Vicious Rebel (82 Street Vandals)

by Heather Long

  I’d deal with it.

  After he was done and after he’d paid, Meeks and his people fucked off out of the bar. I leaned back in the seat and turned the idea around in my head. Bounties came in all shapes and sizes. The Bay Ridge Royals negotiated enough international product in flesh and drugs that we made it a point to know who carried and offered markers.

  I informed the manager of the change in ownership and the new rules. I also sent over a handful of new security guards to deal with the place for now. The 19 Diamonds would hit back, or Meeks would. My waitress got a new best friend in the form of a guy to pick her up and drop her off, just in case Meeks got stupid.

  Which he would.

  ’Cause he was a fucker.

  Outside, I pulled on my jacket as I straddled my bike, then I made a call. The broker knew my number and answered on the first ring. “I thought we were up to date on our accounts.” Wisely, he kept his tone even and civil.

  “I need information.”

  His relieved exhale said more about the Royals’ reach than it did me. I was fine with that. It was useful right now. “What can I do for you?”

  “Word on the street is there’s a bounty out on Emersyn Sharpe.”

  “There is,” the broker confirmed. “Quarter of a million. It’s gone up in the last week.”

  That was a lot of money. “Who’s offering it?”

  “You know that’s not how this works.”

  “Sure, I do. I also know I have privileges others don’t. I want to meet with the buyer.”

  Silence. “You have a lead?”

  “You’ll never hear it from me.”

  More silence.

  “If this gets out…”

  I snorted. Who the fuck was I going to tell? “Are we going to have a problem?”

  He swore. I waited.

  “I’ll make the arrangements.”

  “Name.”

  Another pause.

  “Bradley Sharpe.”

  I frowned. “Her father?”

  “No,” the broker answered. “Her uncle. And a word of advice—don’t cross him.”

  Now I definitely wanted to meet him.

  “Set it up.”

  Looked like I’d be seeing Hellspawn sooner rather than later.

  Slow Down Ahead

  Kellan

  The rain started early in the day. Mom and Nana argued for an hour over whether I should go to wait for the bus or one of them would drive me. Dad just let them argue while he drank his coffee and shot me a wink. I hid my own smile as I ate my toast.

  I’d started first grade this year. I was more than old enough to take the bus. I’d argued with Mom all summer. She drove me every day for kindergarten, but I was a big boy. I wanted to ride with my friends. I didn’t worry too much though. Mom had already said I could. Nana just wanted to fuss, or that’s what Dad always said when Mom got upset with her.

  “Don’t worry, it’s just Mom, she fusses about everything. You do things the way you planned.”

  He told me once that sometimes, people just needed to fuss before they were ready to see reason. Other people would always think they knew better, but as long as we had a plan, they were entitled to their opinion. Dad was funny, but he also said arguing was what he did for a living.

  I thought he was a lawyer, but Mom would grin and say, “same thing.” I bit back another laugh at the memory. Because usually, they started doing the icky stuff then with the kisses and the hugs. If I tried to escape it, they’d drag me in and kiss the sides of my head and blow raspberries until I was a giggling mess.

  That was fine at five. At six? I couldn’t be such a baby. Another reason for Mom to not drive me to school. I didn’t mind giving her hugs and kisses, but I didn’t want other kids to see me doing it. After breakfast, I carried my plate from the table to the sink and set my plastic cup up there too.

  Dad mimed for me to go get my backpack because Mom and Nana were still arguing. I grinned at him and raced out. My backpack and lunch were already together by the door. I pulled on my coat and my hat then the backpack, and stuck my head around the corner to look in the kitchen.

  With a wink, Dad motioned me to go, and I blew a kiss to Mom and Nana where he could see it, so he could tell them. Then I bolted as fast as my little legs would carry me. The bus picked up at the corner by the stop sign. We were five houses down. The rain was coming down steadily, but I resisted the urge to jump in the puddles, barely.

