by Susan Stoker
At the time Bailey hadn’t thought much about her dad’s words, but now she knew without a doubt that he would’ve put a bullet in Donovan’s head if he knew what the gang member had turned her into.
She probably should’ve been worried about the threat she heard in Clayson’s voice, but she wasn’t. It wasn’t like the four other mechanics were gang members. They were rednecks and a little rough around the edges, but she honestly liked them. Duke, the youngest, was around her age and was brash and bold, as only a man who had the entire world in front of him could be. He was typically the one to volunteer to come in and work on Saturdays when they had enough business to do so.
Henry was in his late twenties and newly married. He’d only known his new wife for six months, and she was already pregnant. He’d told them all that when you met the person you were meant to spend the rest of your life with, you better get started on that. Bailey hoped like hell the couple made it. She knew firsthand how well relationships could start, and how fast they could turn bad.
Ozzie was probably about ten years older than she was, and she’d been scared of him at first. He had a beard down to his midchest, and not a pretty, groomed beard either. It was shaggy and rough, which made him look at least ten years older. He also had a patch over his right eye. She hadn’t heard the story of how he’d lost his eye, but she’d gotten the impression it had something to do with a chick.
Bert was the oldest mechanic and had started the shop with Clayson. They’d worked together for twenty years, and Bailey had caught him studying her on more than one occasion. He always wore jean overalls, and his beer belly stuck out from his middle. It was a good thing the man had long arms; otherwise he’d need a stepladder to reach engines just like she did, except in his case it would be because the bulk of his stomach wouldn’t let him lean over properly.
All in all, she liked the men she worked with. They respected her as a mechanic, which meant the world to her.
She hadn’t been sure she’d even be able to find a job at an auto body shop because of her gender and the way she looked. But Clayson had been desperate. The day she’d walked in inquiring about the NOW HIRING sign in the window, he’d pointed to a car in one of the bays and told her that for her job interview, she had to tell him what was wrong with the vehicle. After a thorough examination of the car, and feeling horribly out of place with not only Clayson watching her work, but the other four mechanics as well, she told the owner that not only were the brake pads worn, but there was brake dust inside the drum. She’d gone on to report that the radiator fan was shot, and there was a leak in the coolant hose. Clayson had immediately offered her the job.
The guys treated her like a little sister, which was fine with her. The last thing she wanted was to have to fend off unwanted romantic attention from a coworker. She’d written off men for good, knowing no one would want to date a former whore.
“It’s fine, Clayson. I appreciate the concern, but I’m good.”
“Mmm,” the owner of the shop murmured noncommittedly. “I’ve got lots of paperwork to get done this week. I’m sure I’ll be around on Friday afternoon.”
Bailey barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the protective older man. She’d never admit it, as it would embarrass both Clayson and her, but it felt good to be worried about. “I’m sure you will,” she told him. “Gotta get back to work.” She gave her boss a half wave and headed back out into the garage bays.
She wasn’t really worried about Nathan Anderson. He’d bring his car in on Friday, she’d be cold and professional with him, and he’d get the hint that she wanted nothing to do with him.
As Bailey stepped back up on the stool and got to work putting the guts of the vehicle she’d been working on back together before Clayson had called her into the office, she ignored the little voice inside her head that called her a liar.
Chapter Four
“Something wrong with your car?” Blake asked Nathan after he’d hung up the phone. He and Logan had walked into the office in the middle of his short conversation.
“Yeah. Don’t think it’s anything major, though.”
“That’s good. I’m surprised that heap is still running,” Logan observed from the other side of his desk, not able to keep the smirk off his face.
“I take good care of Marilyn,” Nathan protested. “She might look rough on the outside, but on the inside she purrs like a cat.”
Blake’s grin took over his face as he said dryly, “Are we still talking about your car?”
Nathan was taken aback, as that was almost exactly what Bailey had asked him the night before. And speaking of his favorite mechanic . . .
