Coming Back

by Lauren Dane

  “They’re like a family. Twisted Steel I mean. I like that.” Jessi really loved that Mick has such a fantastic support system.

  “When I first started working there, it was after coming from a shop my uncle owned and ran. And Twisted Steel feels like that did. Like a family business. They punch each other a lot. My god. But they love each other and protect each other and it’s magical to be part of.” Carmella looked out the front windows again as she headed to the sewing machines.

  “You’re a part of it now too. They do that when one of the crew really falls for someone. Those big tough boys in that shop who bring me magnets from the trip they took their mom on to Branson when they think no one is looking aren’t fooling anyone. They’re teddy bears with massive fists and an alarming addiction to things that often leave them bruised. You’re ours, which means they’ll break stuff at your house too. Don’t worry, PJ and I have learned that these guys are handy so they either fix it or have the connection to some contractor who can.”

  There was so much affection in Carmella’s tone. It helped Jessi listen to her heart better.

  “Can I confess something to you?”

  Carmella smiled. “Of course.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anyone to like me as much as I wanted you all to.”

  “It’s not hard to like you. Especially if you know Mick well enough to see the change since he’s been back with you and Adam. Duke and Asa both know how much you meant to Mick, so even if the others were on the fence they’d have opened our group up to you. But each time you’re around and we get to know you, and see you with Mick, it’s blatantly plain you’re meant for him. You’ve both earned the respect and acceptance of the Twisted Steel family.”

  Jessi knew a lot of people, but she only counted a very small few as her pack. Her family both biological and chosen. Twisted Steel was Mick’s pack, which made them hers and Adam’s too.

  “He loves you all. It’s a relief to find acceptance in his life,” Jessi said.

  Carmella sighed. “So how are you dealing with that? Duke said Mick’s father yelled at you.”

  Jessi took a deep breath. “I never liked Mick’s parents. Even when I was a kid. I try hard not to be a negative person, but they make me fail every time. I tried to see them in ways that would explain how they treated Mick. I tried since I was five and I’m twenty-seven now. I still haven’t been able to. So it’s hard for me to see this without bias.”

  Carmella waved a hand before she ran the seam through the machine to finish it before cutting it free and trimming it up. “Everyone has a bias about things that involve them. How can they not?”

  Truth.

  Jessi continued. “Not liking is one thing. I don’t like nuts in cookies, so I just don’t eat them that way. But I have trouble finding a way to tolerate how much pain they put this person I love so much through. It’s unconscionable for anyone to treat a child the way they have and call it love. But I also don’t want to be the reason Mick is estranged from his parents.”

  “What if they’re shitty parents? What if being estranged from them is the best way to keep him safe and healthy?”

  There was a knowing in Carmella’s tone.

  “Part of me believes that. A big enough part that I believe it more than I don’t believe it. The thing is, his dad isn’t just going away. His experience is that he’s bullied and abused his son and called it parenting. Every time I come into the picture things get dicey between them. Mick and his brother are close, and he told the rest of the family to back off for a while because Mick didn’t want to have any more fights with them. Which is apparently what set John Senior off.”

  “My mom has struggled with mental illness and addiction over most of her life. She’s destructive and toxic and obsessed with my father, who is a career criminal in and out of prison and also has a history of addiction,” Carmella said as she began to pin a hem. “I’ve been her caretaker since a pretty early age, and a few months ago I had to finally break away from her to protect myself. In my limited experience with John Roberts and knowing through Duke that he treated Mick terribly, Mick is better off on the other side of a self-imposed moat to keep them out. They will rip him apart. Through you if they have to. So I have no sympathy for them. You can’t just shit all over someone and expect them to take it forever. Mick deserves to be happy and healthy. You bring him that. Don’t ever feel guilty for being what he needs.”

