by Tate James
Not that I was letting his bills pile up thanks to my fuckups. His mom's debts had already been cleared, and her stay at Sunshine was fully paid for. But Lucas didn't know that, and I got the feeling he wouldn't be happy about it either.
"I don't get it, Lucas," I groaned, resting my head on the steering wheel. "You're... you. There must have been girls panting all over you for years in school—"
"Homeschooled, remember?" he interrupted with a flash of a grin.
I rolled my eyes. "Okay, then just in general. You must have had girlfriends before. Hell, Seph was ready to make a damn fool of herself over you even when she knew you were taken."
He shrugged. "None of them have ever interested me like that," he admitted. "I’ve been on a few dates, but it never went that far. There was always just something missing. For a while I thought maybe I was gay." He gave me another smile. "Now I know better. I was just waiting for the right person."
That statement did crazy things to my insides, and it was all getting a bit too heavy for my liking. So I unbuckled my seat belt and popped the door open.
"We should get in there before the visiting hours end," I told him, changing the subject so hard I almost gave myself whiplash. "Your mom will be dying to see you."
“Actually,” he said, getting out of his side but leaning against the car when I started toward the entrance. “At the risk of reminding you more of my age… I’m supposed to be at school this week.”
I jerked to a halt and blinked at him in shock. “Oh fuck. I totally forgot about that.”
He winced. “Damn. I was sort of hoping you’d pulled rank on the principal or something so I wouldn’t get expelled.”
I flashed him a grin. “I’m kidding. I had to excuse Seph, so I took care of yours too. In case anyone asks, you have glandular fever. You’ve still got to do the coursework, but it’s being emailed to you to do at home.”
A visible rush of relief washed over his face, and he strode forward to grab my face and kiss me. “You’re fucking amazing, Hayden.”
I rolled my eyes. “Uh-huh. Maybe some time you can tell me why you even went to Shadow Prep instead of just getting a GED.” I arched a brow at him, and he nodded.
“Absolutely, yes.” He threaded his hand together with mine and we made our way through the grand entrance to the care facility. We paused to sign in at the guest registry, then a male nurse showed us the way through to Sandra Wildeboer's room.
Before we entered, Lucas hesitated. A quick look at his face told me he was tense—maybe even scared—and I took a guess that he was worried his mom might have deteriorated in the past few days. Or maybe he was scared what her response would be to his visible bruising. Either way, I acted on instinct. My fingers linked through his, and I gave him a small squeeze of reassurance.
The way his shoulders relaxed told me it was the right move, and he reached for the door handle with a renewed confidence.
His mom was sitting near the wide picture window, her back to us as we entered, but her head tipped in a way that said she'd heard us.
"Mom?" Lucas spoke up, heading toward her with my hand still tightly clasped in his own. "It's me."
"Of course it is," the woman replied, her speech slow and slightly slurred. "No one else would be visiting." Her words were harsh, but her tone wasn't unkind. Just... sad.
The room she'd been given was lovely and not at all like a hospital, if you ignored the nurse call buttons and safety rails. Otherwise, it just felt like a room inside a country bed and breakfast. A vase full of sunflowers sat on the small table, and the bed was made up with a floral comforter.
"Mom, this is Hayden," Lucas offered, tugging me closer to introduce me to his mother. "She's my... uh..."
"Girlfriend," I finished for him, swallowing hard against the spike of panic that word caused. It seemed like a more palatable explanation for Lucas's unwell mother to grasp, though, so I went with it.
She turned her wheelchair slightly so she could look up at us, a small smile on her lips. A ripple of surprise ran through me at seeing how young she was. She couldn't have been more than forty-five at most, her dark hair showing only the thinnest streaks of gray and her face only holding lines around her eyes.
Sandra Wildeboer was gorgeous. I could see where her son got his looks from, no question.
"Hayden," she greeted me with a resigned sigh. "I should have guessed."
Confused, I flicked a glance at Lucas. He looked just as puzzled as me, though, so I turned my attention back to his mother. "Uh, guessed what, ma'am?"