  Didn’t want to get yelled at before I even made it to the stop sign. I had my fingers crossed all the way. There were already a bunch of kids waiting, including the older ones who took over the back of the bus. I sat near the front ’cause they were super rowdy and picked on the little ones back there.

  The bus pulled up, and I was one of the last ones on board and got a seat right near the front. I wiped the rain out of my eyes and looked out the fogged window. Mom and Dad were standing in the driveway with an umbrella over their heads, watching me.

  I made a face, but Mom blew me a kiss with both hands and I mimed catching it. Hopefully, no one else saw it but me. The bus gave a hiss of air and a squeal as we started rolling forward, and I settled back in my seat. Another day won for me.

  The best part of first grade was we had recess twice still, but we didn’t have to nap after lunch. On rainy days, instead of going outside, we either went to the library or we watched a movie. Today it was a movie, ’cause we’d gone to the library the day before. The dark and gloomy weather outside made the room extra dark.

  I liked The Lion King though, even the scary part where Mufasa died. Thunder outside joined the stampede on the screen, and there were a couple of girls crying. They were hugging Ms. Bell ’cause they were scared. A lot of what went wrong was Simba listened to the wrong people.

  A knock at the door distracted me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a pair of police officers standing there. That was weird. Was there a show and tell today? But when I looked at Ms. Bell, she wore a frown. With care, she stood and made her way over to the door. Then she went outside with the officers.

  I went back to watching the movie, but a couple of minutes later, Ms. Bell tapped my shoulder and I stared up at her. She did a curling motion with her fingers to tell me to go with her, so I got up. I didn’t want to miss the next song, it was funny, but at least I knew what happened next.

  In the darkened hall outside the room, the officers stood waiting. I stared up at them. I’d never been this close to a police officer before. They were awesome.

  “Kellan Traschel?” the lady officer asked, and I nodded my head.

  “Am I in trouble?” I glanced at Ms. Bell and buried the urge to hide behind her. There was another woman in the hallway, but she hung back. Like the officers, she wore a long coat, and they were all damp from the rain.

  The male officer squatted down and shook his head slowly. “No, son, you’re not in any trouble. But we do need you to come with us.” He motioned to himself and the other officer, then to the lady behind him.

  “Why?”

  Ms. Bell made a soft sound, and I jerked my gaze up to find her wiping her eyes. Fear ballooned inside of me.

  “Oh, sweetheart,” she said, then put her hands on my shoulders. “Can I tell him?” The question wasn’t directed at me but to the officers. I leaned back into Ms. Bell. I didn’t know what was going on.

  The woman stepped forward and gave me a smile. “Of course,” she said. “And I’m here for you, Kellan. I need you to know that.”

  I didn’t know who she was, but before I could ask, Ms. Bell turned me around and, like the officer, she squatted until we were at eye level. “There was an accident, honey…”

  She said a lot of words after that. A lot of words.

  Mom and Dad had been in a car accident with Nana. They were all dead.

  I couldn’t quite work out what dead meant. I mean, we’d had a goldfish and it died, but we got another one just like it. Did that mean I’d get a new mom and dad just like
them?

  I didn’t want a new mom and dad.

  At some point, I started crying, and Ms. Bell hugged me for a long time. Then I had to say goodbye to her. To the classroom. To my friends. Ms. Stephanie, the lady, was there to take me with her. The cops walked us all out. I had my jacket, my hat, and my backpack.

  Once I was buckled in the car, I stared out the window.

  I should have let Mom drive me to school.

  Chapter 17

  Kestrel

  The last couple of days had been challenging. Jasper had checked out. He wasn’t in his room. Not answering his calls. His car was gone. I had a suspicion about where he’d gone, but since he’d left the bat—and his new axe—behind, I told him I’d give him three days. After that, we’d find him.

  He needed the cooldown. Finding Emersyn and Vaughn fucking wasn’t something he was likely to forget any time soon. Hell, it wasn’t anything I was going to forget. I rubbed a hand over my face and stared at the coffeemaker as it spilled the brew of life into the carafe.

