“I’ll be there. I’ll leave shortly.
“By,” she said, and then took a few unsteady breaths. She glanced at her watch. She could leave early now and then text the guys and say she was going to be a little late.
She did that really quick and then headed upstairs. She told Ade she was leaving and had an errand to run, and then grabbed her bag and keys. It would take her forty minutes or so to get to the place she told her mom she would meet her at. As she made it to the car, she got the consecutive texts from her men asking what errands she had to do and if she needed company. She smiled, but declined and told them she would see them later. She headed out in her jeep with a guilty feeling in her gut. She wasn’t going to make a habit of this. Of lying to her men because she was embarrassed by her mom and the decisions she made. York would see her mom once and make sure she understood that York wasn’t going to be her rock. That Mo was bad news, and the faster her mom get away from him, the better off she would be.
“I don’t trust him, or that stupid wife of his. Mo’s daughter doesn’t talk to him and won’t give him the time of day,” Lurk said to his cousin.
“Well what do you suggest we do?” his cousin asked him.
“Cover our asses with Vin. York is talented, and she can seal this deal without anyone having to get killed. That means things are smooth and our hands are clean.”
“She’s really that gifted with this stuff?”
“You could use her in the government, Suade,” Lurk said to him.
“Shit, you better be sure. I’m risking my neck here. I want to be out of this job and living the life. I can’t take a chance of getting caught up in some lies by using my position in the government.”
“She’ll be worth it, and who said you need to do anything more than play a part? I have an idea that might work. We can use this meeting York and Gale are having, because I’m telling you, York is not going to see her father, and she will have to be dragged into this, kicking and fighting all the way.”
“Okay, tell me the idea, and then we’ll make the plan happen. Then talk to Vin.”
York immediately could tell that her mom was in pain. She grabbed her arm and Gale gasped. “Jesus, Mom, what the hell did he do to you? Are you kidding me, letting him hit you?”
“Please, York, I’m fine. It was my fault really, for talking back and asking questions.”
York exhaled and felt the tears hit her eyes. The man was abusive, and her mom was a typical battered woman, unable to see through the man’s control and abuse.
“You need to tell him to go away and never come back. Hell, what about the parole board, and contacting his parole officer, and telling them that he’s abusive.”
“No, I wouldn’t do that. He served his time. He’s different. Things are going to get better. He’s working.”
“Yeah? On what?”
“Can we please just enjoy some talking time together?” her mom asked, and York felt sick. She was angry, disappointed in her mom and disgusted.
Several minutes later and after they ordered their food, that disgust and anger grew worse.
“He asked about you and was hoping that you would see him.”
“Are you out of your mind?” York asked, raising her voice, and then lowering it as she looked around the restaurant. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “I have a new life, and he isn’t allowed in it. Not ever.”
“But we’ll be together. How will I ever see you if you won’t see him, too?”
“It isn’t going to happen, Mom, and if this is what this lunch is all about, then I can just leave now.” York went to move, and her mom grabbed her hand.
“Please don’t go. I’m sorry. I won’t bring him up again. Tell me about you. About where you live and any friends you have.”
“There isn’t much to tell. I work, managing a restaurant and bar. I have a lot of friends, a safe community that doesn’t stand for any type of criminal activity to take place in it.”
“What’s the name of it?”
“No. I’m not telling you, because then you’ll tell Mo, and one day he’ll show up trying to push his way into my life again. No. Tell me what work he’s doing that he can now support you, force you to quit that good job you had, and be a husband? Especially if you think he’s cheating.”
“It’s just a fear. I’m sure he isn’t. We spend a lot of time together. He made money selling some kind of products or something. It’s a business that Lurk and his family own, and they ship all over the United States. All I know is that he made an investment while he was in prison, and that investment paid off recently.”
The conversation wasn’t going well, and no matter how hard York tried to understand her mom’s position, and why she remained with Mo, she just couldn’t. She glanced at her watch. “I need to head out.”
“Why? What’s going on? I thought you left work and were off.”
“I have plans.”
Her mom squinted at her. “You’re seeing someone?” she asked, and her mom’s voice cracked.