  “I would like to keep you around all the time. In case I need a really good pep talk,” Jessi told her. “I needed to hear that. I knew those things, but I needed to understand it’s not just my perception. And I’m sorry about your mom, but glad you’re doing what you need to to stay healthy.”

  “Duke has been there for me through the whole thing like a charming, laid-back pit bull. Don’t let that slow drawl fool you, he’s as alpha as they come when you push him. But by the time I figured it out I loved him. It was too late.” Carmella shrugged with a lovestruck grin. “And I’m available any time you need a pep talk. You have my number, you know where I live and work. I’m good for it, as long as you’ll do the same.”

  Jessi held out her pinkie and they swore on it.

  Adam sat with Asa as they watched over the group below. They smoked their cigars and had some bourbon, something that had become common when they visited one another’s homes. Which happened a lot, as it turned out.

  At Duke’s they hung out on his back deck, as they did at Adam’s. But here the landing they sat on was bookended by casement windows Asa had thrown open so the smoke had an escape.

  Before Mick had come back into his life, he hadn’t spent time multiple times a week with the same group of friends. Before getting back together with Jessi, Adam had only allowed himself a certain amount of time with the Franklins, and now they were around him with the same frequency as the Twisted Steel folks were.

  He’d gone from quiet nights listening to music and fucking near strangers to this, a house full of people all talking and laughing and his new friend, who also happened to be dominant.

  And taciturn like Adam. So their conversations weren’t as animated as the ones Jessi or PJ got into, but it sure was nice to have someone around who got him on a level most people wouldn’t.

  “If anything gets broken, PJ’s going to kick my ass.” Asa didn’t seem worried about it, though.

  “Mick did warn me before the first time you all came to our house that the art would be fine, but sometimes windows and furniture got broken.”

  Asa laughed. “Only rarely. Things okay with the Robertses?”

  “Been quiet for the last few days. I’m sure Mick told you he talked to his oldest brother, who turned out to be pretty supportive.” Adam had been pleased that something positive could come from that mess.

  “Yeah, he did. I was glad to see John Junior step in over this bullshit. We’ll see if he stays away or not. I will call the cops if he won’t leave this time. Mick doesn’t need that asshole in his life.”

  “Amen to that,” Adam murmured. Downstairs Mick stood, leaning a hip against the couch Jessi sat on. He sifted his fingers through her hair over and over as she leaned into him.

  That thing—the most essential thing, their connection—grew stronger each day. And as it did, each one of them began to accept their relationship would make it through bumps and bruises because it was real and forever. Mick wasn’t always so amped up, especially now that Adam took him in hand to keep all that violence from overflowing.

  Jessi was well… Jessi. She bloomed, vibrant and beautiful. She soaked up the love they gave her and gave them back twice as much. She was fierce and passionate about the things she loved. Their family, or their pack as she called it sometimes, was at the center of her heart and she guarded it.

  Which simultaneously pleased and distressed Adam. He loved it that she cared for them and their little family. But he worried it would get her hurt or upset.

  It wasn’t like he could really stop her from doing somet
hing once she set her mind to it, so all he could do was his best to shield her from the worst of it should things blow up with Mick’s family.

  Woe to them if they did, though. Adam’d had enough of John Roberts Senior, with his holier-than-thou bullshit. The man was a bully. A petty, hard-hearted lout. If that asshole showed up on their doorstep expecting to bully or abuse anyone Adam loved, he’d soon find out the error of his ways.

  Duke caught sight of them and headed up, joining them with his own cigar and a beer. “Noisy down there.”

  “It’s all nice music. Nicer from up here.” Asa shrugged. But Adam didn’t miss the way Asa’s gaze returned to where PJ sat with Jessi and Mick, with Carmella on their other side.

  “I have no idea how you handle two of them,” Duke said to Adam. “Mick’s like a fucking Dalmatian puppy. So much energy.”

  “He and Jessi do seem to have a calming effect on him,” Asa said. “He’s always pretty together at work anyway. But you two gave him something to steady his heart.”