It never hurt to be polite when meeting your boy-toy's parent, right? Sure. That sounded legit.
"I should have guessed," she repeated, her slow words deliberate, "when that nice nurse showed up at my house with a Timberwolf tattoo."
My brows shot up and my lips parted. Her speech might be impaired and her body confined to a wheelchair, but the look in Sandra Wildeboer's eyes was sharp as a blade. She knew exactly who I was... but how?
"You look like her," she told me, her gaze running over my face with familiarity. "And him. That hardness in your eyes... it's all your daddy." Her tone went cold and hard with that comment, and anger swelled in my chest with my inhale.
"Lucas," I murmured. "May I have a moment alone with your mother?"
"No," he replied without hesitation. "Sorry, but no way."
Incredulous, I gave him a hard stare, but he just shook his head and met my gaze with stubborn defiance.
"Luka, baby," his mother said with a small laugh, "go and get me a coffee."
Lucas glared down at his mother. "What? No, you can talk with me here."
I swallowed back the laugh that wanted to bubble out of me, but I gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze. "I promise I'm not going to hurt your mom, Lucas. I just want to talk with her a moment." And find out how in the hell she knew my parents. What connection did the Wildeboer family have to the Timbers?
"That's not what I was worried about," Lucas muttered, but he seemed to know he was outnumbered. He gave him mom a hard look. "Be nice, Mom. I like her."
Sandra just smiled and waited for her son to leave the room before indicating that I sit down. I pulled over a chair from the small table and sat facing her as she eyed me up from her wheelchair.
"Hayden Timber," she murmured. "I'd have thought Luka too young for the likes of you."
I sat back, tucking my ankles over one another. "Why, because I'm a woman? No one has a problem when a man dates younger." I arched my brow at her, silently questioning her feminist standpoint.
Her lips curled in a sly smile. "Good answer. I bet you want to know how I knew your parents, huh?"
I inclined my head. "That would be nice. I wasn't aware Lucas had any connections to my world."
She grunted an annoyed sound. "He doesn't. But I did. Once." She drew a shaking breath and let it out slowly. "I should warn you, my mind isn't what it used to be. Sometimes things get a bit... lost."
"You seem pretty sharp to me, Ms. Wildeboer." It was a somewhat dry accusation, and she huffed a laugh.
"Right now, yes. You got me on a good day, Hayden." She tilted her head to the side, her eyes inspecting my face. "Do you remember much of your mother? She died when you were very young."
I swallowed past old, bitter emotions that tried to surface, holding onto my calm mask like a life raft. "I remember more than Seph does," I answered, not really answering the question at all. I remembered a lot of my mother, I just chose not to think about her. I chose to keep those memories locked up tight, and no matter how curious I was about Lucas's mom, I wasn't pulling them out for a trip down memory lane.
"We were friends," Sandra told me in a nostalgic whisper, her eyes misty as she gazed at me. I got the feeling she wasn't seeing me at all, but my mom. "Natasha was too good for your father. He knew it too."
My jaw tightened. "She didn't die in a car accident, did she?"
Sandra gave a sad sigh. "No. He shot her. She tried to leave him, tried to tak
Those words were like a knife in my already bleeding heart. "How do you know?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"Because I saw it happen," she murmured. "And I was so scared. I had Luka to think of, so I ran. I made some bad choices, trusted the wrong people to keep me safe..." Her words trailed off, tears gathering in her eyes.
I waited, tense with anticipation, but she didn't continue. Instead, she just gave me a pleading look and held out a weak, trembling hand. "Keep my boy safe, Hades," she whispered, the slur to her words making it hard to understand. "Please. You owe me nothing, but—"
"Of course I will," I cut her off, promising her despite the danger Lucas had already landed in thanks to me. "But, you need to tell me more. What happened after you ran? How were you and my mom friends in the first place?"
Sandra shook her head, her eyelids fluttering. "I'm sorry, it's just..." She grimaced, clearly annoyed. "Will you call the nurse for me, Tasha? I'm not feeling so good."
