Center of Gravity (Marauders Book 3)

by Lina Andersson

  “Don’t I always?” I asked as I dried the inside of my thighs before I threw it back to him. “I just didn’t want to lie on the couch watching a movie naked.”

  “Why not?” He pulled me in for a kiss. “I still have some work to do, but feel free to lie on the couch naked next to me.”

  “I’m taking a shower and then I’m going to bed. And you’re smoking on the balcony.”

  “I’m smoking on the balcony,” he confirmed. It hadn’t really been an argument, but he kept forgetting to go outside for that, and I didn’t want him smoking inside when Sprout was born. “I love you, and I’ll find a fancy way to tell you one of these days.”

  “I know.”

  I started towards the bathroom and was halfway there when he called for me.

  “Turn around!”

  “Why?” I said but did turn to see what he wanted.

  “Nah… just, you look funny and sexy at the same time with that belly, but I definitely like it.”

  “You better. It’s your fault.”

  “I have no memory of you protesting when I followed you into the shower.”

  “I think we’ve established that I’m the horny, easy one!”

  “Think we’ve established that we both are, Gimp,” he smiled. “Want some company in the shower?”

  “Always,” I answered and continued to the bathroom, confident that he’d follow me.

  He did.

  -o0o-

  Tommy, the newest member, was the one who’d somehow ended up as my watcher that day, which was unusual, since he was a member and it had mostly been Wrench or some hang-arounds before. If none of them was available, I’d been alone, but Mitch kept calling me those days. Tommy didn’t seem happy about it, and to add to insult, he had to follow me to my physical therapy, and he seemed extremely uncomfortable.

  “You’re not coming with me inside,” I said. “You’ll be waiting in the reception area.”

  “I know. Mitch was very clear on that, too.”

  I wasn’t sure why he was so jumpy until the lady in the reception gave Tommy a wide smile.

  “Tommy! It’s good to see you. It’s been a long time. What are you doing here?”

  “I’m with her,” he said and pointed at me.

  They talked for a while, and when she went back to her spot behind the desk, Tommy came to sit down next to me. He gave me an almost embarrassed look.

  “I was in an accident, and I needed to come here for a while when I’d just moved to Greenville.”

  “I hope it wasn’t too serious.”

  “It fucked up my leg and shoulder a little, but no, not too bad.” He didn’t look at me when he said the next thing. “My friend died.”

  “I’m really sorry, Tommy,” I said and took his hand. “That must have been awful.”

  “We were in the Marines together. I drove the Humvee and… they attacked. We’d been friends since we were kids.”

  “That must be unusual, to be able to stay together with your friend all through the Army.”

  “Yeah. We were both kind of stubborn fuckers, though, and we’d always talked about doing it together. We were both military brats, and I practically grew up at his house.”

  I squeezed his hand because I didn’t know what else to do. “It must’ve been hard for you to come back and meet them.”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “Think that was the hardest part, to be honest.” He looked at me with a smile. “Survivor’s guilt, you know. It’s natural.”

  “That doesn’t make it any easier. I had a shrink for about forty-five minutes. He started talking about all the things I could expect would happen. I doubt knowing what will happen make it all that much easier.” I took a closer look. “Marines?”

  “Yeah. Scout sniper.”

  “Wow! 20/20 vision?”

  “Yup,” he said with a wink.

  I’d never really talked to Tommy, but he seemed like a nice guy. Mitch had mentioned him now and then, but he never told me private things about anyone and tended to let me make up my own mind about the guys.

  “I just realized that I don’t know much about you. Are you married or… have an Old Lady?” It felt absolutely ridiculous every time I said those words—old lady. “Or kids?”

  “No, nothing like that. Just me. Got a brother up in New York, he’s a firefighter, but that’s the only family I’ve got left.” Then he smiled. “And the Marauder family, of course.”

  “Of course,” I laughed.