“No. I have friends and we all have plans to hang out. Listen, I can’t do this again. I don’t want to be involved with anything that Mo touches. I’m sorry that you can’t see through his lies, but Mom, he’s going to hurt you or worse, and I can’t be around that kind of violence and negativity. I’ve moved on from that life. Those years of watching him hurt you. I can’t do it now as an adult, too.”
“You would turn your back on me? Forget me so easily?” her mom asked.
“Not, so easily. It took me a lot to even come here to meet you. Even more to tell you the truth about how I feel. You’re making another huge mistake. He’s using you, and you don’t deserve that.” She saw the tears spill from her mom’s eyes, and it made her feel horrible, but her mom was in denial once again. York left and walked out of the place, thinking about those scary memories from when she was a kid and her father abused her mom. She could have wound up in the same boat. Used by a man, controlled and battered into submission.
As she headed to her jeep, she looked around the parking lot. She didn’t like the feeling she had and wanted to get back to Cherry Hill quickly. As she pulled out of the parking lot, she spotted the sedan following her. She knew he was following her as she took a few side streets through the neighborhoods that were completely out of the way. She pulled over by the front of a baseball field where a game was going on and a bunch of people were out. She figured if the guy was someone Mo knew and was following her, then they wouldn’t approach. She was shocked when the guy got out. She got out, too.
“Who are you and why are you following me?” she demanded to know. She put her keys between her fingers to use as a weapon just in case he tried something. It was a technique she learned from Ade.
“Miss Fayer, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Agent Suade Felt. I work for an investigative team for the government involving theft and crimes.”
“Where’s your I.D.?” she asked him, and eyed him over. He did the same to her and he slowly pulled out and I.D. When she saw his name and the badge and the identification, she exhaled.
“Again, I’m sorry to have scared you.”
“What is this all about?”
“Mo Fayer, your father.”
“I don’t have anything to do with my father.”
“You just met with your mother and she’s involved with him.”
“Yeah, and I’m not happy about that. She’s a grown woman and responsible for her own decisions. I don’t know what you want, but I can’t help you.”
“I think you can,” he said to her.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s obvious from our surveillance and other evidence that your dad is involved with some illegal activities with several other men. There was an incident recently that they were involved in and two men were killed. There’s been some inside information where your name came up.”
“My name? Why? I have nothing to do with my father, or my mother for that matter.”
> He raised both eyebrows up at her. “Now, Miss Fayer, it appears differently, especially the phone calls back and forth, and you meeting today.”
“It was lunch and a good-bye. I told her if she’s going to stay involved with Mo, then she isn’t to contact me, and I want nothing to do with either of them.”
“A bit harsh, considering you were very close to your father right before he was caught on a big heist. Computers and some numbers racket I believe.”
“Nothing to do with me. He went to jail with his other criminal friends and now he’s out.”
“And back at his old tricks. Like I said, your name has come up a few times in his conversations with those criminal friends. I don’t know why, but if he is to contact you, and asks for any type of help, I want you to contact me immediately.”
“No.”
“What do you mean no?”
“I mean no. Now leave me alone. I am not part of their world or their lives.” She got into her jeep and sped out of there quickly. Her mind on this whole situation, as well as the fact that some government special agent was investigating her mother and Mo, and that her name came up. What the hell was Mo telling his criminal friends? That she used to do computer hacking for him? Oh God, I’m going to get arrested. Mo is going to cause me to get busted by federal agents. Jesus, could this day get any worse? She didn’t say anything or give anything away. Maybe she would be okay. Maybe she didn’t need to worry. By the time she got back into Cherry Hill, she was a mess. She felt terrible for lying to her men, horrible for being mean to her mom, aggravated for gaining the attention of some federal agent, and couldn’t stop thinking about her childhood and the abuse she witnessed. She got to her house, texted her men that she had a bad headache and was laying down, and then tried to pull herself together for later. But before she had a chance to try and calm her mind, her men were at her door, then in her house.
“York?” Marco said her name, and she burst into tears, then growled.
“I lied to you. I didn’t have errands to do. I got caught up in stupid, stupid shit and I shouldn’t have gone. I should have listened to my gut, but I didn’t.”
“What do you mean you lied to us? Where did you go? What the hell is going on?” Finn asked.
She fell onto the couch and leaned back. “I didn’t tell you guys everything about the past. I told you about the juvenile record, but not about my childhood. About seeing my mom get abused by my dad.”
