by Blair Grey
Did they owe these guys money maybe? Or maybe they were just more of his family. Cousins or something.
They looked nothing like Landon, though, and I knew that was just wishful thinking.
The man smiled slowly at me. “I guess that’s all we needed to know,” he said, and there was something in the way he said it that made me even more worried. But what was I going to do? They were already turning to leave the shop, and it wasn’t like I’d be any match for one of them, let alone three. Even if Donald weren’t lurking in the back room until they left.
The bells above the door sounded more like a warning than like the usual cheery sound that I expected. But now I knew I was just letting my imagination run wild.
Donald finally emerged from the back room, looking out the window at the three retreating backs. “What was that about?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said grimly. “I think Landon must be in some kind of trouble.”
I didn’t have any idea what kind of trouble he might be in. I also didn’t know how those guys had known to come looking for me. And that was the part that scared me the most. Let’s say that Landon owed these guys some money. If he didn’t pay up, were they going to come after me? What would they do to me?
But no. Again, I was letting my imagination get the better of me. I was sure there was some other explanation for it. After all, I trusted Landon. He wouldn’t have gotten me tangled up in something bad, would he?
I wanted to call him. To give him a heads-up that there were some guys looking for him. But hey, it was none of my business. If he was in trouble, he probably already knew about it. And if he was in trouble, I should distance myself from him as much as I could. The last thing I needed was those three guys finding out that, in fact, I did know a Landon Stevens. Who knew what they might do to me, especially since now I had lied to them.
“Are you okay?” Donald asked, frowning at me. “You look a little pale.”
“I’m fine,” I snapped. It was his taken-aback look that let me realize just how tense I was and just how harsh I had sounded. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm fine," I repeated, more gently this time. "You’re the one scared of the big, bad skull-crushers, remember?”
Donald gave me an affronted look but didn’t respond to that. Instead, he went back to work, and I couldn’t tell if I was glad or not that we were no longer discussing his relationship problems.
It seemed to take the rest of the afternoon for my heart to quit pounding. I finally decided I had to tell Landon about this. He needed to know, and what’s more, I needed to know whatever he knew about these three in case they came back. I needed to be prepared. Whatever he had done, I was tangled up in it now. There was no escaping that.
27
Landon
I called Ray on Thursday. Not knowing the whole backstory of this thing with the Mambas was really starting to get to me. But no one would open their mouths about how they knew about this MC, not Neil or Jason or any of the other guys here in Sarasota. If anyone was going to tell me anything, it was Ray. I just had to make him realize how badly I needed this information.
Because it wasn’t like we were getting anything else from them. I was at a total loss for what to do, and when I told Neil about the threatening note, he didn’t know what to say either. We both agreed that it seemed like the Mambas must be following Braxton and me, but none of us seemed to be able to prove anything. There was no way we could scope out local businesses and expect to see something, though. And both Braxton and I were sick of waiting for the next shoe to drop.
It was time that we got all the information. Time that we tried a different angle. But I wouldn’t know what that information was until I better understood just what we were dealing with here.
“Hey, kid,” Ray said when he answered the phone. “I’ve been waiting for you to give me an update.” There was a mild rebuke in his voice, and I couldn’t help but make a noise of frustration.
“I’d be able to give you an update if there was an update to give,” I said, hating how whiny I sounded.
“Uh-oh,” Ray said. “Nothing new?”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” I said. I stared out over the backyard, wondering just how much to tell him. In the end, I decided it was better that I told him everything, including about the note that I hadn’t let Braxton or Jason see. Maybe Ray would finally share some information with me if he realized that time was of the essence.
“Let’s see, what’s happened? They do travel in threes, so you were right about that. We chased a couple of them in a car after we caught them at one of the local businesses here, the ones that Red Eyes has lost the loyalty of recently. Only they got away from us at a red light. Then, there were three of them at the restaurant the other day when Braxton and I were leaving after lunch. They stole my wallet, so presumably they know everything about me at this point.”
Ray was quiet for a moment. “And you still don’t know who they are?” he asked finally.
“No,” I said shortly. “And what’s more, they now seem to want to make sure I can’t find out who they are. They resorted to hiring some random kid to come deliver a note to me.”
“What kind of note?” Ray asked immediately, and I could hear something in his voice. Worry, maybe? But Ray was normally so unflappable.
“It was more of a stupid threat than anything else,” I said. “Basically, it said to get back to New Mexico before they messed with Braxton and me.”
Ray swore under his breath. “Maybe it’s time that you guys came back home,” he said.
“What?” I asked, sure that I must have misheard him.
“I said, maybe it’s time for you two to come back home. You’ve done enough over there.” Ray’s voice was firm, and I couldn’t tell if he was just asking us to come home or if he was trying to order us to do so.
“But we haven’t helped anything over here yet,” I protested. “Neil and the guys still need us. They’re pretty much hopeless on their own. I don’t really get what their group dynamics are, but they don’t seem like they have anyone who could stand up to the Mambas.”