  “That and all the sex,” Duke added.

  There was something chemical and magical about the way they all fit together. Adam had stopped questioning the reality of it. He’d probably always wonder at how it could be so special.

  They hung out until nearly midnight and finally headed home.

  “I like your friends,” Jessi said as she came back into the bedroom after brushing her teeth. She had on fluffy socks and a long nightshirt-type thing.

  “They like you right back. Guess you’d say they’re your friends now too,” Mick said sleepily. He slept in nothing. Neither Jessi nor Adam had any objection to that. He was hard and sexy and Jessi loved that he gave off so much heat.

  Plus, Adam got to look at the bruises.

  That had been something he’d struggled with. Finding it hot when one bruised someone’s ass and thighs wasn’t an emotion he’d ever imagined having, much less how to process it.

  But it had been Mick who’d loved it. Mick who Adam caught looking at them in the mirrors in the master bath. Because Mick had wanted it, had found it desirable, Adam was able to accept it.

  She turned off the lamp on the table and looked out the window. “Wind is coming up now. Oh, weird.”

  “What is, angel?” Mick asked as he got into the spot in the middle he and Jessi traded back and forth according to a timetable only the two of them seemed to understand. Adam didn’t question it.

  She slid beneath the blankets and snuggled up to Mick’s side. “Just a car outside. Second ten-year-old dark-colored four-door I’ve seen today with some dude sitting inside it. Must be the day for getting stood up.”

  Jessi yawned and nearly fell from the bed when Mick sat straight up. “What? Where did you see the other one?”

  Jessi gave him a look as she got settled again. “Outside my shop. In front of that fourplex on the corner.”

  With a stealth that gave Adam a shiver of fear, Mick seemed to melt from the bed to approach the window. “Was this car to the right or left?”

  Jessi didn’t argue. “To the left. In front of that house with the blue shutters and the barking basset. Oooh, that’s a lot of alliteration.”

  Mick carefully looked out without even disturbing the curtains. Looking at the man in the shadows of their bedroom, Adam saw Mick the soldier.

  “He’s pulling away from the curb.” Mick cursed. “Couldn’t see a license plate number.”

  “What’s going on? Did something happen with this car thing today?” Adam asked.

  “No. Carmella and I figured he either got locked out or had been stood up. You know how that goes. We only noticed because we were working out front to catch the sunshine and we saw the car from the windows.”

  “Was it the same car?” Mick asked.

  “I… I don’t know.”

  “Earlier today was the car doing anything? Or the guy? Did you see him well?”

  Jessi thought and then shook her head. “No, he didn’t do anything wrong or weird that I could tell. He was just out there. For all I know he was listening to an audio book or stop-smoking CDs.”

  “The guy outside tonight, did he look the same? Was he doing anything?”

  “I didn’t see any features, but I thought maybe he had on glasses.” She shrugged. “He wasn’t doing anything. Just sitting out there. He could have just pulled over to take a phone call. Normally I see those things, but you two were in bed and I was all schmoopy. Was it something important? Did I mess up somehow?”

  Mick ushered them all back to bed. “You didn’t do anything wrong. But you’re observant. If you thought it was worth mentioning, it was worth a look. But there’s no one out there now that the car left, so I’m just going to check all the locks before we go to sleep.”

  Jessi’s eyes widened and Mick took her cheeks in his palms. “Hey, it’s all right. There’s nothing wrong. It’s in my nature to want to protect you. Now I just want to be sure we’re all locked in and then I’m coming right back.”

  He and Adam checked all the doors and windows. Everything was locked up tight. The motion lights were working and hadn’t gone off, so there was no reason to be alarmed.

  “I’m sure it was just a coincidence. She’s right,” Mick said, as they got back upstairs.

  Jessi had taken the middle and they all got back under the covers.

  “All is well. We’re here safe and sound. Sleep. I’m betting Adam wakes us up for sex before he goes to work,” Mick said as he buried his face in Jessi’s neck.

