Raising Riker
Coming in Late Summer 2018
Chapter 1
“Hey, brother, isn’t that your woman?” Riker Devlin nodded to the coffee bar across the street where two women carrying shopping bags were about to enter the shop.
“Yeah, it is.” Hallelujah Thomas grinned and automatically looked down at the thick band on the fourth finger of his left hand.
“You realize you look at that damn thing about a thousand times a day, brother?” Riker shook his head. Hal had been married about three weeks now, and in Riker’s mind that was a damn lifetime.
“Yeah and what?” Hal scowled at him.
Riker shrugged. “And nothing. I just… ya know…it’s been a couple of weeks now, brother…”
“And?”
“I don’t know man…just seems…”
“Spit it the fuck out, Riker. Seems what?” Hal growled.
“No disrespect intended, man.” Riker hedged. “Just forget I said anything.”
Hal crossed his big arms against his chest and waited.
Riker sighed. “It seems like you know…one woman?
Hal hesitated a minute then bellowed out loud enough for the people passing by on the sidewalk to turn and stare. “You asking me if I’m bored?”
While Riker looked on, Hal burst out with a knee-slapping, belly laugh for a good couple of minutes.
Riker let Hal have his fun for a few more seconds then snarled out. “You laughing at me?”
Hal wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I’m sorry, man. It’s just that the last thing I ever am, or ever expect to be, is bored. Damn, just watching the expressions change on my woman’s face every five seconds keeps me entertained for hours. And this Haiti trip that Valentina is hell-bent on seeing through? My guess is that it’s gonna be a lot of things, but boring ain’t gonna be one of them.”
“Yeah, guess you got that right, brother.” Riker couldn’t help but grin. “I got three sisters and two brothers. All married with a couple of kids. My mom was married to my dad for forty years before he passed. But honestly, man, I just don’t get it.”
“Could be you just haven’t met the right woman yet.”
Now it was Riker’s turn to laugh. “Shit, brother. You sound like my mother.” Then he clapped Hal on the shoulder. “What’d ya say we go buy that fascinating woman of yours a cup of coffee? My guess is there ain’t a whole lot of espresso bars in wherever the hell it is you’re going.”
*******
Riker homed in on Gia the minute he entered the shop. It was as if a giant magnet pulled him toward her. She had a cup of coffee in her hand and her head was turned so that he could see the curve of her cheek and the graceful slope of her shoulders. She was wearing a light blue, thin strapped cotton shirt and white shorts. Her thick, dark hair was pulled off her face in a loose bun. A pair of sunglasses sat perched on the top of Gia’s head, and with her free hand, she twirled a piece of silken hair through her fingers. God, she was pretty. Especially when she laughed like she was doing now.
Riker thought about their one night together often and with a measure of regret—an unusual feeling for him. Gia had been all for the fast and the furious, and it made him wonder how long it had been since she had had a man. Not that Riker hadn’t enjoyed it, but he could have done better and he had planned to. But then Valentina Abruzzi lost her shit and that was the end of that. Although Gia and Riker had engaged in some hot sexting after that night, even that had been short-lived. Gia and Valentina’s abduction put an end to that—another reason to hate that asshole, Rooster. Aside from the cowardly act of kidnapping two women and putting them through that kind of damn terror, Riker had no doubt that the whole experience had changed the way Gia looked at things—at him.
He figured it might be because Rooster was a member of Prosper’s club—Riker’s club— but he wasn’t sure. There was no way to tell or even figure out a way to ask her about it. Gia had pretty much cut Riker off and that bothered him more than it should. She had a unique way of looking at life, and a quick wit, which made him laugh out loud, and he had looked forward to her messages. But since the rescue, he had tried contacting her a couple of times, and all she had given him were one-word answers. Then she stopped answering him all together. The last time Riker had seen Gia was at Sal Tettorio’s funeral, and she had been surrounded by Gianni’s boys. That had made it pretty much impossible to get to her. But even from a distance, the sight of Gia had hit Riker hard in the chest—it was a feeling that he didn’t understand or like too much.
