by Zoey Parker
At first, he kept the touch light. He’d meant it to be just a simple quick kiss, but he couldn’t get enough of her. He wove his fingers into her thick hair and pulled her closer as he smashed his lips to hers. He slipped his tongue in her mouth and hers was soft and smooth against his. He felt himself stiffen and reached down to adjust it.
Then, he pressed his body to hers in a full embrace. He wanted to devour her right there in the stairwell. Strip her naked and slam her against the wall and make her feel better than she’d ever felt before.
But Nate was waiting. And in his condition, that sort of move wouldn’t be possible anyway. He let the kiss end and pulled back to look in her eyes again. “Thank you,” he whispered. “For everything.”
He walked away from her and the moment he was in Nate’s car, everything changed. He was back with his boys, out of the dream of the last two days.
“You look awful,” Nate said, loud over the blasting music. “Who was it?”
“Abram and his club.” Rowan closed his eyes. The fast speed made him feel woozy. He pictured Becca walking back up the stairs, back to Emma watching TV. But then Nate spoke and the illusion shattered.
“We gonna roll on them or what?”
“No one’s had any trouble the last two days?”
“Only that we all thought you were dead. Guess Abram and the Scared Birds are laying low for now.”
Were they though? The Screaming Griffins—named after Abram Griffin himself—were called the Scared Birds by Rowan’s crew because they often ducked out of fights and dangerous situations rather than stay and fight it out. They were wusses. Even when they attacked him, they did a poor job. But that didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous. When they realized he was still alive, they might try to fix that. They might come after his boys, too.
“They might just be biding their time,” Rowan said. “Waiting to strike like they did with me.”
“Well, we’re on to them. We had a feeling since no one heard from you that it was them.”
“Yeah. They set up a bad deal. I need to find my car. No idea what they did to it.”
“Where’d all this go down?”
“Same spot I always do deals.”
Nate nodded. “Want to drive by there and see?”
“Tomorrow. I don’t even have shoes, man. And these aren’t my clothes.”
Nate glanced at him. “I don’t know. That shade of blue looks nice on you.”
Rowan shoved his shoulder.
“Glad you’re not dead, man. The Rebels need you.”
“Thanks. I want a club meeting tomorrow. Everyone needs to know what went down. For now, can you sound the chain and make sure they’re all on guard against Abram’s guys?”
“Will do.”
Nate pulled up to Rowan’s house. Rowan had called him since he had his spare key. He went inside and waved Nate off.
The first thing he did was take a shower and get dressed. Luckily, the cuts on his back had scabbed and healed enough that they weren’t still bleeding or weeping. He’d never be able to get any sort of bandage on his back by himself. In the mirror, he almost kicked himself for forgetting about the pink and purple sparkle bandages on his cheek and jaw. Nate hadn’t even commented. Good on him. Rowan would have if the tables were turned.
He peeled them off and looked at them lying in his trashcan. Weird how even trash was different with a child. What were they doing right now? Still watching TV? Having an after-dinner snack? Getting ready for bed?
He had an excuse to call her. Once he got a new phone—who knew where his ended up—he’d call her and meet her to take back the clothes. He’d pay her whatever he could until he sold his junk bike for parts. He’d definitely do that. No doubt about it. Especially if she’d taken the day off work to care for him.
That kiss had to mean something, right? Something like maybe she had feelings for him, too? Maybe they could start something. He missed her already. He thought of his microwaved dinners sitting in his kitchen and how they’d taste even worse now. How he wouldn’t see her face in the different lights of the day. Though, morning was still his favorite. It had made her skin glow like sunlight. Maybe he could be what she needed. Maybe she could be his.
But first, he had to get this thing with the Screaming Griffins settled. He wouldn’t endanger her or Emma. Tomorrow, he’d talk to his club and they’d figure it out. Revenge was called for and that meant they needed a plan and a lot of weapons, and plenty of man power.
Chapter 4
Becca drove to Lucille’s with the morning sunlight shining bright in her eyes. She’d been up a little late cleaning. Rowan had been right: the blood hadn’t come out of the car seats. Or the blanket, or her sheets, where he must have bled through his bandage. They’d all have to be trashed. The car’s interior she covered with Emma’s car seat and hoped she wouldn’t notice. Maybe it would fade over the years by the time Emma didn’t need the booster anymore.
They knocked on Lucille’s door, Emma gripping her little pink bag of animals tight. “Mommy, when is Rowan coming over to play again?”
“I don’t know. Now that he’s all better, we might not see him again.”
“I liked playing with him,” she whined.
“I know, sweetie.”
Lucille opened the door and Emma ran inside to set her things down.
“How’s your mom?” Becca asked.