  When Brett came out to get me for the training, I actually felt a bit sorry. It had been a really nice conversation, unlike any I’ve had with any of my other watchers. Wrench rarely said anything, and the hang-arounds mostly seemed worried they’d mess up. Whenever I met any of the other members, Mitch was with me, and that didn’t give me the opportunity to talk the way I just had with Tommy.

  I mentioned it to Mitch later that night. “I talked to Tommy today. I liked him.”

  “Yeah, he mentioned that. Think he was worried you’d make it sound like he was hitting on you or something.”

  “No. The lady at the reception recognized him, so we started talking about why he’d been there. One thing led to another. It just made me realized I haven’t talked to that many of them.” I sat down on the bed and reached for the oil. “Except Sisco, but he was definitely hitting on me.”

  “He’s always like that, and it was to fuck with me, too.”

  “I gathered.”

  Mitch looked really tired, but he’d looked like that for weeks, and I had absolutely no idea what to do about it, or how to help him. I took his hands and put them on Sprout.

  “She’s really bouncing around today.”

  “Yeah,” he said and his face turned into a big smile. “Doing pirouettes, I bet.”

  “More like tap dancing.” I raked my fingers through his beard while he was preoccupied with feeling Sprout move. “You’d tell me if there was something I could do for you?”

  “Just keep doing things like this,” he answered with a tired smile.

  “I realized something else today. It hasn’t even been a year since we had sex for the first time. Not even since we met.” It had struck me in the car while I was on my way home. “And we’re having a kid and live together. That’s a bit… fast.”

  “It’s also pretty fucking awesome.”

  “Your mom said that last Thanksgiving, you’d said you’d put a bullet in your head if you had a kid by the next Thanksgiving.”

  “And how pleased did she look when she told you?” he asked with a laugh.

  “Really pleased.” I’d met Donna quite a few times, and I really liked her. She reminded me a lot of Irina, just with a fouler mouth, but there was the same in-your-face honestly about her. “She also said I didn’t have to worry about you saying you’d never buy Sprout princess dresses—she’d do it.”

  “Bet she will.”

  “Mel, Edie, and April said the same thing. And Irina will supply her with tutus.”

  He pulled me down to lie on the bed next to him with a laugh. “I’m buying her bike t-shirts and jeans, then.”

  “She’ll definitely have enough clothes.”

  “She’ll have enough of everything,” he murmured against my lips. “I’ll make fucking sure of that.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Productive Day?

  -o0o-

  They were going on a run with the first big shipment for the Dutch two days later. The only ones who’d go all the way to New York were Brick and Bear. They were picking up other presidents and VPs along the way, and they were all staying for a top meet in New York. Four days later, some of them were taking a flight to Amsterdam to wait for the shipment, travel with it up to Denmark with the Smiling Ghouls, and from where they eventually would fly back home.

  And while Dawg growled about the run meaning he was missing Edie’s birthday, Mitch’s only focus was the fact that Hump was still out there. What had started as something that bugged him, had turned into some
thing that worried him, and now it terrified him. The longer it took, the more sure he became that Hump was planning something big, something soul-tearing, and his active imagination made him imagine things which woke him up in a cold sweat every fucking night—just like they had that particular night. He’d woken up and after assuring himself that Anna was okay, he’d gone into his office to get some work done.

  “Can’t sleep?” Anna asked behind him, and he turned around with a deep sigh and shook his head. “Want some company?”

  “Absolutely,” he answered and patted his lap. She immediately came over and sat down with an arm around his neck.

  “What are you doing?” she asked while she eyed his screens. He had the best setup at his home office, several screens and a monster of a computer. Even Mech was jealous of it.

  “I’m checking some things, upgrading some other things, and programming some things.” He kissed her shoulder. “Want a better explanation?”

  “You could probably say anything, and I wouldn’t even know if you were making fun of me or being serious.”

  “Most likely,” he agreed and leaned forward to send Mech a message about what he’d done and what they needed to do the next day. “Why are you up?”