  “Counting on it,” she mumbled.

  CHAPTER

  Twenty-two

  Adam was just leaving Sazerac after a business lunch downtown when he bumped into his father as he headed toward his car.

  “I was beginning to think you were a figment of my imagination.” Paul Gulati gave his son a handshake and couldn’t resist that macho squeeze at the end. Adam ignored it.

  “Nope, I’m still here. What brings you downtown?”

  Paul had long been a handsome man. Even at seventy he commanded attention with his looks. The fiery anger that had marked Adam’s childhood had faded into a deeper, more ingrained sense of entitlement.

  He was still an asshole, but less a physically violent one. No, the richer he got, the meaner and more vengeful he got.

  “I was at my accountant’s office and then I had to stop by Tiffany and pick something up for your mother. You’re upsetting her,” Paul said.

  Adam was quite glad no one else was nearby so he could speak freely. “I had no idea you were speaking to my mother at all.”

  Paul cocked his head and the mean stirred just a little. “I meant Katherine, and you damned well know it.”

  “Why would your wife be upset with me?”

  “You yelled at your sister and kicked her out of your house. You’re her big brother. You owe her more than that.”

  Adam laughed. “I did what now?”

  “Denise came to your home to invite you in person to my birthday celebration and your girlfriend was rude, and then you threw Denise out for saying so. I raised you better than not defending your sister. Especially to trash like that Franklin girl.”

  “You need to listen to me when I warn you to never speak of Jessilyn that way again. As for this fantasy about kicking someone out? Denise came over to invite me and when she learned who I was living with, she uninvited me. We were already on the porch, leaving my home, when she did this and left. I was raised to tell the truth and stand up when I made a mistake. I imagine you’ll be addressing this with Denise and her mother.”

  “Not so fast, Adam. She seems to believe you’re in some sort of tawdry mess of a relationship. What do you have to say about that?”

  “I say I’m a grown-up and what sort of relationship I’m in is my business. I’m not taking lessons from Denise on how to run my private life.”

  “So you are in some mess.”

  “There’s nothing tawdry about what I’m doing.”

  “Have you stopped to c
onsider how your actions reflect on the rest of us, Adam?” Paul pretending to be logical and paternal pushed his buttons, even as he knew he was being manipulated.

  But Adam wasn’t Paul. He reined it in.

  “No, can’t say as I have. Because who I love and in what combination isn’t anyone’s business but my own. If other people judge you or Denise for what I do, I can’t help it. People are often nosy assholes, Dad.”

  His father’s paternal frown shaped into a lip curl. “You’re not twenty-two anymore, Adam. You can’t live like you’re in college when you’re in your thirties. You can’t seriously expect anyone who matters to accept this, this whatever you want to call it.”

  Adam counted to ten, remembered this was important and the people he loved gave him more family than this man in front of him ever had. Paul may have shaped him in a lot of ways Adam hated, but he made the choice not to be Paul and had spent the rest of his life since finding control, honing it, and keeping his shit together.

  “If you’re genuinely interested, I’ll explain,” Adam said.

  His father’s impatience broke through the fake paternal concern. “I’m on my way somewhere. Call the house and make a time to come to dinner. We can figure this out then.”

  “Figure out what?”

  His father sighed. “How the hell you’ll get yourself out of this mess. Haven’t you been paying attention?” He snapped his finger in Adam’s face.

  Adam barely wrestled back his impulse to break the fingers his old man used to snap. He fucking hated the snapping.

  But he didn’t hide the lip curl. “I’m in love—and in a relationship—with Jessilyn Franklin and Mick Roberts. We all live together. I have no plans to get out of anything. This has nothing to do with you. So if you want me to come to dinner, it wouldn’t be to get your advice on how to run my romantic life.”

  “Jesus Christ, Adam!” Paul exploded and Adam was done.