“I’m pretty sure I found Bailey.”
His words had the effect of a grenade lobbed into the office. Both Logan and Blake’s heads whipped around and they stared at Nathan.
The questions came at the same time.
“What?”
“Where?”
“She’s here in Castle Rock,” Nathan told his brothers calmly.
“No shit?” Logan asked. “So all that detective work you and Alexis did finally panned out.”
Nathan shook his head. “Nope. We had no leads to where she was. All we had was what the women in the gang said about her.”
For some reason Nathan had been obsessed with finding Bailey from the get-go. He didn’t know what she looked like, didn’t know much about her at all. But he did know how the people she hung out with described her.
Even though she was the prez’s woman, she still talked to us.
She had the greatest laugh.
The bitch sure did love that kid.
She was almost like a sister to me.
I don’t blame her for bolting.
The women in the gang hadn’t had many good things to say about each other, but not one had really bad-mouthed the mysterious Bailey. They weren’t exactly nominating her for sainthood, but they weren’t purposely throwing her under the proverbial bus. But knowing there was a child involved had really touched Nathan’s heart.
His own mother hadn’t given one little shit about his brothers or him. He didn’t know if the child was somehow related to her—maybe her own kid—or if it was a street kid she’d taken responsibility for, but it had made Nathan all that more determined to find her.
Anyone who would risk her life to get away from the Inca Boyz—and take a defenseless kid with her—was someone he wanted to know. Needed to know.
“Then how’d you find her?” Blake asked, leaning against his desk and crossing his arms.
“She found me, actually.” At the looks of exasperation and impatience on his brothers’ faces, he elaborated. “Marilyn wouldn’t start last night. I couldn’t get ahold of either of you and was trying to figure out how to solve whatever problem she had by myself, when a woman came up to me and offered to help.”
“Damn,” Blake breathed. “Bailey?”
“Yup. Although I didn’t know it was her at the time,” Nathan told him. “We shot the shit for a bit, she gave me a card to the auto body shop she works at, and left.”
“You let her leave?” Logan asked, his eyebrows raised in bewilderment.
“She didn’t introduce herself right off the bat, so I didn’t know it was her.”
Blake said, “How do you know her name is even Bailey?”
“She wrote her name on the back of the card.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s Donovan’s Bailey,” Logan argued reasonably.
Nathan’s hands clenched into fists. “She’s not Donovan’s,” he gritted out between his teeth.
Blake and Logan looked taken aback at the fierceness of their brother’s words. Nathan was the easygoing one. The man who let things roll off his back. Yes, he’d been intense in his search for the mysterious Bailey, but he hadn’t ever gotten defensive about anything they’d said before. Not like this.
Blake held his hands up in capitulation, and Logan merely nodded his acquiescence as he clarified, “Just because
her name is Bailey doesn’t mean she’s the ex-girlfriend of the leader of the Inca Boyz, Nathan.”
“True. But I have a feeling that she is. Not only was she skittish as could be, but both of her arms are covered in tattoos.” Nathan held up a hand to forestall the protests he knew were coming and continued. “I didn’t get a good look at them, but one was that stupid-ass white cartoon logo they’ve adopted as their symbol.”
“Damn,” Blake breathed. “She’s pushing her luck living so close to Denver.”
“There’s more,” Nathan said.
“More? Damn.” Blake pushed off his desk, walked around it to pull out his chair, and settled into it. “Let’s hear it.”
“She’s got the kid the gang women mentioned with her.”
“Donovan’s kid?” Logan asked.
Nathan felt his fingernails cutting into his palm as he clenched his fists again. “No,” he bit out, agitated again. “Kid called her sis, and she said he was her brother. I believe her. They look similar. I don’t know exactly how old either of them is, but if he was hers, she would’ve had to have had him when she was around twelve.”
“Not unheard of in the gang lifestyle,” Logan observed dryly.