  “Heartburn. Just went to get some Tums and assumed you were in here.”

  Mitch leaned back and took a good look at Anna. She’d seemed even more tired the last few weeks, and he knew it wasn’t just heartburn that kept her up at nights. She was in a lot of pain, and it was also the fact that she had to pee once an hour. He’d mentioned it to Mac, which had led to Vi holding the longest monologue he’d ever heard coming out of her mouth. It was about how horrible it was being pregnant, and how idiotic men were when they didn’t understand that. She’d stomped outside and slammed the door shut behind her. Mac had shrugged, but added that it might not be strange if Anna seemed tired.

  “Want me to carry you back to bed?” he asked, and she nodded against his chest. He took her cane and gave it to her to hold, and got up. Even if he couldn’t take her on his back, he still liked to carry her, and he knew she needed it. Especially at night when she woke up stiff and sore. “Fuck, you’re getting heavy, Gimp.”

  “I know,” she sighed. “And I fart and burp all the time. I’ll be completely repulsive soon.”

  “You’re sexy. Really sexy.”

  “I look like a kangaroo when I look at my body from above,” she said with a sad voice. “I noticed it yesterday.”

  He almost dropped her when he started laughing. “I’m sorry,” he hurried to say. “Just took me by surprise.”

  “It’s okay. I laughed, too.”

  He put her down on the bed and lay down next to her. “I do think you’re sexy, and really, really beautiful.”

  “That’s probably because you love me in combination with some caveman reaction to me carrying your offspring.”

  “That might be it,” he agreed, because he found her big belly so incredibly sexy. It was in the way when they fucked, and it was obviously hurting her, but still so god damn beautiful. He couldn’t stop touching it. “Doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re sexy. Think it’s one of those things you should go with and not question too much.”

  “Okay,” she whispered and gave him one of those smiles that made him prepare to wade through blood just to make sure she was okay. At least she was away from that fucking job at the theater, and she was going to the ballet for a work introduction the following week. “Are you gonna get back up or will you stay here with me for a while?”

  “I’m gonna try to get some sleep, too.”

  He kicked off his pants and crawled under the cover with her. She soon fell asleep, and after a while he managed to fall asleep, too, while holding his hand on Sprout to feel her move around inside Anna.

  -o0o-

  Russ was back, and Mitch managed to catch him between the discussion he had with Brick, Bear, and Bull.

  “Hey, kid,” Russ said when he saw him. “I got fuck all as far as Hump goes, but I found his daughter.”

  “What did she say?”

  “Nothing. She was dead.”

  “Dead?” Mitch stared at him. “He killed his own kid?”

  “That’s what it looks like, or someone else did.”

  “Sounds fucking insane. How fucked up would you have to be to kill your own kid?”

  “Pretty fucking fucked up,” Russ agreed. “I can’t even imagine it. The shit I’d do to anyone who hurt one of my kids… I don’t get it.”

  Mitch had read about how men had pregnancy hormones just as the women did, and he wondered if his reaction could have something to do with that, but he couldn’t even for a split second imagine what could make a man kill his own kid. All he’d seen of his was a blurry picture, and he was already prepared to do anything for her. He looked at Russ again.

  “Where did you find her?”

  “A morgue in Globe.”

  “Globe, Arizona? When?”

  “This morning.”

  “He’s really fucking close,” Mitch muttered.

  “That was my thought. My other thought was that something seemed a bit strange. She was poisoned.”

  “That’s a…”

  “Female way of killing,” Russ nodded. “That’s why I thought it was strange. So he might have had his bitch do it for him. I thought I’d find out more about her.”

  “About his Old Lady?”

  “We don’t know much about her. She was a sweetbutt at first and probably did her best to… you know, seem perfect,” Russ said with a smile. “I got the main facts from you, but that’s just the official shit, and she’s from the same town as my Old Lady grew up in. It’s full of religious nuts.”

