was taking an order. Shit, what? I ran out of ideas and rubbed a hand down my face.

  “OH MY GOD!” I heard Zoey, and I saw Sean jerk. I got on my hands and knees ready to stand up when Zoey said, “I need to get a book before I go into labor. Would you ladies excuse me while I get a book? The contractions are five minutes apart, but I just had to stop.”

  The older women said, “Oh, my dear, come on up here. We will wait until you pick one.”

  “Thank you,” Zoey said, right above the counter from me. “Oh, the first one! I am so excited.”

  “Oh yeah, the third one, you know with the cowboys,” Brit sighed, and I frowned. Cowboys? Like real cowboys? Well, what the ever-loving fuck was Sean and I supposed to do with that information.

  “Eeek, right? We can swap!” Zoey giggled, and then squealed a little.

  “Honey,” Reilly said softly. “You may not want to jump up and down like that or we are going to be on our way to the hospital for real and not to breakfast.”

  I heard the older women who were blocking Zoey make a noise of exasperation, and then I heard Brit say, “Ladies, it is a cruel, cruel world out there when you can’t even trust pregnant women. She is my best friend, and I am a little saddened by her deceit.”

  “Will you shut up,” I heard Zoey hiss, and I smiled. Good to know she didn’t piss just us off.

  “Breakfast?” I heard Petal. “Where is breakfast?”

  “Oh, since you are all here, I thought we could do breakfast instead of lunch,” Reilly said. And the women all seemed to be agreeing.

  “Even me?” I heard the teasing in Olivia’s voice.

  “Of course,” Reilly said.

  Then Petal answered, “Cool, I will have someone cover for me. And yeah, dickhead, if I see you in Slinging Ink asking for a piercing. I will tell them fuck no that I’m not touching your dick.”

  Reilly whispered loudly, “Um...Petal...honey. I don’t think you should be poking that particular bear. From the looks of him, he’s in a biker gang.” Sean and I groaned.

  Finally, I heard the man who had spoken earlier, “Hey, sweetheart, I like your smart mouth. We are having a party this weekend at the club.”

  “Petal, I don’t think Br
y and Reed would like this,” Olivia whispered.

  “Don’t worry,” Petal said softly, and then she said loudly, “Sorry, can't make that, brother. My real brother would not be happy if I partied with another club.”

  Fuck the warning sign, the woman needed a damned billboard. I pinched the bridge of my nose when the gruff voice asked, “Who is your brother? I bet he would understand.”

  “Get your damn phone out and call the shop before these women start a turf war,” Sean whispered.

  “I don’t think so, young man. My son-in-law is with the Ops Warriors, maybe you have heard of them, they are from the west coast. Maxi Denold would kick your ass if you touched his baby sister.”

  I leaned and pulled my phone out and scrolled down to the shop’s number. Hell, I almost missed the man whisper while I was thinking of what to say to whoever answered the damn phone.

  “Maxi? No shit. Uh, yeah, well...I gotta get back to work. Tell your brother, Wheels, said hi. Make sure you tell him I rescinded my invite, will ya?”

  “That’s what I thought,” Sonia snapped. “My Maxi taught me how to use a taser the correct way, too. So be on your way before I pull it out.”

  “Honey, now you are not going to poke that bear either, are you? Maxi is still pissed about the taser, he may not help you,” I heard Anthony say, and I grinned. Seriously, we all needed to check our mental health insurance, there was no fucking way we were getting out of maxing it out.

  The bell over the door went off, and I grimaced. We seriously needed to have a conversation with these women. It was like they wanted us to get our asses kicked.

  “Look at these, ladies, together we practically have the whole collection,” Brooklyn said laughing. Obviously, she was trying to change the subject. I wished I could stand and kiss her. I would gladly take the hit from Fin and Tony for it, too.

  “That is so cool. We can switch them around if we want to. I know the perfect place for mine!” Maria said, and then chuckled. “Do you remember the scene in this one? I believe I will be putting it in my bedroom. Maybe show Ranger so he can act that out.”

  I closed my eyes again. Why couldn’t Brit say something? Her—I could picture doing those things. The others—hell, fuck no. This wasn’t cool, we had sat back here and got nothing out of it. Seriously, this sucked ass.

  “Come on, ladies. Let’s go get pancakes, Zoey has a craving,” Reilly said, and I heard the bell over the door ring, and the place grew quiet.

  “Dude, they are gone. You can get off the floor now,” Jeremy said and looked down at me.

  I grimaced and stood, looked outside and watched as they began to drive away. I stretched, and then looked where Sean was still sitting.

  “Sean, you can get up,” I said. “We need to go home now. I gotta change my pants, they are filthy.” There was no answer. “Sean?” I walked to where he was squished and looked down at him. “Come on, man.”

  Sean glared at me. “I can’t get out.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean you can’t get out.”

  “Just what I fucking said, I can’t get out. My feet are under this machine, and I am cramping everywhere when I try to move. You’re going to have to pull me out.”

  I rolled my eyes, and then grabbed his shoulder and pulled hard. Sean fell to the side groaning while I shook my head and said, “Thank God no one saw this.”

  Sean looked up and glared. “Shut the fuck up.”

  I threw up my hands and laughed while he unfolded himself and got up.

  “If we are late for the meeting, I’m telling Fin to ask you why,” I said and walked out the door.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Jet

  We walked into the gym, and I nodded to a few of the guys while Sean ran into Slinging Ink to check the tat appointments. I stopped and stared for a moment at the rings and watched. Fin really had some good talent coming in now.