As if pulled by an invisible string, Gia turned to face Riker as he and Hal approached the table.
“Hey, wife.” Hal bent down and kissed Valentina on the mouth.
“Hey, husband.” Valentina sighed against his lips.
Gia looked at Riker and rolled her eyes in a way that made him grin. But when Riker tried to hold her eyes with his, he saw something flash across Gia’s face before her expression went carefully blank.
***
When Gia Bonzini looked at Riker Devlin now, it was through a different lens.
But then again, she looked at everything differently since the kidnapping—nothing screamed re-examine your life like having a gun pointed between your eyes. Besides, their night together hadn’t exactly been earth-shattering, and being with Riker had definitely not lived up to Gia’s expectations.
Granted, she had been more than a little ready and willing. It had been a while since she had done the deed, and she had been anxious to move things along, but Riker’s performance that night had been pretty much ho-hum — it had given Wham Bam Thank-you Ma’am a whole new meaning.
After that night Gia and Riker had entertained themselves with some hot sexting, but he had never asked to see her again—not that she had really expected it. Then the whole kidnapping thing happened, and she hadn’t really felt herself since.
Besides, for Gia, the attention and singular focus she received at the beginning of a relationship was always more of a turn-on for her than what followed. Once the thrill of the newness and chase was gone—which never took long—Gia went on to the next shiny penny. Even as a child, she had craved attention and affection to a sometimes self-destructive and dangerous degree.
Thank goodness, she had had Valentina as a voice of reason. But the very scary recent kidnapping had put things into perspective for Gia like nothing else in her life had up to this point. Maybe all that therapy had finally paid off, because when Gia looked at Riker now, she saw him for what he was.
Trouble.
Chapter 2
“I’m going to miss you a lot.” Gia moaned from where she was sprawled out on the bed watching Valentina rifle through the draws of the dresser.
“You can always come with,” Valentina said with hope. Though there had been times over the recent years that the cousins had been separated by distance, it was never easy for them to be apart. Now, they were back in Valentina’s former bedroom in the Abruzzi mansion, and to Gia’s immense sorrow, Valentina was packing for her trip to Haiti. Valentina stood on a chair and pulled down the oversized suitcase from the top shelf of the walk-in closet.
“Now, that’s just mean. You know I’m not as nice of a person as you are. The whole ‘giving of myself for the better good’ is soooo not my thing. Especially if it involves anything to do with work— and building a school and an orphanage is definitely going to be a lot of work.” Gia sighed.
“That reminds me, can you go grab those Doc Martens I let you borrow a few months ago? I think I might need some kind of substantial footwear if I’m going to be spending a lot of time on a construction site.” Valentina chewed her bottom lip.
“Substantial footwear it is!” Gia bounced off the bed and scurried out to find the borrowed work boots. She was back in a flash.
“Do you have any idea how long you’ll be gone?” Gia asked as she stuffed the boots in the big plastic bag that Valentina had laid out.
Valentina shook her head. “No. I don’t. But Hal told me that there’s a club member who’s really good with blueprints and design. Hal said that this guy…I don’t remember what his name is... built a beautiful house somewhere in a place called Havengate. He offered to come down to Port-au-Prince for a couple of weeks and help Hal oversee the construction, so that might speed things along. He’s married and has a couple of little boys. His wife’s name is Melissa. I’ve talked to her on the phone a few times. She’s really nice.”
“So, that’s good. At least you’ll have a friend there for part of the time,” Gia said. “It’s cool that the club’s okay with Hal leaving for a while. I’m surprised though. Doesn’t he have like responsibilities and stuff?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Valentina nodded. “But the Saints are also involved in a bunch of charitable events. Runs, raffles, and fundraisers are all part of what they do to keep the arrangements they have made with the politicians and the judges in the area. You know how that goes…La Familia does the same thing. I hate to think of it like that, because that is not and has never been what this building project is about. Although, I can’t deny that Hal going off to donate his time and money on this kind of project satisfies at least part of that obligation.”
