Actually, I have a good idea why he’s calling, and I’m currently feeding it tacos. I need to call that idiot back and tell him to fuck off.
“Last time wasn’t on purpose. I hope you realize that, Cain. It was an emergency with Emily and she ended up going through a bunch of crazy shit. She really needed me. I never would’ve left you like that otherwise. I’m sorry. You know that, right?”
“I know, London. It just fucked me up for a little while is all. You didn’t call or text me for the past three months. You’d become not only the bitch riding on the back of my bike but a best friend.”
This is what I was expecting at the coffee shop, not here after we’ve already begun to reconnect. He has me caught off guard that we didn’t go over this sooner.
“I’m sorry, I thought you freaking hated me. You’re my best friend, too. I really am sorry. I promise I’ll always keep in touch with you from here on out, okay?” I can’t imagine him being completely out of my life again, now that I have him right here.
“All right, calm down, London. I get it, okay. Let’s just eat our tacos and then watch whatever movie you’d planned for tonight,” he concedes quietly and gazes at me with care.
I take a deep breath, relaxing, and then chuckle a little. He knows me well.
“How do you know I had a movie planned?”
He cocks his eyebrow and tilts his head to the side, grinning. “Babe.”
“What? What if I changed it up?” I shrug nonchalantly, like I don’t watch movies every single night anymore.
He glances at me and raises his other eyebrow at me in challenge. “You’re the only chick I have ever met that can quote movies at random times,” he says proudly as if I did something awesome like discover chocolate.
I beam at him happily. I love that he thinks my little quirks are good attributes. We’ve always had a lot of fun quoting movies together.
I give in and admit my selection to him. “Yeah, okay, I was going to watch Thor part two.”
He does a small fist pump and smirks, making me giggle. “Yes, I fucking love it when you watch those movies.”
Chapter 8
Cameron
I hang up the phone and throw it on my bed. Of course she didn’t answer, again. It’s only been three days since I was an ass. Clearly, she’s still pissed.
Tate comes to my door and pops his head in as he knocks on the wall in the hall. I glance over at the sound and meet his gaze.
“Cam, you want to head to the gym with me and Niko?”
I could benefit from a workout right now. Maybe talk to Tate and get his advice on this London issue.
I head for my closet and agree to go. “Yeah, just let me change. I’ll meet you there.”
He takes two more steps so he’s inside my room. “We’ll wait so you can ride with us if you want?”
“No, I’m good. I never know if I’ll get called away early.”
I have to be ready at any time at this point with Gizya. I leave the closet and notice Tate’s gaze lingering around my room. It’s irritating because he’s always so damn nosey.
“You and London straighten out whatever’s going on? I see her stuff is still missing.”
My room’s actually clean. When she was staying here, she had stuff thrown all over the place. It used to bother me so badly.
I grab my phone and keys off the bed, and then make my way toward the door. “No, she’s driving me crazy. In fact, let’s go in the living room so I can talk to Niko and you about something.”
“Yeah, sure, no problem,” he mutters on the way out.
I follow him down our hallway and into our large living room. Tate sits on the couch next to Niko.
Niko flicks his gaze to me and does a two-finger salute. “Hey, Cam,” he greets happily, drinking from his Gatorade. He’s always in a good mood.
I grin and return the gesture. “Hey, Niko.” I sit on the recliner opposite them.
Tate jumps right in. “What’s going on, Cam? Anything I can help with?”
Sighing, I prepare myself for this conversation that I’m not looking forward to having. “Man, you guys are going to think I’m a fucking jerkoff. I swear, I don’t know what to do about this. It’s been eating away at me for the past three days.” I pull at the bottom of my basketball shorts nervously.
Tate leans forward in his seat and focuses his attention on me. “No way, tell us what’s going on.”
That’s Tate, always one to fix a problem. Niko, on the other hand, is an observer. He’s normally fairly loud and outgoing, but when it’s something serious, he waits to hear everything out before he gives his opinion.