  With that and the young kids, which I spied in one of the rooms working out, this place was becoming a center point of the Bronx. Hell, pretty soon big names would be coming through the place. Especially once the shit was over and Fin could concentrate on the business.

  I turned toward the stairs to go up to the offices when someone walked through the door. I paused because there were two women and one looked very familiar. Then I saw Xavier walk toward the women, and then I knew, it was Rena Montoya, she was a cop, and when Mel was training, Rena sparred with her. She was solid. Xavier turned and waved me over.

  As I walked, I noticed the other woman. A cop, too. Her stance had given her away. “Hey,” I said and lifted my head. “Rena, good to see you.”

  Rena smiled and said, “Jet, right?”

  I nodded, and then she pointed at the other woman and said, “This is Eva Reynolds, she’s a lieutenant at my precinct, 45th. We were talking about working out, I said I was coming here. The gym at the precinct is okay in a pinch, but we don’t have the good equipment. I invited her to check this place out.”

  I lifted my head, and she smiled and did the same. Xavier held out his hand and said, “Nice to meet you, and anytime you want a grand tour just ask. Fin loves showing off what this place has to offer.”

  Eva laughed and said, “Rena said she would give it to me. I’m particularly interested in the training classes you all do here. I suck at working out on my own. Rena says she does some cross-fit?”

  I shook my head. “Are you a glutton for punishment? Heck, Fin teaches that class. I can barely make it through it.”

  Eva laughed, and then said, “I think I’m gonna like this place.”

  Rena nodded. “I told you, this place is awesome. No one bugs you unless you ask for help, and the people who work here are awesome. And if you are nice, Mr. O’Malley will take you under his wing and train you himself, which I gotta say is an honor. He is by far the best trainer here.”

  Xavier laughed. “Don’t let him hear you say that he will totally drag you off.”

  Eva nodded, “That is what I need, someone to motivate me. I swear, after shift, I’m usually tired and just go home. But if I had someone working with me, I would skip the whole ice cream for dinner and work out. The uniforms are getting a little snug these days.”

  Rena laughed and nodded, “Don’t I know it.”

  Xavier pointed when Reilly walked in, “There he is, let me introduce you.”

  I shook my head and said, “Good luck.”

  As they walked away, I saw Sean walk in from the tat shop and waited for him before going upstairs.

  “I figured you would be up there already,” he said as he walked up to me.

  I shrugged. “Xavier’s sister, Rena, brought in a friend. I talked to them for a while. What do you have for the day?”

  “Clear, unless we get a few walk-ins. I had a guy today with a four slot, but he called and rescheduled,” Sean said, and then laughed. “Bry is left in the shop. He’s trying to figure out why Petal is so in love with Magenta. He’s reading the book in there. I had to leave before I started laughing.”

  “You should’ve gotten a pic, that would be hilarious. And handy when you come out,” I laughed and climbed the stairs.

  “Oh, I did, I will wait to share,” Sean chuckled, and we walked into the large meeting room and looked around.

  I frowned when I spotted the man who sat at the table talking to Fin. I nudged Sean and said, “Trey LaRue is here.”

  Sean lifted his head, and we sat at the table. “What’s going on?” Sean asked and everyone who was standing moved to the table and sat down. Fin leaned forward.

  “Trey has some information,” Fin said, and Trey grimaced.

  “And not good info,” Trey said and looked at me directly. “The fight they had planned has been changed.”

  I sat up straighter and said, “In what way.”

  “They canceled the fighter Emilo had ready to go,” Trey said.

  “What the fuck?” I said. “How long do we have to get background info on the new fighter? This is fucked up, we had
everything set for Aristov,” Fin said.

  “Why would they have changed their plans to include Aristov, if they had one of 8.3.0.’s training for the match to begin with?” Sean snapped.

  “Do they have a date?” Tony asked.

  “Is Jet’s cover blown? Is that why they brought Aristov in?” Cal asked.

  “Whoa, hang on,” Trey said. “I’m waiting for Emilo to report in.”

  Mel walked into the room, “Emilo? What is going on with him? Is he okay? Cecelia and Luis are really missing him.”

  Trey nodded, “I’m hoping to make arrests soon in the gang. That being said—he is having a hard time getting info out right now. With two of the leadership in Rikers has the others fighting to move up the food chain. We think Miguel is trying to run it from Rikers, but not sure he has the reach to contain them. Everyone is paranoid, so Emilo has to be careful.”

  “So, lay it out for me. We heard he’s responsible for killing a few in the ring. A boxer from his own country when he was still active in the MMA. What have you heard about the man?” I said.

  “He is a ringer,” I looked up at the man who spoke from the door, and then Mel smiled and yelled loudly.

  “Emilo! Where the hell have you been? Sis is freaked out since you haven’t done a stop by.”

  Emilo smiled and held out his arms while Mel walked into them and hugged him. “Glad you are safe, sis. When I saw you walk into the room for that fight, I gotta say I was pissed. Where is this man who is supposed to be taking care of you?”

  Falon walked in and frowned. “That would be me, and who the fuck are you?”

  Mel stomped her foot. “Falon, this is Emilo, my brother-in-law!”

  Falon nodded and smiled. “Whoops, hey, I met your kid, Luis; he is awesome. He’s going to be a big kid. Cecelia is going to have to bring him in for a class on boxing when he gets a little older.”

  Emilo stared at Falon for a few beats, and then he smiled and held out his hand. “When I am done with this, we will all go out for dinner!”