But now, watching him look around and then scan the menu, just as I was, he opened up, allowing a tiny glimmer into his soul.
He leaned over, his hand snaking around the back my neck as he pulled me close. He whispering in my ear, his breath brushing against my ear like velvet.
“Places like this always make me uncomfortable,” he pulled back a bit, smiling crookedly and winking, before continuing. “I never know which bloody fork to use, or I’m afraid I’m going to break a glass or some shit. And everyone’s so goddamn beautiful and rich, aren’t they? Look at these fuckers, like they were born with those fucking perfect teeth? I paid thirty grand for mine.”
I looked at him in surprise, speechless. I laughed and leaned into him, letting my guard down a little. I desperately needed companionship and if he was the only one available, so be it. I pushed my shame aside.
“Fuck ‘em,” I whispered, flashing him a sincere smile, as I reached over and grabbed a handful of his cock. “They aren’t any better than us.”
He cocked his head a little and smiled back, nodding slowly.
“Besides,” I said, squeezing. “They don’t have this cock. And, I bet none of them drive a fucking Bugatti.”
He laughed, a hearty, loud laugh that turned the heads of those sitting around us. One by one, they began to recognize him and before long, our table was inundated with autograph hounds and selfie seekers and I was putting my hand back in my lap as I watched the show.
Luke put on his confident smile, hiding his annoyance and vulnerability behind his hardened gaze.
But I knew it was there now.
I’d witnessed it.
Even the most confident fighter in the world had his weak spot.
I have to say, it made me feel good. Why should he get to be unshakable? Why should anyone get that privilege?
Dinner flew by in a flash, the adoring fans finally trickling away until it was just the two of us and a huge array of empty sushi plates in from of us. I’d eaten most of it, gobbling it up like ice cream.
I marveled at the feeling of the fresh fish practically melting in my mouth, the explosion of flavors in the sake. By the time we were done, I was full and tipsy and Luke was smiling at me across the table.
“How’d you end up here?” he asked, his voice low and quiet and serious.
“You drove me here in your fabulous car,” I said, trying not to giggle.
“You know what I mean,” he replied, his green eyes squinting at me. “What’s your story, Scarlet? I’ve never asked.”
“Oh, you don’t want to hear all that.”
“If I didn’t want to know I wouldn’t have asked.”
I stared over at him, the bustling restaurant swirling around us. I shook my head.
“My mom gave me up,” I said, shrugging. “Sold me to some guy. It was a million years ago. The rest is history.”
“Jesus.”
I nodded, doing my best to muster a smile as I put my hand on his thigh.
“Thanks for bringing me here, Luke.”
He smiled over at me and I ignored the pity I saw in his eyes.
“I’ve had a great night and I don’t want to end it talking about all of that shit, if that’s okay with you,” I said, smiling at him. He nodded and grabbed my hand.
“I understand,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said. “Now, I can’t wait to get another ride in that car.”
“Not just yet,” he said. He squeezed my hand, pulling me up from the table. “Let’s go outside and check out the view.”
The balcony was one of the best of the city.
“This is amazing. It’s better than the view up at the rose garden.”
“I love that view,” he said, his eyes darkening. “My Ma use to take me up there.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s nice.”
He shrugged, shaking his head.
“Sounds like my Ma wasn’t much better than yours,” he said, turning me towards him.
I looked up at him, into his sad, green eyes — another crack.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. I already knew a little bit of his story from reading about him online. Rarely did he open up to me over the years, so I learned what I could from articles. His father died when he was a baby and his mother got into drugs and prostitution, leaving him alone for long periods of time and forcing him to raise himself. He’d later become a blacksmith and stumbled onto the MMA scene completely unknown, fighting his way to the top of the ranks quickly. Even after many in-depth interviews, the gory details of his upbringing were vaguely reported.
“It is what it is, right?” he said, turning back to the view. We stood at the edge of the balcony, staring over the railing and down at Pioneer Square below. It was late, the lights of buildings and streetlights sparkling in the darkness, as hoards of drunk tourists and locals strolled along the downtown sidewalks below.
“It is what it is,” I agreed, nodding slowly.
What an odd pair we were, I remember thinking. Two strangers entangled in what was a business arrangement for one and an imprisonment for the other, tentatively reaching out to each other, attempting to make some sort of human connection in our shared misery.
We were nothing alike, no matter where we’d come from.
He was free.
I was not.
He turned back to me, searching my eyes as his sparkled from the lights overhead.
“Daisy, you’re a beautiful girl, you know.”
“Thank you,” I said. As if that meant anything at all, I thought.
“You’d make someone a great wife.”
I burst out laughing.
“I’m a whore,” I said, shaking my head.
“Don’t call yourself that,” he said. “I don’t think of you that way.”
“How do you think of me?”
He stopped himself, pausing as he gazed down at me, his hands on my arms.
“I just think of you as mine, I guess.”
I nodded, understanding. Of course. I was merely a possession.
Like his car, or his house, or his fortune…
I mustered a smile, pondering why I’d ever imagined we’d be able to connect. To be human with one another.