I stop fidgeting, glancing at them both as I divulge. “So, London and I got into an argument a few days ago and she left to go back to the apartment. Which you guys already know about, since she hasn’t been here. I don’t know if London has said anything to Emily yet. I’m assuming she hasn’t or else Emily would have strangled me by now, I’m sure.”
Tate’s expression remains blank, and it makes me relax a little. “Emily hasn’t said much; just that she wishes London would talk to her more.”
Releasing a pent-up breath, I relax back in the chair some more.
“Okay, good, I’m glad she hasn’t said anything yet then. So, anyhow, London was sick for a couple days. She was basically walking around looking like a zombie and puking every time she ate something.”
Niko’s gaze widens and he groans. Yep, he figured it out.
I continue on, even though I wish I didn’t have to. “She came home from the doctor’s appointment crying and admitted to me that she’d found out she’s fucking pregnant. I couldn’t believe it when I first heard.”
Grumbling, I continue, “I mean, we’ve been so careful, but she says it happened anyway. I didn’t know what to say to her, just that I couldn’t deal with it right now. She got pissed and cussed me out and said she would be the one to leave this time. I’m confused and angry. I want kids but not for a really long time. My parents are going to flip out on me, and I’m not even done with school yet.”
Tate jumps up and paces a few times, hearing me out. “Holy fuck, Cam. Are you serious right now? I can’t believe she hasn’t told Emily yet, and now I know before her. Fuck. I hope she tells her soon. I hate keeping secrets from Em, especially one like this.” Tate’s pissed, no doubt. His hands go straight to his hair, pulling at the ends.
That’s always his tell if he’s angry or frustrated.
Poor Tate and Emily, that’s all he worries about, himself and Emily. Shaking my head, I have to stop myself from scoffing out loud.
Niko clears his throat, garnering both of our attention in his direction. “I don’t know why you are upset, Cam. This is good, no?” Niko peers at me, puzzled.
“No, Niko, this is bad. I’m not ready to have a kid. My parents are probably going to cut me off when I tell them and then insist I marry her. Now, I care for London, I do. She’s sweet and hot, but I’m not ready to actually marry her. I have no problem whatsoever with giving her money, but I don’t have time to take care of a baby right now. Lord knows she’s too stubborn to stay home and take care of a baby herself. I’d have to hire a nanny because she would insist on working or going to school as well.”
Tate glares up at the ceiling as I speak, and it makes me question if I should’ve even told him. I wonder what Gizya did with the girls who ended up pregnant from him. I know there had to be at least a few of them pop up.
“Well, you have to support her on this. Have you talked to her since she left? In person or on the phone—anything?” Tate rationalizes.
He always treats me as if I’m ignorant, but yet I’m the one further along in school than he is, go figure.
“No. I tried calling her, but she won’t answer my call or voice messages.”
“Keep trying. She could get mad and take off to Texas, and then your parents would be really angry to have a grandchild they can’t ever contact. I know your parents. They’ll be upset w
ith you, but once the baby comes, they’ll embrace it.”
He has no idea what my parents are really like. He always just starts barking orders whenever it’s convenient. Obviously, I’m going to keep calling her. I want to know what’s going on with my kid. Last thing I want is for her to show up on my parents’ doorstep one day.
Smiling, I nod at Tate like I always do to placate him. I wonder if he knows I can’t stand his perfect little life. It’s okay, though, his father is bringing me into the business and not Tate.
“All right, I’ll keep trying. I’m not ready to be a father yet, but I know if she were to leave I’d never forgive myself. My father was a prick growing up, but at least I had him there to push me, you know. I’ll do what I have to in order to be a good father to my kid. I need to make this right with her.”
I wonder if Gizya sold the women off that he had issues with or if he made them put the babies up for adoption? I’ll have to call and get his advice. Maybe I could just have Tate’s Uncle Victor kidnap her or something.