  It was like some kind of cosmic fucking joke. Drop her in the middle of all of us, the one person we’d do anything to protect, and half of us were ready to tear each other apart because the other half wanted her too. And I knew something had happened between them. I wasn’t an idiot.

  But I tried not to think about it. Tried not to think what it meant. Definitely didn’t focus on how it made me feel. Instead, after Jasper had stormed out, I caught Emersyn before she chased after him, all naked, soft, and looking genuinely well-fucked.

  Vaughn scooped her up and took her back in her room and closed the door. They argued, but it wasn’t long before Vaughn proved he’d found a way to distract her. So I sat there, listening to them and ignoring the hardness in my cock while I kept watch.

  The next day, Vaughn had to work, and rather than take her with him, he asked if she would keep an eye on Freddie. None of us wanted her leaving the clubhouse, but at least this time, we didn’t have to make up excuses to try and not scare her.

  The attempted kidnapping and the very real assault at the shop seemed to quell some of her rebellion. Though when Vaughn kissed her before he left, he did it in full view of me, Rome, and Freddie. When I pointed it out to him later, his only response had been, “Be clear, I’m not backing off and I’m not surrendering what we have. It might not seem like much, but it’s a start.”

  “And the rest of us?” I countered.

  He shrugged. “That’s up to you. I’ve never been opposed to sharing with you guys. Can you say the same?”

  Asshole.

  Rome hadn’t said a word, but Freddie had started cracking jokes. I left it alone when she smiled. I had to check in at the shop, and we still had a guest.

  That was where I’d spent most of my second day. Rome stayed with Emersyn and Freddie, though it wasn’t his favorite, and I interrogated the other investigator. Everyone had a breaking point, you just had to find the right place to apply pressure.

  He’d cracked enough to tell me that they’d been after a bounty. It was an open contract, and no, they hadn’t told anyone about spotting her. But what he wouldn’t tell me was how or where he’d spotted her.

  That meant we needed to do some backtracking. I also needed to make sure no one followed me from the garage back here. All of us would have to be more careful. The rats had their orders, and I wanted them scouting. If there were more bounty hunters in the city, we needed to know about it.

  The 19Ds had been making some moves too. Their flesh peddling had been stepped up a notch, and that brought with it the chance for a more unsavory clientele. The kind that could shit where they slept, and we didn’t need that kind of trouble here.

  Raptor was still in the hole. How long he would be stuck in fucking solitary was anyone’s guess. It bugged me to not know why. His attorney didn’t return our calls. I asked to be notified the minute Raptor was out. I’d make the drive up there and tell him in person.

  The only thing giving me any kind of respite was the fact he couldn’t know Emersyn was “missing” according to the news. Those stories, which had heated back up, had cooled again. The fact he’d been in solitary for months didn’t help my mood any.

  Doc agreed to help out. We couldn’t leave Emersyn here alone. She’d gotten out. That much I’d already deduced. Gotten out and then come back of her own volition. That meant something. And as much as I didn’t want our world to touch her, I was as selfish as the rest of them. I wanted her here.

  “Kestrel?” The soft cadence of her voice roused me from my stupor, and I glanced over my shoulder.

  “Good morning, Sparrow,” I told her, summoning a smile far more easily now that I could drink in the sight of her. She’d showered, or Vaughn had woken her up with sex again. I didn’t think he’d left her bed for longer than to go to work since she’d come home the other night.

  At least, the night before, he’d taken her to his room. It was one thing to accept they were screwing. It was another to have to listen, and I’d rather learn the details of her moans when I made her do it. My blood seemed to flow south at the very idea.

  Yanking my mind away from that track, I said, “Would you like some coffee? Not sure what we have for breakfast. No one has done a supply run. I’ll take care of that today. I can send one of the rats out for something though.”

  “Toast is fine,” she said, padding into the room. The gear she wore suggested she was heading into the dance studio Jasper had insisted on building for her. At the time, I’d objected because I didn’t want her staying here any longer than necessary. Now, I suspected we needed to make some other alterations. We’d already taken to locking the clubhouse, and there would be new cameras installed.

