by M J Marino
And there it is. The question I had hoped to never have to answer. I sigh and look at my brothers. They don’t need to be told I want the room cleared. They walk away silently, giving me the privacy I need. They know the story, some more than others, but they know enough.
Once alone, I turn to her and take her hands in mine. “I need to give you the story about my parents. You know they were killed in a home invasion. My father was an active Navy SEAL. My mother was an American nurse who worked for Doctors Without Borders. They met when my dad was stationed in Colombia for an assignment, trying to infiltrate a drug ring. My mom was there providing medical services to people in need. She was half Colombian and spoke fluent Spanish, like my father. My mom was a real beauty and my dad fell hard. It was love at first sight.”
My throat is thick with emotion and I have to swallow before continuing.
“Neither of them knew my mother had caught the attention of the fastest rising drug lord, Esteban Moreno. What Esteban wanted, he took, but he wasn’t fast enough to get my mom. He tried to win her heart, but she outright refused him, seeing him for the criminal he was, putting the people she treated in medical need to begin with.
“Then my dad came along, this badass SEAL who was there to hunt Esteban down, and my mom fell head over heels for the hero he was. They had this whirlwind romance—guess it’s where I get it from. She left for the states to marry my dad once his recon assignment was complete. They were extremely happy from what my abuela told me, full of hope for a new future together as husband and wife. Shortly after they married, my mom found out she was pregnant with me and they were excited to start a family.”
Josephine grips my hands to comfort me. She knows how difficult this is for me to talk about, otherwise I would have already told her.
“Word somehow got back to Esteban that not only had my mother run off, but she had married a man who was trying to bring Esteban’s establishment to its knees. He tracked them down and saw my mom was pregnant. He tried to convince her to leave my dad and go with him. She rejected him. He approached her a second time after I was born in the hospital, offering the world, but she said she already had the world with me and my dad. He left before my dad could take him out.”
My heart rate escalates and my breath stutters.
“When I was a couple months old, Esteban sent a team to kill my parents. I guess he thought if he couldn’t have her, no one else could. Why I wasn’t put on the hit list, I’ll never know.”
Josephine chokes on a sob and I pull her into my arms, hating how she’s crying for me. I kiss the top of her head and rock us. “Please, baby, don’t cry.”
“This is why you’re obsessed with taking him down,” she states, understanding.
I take in a shaky breath. “Yes. He killed my parents, and he has been fucking with me ever since.”
“What do you mean ‘ever since?’” she asks on a sob.
“He’s been watching me over the years. He would send birthday gifts every year when I was a child, to remind me of what he had done. On the anniversary of my parents’ death there would always be a huge flower arrangement delivered to my mother’s grave from him. He would on occasion sneak into the country and come watch my baseball and soccer games when I was kid living in Florida. My abuela would curse and scream at him. I always knew when he was there. It’s like he wanted to taunt me, to scare me and abuela.
“As I got older, he was more reclusive, but he would call my school to find out how I was doing in my classes. He tried to give me a scholarship for some college in Colombia to play soccer. It was fucking weird, like he felt guilty for what happened and grieved for my mom.
“The last straw for me was when he sent flowers to my abuela’s funeral. I snapped. The fucker was taunting my poor abuela even in death. I joined the Navy and became a SEAL like my old man, wanting to have something in common with him. I wanted to become a machine capable of taking Esteban down and making him pay for what he did to me and my family.”
“But why did he approach me?” my pixie asks with worry laced in her tone.
“To fuck with me, of course. I have personally stopped his drug advances into this country for the past two years. I was so fucking close to nabbing him the last time I was in South America,” I say, lifting my fingers to show an inch. “This fucking close. He thinks he can get to me through you. Well, the fucknut has another thing coming. He will never touch you. As close as he got to you today, he will never get anywhere near as close again. No one is taking you from me.”
Josephine shakes her head. “Maceo, I want you to stay the hell away from him. He’s not worth losing your life over,” she pleads.