Tate flicks his gaze to Niko and then returns my smile. His is fake; I can read him easily. “Exactly, just keep thinking that way and it will work out.”
My phone goes off with a text alert. Saved! I’m sick of having this conversation already, and hopefully I’ll be able to get the advice I want.
I check the lit-up screen on my phone and read over the message.
Hans: The shipment is ready. Shipment
Me: Okay, I’m on my way immediately.
Hans: Okay.
Twisting back toward Tate and Niko, I pretend as if I’m bummed out now. “Shit, guess I’m not working out. I just had something come up.” I stand and pocket my phone.
Tate peers at me suspiciously. “Everything else okay? You’ve been busier than usual.”
Giving him a charming smile, I shrug to try and put him at ease. No one needs to know my business. “Yeah, everything else is going great.”
He nods but doesn’t appear as if he’s one hundred percent sure. “Did I see your car at my dad’s club the other day when I drove by?” He watches me when I answer him, and it makes me fume inside. Since when did my personal life turn into twenty questions?
I attempt to come off vaguely with my answer so he drops it. “I don’t know, probably. He wanted a few numbers to people I know, so I stopped in.”
Tate stands from the couch in front of me. “I see. All right, well, good luck with everything.”
He glances over at Nikoli and it’s like they have this mind reader silent conversation, and Niko just nods at Tate. Freaking weirdoes; they take the bromance factor way too far.
“Thanks, I’ll keep you posted on it. See y’all later,” I call and walk back toward my room to change again.
Tate makes his way to the kitchen and yells to me. “Okay, later.”
“Later, Cam,” Niko mumbles and follows Tate like the good lap dog he is.
I put on nicer clothes and get in my car. I head back to the club again. I swear it feels like someone is following me the whole way, but each time I glance in my rearview mirror I never see anything suspicious. Working for the mafia is making me paranoid.
“Hans, how’s it going?” I question as we head down the hall toward the storage room.
“Good, Cameron, and you?”
“Life sucks right now, but what can you do. So, is it just a normal shipment? I saw Konstantin’s car and driver outside.”
“No, you are here to get the boss’ stuff he wanted set aside for the meeting with the bikers. It’s scheduled to happen in twenty minutes. Gizya wants you to check everything again and then bring it into the meeting so you can tell their group exactly what everything is.”
Great, I seriously don’t want to be in a room full of bikers when something could pop off at any time. Regardless, I paste on a fake smile. I don’t want anyone to know if anything makes me uncomfortable.
“Wow, okay, I’m glad he trusts me so much. I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about meeting a bunch of old bikers, though. Your accent is great today; I don’t hear the Russian at all.”
“Thanks, I’ve been working on it every day.” He enters his code on the reinforced door, and then it’s my turn. The door opens and we walk in.
Everything still appears the exact same as the other day when I was here. I double check the blow and the pills I have packaged up for each of the bikers. Everything seems good, so I decide to just sit and chill for about forty minutes while Hans pecks away at his laptop.
His phone buzzes and he checks it.
“You are up, Cameron. Let’s go visit the Boss. Oh, and make sure you call him Boss or Gizya in front of them.” He stands up to walk toward the door. I do the same.
“Okay, I will.”
We leave the storage room and walk to another meeting room. This time we enter room five after Hans knocks a few times on the door. Entering, I notice five bikers sitting around the table next to Konstantin and a few of his men scattered about. These guys are way younger than I thought they would be and in really good shape. A few look like really mean fuckers, and one looks like a giant.
“Ah, here is my expert on the few items we were discussing. I had him package up a few samples for each of you. Cameron, starting from the left, this is Ares, then Twist, Cain, 2 Piece, and Capone. Gentleman, this is Cameron. He can tell you what everything is, and if you have questions, hopefully he can answer them,” Konstantin informs them with his formal Russian accent. Even being in the States for so long, he still sounds like he just got here a week ago.
Pasting on my business smile, I nod, glancing around the table at each of them. “Nice to meet you all,” I greet and wince. My good manners were drilled into me and they show even in awkward situations.