“I don’t care about that,” Ray said. “If the chapter folds, it folds. Neil knows the risks.”
“Isn’t he one of your old friends, though?” I pressed. “I thought we were supposed to be helping him out, and not just from a Red Eyes standpoint.”
“Things change,” Ray said, his tone short. “I didn’t send you over there to deal with Mambas. If I had realized that they were caught up in this, I wouldn’t have sent you in the first place.”
I frowned, trying to figure out what even to say in response to that. “What do you know about the Mambas?” I finally asked. The time for dancing around the question was over. And surely, he would answer me this time.
But still, Ray refused to tell me. “Just get yourselves back to New Mexico,” he said. He hung up before I could say anything else.
I stared down at my phone in disbelief. Of course, Braxton wasn’t oblivious to all of this. I’d left him in the other room playing video games, but now he was leaning in the doorway when I turned around. “Who was that?" he asked, his eyes narrowed like he was trying to figure me out. I wondered if I looked as confused as I felt.
“I wanted to call Ray,” I told Braxton. “I’m still trying to figure out why no one will talk about what they know about the Mambas. Neil seems to think that it’s no longer pertinent information or something. Ray, I just don’t know. He’s super concerned, but he still won’t say anything.”
“Maybe it’s some weird sort of test?” Braxton suggested. “He wants us to figure out all of it on our own?”
“Doesn’t sound that way,” I said, shaking my head. “Ray actually sounded really concerned. He wants us to come straight back to New Mexico.”
Braxton stared at me incredulously for a moment. “You can’t be serious!” he exploded.
I shrugged. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” I said, wondering if I had ever
seen my twin look this enraged before. “Look, I know you’ve been enjoying the mini-vacation that we’ve got going here, but maybe we should do what Ray says. He doesn’t want to tell me what he knows about the Mambas, but maybe he’s got a reason to be worried.”
“You’re on his side?” Braxton snapped. He shook his head. “You can do whatever you want, Landon. But I’m staying here until the job is done. We need to get it done. It’s been frustrating as shit, but I’m not a quitter. And I didn’t think you were either.”
I couldn’t help grinning at him. “Well, I’m glad you’re on the same page as I am,” I said. “I don’t think we should leave either. I don’t like the idea of leaving Neil and the guys hanging, and I don’t think they’re going to get this stuff sorted out on their own.” I didn’t mention that Ray no longer seemed to care whether or not we were able to fix things.
I couldn’t figure out what had changed in Ray’s attitude now that he knew the Mambas were involved. For him to say that he didn’t even care if the chapter had to fold, that Neil knew the risks? I could never have expected to hear those things from our leader. I knew that he hated violence, but I had always thought that Ray would do whatever needed to be done to keep MC members safe.
It shook my whole worldview to find out that that wasn’t the case.
Of course, there was the backstory. That piece that I was still missing. Or rather, one of the many pieces that were still missing. One thing was for certain, though: Braxton and I weren’t pulling out of here until we felt that it was time to do so. The Mambas were either going to have to do something a lot more serious than send me a threatening letter, or else we were going to finish the task that Ray had given us in the first place. It was a matter of pride at this point.
“So what are we going to do then?” Braxton asked.
“We need to give the Mambas a reason to be sick of playing with us,” I said. “If we can do that, then they’ll make their move. And then we might be able to blow their cover.”
“I like where you’re going with this,” Braxton said slowly. “What if we got the sheriff involved? Neil said that the guy was trying to crack down on all the activity in this town. We could tell him about the pickpocketing and send him after the Mambas.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to chance that,” I said. “I don’t want the sheriff to know who we are, first of all. And we also don’t want to chance finding out that the Mambas have the sheriff in their pocket already. What if the reason he’s so keen on stamping out Red Eyes is because he’s on the other side of things?"
Braxton frowned. “You might be right,” he said, then shrugged. “Well, I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
“We’ll need to steer clear of Neil for a little bit,” I said. “There’s a chance that Ray might call him and tell him that we’ve been called back to Las Cruces. Not only do I not want him to tell Ray that we’re still here, but I also don’t want to have any added pressure from him to get out of town.”
“And Jason?” Braxton asked.
“I think we can keep working with him,” I said. “I know he’s Neil’s man, but I think we can trust him. You heard him when we were in Neil’s office. I think he wants the Mambas out of here even more than you and I do. If we let him know that he needs to stay silent or else we’re not going to be able to help with eradicating them from the area, I’m pretty sure Jason’ll be more than happy to stay quiet.”
“Good point,” Braxton said, nodding.
My phone started ringing before I could respond. I half expected it to be Ray calling back to see if we were on the road yet. Or else Neil calling to tell us that he had spoken to Ray and that he no longer needed our help here.
But instead, it was Anne. I answered without a moment’s hesitation, even though I didn’t really want Braxton to know who I was talking to. “Hey, how are you?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Anne said, but there was something off in her voice, like she was distracted. I glanced at my watch. She had probably just gotten off work. Maybe she was still on her way home and was concentrating on her surroundings. “I was wondering if you could come over and meet me at my house.”