“Look. If she had Donovan’s child, we would’ve known about it. Someone would’ve said something by now. Hell, Alexis would’ve gotten an earful when she was undercover. You think that bitch Kelly who was jealous as shit of Bailey would’ve stayed quiet about it?”
His brothers were silent. They both knew Nathan was right.
“I just have a hunch, this is her,” Nathan insisted.
“What’s the plan?” Logan asked.
“I’m bringing my car to her shop on Friday, and I’ll go from there.”
The three brothers eyed each other for a long moment before Logan stated, “You like her.”
Nathan didn’t quibble. “I like her. Not only that, but she intrigues me. At first I thought she was probably a hard-ass gang bitch, but if she was, why leave without a trace? Why did Kelly hate her so much? When I couldn’t find any trace of her, she impressed me with how well she covered her tracks. She had to be clever to do that. She was a puzzle I needed to solve.”
“Then you met her,” Blake said.
Nathan nodded. “She’s nothing like what I imagined. Oh, she’s got her shields up pretty high to protect herself, which doesn’t surprise me. But for someone who lived the gang life for as long as she did, if you take away the tattoos, she could be the girl next door. She’s scared to death and doing a piss-poor job of hiding it. Not to mention she loves her brother. The look in her eyes when she looked over at him reminded me of the loyalty we share.”
“She might have run because of him,” Logan stated flatly.
Nathan simply nodded.
“If Donovan or any of the others threatened him, she could have left to protect him,” Blake agreed. “If that’s the case, I don’t even need to meet her to know I like the woman.”
Nathan looked at his two brothers. The three of them understood sibling loyalty. They’d been through hell in their childhood, dodging their mother’s fists, and doing their best to protect each other. Logan had been the one who took most of her rage, and he did it willingly, knowing it meant his brothers would be spared.
“For now, I’m going to bring my car to her shop and see if she’ll open up to me. She’s closed off and ultrawary, and I can’t blame her. But if we’re going to make sure Donovan and his crew leave her alone, I need to get her to trust me.”
“You think she knows Donovan’s out?” Logan asked, the anger simmering in his eyes.
Nathan knew the fact that the gangbanger was already out of jail stuck in both his brothers’ craws. Donovan had been released early for good behavior and because of jail overcrowding. The man had been responsible for taking lewd pictures of Logan’s wife and Alexis’s brother. Not to mention, Donovan’s brothers had kidnapped and planned to kill Alexis. Thankfully they failed. No, the Inca Boyz gang wasn’t on the top of the Anderson brothers’ list of friends.
If Kelly’s rants had been correct, Donovan, and what was left of the Inca Boyz, would probably be looking for Bailey right this second. Nathan’s only consolation was that if he and Alexis hadn’t been able to find her, most likely Donovan couldn’t either.
“I doubt it,” Nathan answered his brother. “I have a feeling if she knew Donovan was out of jail, she’d bolt.”
“Sorry we weren’t around yesterday to help you out,” Blake said. “I took Alexis out to dinner, and afterward we went to Rock Park and hiked it.”
“I thought it closed at sunset?” Nathan asked.
Blake shrugged. “It does. But when she starts to feel claustrophobic, she needs to hike, to feel more in charge of herself. I parked on Gilbert Street, and we hiked up to the trail on the back side.”
“She still having nightmares?” Nathan asked. Alexis hadn’t said anything to him, not that she would, but she was still having trouble dealing with what had happened to her after the Inca Boyz had kidnapped her and buried her up to her neck.
“Some,” Blake confirmed. “But she’s seeing someone, and we’re working it out.”
“I didn’t see that you’d called until a few hours afterward,” Logan told Nathan. “Grace is exhausted. I know she is more than ready to have our boys. She lay down for a nap and was so uncomfortable, I climbed in bed with her. It seems that she can only sleep if she’s sitting up against me.” He shrugged, a half smile on his face as he thought about his pregnant wife. “We both ended up falling asleep.”