“Yes, I’m yours,” I mumbled, turning back and looking over the railing. His hands landed on my hips, lifting my skirt as he stepped behind me.
Within moments, I felt him enter me. I spread my thighs, letting him take me. I didn’t dare turn my head to see if anyone else was watching, not because I cared if others saw us, but because I didn’t want him to see the tears that were running down my face.
Bones
Jenn stood next to me as I scrubbed up, the curves of her breasts brushing up against my arm. This was no time for flirting, considering there was a patient laying on the other side of the wall waiting to have her gallbladder removed. I was filling in for my friend Charlie, taking on his surgeries while he was on vacation.
“We haven’t spent any time together in a while, Jason,” she whispered.
“We’ve been really busy,” I said, as she helped me put on my gloves.
“Not that busy,” she winked.
“Sorry, Jenn,” I said, knowing I needed to have a talk with her soon. This wasn’t the time, though. My phone began buzzing in my pocket and we both looked down.
“Shit,” I muttered.
“I’ll get it,” she said, reaching into my pocket seductively, her eyes searching mine as her hands searched for my phone. Her fingers brushed against my cock, lingering there a second, before she pulled out the phone and looked at it.
“It’s Daisy,” she said. “Who’s Daisy?”
“A friend,” I muttered. “Don’t answer it. Let it go to voicemail.”
“Daisy must not be very important,” she mused.
“That’s not it,” I said. “Just…forget it.”
I wasn’t about to attempt to explain anything to her right now. And I didn’t want to talk to Daisy in front of her,
either. I wanted to answer Daisy’s call, but with the entire team waiting for me, I might as well have been elbow deep in blood and organs. If I answered now, I’d have to scrub up all over again.
I’d have to call her back and if all went well, I'd be finished in less than an hour. I left my phone on the counter where Jenn placed it and walked into surgery.
Forty-five minutes later, I ripped off my gloves, tore off my bloody scrubs and washed up again. I’d worried about Daisy throughout the surgery and regretted not taking the call.
What if something was wrong? What if she needed me?
I listened to her voice mail and that alarmed me more. She sounded nervous, almost afraid. A strange car? What was she talking about?
I called her back, my heart racing as her phone rang.
She didn’t pick up and my heart began pounding in my chest.
“Daisy, I was in surgery. Call me right back. I’m worried about you,” I left on her voicemail.
I turned around and saw Jenn standing behind me, watching me closely.
“Is everything okay?”
“I’m not sure. Listen, I gotta go. Can you get Fitzgerald to cover my afternoon appointments?”
“Of course,” she said, wrinkling her brow. “Is there anything else I can do?”
“No, thanks, Jenn,” I said, racing down the hall.
Lucifer
It was over an hour before Rosen returned my call. By that time, I was infuriated, after having stewed over my thoughts waiting for him.
“My apologies, sir, it took longer than I expected. I was having technical difficulties.”
“I don’t give a shit about your difficulties. Did you find the information I needed?”
“Yes, sir. The house is owned by Dr. Jason Boones.”
“A doctor? What kind of doctor?”
“A surgeon. He works in the emergency room at OHSU.”
“I see,” I nodded. “That’s respectable.”
“Is there anything else, sir?”
“Who else lives at the house?” I asked.
“My search didn’t show any other residents, sir.”
“Nobody at all?”
“No, sir, but if they weren’t registered at that address, it wouldn’t show up.”
“Understood.”
I hung up the phone, pondering my next move.
There’d been no movement at all outside the house. It was all quiet. I’d seen a curtain move at one point, but that was it. Did Scarlet know I was out here? She’d seen me drive by, of course, but hell, even I could barely see out of these windows they were so dark.
But still, I wondered, did she know? The look on her face told me she did.
Could she feel me?
Could my boy feel me?
Did he know his Daddy was so close? Did he know I already loved him?
My palms were sweaty with anticipation and my stomach churned with nervousness.
“This is bloody madness,” I muttered to myself. “It’s just a baby. And he’s my baby, too. I shouldn’t be worried about anything at all. I’ll just knock on the bloody fucking door like a civilized human being.”
I took a deep breath, touched the Saint Michael’s pendant hanging from my rearview for luck, and hopped out of the car, doing my best to push away the anger I’d been feeling the last few days towards Scarlet for disappearing with my kid.
If he was really mine, if she hadn’t been screwing some other chap, then I’d have to work with her to raise him up, I had no choice about that. Being angry at her wouldn’t do any of us any good.
The house was nice. All wooden beams and sprawling lawn. I wondered who the doctor was that lived there, but I guess in the back of my mind, I figured the most likely scenario was that Daisy was cleaning his house or something.
Why else would a doctor let a whore like her stay in his house?
Hell, maybe she didn’t even live here.
Either way, I was determined to get to the bottom of it all and as I stood in front of the carved wooden doors, I was happy to finally have some answers.
Answers.
That’s really all I wanted.
And if it turned out the lad was mine, well then, of course, I wanted my son.