“You’re right, he’s not. But you are. Now that he has shown interest in you, I need to stop being on the defense and go on the offense. I will lay my life on the line to protect what is mine, to protect you, and keep you safe by my side always,” I murmur into her hair.
She pulls away from me hastily, new tears streaming down her face. “I don’t want you dying for me, Maceo!”
I reach for her, but she backs away and runs out of the garage.
Fuck. She’s running again.
I sprint after Josephine, knowing she may have the endurance to go on and on, but she doesn’t have the speed I have to run her down. I catch up before she hits the road and grab her by the waist. She shrieks and kicks and slaps at me, but I hold onto my little hellcat until she peters out. She cries and leans forward and I lower us both to the ground on our knees where I hold her from behind.
Slowly her tears come to an end. A voice in the back of my head yells at me to reassure her all will be alright, but another part of me worries she may be better off without me involved in her life. I never was close to a woman until Josephine. My short rendezvous with the opposite sex is what kept them all safe from Esteban. Josephine is the first woman I’ve ever loved, who I have completely given myself to. Of course this would make her a target for Esteban.
A small part of me thinks of letting her go, but a bigger part of me is too selfish to consider it, and it argues she’s safer with me since Esteban would know she still holds my heart even if I let her go. My mind is settled. She’s mine for the keeping.
“I’m sorry this is happening. Please, don’t leave me now. I need you by my side, always,” I whisper to her.
“You can’t risk your life, Maceo. If you die, I’ll die, whether it’s by Esteban’s hand or a broken heart,” she whimpers.
I groan at the thought of my little pixie dying of a broken heart without me. This woman slays my soul time and again. I make the one promise I know I shouldn’t. “I promise I won’t die.”
Josephine sniffs but stops crying. She rotates in my arms ‘till she’s facing me, and she pushes me on my ass where I hit the ground with a huff. She crawls into my lap and straddles me before throwing her arms around my neck, leaning her head against my chest. My arms lace around her body, holding her snugly against me.
“You promised, now you have to keep it,” she murmurs, kissing the spot where my heart is.
I nod. “I know.” And I will do everything in my power to hold that promise. I want a long life with this woman. I want a family with this woman. I want to burden her with my soul. But if it did come down to it, I would gladly lay my life on the line to save my pixie from death. It’s what you do when you love someone, you sacrifice for them, and sometimes you pay the ultimate price to ensure their safety.
We’re interrupted by a convoy of my men rolling in on their hogs. I pick her up and she wraps her legs around my waist. I carry her inside to my bedroom where I set her on my bunk, tucking her into bed. She may not recognize it yet, but she’s crashing. I want her comfortable while she slips into a long sleep after the adrenaline subsides. Slowly, her eyelids close and I lean over to kiss her soft lips.
Once I’m confident she’s asleep, I leave the bedroom and close the door behind me. My crew is waiting in the garage for me to address our new issue. Opal stops me before I make it outside.
“Atlas, you’re going to take care of this right?” Opal asks with worry, and by ‘this’ she means Esteban.
I give her a hug for reassurance. “I will handle it, and I will make sure no one else on our crew is harmed,” I say. She’s asking me to take out Esteban and not assign it to one of my other men, like Gauge. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. I clean up my own messes.
In the garage, I find all my men waiting to hear what I will order when it comes to Esteban. Gauge comes up to me before I address the rest of the crew. “We need the men, Atlas,” he tries again, more firmly this time, his green eyes almost pleading with me.
I nod begrudgingly. He’s right. We need men. Lorenzo is offering assistance with ‘no strings attached,’ whatever the fuck that means. Maybe he does care about Josephine and hopes to walk away the hero in this, or maybe he doesn’t want Esteban taking over his territory with new merchandise. Either way, he’s offering help. I’d be a fool to turn him down. “Set up the meeting.”
Relieved, Gauge nods and looks over at Chase, who nods back before returning to his computer to send Lorenzo a message.