“His time. Your money.” Gia huffed.
“Nope. Our time. Our money. Hal’s matching what I donated,” Valentina said with pride. “And the club is throwing in as well. So, all that put together with what Father Mike has been able to raise, we’ll able to do a lot. You sure you don’t want to come down and lend a hand? I’d love to have you with me.”
“No thanks. I have to stick around here and figure out what I’m gonna do with the rest of my life.” Gia sighed as she helped Valentina fold the clothes that were piled on the bed. Since her wedding a couple of weeks ago, Valentina had been caught in a whirlwind of activity. She hadn’t had much time to make the transition from her father’s house to the lake house. That was just as well because it would have been a pointless move. Hal, Valentina, and Father Mike were leaving for the Caribbean tomorrow, and they had no idea how long they would be gone.
Valentina cocked a hand on her hip and surveyed the contents of the suitcase. “I think I have all the clothes I need, and if I don’t I’ll just have to improvise.”
“How about toiletries? Shampoo and stuff?” Gia asked.
“Yup, I have that stuff all set.” Valentina nodded as she went down the list on the sheet of paper she had in front of her. “Ugh.”
“What’d you forget?” Gia asked her.
“Tampons. I forgot to get tampons.” Valentina frowned. Then she looked at the clock. “Drugstore is closed by now, but I think that market on the corner of West and Second Street should still be open. Want to take a ride?”
“No need. I have a huge assortment pack that I brought to Italy with me. Never even opened them.”
Gia scurried off the bed and out the bedroom door while Valentina just looked towards the open door with her mouth open and waited for it. Her cousin was about halfway down the hallway when it came.
“OH MY GOD!” she shrieked out, then she was standing pale and wide eyed in the doorway. Valentina watched on in horror as Gia’s throat worked convulsively as she tried to speak.
Then she covered her face with her hands. “Valentina, since the night of the wedding reception, how many times have you had …?
“Twice, Gia. I’ve had it twice,” Valentina whispered.
“Oh,” Gia said weakly then sat down hard on the edge of the bed. She felt the blood drain from her face. As Gia held her throbbing head in her hands, she shook like a cornered kitten.
“So…there was a guy in Italy?” Valentina crossed her fingers and prayed.
Gia shook her head. “No guy in Italy.”
Valentina bit her lip and asked hopefully, “So, the guy on the plane? That NFL player going to Rome for an endorsement photo shoot? You two crazy kids joined the mile-high club?”
“No mile-high club.” Gia moaned.
“Well then, let’s look at the calendar together. You know I could be wrong about dates.” Valentina pulled out her phone.
Gia closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m tired all the time, and for the last couple of weeks I haven’t been able to hold anything down in the morning.”
“This all could be stress, Gia.” Valentina put her arm around her cousin’s shoulder. “You have a sensitive stomach anyway, and we’ve been through a pretty harrowing time.
“Yeah. That’s what I’ve been thinking too. And stress can mess with your cycle…but…”
“But what?”
“That night at the clubhouse, we sort of got carried away.” Gia looked down at her feet.
“By we you mean...?”
“You know who I mean.”
By carried away you mean…?
“You know that too.” Gia sighed in misery. She felt as though she was going to vomit and could actually feel the acid bile as it rose from her stomach and flooded her mouth. She swallowed down her despair. Gia looked at Valentina with eyes that stung with unshed tears.
“So what you’re telling me is if there is a baby then...?” Valentina’s shoulders slumped in commiseration and defeat. She tried, but she couldn’t make herself say those next fatal words.
Tears burnt their way down Gia’s cheeks, and a sob was caught in her throat. “Yup. If there is a baby, then he’ll come out with black hair, dark eyes, and wearing a little leather vest with the Hells Saints MC emblem sewn onto it.”
Then Gia began to cry.