“Doing okay. She’ll be home tomorrow. It was a close call, though.”
“Glad she’s doing well. I should be done the usual time today.”
“We’ll see you tonight, then.”
Emma ran to her and squeezed her legs before Becca went to her car.
Had Emma gotten attached to Rowan that quickly? She’d asked plenty of questions after he had gone, and Becca had plenty of her own questions. Had she herself gotten too attached? What did the kiss mean? What did she want it to mean? Was he even the bad boy type if he were so kind and considerate and did so well with Emma? Maybe he was into something bad and maybe he was a fighter, but did that make him instantly like her ex? And the biggest question of all—what now?
He’d said he’d call and return her things. She was glad they had that excuse out there to talk again. She had no way to get a hold of him. No phone number, no address. Just his name. He could be halfway to California for all she knew. But he knew where she lived and had her number. He could get in contact with her anytime he wanted. Would he?
She parked and entered the gift shop. After talking things over with Penny, she went about her work for the day, straightening displays and ringing up customers. After a few hours, Penny called her to the back, where the office was.
“Thanks for this note in the inventory items,” Penny said, pointing to the note Becca had left when she’d closed the last time she worked. That felt so long ago now. Like part of another life, pre-Rowan.
“Sure. I wasn’t sure if you planned to order them or not.”
“I was thinking maybe it’s time you learned to do the inventory and ordering. You’ve been doing so well and it would take a lot of work off me.”
“I’d be glad to learn.”
“I knew you would.” Penny smiled at her. “Is your friend doing better today?”
“He is. Thank you for covering for me. I wouldn’t have done it if he weren’t hurt so badly. But he couldn’t even walk by himself most of the day.”
“It’s no problem. I think that was the first time you called off anyway. I appreciate your reliability.”
Penny showed her the inventory form, then took her out into the store to show her how she liked to track the counts. After a few minutes of instruction, she watched as Becca checked and tracked a display of mugs.
“Perfect,” Penny said. “Well, I’ll let you get on that, then.”
Becca happily went through the store, checking item counts and marking them down. She’d worried calling out to care for a sick friend would put her in a bad light, but now that Penny was giving her a new
responsibility, and one an assistant manager would do, it seemed she still had faith in her after all.
Becca looked up when the bell over the door rang, as was her habit. She watched for a moment to see where the man headed and if he looked like he needed help. He walked through the store, not pausing to look at the items. Something in the way he looked around with determination in his eyes put her on alert. Her heart jumped and she walked quickly to the back room.
But from there, she couldn’t see into the store. She waited several minutes, waited for her heart to calm. This is silly. It’s just a customer. He probably knows what he wants is all. Jenny was at the cash register and she’d ring him up and it’d be fine. She listened to see if she could hear Jenny talking or the cash register printed a receipt. After several minutes, when she’d felt officially stupid for hiding from this customer, she took a breath and went back out to the floor.
The man walked up beside her and Becca almost jumped across the room. Her heart pounded as she kept walking.
He leaned in and said quietly, “You need to be more aware of your surroundings.”
Then he brushed past her and left the store. She stood there for a minute, watching. She stood there so long that Jenny asked if she was okay.
She shook it off and went back to her inventory. But her mind wouldn’t settle, even if the jolt of adrenaline had started to. Who was he and what did he mean be aware of her surroundings? What wasn’t she aware of?
Well, it seemed she would listen to him whether she wanted to or not. For the rest of the day, every customer, every little sound, made her look around. She felt paranoid. This had to be connected to Rowan, right? Or could it be Nick hunting her down? Had he only been waiting? Had it taken him this long to find them?
That night, she didn’t sleep well and she started to wonder if maybe she shouldn’t have her own gun and learn how to shoot.
###
Rowan stood at the head of his basement, looking out at his boys. They all wore their Jagged Rebels leather jackets, like they always did. He’d need a replacement as soon as possible. It wasn’t right for the leader to be the only one without it. Still couldn’t believe those bastards had trashed his. He’d had it for years. It was all broken and perfect and everything.
“I don’t know how much you’ve heard or how much you’ve assumed,” he said, “but let me set the record straight: Abram was pissed when I started making cheaper deals and taking his coke business. He was pissed before that when we recruited so many new members and grew to have ten more than he does. And the other night, he took his anger out on me. Him and six of his guys set me up and beat me, leaving me for dead.”
“We thought you were dead, man,” Ricky said. “Why didn’t you call anyone?”
“Couldn’t. Didn’t have my phone and I could barely move.”
“So what’s our plan?” Jameson asked. “They won’t stop when they find out you’re alive. If they wanted revenge, they’ll just keep going until you’re dead.”
“You need protection,” Nate said.