I knocked, three loud bangs that set off a chorus of dog barking and baby wailing, all at once.
I couldn’t help but stand there and smile as I waited for Scarlet to open the door.
That was my boy crying, I just knew it.
Daisy
I was sitting out by the pool when I heard the knock. I bolted from my chair, knocking over a side table, my ice water falling to the ground, the glass shattering around my feet. With shaking hands, I tiptoed around the broken glass, then sprinted back inside the house and towards the back bedroom. I picked up a crying Alex and ran to the front door, peeking through the peep hole and avoiding the large window next to the door.
My heart jumped into my throat when I saw Luke standing there.
I ran away from the door, a barking Chester dancing around my feet. Alex kept crying, no matter how many times I tried shushing him.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I mumbled, shaking and terrified. “It was him!”
“Scarlet,” he called out, banging on the door again. “It’s Luke!”
I stayed out of sight of all the front windows, just around the corner, my body pressed against the wall as my eyes searched around the living room for a weapon. There was a heavy ceramic lamp I could use as a last resort, but I couldn’t see anything else at all.
As Luke kept banging on the door, Chester and Alex became more upset, both of them making more and more noise, making it impossible to pretend we weren’t here. I thought about putting Alex back in his room, but the thought of leaving him alone and crying, let alone out of my sight, seemed like an impossible decision. I was hoping like hell that Luke would leave, but his increasingly loud knocking told me that wasn’t going to happen.
“Scarlet,” he shouted. “Open the goddamned door. I saw you. I know you’re in there. I can hear the baby.”
I looked down at Alex in my arms, tears running down his face as he fussed and wiggled, and fear gripped my heart.
“Jason,” I murmured, running through the house and back to the pool, where I’d left my phone. I almost burst into tears when I saw it had fallen into the pool when I’d jumped up from my chair.
“Shit!” I shouted. I put Alex on the chair I’d been sitting in and fished it out of the water, hoping I could at least salvage it long enough to find Jason’s phone number. I could call him on the land line but unless my phone turned on to give me his phone number, I was screwed.
I shouted with joy when it flickered to life. Ignoring Alex’s outstretched arms, I pushed the buttons to find Jason’s number. Just as it came up, my screen flickered and died.
“No!” I shouted, throwing it back in the pool in anger. Alex jumped and started crying again and Luke continued to bang on the door. Chester was at the door now, growling and barking frantically. I swallowed hard, trying to gain my composure amongst the chaos surrounding me.
I had to think.
Alex was fine, only scared. In fact, we were all three fine. Luke was outside of the house, the doors and windows were locked, he couldn’t get to us.
All I needed to do was call the police and they would come and handle him.
Staying as calm as possible, I scooped up Alex and held him close.
“Shh, baby, it’s okay, it’s okay,” I said. He settled down a little, his cries becoming softer as I carried him back to the bedroom. I set him down in his crib and kissed him quickly, before running back to the kitchen, where Jason’s phone was. Chester was scratching and growling at the door, yearning to get to Luke on the other side.
Luke was still knocking, his knocks turned to loud banging quickly.
“Scarlet!” he yelled. I cringed hearing that name. I wasn’t Scarlet anymore and I never wanted to hear anyone call me that ever again. Ruby chose that name for me and
I hated it from the beginning. “Let me in! I know you had a baby. It’s mine, isn’t it? You’ve got my boy in there? Let me in, sweetheart! I just want to see my baby boy.”
My stomach dropped at his words.
Alex was mine. Not his.
Alex would never be his.
I picked up the phone and with trembling hands began dialing 911. But nothing happened. I hung up and picked the phone back up, remembering to listen for a dial tone. It’d been years since I used a land line, hell I couldn’t even remember the last time.
But there was no dial tone at all.
This phone was dead as a doornail.
“Fuck!” I cried, my eyes darting to the door.
“What now?”
Bones
Gridlock.
“Fuck!” I hit the steering wheel, frantically trying to locate a place to turn around and get out of this nightmarish Portland traffic. It wasn’t always like this. There were times, years ago, when I’d come to visit my old man and I’d whip around the city barely hindered by traffic lights.
Now, it was bumper to bumper, and the roads were filled with California transplants that didn’t even bother to change their license plates. At least it gave me someone to direct my rage towards.
I slammed on my horn out of frustration and tried once more to call Daisy’s cell phone. It went right to voicemail every single fucking time I’d tried since I’d left the hospital, which if I’m counting correctly, was about ten times so far.
She hadn’t even said she was in danger. In fact, she’d said everything was just fine. But something told me that she wasn’t fine, despite my efforts to calm myself down with her actual words. It was the fear in her voice that I couldn’t shake.
And why wasn’t she answering the goddamned phone, if everything was so fine?
Out of sheer desperation, I called Ryder. I almost screamed with relief when I heard his voice.
“Brother, it’s Bones,” I said.
“Hey, how’s it going?” he asked.
“I’ve got a problem.”
“What’s going on?”
BONES: GODS OF CHAOS MC Page 13
