Amalia…

I woke slowly to the sound of masculine voices and lay still for a minute, just listening, trying to decide on who was here. I heard Kyle’s voice, the low, steady cadence a comforting thing. He was still here, and comfortable with whoever he was talking to, so there was no danger… not yet.

One of the cardinal rules of living on the run was that you were never safe. You could never take the illusion of safety for granted, either. The minute you did, shit would go sideways and you would find yourself running again at a severe disadvantage and when you weren’t seven steps ahead of the hunter, that’s how you became very dead prey.

The low, gravelly tone that responded to Kyle mismatched the dude that it came out of. I mean, the big guy couldn’t have been more than forty on the outside and yet he sounded like a regular grandpa. It bespoke way too many cigarettes in too short a time. I knew a couple of other guys like that. Some people, it damaged the voice after a couple of months sucking down a pack a day or more. Made you sound two to three times your actual age. By the time this dude was seventy, if he even made it that far, he might not have any kind of voice at all.

The smell hit me like two seconds after that gravelly smoker’s voice spoke, and my stomach clenched and was like, yes! Feed me bitch! I pushed myself up and stretched and Trigger said, “Whoa, hey, sorry! Uh…”

“Would you look at that?” I mused aloud, “I make the big biker blush.” I swatted aside the mosquito netting and hopped out of bed. Kyle was struggling not to laugh. I’d never been body-shy in my life, and I didn’t particularly care for modesty on a physical front. I kind of viewed my skin the same way I viewed clothes. Just something to wear to hold your soul. You know what I mean?

Still, it was totally worth it to watch the big guy curse, twisting this way and that in the big, pretty much empty building, looking for something to duck behind to give me privacy. I was going to go straight for the bath, but the chance to get a little lighthearted revenge for my discomfort last night made me divert passing the desk full of computer equipment in the center of the large space in favor of going to it.

Kyle leaned back in his desk chair and I leaned a hip against it, draping my arm across his shoulders. He was sitting in just jeans and boots, shirtless save for his motorcycle vest over his bare chest. The look suited him, my pussy giving a bit of an aching throb at the sight that I couldn’t honestly tell if it was in excitement or protest. It’d been a while, and we’d gone at it more than a few times last night. I was sore enough that I couldn’t quite classify it as the good kind anymore, but I wanted to anyway. I also couldn’t deny the deep sense of soothing satisfaction it gave me when his hand went to my waist, around my body, his arm against my ass and the tops of my thighs.

“Grab a bath and get dressed, baby. Rest of the guys will be here soon.” He smacked me on the ass and laughed.

“Oh, you’re going to pay for that one,” I remarked and he smiled and winked at me.

“I don’t doubt it, but all the same…”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” I waved over my shoulder and started up the water carefully. He’d drained the horse trough last night and this morning I went to my knees in it and didn’t even wait for it to fill. I used the pitcher hanging over the side from an ‘s’ shaped hook to dump over my hair and made quick work of it and the rest of me with the stolen hotel shampoos and conditioners and a sliver of a bar of soap.

I didn’t much care for the cheap shit; my skin felt tight and dry with a layer of soap scum on it, but it was better than sweat, the leavings of our sexcapades, and the barely-rinsed road grime of the day before. I got up, wringing out my hair, and shutting off the tap just as Reaver and Dray walked through the door.

“Shit, put some fuckin’ clothes on,” Dray grated and averted his eyes. I rolled mine while Reaver stared openly, grinning like a happy dog who’d just spotted his favorite tennis ball.

“Eh, I give you a solid seven, but my Doll is a ten in my book.”

“Fuck you,” I said, “I’m at least an eight.”

“Nine,” Kyle called, “be a solid ten if you had more of an ass.” He wasn’t looking at me, though. He was clicking through screens in front of him and I smiled to myself, drying off and wrapping one of the large towels around me. Just another reason I loved him. He didn’t bullshit me, and yet, even when he was saying something that might have been taken as a dis or derogatory, he still had a way of being fresh, honest, and complimentary. He knew I hated how skinny I was as a teen and that my biggest pet peeve back then had been my decided lack of a chest. That hadn’t changed too much. I went from a late blooming solid A cup to no more than an overflowing B… but he liked my tits. That gave me the warm fuzzies, right there.