“Tell us what you have here, Cameron,” the giant orders, and I attempt not to swallow too hard. This guy could eat me for lunch if I pissed him off enough.
I pass out the packages, placing one of each type in front of the guys around the table. It’s probably best I give them a brief description of the items.
Taking a deep breath, I begin my spiel. “Okay, you each have two eight-balls of White Angel blow. The pills are twenty of each: Percocet, X, and Ritalin; totaling sixty pills per person,” I explain, and another one pipes up.
“What is the quality of the powder?” I think he is the one called Twist.
The quality is probably the best you’ve ever seen, idiot.
“It’s pure white blow—almost completely uncut. You only need a small bump versus a rail or multiple lines.” I watch closely to gauge his reaction.
His eyes widen a little and he nods like he’s impressed. He glances over to the one at the end of the table they’d called Capone and nods. Capone then nods to the giant seated the closest to Konstantin. It must be private conversation day or something, but it’s irritating.
I’ve had my fill of the random nods and strange looks today, I’m over it. The huge guy turns to Konstantin and relaxes a little. He holds his phone in front of him and then meets Konstantin’s gaze after sending a quick message.
“Thanks for the hospitality and show of good faith, Gizya. I’m sure my Prez will be cool with this arrangement. I’ll talk to him and let ya know what he thinks.”
Konstantin beams a large smile at Ares and laughs. He sounds kind of evil. “Fantastic, Ares! Shall we have a line and get some entertainment going to celebrate? I brought a few girls to show you gentlemen a good time.”
He motions to some of his men, and they each step forward with a stack of ten one hundred dollar bills, mirrors, and small razor blades.
They set the first down in front of Konstantin, and he begins to roll his bill up into a straw to test the coke. The men continue passing out the items in front of the other men.
Ares clears his throat loudly and pushes the items away from directly in front of him. “We don’t do much of the drug scene; the few brothers who enjoy it are at the clubhouse back home.”
I’m f
airly confident he’s lying because the one who asked about the quality seemed pretty eager for a taste when he heard what it was made up of.
“Very well then, how about the entertainment. Hans, show the girls in so our guests can see what else we have to offer.”
Hans complies and opens the doors. Around ten sexy women trek into the room. One with curly brunette hair and red painted lips walks straight to me and starts rubbing her hands all over my chest, grinning an enticing smile at me.
The biker in the middle grows irritated when a few women head toward them and leans over to talk to Ares for a few seconds. Ares nods at him and then he stands up.
He turns to Konstantin and addresses him. “Gizya, thank you for the party favors, but I need to go.”
Konstantin, confused for a moment, stares as if he doesn’t understand why someone would want to leave a party he’s hosting.
“Ah, Cain, you do not care for women? I have a few men if you prefer,” he offers Cain easily.
The bikers sitting at the table all snicker, and Cain glowers at each one of them. He huffs and rolls his eyes at the others and turns back to Konstantin to reply quickly. “No, I love pussy, but I’m visiting a friend in town who’s giving me plenty of it. So, I’m going to get gone if this meeting is good.”
“Yes, I believe the meeting has been a great success. You should bring your friend out to one of my clubs for a night out. Have a good time, and if I can do anything for you while you are in town, please contact one of my men.”
Cain leans over and shakes Konstantin’s hand. “Thanks, Gizya, I appreciate it. Boys, enjoy yourselves.” He smirks at the ladies and swaggers out of the room.
The others put their bags of product inside their cuts and pull a woman to sit on their laps. Konstantin has one of his men turn on some music and sends two of the girls up on the small stage to dance and strip.
A server comes in the room and gets our drink orders. I’m only having a Courvoisier on the rocks, maybe hooking up with this chick, then going back home. I have to get caught up on the schoolwork I’ve neglected the past three days, since I’ve been moping around not doing much but drinking and fucking random chicks.
Oath Keepers MC: The Collection Page 10