Rowan nodded. “We’ll need to hit them where it hurts. The Screaming Griffins aren’t like the Jagged Rebels. If we take out Abram, they’ll fall apart.”
“They’re barely together now,” Ricky said.
“Exactly. It’ll be easy to take down anyone else who comes at us if Abram is out of the picture,” Rowan said.
“Who were the other six?” Nate asked.
“Not sure. I only saw two or three of them and I didn’t know them. I might recognize them, but at this point, I want Abram. We’ll worry about decimating the rest of the club once we get him.”
“And I already decided I’m staying here for a while,” Nate said. “You need one of us with you at all times. You should’ve had someone there that night.”
“You’re right,” Rowan said. “I want you to all be in teams as much as possible until we get this settled. Who knows when he’ll attack next or where or who he’ll come after this time. I’ll be laying low for a while. Hopefully he won’t know I’m still alive until he sees my gun in his face.”
“When are we doing this?” Jameson asked. “I see no point in waiting and drawing it out.”
“No,” Rowan said. “But we do need a plan. Do we get him alone like he did to me, or just gang up on a few of them? Where do we do it? And where are we going to put the bodies? All this needs to be planned before we can act. When we just go off and kill someone, that’s when people get caught. I’m not drawing it out, Jameson, but it needs to be done right.”
Jameson and several of the guys nodded.
“So, let’s make a plan,” Nate said.
Rowan listened to them talk, but his mind kept drifting. Was Becca still at work? She’d driven by him pretty late that night. Did she always work that late? Was there any way Abram knew about her? Maybe he should call just to see if she was okay. He should probably wash her clothes first, so he had that as an excuse. He didn’t want to scare her into thinking someone might come after her.
“So, if one of them attacks first?” Ricky asked.
“Obviously you do what you gotta do,” Nate said.
“Let’s make a plan for that right now, too,” Rowan added.
How quickly could he get the money to her for the car and his damages? If he sold his bike this week, which he would and had already talked to a guy about it, then if he pulled off a few more deals, he could hand her a stack of cash like he wanted to. He could wait a few days to call her. Her number was saved in his new phone and he’d almost texted her or dialed it when he entered it. But he hadn’t.
Actually, maybe he should text her. She didn’t have his phone number and if something did go wrong, she might need to contact him. He took out the phone and went to her name. He typed a quick and simple message. Hey, this is Rowan. Just wanted you to have my number in case you ever needed it.
Her response came back much quicker than he expected. It was only a simple, Thanks! but knowing she’d typed it made him feel close to her again for that second. He put the phone back and saw Nate giving him a questioning look.
He listened to the conversation. He hadn’t missed anything. He must’ve been smiling. He really needed to get ahold of himself. This crap with Abram was too important to mess around with. His life was at stake here. He couldn’t be thinking of Becca all the time. He had to be on guard and paying attention at all times. Hard as it would be, he had to try to keep her from his mind. And the sooner he got this cleared up, the sooner he could go chasing after her, hoping to make her his.
###
Becca stared down at her phone, wondering if she should call him. Or text him back. Was the guy in the store that big of a deal? Was she overreacting or was this something he needed to know about? She paced in her living room for a few minutes, watching Emma sleep through her open door.
She really had no weapons in the house and the deadbolt might not be enough. If they wanted to come after her, couldn’t they kick down the door or shoot through it? Was there any way they could climb up and get in the windows?
She yawned and felt the burn in her eyes. She hadn’t slept well last night and tonight might be a repeat, though now it was out of fear. After checking the deadbolt and the lock again, she slid the couch over in front of the door. She’d have to slide it back before Emma saw it. Or maybe she could say she was just cleaning behind it and forgot to move it back.
She scooped Emma into her arms and set her down in her bed. That way she wouldn’t have to worry about her being in the next room. Emma would be right there beside her all night. Before getting into bed, she swept the house, checking the locks on the windows, peeking out through the curtains to see if anyone was out there or if anything suspicious was happening.
When she had checked all there was to check, she got into bed. But soon after she closed her eyes, she knew it wasn’t going to go well. She kept seeing the man from the store, following her, telling her to watch out. After an hour of lying there, worrying, she
grabbed her phone. She could just text him. If he were asleep or busy, he wouldn’t have to be disturbed. He could get back to her when he could.
She thought about what to say. Hey, there was a strange man in the store today and now I’m totally freaked out. No matter how she put the words together in her mind, they sounded lame and paranoid. In the end, after typing out, then deleting an entire message, she set the phone back down without sending him anything.
It would be fine. He’d only told her to watch her surroundings. Maybe he was even trying to help her. And she was watching her surroundings now. Watching them like someone was out to kill her.
###