I went back across the place and pulled on clean panties and some black yoga pants. The door opened up and admitted more men, these ones I didn’t know, just as I pulled a loose dark gray tank top with some pithy saying in shiny silver on its front over my head. I fished through my bag for a comb, pulled the netting against the four bed posts and secured it, before dropping onto the bed and curling my legs across each other to start working on the snarl of my hair.

I picked through endless knots in the dyed ends. Three guys had come in, one with long brown hair, one with short dark hair, and one with hair the color of dirty straw. All three were imposing in their own way. The first and third were both built like a brick shithouse, the second was wiry whipcord over bone in a way that still managed to be imposing. They eyed me just as much as I eyed them, each of us taking the other’s measure.

“Archer, Rush, and Nox, meet Amalia. Mali, this is Archer, his brother Rush and that’s Rush’s twin, Nox,” Trigger made the introductions, Kyle was lost in his mass of computer screens and networks.

“Hi,” I said and looked them over one at a time.

“Don’t look like much, does she?” Rush asked.

“Guess we’ll be fast friends, then,” I said sarcastically. “Right back at you.” Archer and Nox laughed, and I smiled. “And she is sitting right here, so don’t fuckin’ talk about me like I’m not,” I added.

“You were right, Reave,” Nox said and turned back to me, “You’re a firecracker.”

“More like a mortar, you haven’t seen the whole show, yet,” Reaver chimed in finally.

“Was that a compliment?” I asked. “Or are you being a dick?”

He grinned from ear to ear and I raised my eyebrows and turned down the corners of my mouth in an attempt to look impressed as I was saying, “About time you got with the fucking program… speaking of…” I turned to Kyle and sighed, “What is the program?”

“Save it,” Dray ordered. “No sense in having to repeat yourself, we’re not all here.”

“Fair enough,” I conceded, even though it pissed me off slightly to do it. I didn’t like being cut off like that, and I sure as fuck didn’t take orders, but it wasn’t worth putting up a racket right now. Playing nice was the rule of the day, even if it did suck monkey balls.

The rest of the guys finally ended up getting here, starting with Dragon and Ghost with some New Zealand tribal motherfucker named Zeb, traditional tribal face tattoos that I could seriously appreciate and all. Additionally, there was a guy named Blue, but with how nervous he looked about being here instead of wherever he’d come from, I immediately labeled him ‘Little Boy Blue’ in my head as well as a liability.

The final man in Dragon’s retinue was a rough-looking sort with a blue denim motorcycle cut instead of black leather. I wondered if that was a preference thing but didn’t ask. He had long, shoulder-length brown hair shot through with gray and a beard getting on the long side that was much the same. His blue eyes sparkled and he had an air of crazy around him but it was crazier like a fox if that made sense. He was introduced as Lucky and I didn’t think it had anything to do with a rabbit’s foot.

Finally an older guy, bald, with a handlebar mustache came in with Revelator. A tall, skinny young guy, covered neck to fingertips in wild ink walking through the door behind them. Everyone was introduced as I wound my hair into a tight knot at the base of my skull and waited to see who would be coming next.

“Looks like we’re all here,” Dragon declared as a last and final bike had just shut off outside.

“Fuck you, man!” A ginger guy, sweeping a hand through his hair which was getting long on top said, coming through the door.

“Well, then hurry your fuckin’ ass up, Thirteen,” Dray commanded.

Ginger Thirteen grinned savagely and let fly two one-fingered salutes in Dray’s direction and it was out of my mouth before I could stop it, “Can’t argue with you there.”

The guys all laughed and I took a deep breath letting it out slowly. I was definitely out classed, outmatched, and for once in my fucking life, should probably watch my mouth.

“Go ahead, Data… let us know what you’ve found.”