Shock held me immobile for a second, then I slowly replied. "It's Hayden. I'm... I'm not Natasha."
Sandra blinked at me, then nodded with a laugh. "Yes, sorry. Of course. I knew that, Hayden. Things just get a bit foggy sometimes."
Frustrated but biting back my feelings, I reached for the nurse call button and pressed it for her. "That's okay, Sandra," I assured her. "It's all in the past anyway." The door opened then, but instead of the nurse, it was Lucas returning with a coffee in each hand. "Look, Luka is back with your coffee."
He gave me a questioning look, but I just retreated to give him some time with his mom. A nurse passed me as I was leaving the room, and I briefly described how Sandra had just had a moment of confusion.
The nurse nodded knowingly. "Pretty normal," she told me with a smile. "Thanks." She continued into the room, and I made my way outside.
As badly as I wanted to know more about Sandra's connection to my mom, I wasn't cold enough to push an unwell woman for answers that would ultimately give me nothing. She'd known my mom before she died, and—if I was to understand correctly—had left Shadow Grove a long time before I came into power. Nothing she could tell me of my deceased parents would be relevant to my current struggles.
More importantly, none of it implicated Lucas as being anything more than he seemed. He would've only been four when Sandra ran from Shadow Grove, and I didn't care how deeply involved she'd been in the Timberwolves, he was innocent.
Lucas didn't stay long before rejoining me in the car, and I gave him a concerned frown as he closed his door.
"You can stay longer," I told him. "I just didn't want to intrude."
He shook his head. "Nah, she needs rest." His jaw tightened, and he seemed to be searching for the right words to say something more. Eventually he ran his fingers through his hair and let his shoulders droop on a long exhale.
"Thank you," he said. "For this." He waved a hand at the entrance to Sunshine Estate. "She needed more care than I could provide, but this... this was way out of reach."
I quirked a lopsided smile, not used to being thanked so genuinely. It was awkward, but in a good way. "Considering you almost died because of me? It really was the least I could do." Acting on instinct, I reached out and threaded my hand around the back of his neck, pulling him into a kiss.
He kissed me back without even a shadow of hesitation, letting his full lips explore mine in a way that made my whole body hot with need.
"What was that for?" he murmured with an edge of surprise.
I licked my lips, starting the car up. "I like you too, Luka."
19
Zed called me before we got back to his house, asking me to head back to Anarchy. The tone of his voice told me it wasn't a casual request, and I didn't push him for further information on the phone. I just changed direction and drove back to the creepy old repurposed amusement park.
Lucas grimaced as I drove in under the enormous laughing clown face, and I shot him an amused glance. "Not a fan of clowns?"
He wrinkled his nose, rubbing a fingertip over the yellowing bruise around his eye. "Is anyone? That shit is creepy as fuck. What made you buy this place anyway?"
I barked a laugh. "Why not? It was going cheap and already had a reputation for hosting cage fights. Easy choice."
Getting out of the car, I headed for the fun zone, where I usually found Zed at this time. It was past dusk, the drive to and from Sunshine Estate having taken longer than I anticipated. The main bar would have opened a couple of hours ago, so I expected to find him sitting at the bar with a drink in hand.
The bouncer on the door greeted me respectfully, then directed me down to the lower level, where our private dance rooms were. It was also where our dancers registered as back-of-house workers could take clients for more than just a lap dance.
Anarchy was predominantly to host fight nights, so the basement of the club only had a couple of private rooms, but that was where I found Zed waiting for me.
Two of my high-ranking Timberwolves, Fang and Jim-Bob, flanked one of the doorways and gave me respectful nods as I pushed the door open.
"Boss," Zed greeted me, then shifted his gaze to Lucas with a subtle narrowing of his eyes.
I folded my arms over my chest, taking in the scene in front of me.
"What's going on here?" The question was quite clearly for Zed, and the other occupants of the room knew it. The near-naked woman sitting on the bed with her arms around her knees just blinked up at me, her cheek puffy and red with a handprint. The man who was no doubt responsible for that handprint? Well, he couldn't have answered me even if he’d wanted to. Zed had him on the floor, hog-tied and gagged, but not in a fun sort of way.