“It’s fine,” Nathan assured both his brothers. “Bailey got Marilyn started again, and all’s well.”
“I’ll make sure I’ve got my phone from now on,” Logan assured his brother.
“Me too,” Blake agreed. “Although if we’re in the mountains, I might not have reception, like last night.”
“Seriously, it’s good,” Nathan said again. “You guys have your women to look after now. They should always come first.”
“Maybe so,” Logan said in a serious voice, leaning his elbows on his desk. “But that doesn’t mean that you’ll ever be less important in our lives. We might’ve been apart for ten years, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t think about you both during that time. We’re brothers. We’re blood.”
“Thanks,” Nathan said immediately, feeling respect and love for his siblings well up in his chest. All three of them had left home right after graduating from high school, mostly to get away from their abusive mother. Letters were few and far between in the years between leaving and coming back home to Castle Rock after their father was murdered. Nathan had missed his brothers more than he realized. Missed their support and simply having someone there who understood what he’d been through, because they’d been right there with him.
Nathan had always felt restless and unsettled after high school, and he knew now it was because he hadn’t been with his brothers. They were fraternal triplets, they had the same blood in their veins.
“You’ll let us know Saturday what happens with Bailey?” Blake asked.
Nathan nodded. “Of course.”
Deciding it was time to change the subject, Nathan asked Logan, “You decide what you’re naming those babies of yours?”
The other man shrugged, but the look of pride and anticipation was clear in his dark eyes. “We’ve got some names in mind, but nothing concrete. Grace says she wants to wait and see her sons before she decides. Something about knowing what name will be right for them after she meets them. I don’t really care, as long as everyone is all right when it’s all said and done.”
“The doc have any idea when she’ll have them?” Blake asked.
“Soon, is all he’ll say. It could be today, or two weeks from now. It’s up to those babies. And if they’re as stubborn as their mama, I’m putting my money on two weeks from now,” Logan said, his voice gruff as if he was trying to keep both the emotion from overtaking him and also keep from laughing.
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Blake leaned over, took out his wallet, and put two twenties on the desk in front of him. “Forty bucks says it’ll be this weekend.”
Nathan smiled and reached for his own wallet, taking out a couple of bills and putting them on top of his own desk. “I’m in on this bet. I say it’ll be another two weeks.”
“What’re we betting on?” Alexis chirped as she strode into the room.
Blake immediately pushed away from his desk and went to meet her. He put one hand behind her neck and the other around her waist and pulled her into him, kissing her as if he hadn’t seen her for days instead of only hours.
He pulled back, but didn’t release her. “You have a good morning?”
She smiled up at him and nodded, her hands resting on his biceps. “Yeah.” Then she turned her head and looked over at Nathan. “So . . . what’re we betting on?”
“When Grace is gonna have those babies she’s been hauling around.”
“I’m so in on that. What dates have been taken so far?” She jumped in immediately.
“Blake took this weekend, and I’m saying in two weeks,” Nathan told her.
“Then I’ll take next weekend. Honey, you’ll spot me the ante, won’t you?” she asked, smiling up at Blake and blinking innocently.
He rolled his eyes and grumbled good-naturedly, but walked her back over to her desk before adding two more bills to the pile.
“You know if Grace finds out we’re betting on this, she’s gonna lose her mind,” Logan observed.
“Betting on what?” Grace asked as she waddled into the large office space.
Logan was out of his chair and by his wife’s side before the last word had left her mouth.
“What are you doing here? How did you get here? You better not have driven,” he barked, as he led Grace to the sofa they’d added to the office after Grace had gotten pregnant.
Grace put her hand on Logan’s forearm, on top of the pink tattoo of two birds in flight, and stroked it gently as she said softly, “Felicity’s back from Chicago and dropped me off. We both know I can’t fit behind the wheel of our car anymore.”