Trigger pushed off the edge of Kyle’s setup and walked over, shoving a Styrofoam clamshell of food at me with a plastic fork with a wink and I gave him a wry smile. Good man, definitely not a dick. If I were shoving food in my face I couldn’t talk and I was fucking starving.

I opened the lid to soggy French toast soaked in syrup and several sausage patties, likewise drowned in same and didn’t bitch. It was food and last night’s dinner was a long time ago. He leaned his jeans-clad ass, which was framed really nicely in black leather chaps, against the footboard of the bed, back to me, and all eyes were on Kyle as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“I got nothin’,“ he said, and without missing a beat added, “and I hate to say it, I really do, but it’s not like Mali is in the ‘know’ and she ghosted off the grid so efficiently…”

I swallowed the bite of food in my mouth and swear it went down sideways, sticking in my throat that was suddenly tight.

“You were good at this computer shit even back then,” I said honestly. “I didn’t need you finding me. I couldn’t stand the thought of you, of all people, becoming yet more collateral damage in whatever my dad got us involved in.”

“I know, babe, but it’s made it a royal pain in the fucking ass to figure out who or what is behind all of this.” I sighed and straightened up, doing a second’s worth of battle with the food that was suddenly trying to fight back on me.

“Forget what we don’t know,” Dragon said and rubbed a giant paw over his beard. “What have we got?”

“Well, what we have got is one grade-a fucking shining beacon,” he said holding up my laptop. “Only problem is, that will bring them here.”

“Yeah, but if it’s organized crime like you suspect…” Trigger said and I cut him off.

“It is. I don’t know who, there are a lot of flavors to choose from, but these guys are tactical ready. They showed up at my brownstone with fucking tear gas and shit. Followed us in a black SUV… White guys, but beyond that, I don’t know. My dad was great at keeping me out of it right until I shot one of them to protect him.”

“Well, shit. There you have it right there,” Dragon said.

“What?” Kyle asked, frowning.

“Only way someone like her gets hunted to the ends of the earth, even seventeen years after the fact is if she killed someone important.” Looked like Revelator had some brains to go with that brawn.

“Yeah, I thought of that,” Kyle said unhappily. “I have algorithms running through old news reports looking for any crime-related anything… but do you know how long that could take? This is the criminal underworld we’re talking about here, and while I can go hacking into the NSA, FBI, and whatever other alphabet law enforcement soup you want to come up with, it’s really inadvisable unless I have something specific to go diving their web servers for, you know?”

“You got anything for us, girly? Anything at all?” Archer asked and I felt my shoulders drop as I searched through all my memories begging and pleading with it to just come up with that one thing that would make everything fall into place and any one of these guys go ‘ah-ha.’

I let out an explosive breath and said, “I got nothin’. I legitimately have no fucking idea what my dad was into and I was honestly just a kid. Even when he was drunk, that made him even more of a closed-mouthed bastard with a side of violent. He didn’t get to talking about anything more. He was gypsy, even if he was outcast, and fuck… our lineage knows how to keep a secret.”

“Not helpful,” Reaver said with a pout.

“Thank you, Captain fucking Obvious,” I rolled my eyes and shoved the forgotten food aside. I suddenly wasn’t all that hungry anymore, my stomach churning with nerves.

I mean, it was pretty obvious these guys weren’t terribly interested in getting involved and I totally got why. Most of them, according to Kyle, had just found their true loves in life. Most of them also had children, some of those children only months old. All of them had recently lost one of their brothers to a nasty accident, and he’d told me the story of Little Boy Blue and his woman, Hayley and their son that was on the way who might not even be genetically his, but possibly the only remaining, living, breathing, relic of his partner and best friend. I guess they’d been working on being some kind of triumvirate before he’d died so unexpectedly.

I sighed, I didn’t want to be the cause of such a great strife with these people. I was falling, spiraling down, I knew the feeling and I was so frustrated… By making love to Kyle last night, had I made a right choice? I mean, I knew it’d been a good choice, but had it been the right choice? There was sometimes a difference.