"Gigi's client thought he could take liberties that he hadn't paid for," Zed told me in a cold voice of disgust. He gave the hog-tied man a swift kick that rolled him over and revealed a bleeding wound in his side. "Apparently he didn't realize all our staff are trained in self-defense. Gigi disarmed him before he could cut her and raised an alarm."
I looked over to the woman on the bed. She was clearly shaken, but nowhere near a blubbering mess. "Good work, Gigi," I praised her, taking a couple of steps closer to inspect her face a little better. She understood what I was doing, raising her face up to show me the handprint and some red marks around her throat. "Jim-Bob!" I called out to one of the door guards. "Go and fetch Gigi an ice pack from upstairs. Go get dressed; you can take the night off." I directed this last order directly to Gigi. She was a beautiful girl, maybe a year or so younger than me with long blonde hair and huge tits. I was pleased to see she'd been able to defend herself.
She gave me a defiant shake of her head, a flash of worry showing across her face as she drew a breath.
"You'll be paid out for the whole night," I told her before she could protest, and relief washed over her. "Jim-Bob will escort you home too."
"Thank you, Hades," she said in a small voice, scooting her sequined-thong-wearing ass off the bed and giving Lucas a wide-eyed look of appreciation. She made no attempt to cover her bare breasts as she brushed past him, and an acidic bubble of jealousy formed inside me.
Lucas didn't look, though, and placed his hand on the small of my back like a silent declaration that he was with me. Smart boy.
"So, you want to tell me why you called me down here?" I asked Zed after Gigi was gone. "Clients getting rough with the staff is something the security can handle themselves." Usually with a baseball bat or steel-toe boot. Assholes learned real fast not to hurt my workers. I didn't care how much they were paying, consent was key, and last I checked, Gigi wasn't into those kinks.
Zed gave an irritated glance at Lucas, then nudged the bound guy with his boot again. "See that?"
The man wasn't in the best shape, with a heavy layer of fat around his belly and a thick coating of hair across his shoulders. He'd also inked himself up in pseudo-gang tattoos, shit that looked like he was in a gang but were just vanity pieces. Except for one.
With a groan, I crouched down to get a better look at the one-inch-square design on his shoulder. "Motherfucker."
"My thoughts exactly," Zed agreed.
I sat back on my heels, a million thoughts racing through my brain. Then I pulled my phone out and scrolled for a familiar contact.
"Getting impatient, Red?" Cass answered on the first ring, and I bit back a smile at his greeting. "I'm on my way to pick you up now."
Ah shit, our dinner date. It must be almost eight. "Raincheck, Grumpy Cat. I need you to come to Anarchy."
"Be there in ten," he replied, not questioning me. I appreciated that.
Ending the call, I stood up again and raked my fingers through my hair. "Fang, come help Zed move this prick down to the cold room," I ordered. "Then don't take you damn eyes off him until I get back."
"Yes, sir," Fang replied, stepping aside to let me out of the small room before he entered. Lucas followed me, questions rolling off him in waves, but he bit his tongue nonetheless.
"I'll meet you down there," I told Zed.
He jerked a nod of understanding, and I led Lucas back up to the main club. We paused briefly at the bar so I could advise the manager not to venture into the cold room for a while, then made our way back out to the parking lot.
"What's going on?" Lucas asked when we were safely away from anyone who might be listening. "Was that tattoo on his back what I think it was?"
I wrapped my arms around myself, wishing I could lie to him. But... something about Lucas made me want to be honest with him. "The same design that got branded into your chest by a madman last week? Yeah. Who gave it to him remains to be seen, but... I have a fair idea."
He nodded silently, his jaw tight, and a wave of guilt washed over me. I still hadn't explained to him exactly what had happened when he was taken. I hadn't told him why he was taken or who I was pretty sure had been responsible. Nothing.
Fucking hell, Lucas deserved better than my messed-up ass.
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