  The rats weren’t allowed in after a certain time, and definitely not when she was here. She didn’t wait for me to respond before she pulled out the pitiful plastic bag with just the heels of the bread inside it. No complaint came from her though as she dropped them into the toaster.

  I pulled out a second mug and set it next to my own. We worked in an almost companionable silence. Coffee poured, I moved it to the table, where I’d already set the newspaper. She joined me and smiled at the coffee, then offered me one of the pieces of toast.

  “I can eat on my way out later,” I told her. “If you’re hitting your studio, you’re going to need the calories.”

  “I’ll be fine, it’s better to dance without too much in my stomach.” She lifted her mug carefully with two hands and took a sip. It was scalding hot, the way I liked it. I took a deeper drink, enjoying the burn.

  “Why?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Why did you come back?”

  That wasn’t where I’d been going, but after what she said the other night? It was about time one of us did. If Vaughn discussed any of this with her, he’d been mute on the subject.

  A slow, long sigh escaped her, and no eighteen-year-old should ever sound that burdened. Ever. More, the way her gaze turned inward and the darkness in her eyes? It was that right there that had captured me from the first night I introduced myself as her driver. I couldn’t peg what went through her mind when that expression hit.

  Was it loss? Sadness? I wasn’t sure. I just needed to fix it. To fix it, I had to know what caused it.

  “Because I was so focused on getting away, I didn’t think about what I was running away to get to.” She picked at the crust on the toast. I wasn’t entirely sure if she was aware of what she was doing. “I…I didn’t have my wallet or my phone or any money. I didn’t have a plan. Get away. Then what? I suppose that seems stupid, huh?”

  “Foolish, maybe,” I said after a moment. “Not sure I’d call it stupid. When a person is desperate, they make the choices they can with what they know. Was it so bad here? With us?”

  “You know it wasn’t.” She made a face. “But I still don’t know why you guys kidnapped me or why you all seemed to know me or why… I don’t know. I guess I don’t know that why or what comes next. I
t comes down to trusting all of you. That’s hard…with some more than others.”

  Fair. “Will you tell me what happened after you left?”

  She gave me a long considering look, and I tried to keep my expression as open as possible.

  “Sparrow, I’m not mad. I just need to understand.” None of which was a lie. I did need to understand. If all of us were going to survive the changes she’d already wrought, much less what her presence could continue to cause, then yes, I needed to understand all of it. Her monsters. Ours.

  What needed eliminating first.

  “I walked. I just picked a direction and started walking. I really wasn’t sure where we were, and to be honest, I didn’t even remember the name of the city.” Her grimace was almost adorable, and the element of embarrassment in it made me want to reach over and comfort her.

  Instead, I kept my fucking hands to myself and took another sip of coffee. Emersyn rolled her lower lip between her teeth. She’d finished pulling the edges off the first piece of toast and went to work on the second. None of that was eating, but I let it go. Not like she could remove the whole crust on a heel of bread.

  “It was cold and I was tired and I was trying to figure out what to do. Like I said, you had my wallet, my ID, my phone… Someone…offered me a ride, so I took it.”

  “Excuse me?” The words come out a snap. A quiet snap, but still a snap, and I studied her, looking for any clues in the nuance of her behavior as I lowered my coffee mug.

  “Someone safe.”

  “A stranger is not safe.” Then it hit me. It wasn’t a stranger. “Doc.”

  Her startled blink confirmed my guess, and I tucked that information away to take out later and examine.

  “Okay,” I said on an exhale. “Doc picked you up. Which is better than a stranger. What next?” I rather doubted Doc brought her straight back here.

  “I fumbled for somewhere to go, and finally, we headed to the hotel that I’d stayed at. Yes, I know you took my stuff, but they would’ve recognized me. If nothing else, I might’ve been able to trade on my name until I could access some ID that would let me get into one of my accounts.”