I clear my throat and all my men stare at me, waiting expectantly for some grand plan. “Ravens,” I address.
“HOOYAH!” they shout.
“We’re going up against my arch-nemesis again. Esteban has made contact with Josephine today at the MC clubhouse build site. We’ve lost sight of him and have no clue if he’s in the city or state. We’re going in without info. Not the ideal situation, but not one we haven’t done before. It’s time we stop our defense and go into offense. We need to make the first moves from now on. Once we have a location on him, we go in. We’re going to be working hand in hand with the devil for a spell ‘till this situation is resolved. Lorenzo Bianchi has offered men and firepower. We will take his men. We don’t touch any of his stolen goods. We use our own weapons. There’s only so much I’m willing to take from the fucker.”
A murmur of approval ripples around the garage. None of us want to get our hands any dirtier than we have to.
“Chase,” I address him specifically, “I want you to inform the Feds Esteban has been seen here in Fort Collins. See if we can be granted access to their database. Maybe they will be generous with us for once. Contact Detective Quire from local law enforcement and update him as well.”
Chase nods and grabs his cell, heading outside to make the call to the FBI and Luke.
“Punk, you will take Eagle, Stage, Flay, and Triple and supervise the build site—one of you must be with Josephine at all times. Gauge is setting up a meeting with Lorenzo to assign tasks to his crew. Chase will continue to monitor all things here with help from Butch. Reaper, I want you to stay on surveillance for Jacob Klein—he hasn’t been removed as a suspect from the break-in at Josephine’s condo. After Brass and Ziggy finish up the recon job in Aurora, Brass will work security detail and Ziggy will work with Chase. I will be with Josephine at all times until the threat has been removed,” I say with authority before clapping my hands. “Meeting adjourned.”
“HOOYAH!”
Exhausted, I go to Punk and give him the keys to my SUV. “Hades trusts you. I need you to go fetch him. Take Opal or Ebony and have them pack up a bag for me and Josephine. We’re staying here until we handle the situation.”
Punk takes the keys and nods. He whistles at Ebony, who is sitting outside in an Adirondack chair soaking in the sun. She hops up and bounds over to him. He snakes an arm around her and helps her up into the SUV before taking off.
Rolling my shoulders, I make my way back to Josephine. She’s sprawled across the bed with the covers kicked off and her jeans tossed on the floor. I run my hand down my face and groan.
My girl likes to sleep in her skimpy panties and tank tops. How the hell am I supposed to control her subconscious behavior while we stay here with my men? I can’t stop her from stripping naked in her sleep and expect my brothers not to ogle her.
I look again at my sleeping beauty and know that if I was in the position of any of my men, I would be drinking in her image. She looks like a fucking goddess in her sleep, her lithe body on display, her soft lips slightly open, and her ash-brown hair sprawled out like a fan across the pillow.
Fuck, I’m getting hard. With a groan, I adjust myself through my jeans but realize it’s fruitless.
Unable to resist, I strip out of my clothes, down to my boxer briefs and crawl in next to her. I pull her body against my chest and rest my chin against the back of her head, breathing in her citrus scent.
I yank the flat sheet up to cover us, but Josephine immediately thrashes around until it’s off of her—not having air conditioning will make you run warmer.
No covers it is then. I’ll punch any of my roommates who look at her if I have to.
Josephine is restless in her sleep, mumbling and whimpering, saying my name while gripping my forearms. I nuzzle closer and whisper, “I’m here. I love you. I’m not going anywhere.”
I feel like I haven’t been asleep long when the bedroom door opens. Hades comes clomping in and hops up at the foot of the bed to lie across my legs. He licks Josephine’s foot, making her jolt in her sleep. I grin because she does the same thing to me when I lick her feet.
Punk comes in next and drops our bags against the wall. He gasps when he takes in Josephine’s half-naked body. He turns away quickly to head out the door. “Fucking lucky bastard,” he mumbles as he closes the door behind him, making me chuckle.
Don’t I know it. His confession is enough to make me not want to bust his nose for peeping on my woman.