They stared at her.
“My dad recently got out of prison. My stupid, stupid mom let him back into her life, and of course her bed.” She shook her head and then held her temples.
“Wait, you know this how, York?” Lotus asked her and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. “I met her at a restaurant in Garfield forty minutes from the edge of town. She called me crying and then needing to talk, and she made me feel guilty.” She stood up and began to pace. “How can she make me feel guilty after all these years? After what she allowed me as a child to witness, as a teen to go through? I mean, I could have wound up behind bars for something more than juvenile crimes. I could have gotten put into foster care if they knew what I’d witnessed. They never would have allowed me, a kid to stay in such a household.”
Marco grabbed her hand and stopped her from pacing. “Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner? Why didn’t you tell us about your mom calling you, and meeting her? Or about knowing that your dad was out of jail and in your mom’s life? You made it seem like you didn’t know where they were at all?”
“Because I was embarrassed. How can I tell the four of you, older, mature, put together, perfect men, how screwed up my parents are? I don’t even consider Mo my father. My mom? Jesus, I’m so angry with her. The two of them have done nothing but put me at risk. I got out of there. I did what I needed to do to break free and have my own life. So why do I feel like crap for telling my mom I don’t want to see her again because she’s allowing Mo to abuse her? To control her after all these years? She quit her job because he told her to. She was in pain when I saw her. The thought of that, of how I could have wound up with a man like that because I used to think that was normal just irks me. God,” she said, and more tears fell.
Marco pulled her into his arms and hugged her. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll talk this through together. Just know that you did the right thing, starting your own life and realizing that abuse like that isn’t normal, and that men don’t abuse their woman. Not ever.”
She squeezed him tight and more tears fell. She locked gazes with Finn, then Cab, and Lotus. “That was another reason why I was scared to let my guard down with you. The sight of you and Cab in the dojo sparring with those men, made me think that I wouldn’t have stood a chance if any of you struck me.”
“No baby, we would never do that,” Marco told her as he cupped her cheeks and looked down into her eyes.
“I know that. I do, but it was a fear. It’s another reason why I never let a man close enough to make love to me until the four of you.”
“I wish you would have told us about this. We could have been there to support you,” Finn said to her.
“And seen my mom, battered, and in denial, loving a man who is abusive and only looking out for himself? No thank you.”
“I think we should sit down and talk about this more. There shouldn’t be any secrets between us, York,” Cab said to her.
“Then I should tell you about the federal agent who was following me.”
“What?” Finn demanded to know, and she explained.
“Shit, that isn’t good at all. It’s obvious they’re onto something,” Lotus said.
“Well if they are, then hopefully they catch Mo and his criminal friends soon enough. Either way, like I told the agent, I have nothing to do with them.”
“What did he mean that your name was brought up though? Like these men, your father talked about you?”
She nibbled her bottom lip.
“York?” Cab said her name, and she took several unsteady breaths. “I may have left out one more thing.”
“Fuck,” Finn said and exhaled. “Sit down and spit it out,” he ordered, and she sat on the couch and they gathered right there around her.
“Besides hotwiring cars, and working numbers for illegal gambling, I kind of have some unique computer skills. And…well, I was forced to use them in order to save my mom from being killed by some guys my dad double-crossed.”
“Computer skills?” Lotus asked.
“Hacking I guess you would call it,” she said to them.
“Holy shit, seriously, York?” Cab asked.
“I was forced to do it. I got away with it, and it was illegal, and if I was caught, I would have gone to jail this time, but I wasn’t.”
“So maybe this agent found out somehow? Or maybe your dad and these criminals think you would help with some kind of job again?” Marco asked.
“I thought maybe, but if that were the case, then Mo would have showed up, too. He would have tried to spew is web of charms and bullshit before pouncing.”
They were shocked, and then Marco began to caress her thighs. “You’re are truly filled with surprises, York. With gifts and talents beyond that lethal little mouth of yours, as well,” he said, and she felt her cheeks warm. He eased closer and then cupped her cheeks. “But if you ever lie to us again or put yourself in any danger, you will have to answer to me.”
“To all of us,” Lotus said.
Love Will Find You Page 10