“Sure thing,” I said immediately before we ended the call. I was surprised that she had asked, and I wondered what she was thinking. Maybe it had been a long day at work and she needed a little company to take her mind off things? Or a little something else to take her mind off things, I thought, my dick twitching in my jeans.
Braxton raised an eyebrow at me. “Who was that?” he asked. “Not Ray again?”
“No,” I said. There was no getting out of this one. I gave a small shrug. “It was Anne, asking if I could come over tonight.”
Braxton rolled his eyes, already turning to go back to his video games. “I won’t wait up,” he said over his shoulder. “But let me know when you’ve thought about what we should do next with the Mambas situation.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said.
I headed over to Anne’s, then knocked on the door when I arrived. “Hi,” I said, smiling down at her when she answered.
She looked troubled, and the first thing she did was to grab my wrist and tug me into the house. She shut the door quickly behind me. I raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if this was some sort of booty call. Maybe something had gotten her all hot and bothered, and now she couldn’t wait to drag me up to the bedroom.
The look on her face said that wasn’t the case, though, and I felt a twinge of disappointment. It was only then that I realized how much I had been hoping that she had called me over here because she wanted me to stay the night with her.
Just friends, I reminded myself. I had been doing my best to respect her boundaries, mainly because I just couldn’t figure her out. I wanted something more. I wanted to take her on dates and to end our nights back at her place. To wake up next to her in the mornings. But she seemed like she was on board one minute and then totally not so on board in the next minute. I didn’t know what to do to fix that.
Not to mention the fact that I had plenty of stuff complicating my life without trying to sort out this puzzle with her. Like Braxton kept reminding me, we weren’t going to be here in Sarasota forever. In fact, now it felt like the clock was ticking out on our stay even faster than it had been before. We needed to solve this soon, or else Ray would be there himself to haul our sorry asses back to Las Cruces.
The truth was, though, that only made me want to spend more time with her. To treasure what time we had left. I was really starting to grow fond of her in ways that I never could have expected.
Not just because of the sex. But the sex was definitely an added bonus.
There was something else on Anne’s mind right now, though. “Landon, are you in some kind of trouble?” she finally blurted out.
I stared at her in shock. “What makes you ask that?” I said slowly.
A dozen horrible scenarios flashed through my head. Had she seen me around town? Did she know about Red Eyes somehow, or worse yet, the Mambas? Maybe they had been interested in her pharmacy. Or maybe the Mambas had been following me and knew about the relationship that we sort of had. Our friendship, at least, if not the sex and everything that went with it. Maybe they had sent her a threatening letter as well, warning her not to get involved with me.
But that was stupid. The Mambas couldn’t know what she meant to me. No one knew that, not even Braxton.
Braxton. Suddenly, it hit me. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Probably Braxton had realized that I was really getting into her and had decided to take matters into his own hands. He could have gone over to the pharmacy and warned her to stay away from me and I would be none the wiser. We didn’t hang out with each other at all hours of every day.
Of course, he would have meant for Anne to stay away from me because we were going to leave to go back to Las Cruces soon. But knowing Braxton, he wouldn’t have explained that to her. Instead, he would have made it seem like some nebulous but credible threat. That she sho
uld stay away from me, or else.
And now Anne thought that I was in some kind of trouble.
The thought of it all made me want to laugh. If she only knew the kind of trouble I was in. But I still hadn’t told her about Red Eyes or the Mambas or any of the other realities of my life, and I wasn’t about to do so now. So instead, I just shook my head.
“I’m not in any kind of trouble,” I told her.
“You promise?” Anne asked.
“I promise,” I told her, even though I realized as I said it that I hated lying to her and never wanted to do it again. It felt as though someone had pressed a cold knife to my heart. I couldn’t tell her about all the trouble I was in, though. That would end this thing for sure.
“Okay,” Anne said, sighing and deflating a little. I realized exactly how tense she had been, how worried. And I hated Braxton for causing her to feel that way.
We stood there in the hallway for a moment, both silent, and I wondered if she wanted me to leave now. The trouble was, I was still interested in her, halfway erect in my jeans. I didn’t want to go back home like this. Part of it was that I didn’t want Braxton to know that he had won. To let him know that he had gotten to her and that now she didn’t even want me over there.
But more than that, I didn’t want to leave her alone with her worry. Because she was still worried, I could tell. There was something that was still distracting her. I didn’t want to push it, but I also didn’t want her to have to deal with it on her own.
More importantly, seeing her again just reminded me that I had kept my hands off her the other night, like a good boy, but I wanted nothing more than to kiss her and to push my way into her tight hole for another round.
So I made sure that she knew that. “I’d like to stay with you tonight, if that’s okay,” I said softly.
Anne stared at me for a moment and then smiled, looking almost shy. “I’d like that,” she said. “Have you had dinner yet? It’s nothing fancy, just a lasagna that I made the other day, but there’s plenty of that if you’re hungry. It should be almost finished heating up.”