The rest of the week is rough. And by rough, I mean Josephine is working like a dog to get the MC clubhouse finished as soon as possible. She’s barking orders around the build site to her crews, having deliveries rushed, and calling in every favor she has to get the clubhouse off the ground and running.
Though work has been pushed forward, she’s not skimping on quality. If she’s not happy with something, she gives the order to tear it down and start over. At least her crews recognize why she’s suddenly in bitch form, but Punk’s team is getting a rude awakening to Josephine in full turbo mode.
More than a handful of times, I’ve witnessed her scream at them when she was feeling smothered. She hates having people hovering over her. Unfortunately, that’s the order I gave my men. Punk is already used to Josephine acting this way from when she gave me the silent treatment for two weeks, but the rest of the guys are not. Her crew thinks it’s hilarious when she starts bitching out one of my men, and I have to agree.
When a sprite of a woman brings down any man over six feet tall with a verbal thrashing, it’s absolutely comical. The time Flay tried escorting her to the Port-A-Potty has been hands down the best thus far.
Josephine was in a rush to use the bathroom—two cups of coffee—and Flay made her wait so he could check out the toilet stall. It was fine until he lifted to lid on the toilet, sending my woman into an ass-chewing tizzy.
“Who the fuck is going to crawl their dumb ass into the bowl? Fucking no one ever! Now pull your head out of the shitter before I lose my shit!” she bitched.
I nearly pissed myself laughing. I make my men check it before she enters, but not the inside of the toilet.
Things have been flying along at the construction site. When Josephine cracks a whip, it’s all hands-on deck. Plumbing and electrical are done and have passed inspection. Interior walls, mudding, trim and doors are finished. Central heating and cooling have been installed. Acid stain is complete on the basement and the first floor. The kitchen is finished. The garages are complete and the workshop is getting final touches with paint.
I know why she’s acting this way, and it guts me. She wants the clubhouse up and ready, prepared for battle. She’s been hounding Chase nonstop about what he needs for his state-of-the-art tech room, demanding that he order everything he needs and she’ll worry about the budget.
She also went over my head and decided each of
the bunnies should have a room. I argued, we needed the room to grow our crew. Josephine went ballistic on me about treating the bunnies like some kind of sex-for-free trash, good enough to sleep with my men but not good enough to get their own bed. Doing anything and everything to get back in her good graces, I bowed out when she said they should at least get two rooms and share with another bunny. The girls were ecstatic, even Candy was slapping Josephine on her bottom as kudos.
Friday is finally coming to an end. Josephine worked her crew ragged and consents when Jared says they should take the weekend off. After her crew has left, she throws on some knee pads and goes to work, installing tile in four of the bathroom showers on the second level, snapping at me and my brothers when we try to help, or if we get in her way.
It’s nearly midnight when I make her quit. She throws off her head lamp and cusses me out the whole way to my bike.
My men are dying because they’ve suffered her raff all week, and they love how she’s ending the week by going after me. If this were any other woman, I would be putting her in her place, but this is Josephine.
“Pixie, you’re killing yourself! You rushed breakfast, skipped lunch, and forgot about dinner. My men are hungry, and you need to eat something. Work is still going to be there on Monday,” I try to reason with her, putting the helmet on her precious head and clipping it in place.
“Exactly, Maceo! The work is going to be there on Monday. It won’t get done any faster unless I put in the extra hours. This project needs to be done now! Not tomorrow or the next day. Right fucking now!” she screams at me.
Jesus, she’s flipping out. I grab her by the shoulders and shake her, not hard, but enough to snap her out of her tantrum. She looks up at me, wide-eyed, before she breaks down in big sobbing tears.
Damn it, Maceo, you fucking jerk!
My pixie is stressed and filled with anxiety because of all this shit with Esteban and the panty-snatcher. She’s trying to control the one thing she can, which is her work. And here I am losing my cool because she’s trying to stay busy and keep her mind from running wild.