  “Ronnie grew up in a religious home? I thought she was Wolf’s niece.”

  “She is, but her parents were very religious. Some smaller church, and when her dad died, her mom married an even more nutty religious guy.”

  “Got a hard time picturing Ronnie as a religious nut.”

  “She kind of had a hard time with that, too, which is why she left,” Russ laughed. “My point is, if she’s from one of the more nutty families, I think we need to find out what she’s like.”

  “So you thought you’d go there and poke around?”

  “I thought I would,” Russ confirmed. “I gotta check a thing for your dad first, but I’m going there on my way back here. I’m not sure it’ll give anything, but I’m starting to suspect that she might be the bigger problem.”

  “Because Hump’s daughter was poisoned?”

  “I know it’s vague—”

  “Actually, it’s not. I’m more wondering if he even knows his daughter is dead?”

  “She hasn’t been dead for long. No official statement yet, but the coroner thought it was around three days.”

  “I need updates on this,” he mumbled. “I’m gonna go poke an idiot fucking cop that’s been bugging me.”

  “Poke him with what?”

  “He’s been fucking around with his partner, and he’s emptied all his financial resources. Unless his partner has some expensive habits that he pays for, which I don’t think she does, he’s got a gambling problem. Has spent a lot of time on online poker sites.”

  “Probably the only way for cops to win.”

  “Yeah, well, detective Gordon can’t even win online,” Mitch said. “He’s tapped out.”

  Russ gave him a crooked smile. “You hacked his accounts?”

  “Yes, I did,” Mitch confirmed. “I hacked pretty much anything I could find on him. He’s been up my ass about Hump’s murders. Thought I’d show him how you really do when you crawl up a man’s ass.”

  “That was a bit gay, kid.”

  “Yeah, I heard that myself,” Mitch laughed. “Either way, think he’ll be able to keep me updated.”

  “How the fuck is he supposed to explain his interest in a dead girl in Globe to his superiors?”

  “That’s not my problem,” Mitch said when he got up. �
�Let me know what you find.”

  “You know I will.”

  “Where are you going?” Brick asked him when he was on his way out.

  “Russ found Hump’s daughter at the morgue in Globe. She’d been poisoned. I’m gonna use what I have on Gordon to get him to help us out. You okay with that?”

  “Yeah. Don’t think anyone will protest. Just pushing his buttons?”

  “Thought I’d offer him something that looks like cooperation. He’s all over the murders, and he’ll realize why I’m asking anyway. If he doesn’t get it, his slightly smarter partner will.”

  “Good idea. We might need him later, too, so use a carrot, too,” Brick nodded. “Go for it.”

  Mitch left the clubhouse and decided to pay a visit to his favorite gorilla detective, Gordon, on his way home. He halted by Lisa on his way to his bike. She looked really upset, and he had almost collided with Sisco on his way out from the clubhouse, and he’d looked pretty fucking upset, too. He had no idea what those two were up to, but it didn’t look as if it was making either one of them very happy.

  “Wanna talk about it?” he asked Lisa.

  “No. I don’t.” She looked at him and tried to smile. “You wanna talk about it? You look like shit, and you have for a while. Is it about Anna?”

  “Sort of, but not the way you think. We’re good.”

  Anna was about the only really good thing at the moment, which was probably why he was even more stressed about Hump. It was good, and he knew he’d go crazy if he lost it.

  “I know you two see each other sometimes,” he continued. “How is she really?”

  “The pain is getting pretty bad, she’s been very fed up with her job, but that’s sorted now, with her new job, I mean.” Lisa shrugged. “Otherwise she’s fine.”

  “Not worried about… the thing that’s worrying me?”

  “No, Mr. Mysterious. She hasn’t mentioned it much, but I think the only reason it’s bugging her is that it’s obviously getting to you. And for some peculiar reason she loves you,” Lisa smiled, and it was nice to see her smile. He realized it had been quite some time since he’d last seen that. “She trusts you.”