I scrubbed my face with my hands, frustrated. I’d worked so hard and been so alone these last few years to protect the other people around me, and now I was here among all of these people Kyle clearly cared about with a stigma attached to me like no other. I was a regular Typhoid Mary in their midst and I could destroy so many lives simply by being here…

Panic spun my thoughts around and they started to fall from their neat, orderly shelves, jumbling one on top of the other. I was going to get someone hurt, someone killed and I really didn’t want to do that. I really didn’t want to destroy the life that Kyle had built for himself. I looked around and saw clearly that these fools were the family that Kyle no longer had in his parents. Did I really want to be the destruction of that? He would hate me forever and worse… he could die and knowing my luck? I would live. And if I didn’t die, and he didn’t die, but one of these men did? One of their family did? Fuck, the implications were horrible. The mercy would be that they would kill me. Quickly would be nice but men like these? Like Reaver, over there? Quickly was so not their style… Worse yet, Kyle could possibly resent me forever and there were some things that were indeed a fate worse than death. That one certainly topped the list.

“Mali… Mali, look at me.” I shuddered hard and looked over to Kyle who was staring at me intently.

“What?” I demanded and it came out harsher than I intended. It always did when I was scared, but Kyle saw right through me. He always did.

“It’s going to be fine, sugar. This ain’t any of us our first rodeo…” Dragon said and I shook my head letting out an explosive breath. I got down from where I sat and paced, stalking back and forth.

“Even if that’s the case,” I said bitterly, “The stakes have never been higher for all of you, any of you, have they?”

“Hmm, that’s the God-given truth,” Trigger agreed.

“That’s what makes it more fun,” Reaver said grinning and it was a grin that was echoed on a few faces, Thirteen’s and Revelator’s among them.

“Seriously not the time to get cocky,” I derided. “These people mean business… seventeen years, one post on the internet and they were there inside twenty-four hours loaded for bear. What does that tell you?”

“Tells me neutral location with plenty of high ground,” Ghost said and exchanged a look with Trigger who nodded.

“Controlled explosions,” Thirteen said, and someone laughed.

“That leaves me out, you’d need Duracell for the controlled part.” I looked over to Lucky who was grinning but shaking his head a bit ruefully. That wasn’t disconcerting at all, the guy named Lucky playing with explosives that weren’t controlled.

“Eh, I’m sure your homemade brand of firepower has its uses; I bet I could help tweak them so they’d color inside the lines,” Thirteen, said.

“Where, though?” Lucky said.

“The lodge?” Archer asked.

“Too far and it's tourist season through there,” Dray said. “Plus, we really try not to shit where we eat.”

“Got my fishing cabin, but there are neighbors up that way,” Thirteen mused.

“Here?” I asked.

“Could make it defensible and it’s pretty much off the grid,” Dragon said.

“I could be bait. I’d like my gun back, though...” I said.

“Won’t need you for bait, baby,” Kyle said, and he sounded disapproving.

“Well, you sure as fuck aren’t going to be here for the big show and not have me here. Fuck that!”

“Uh oh, trouble in paradise,” Revelator mocked, and Kyle and I turned at the same time.

“Shut up!”

“Stay out of this please, Rev…” we both barked in unison. I’ll give you one guess as to who was nicer.

“Look,” I said, “I am a big fucking problem for y’all, and I would really like to be part of the solution. So if you don’t mind, this self-saving princess would really like to be a part of the action up to find out who the fuck I killed and why he’s so goddamned important. It’s not like that hasn’t been haunting me for the last seventeen years.”

“All right, all right, calm your tits…” Dray said pushing his hand down at me in front of him twice, the classic sign to slow down and pump the brakes.

“She has a point, son.” Dragon sighed and met my eyes, the dark, burning coal to his gaze considerably cooled. “Much as I hate to say it, they come lookin’ they’re apt to scout this place and they’re gonna want to see she’s here…”

“Great,” Kyle muttered and hung his head sharply. He pulled on the back of his neck and I drifted to him, digging my thumbs into his shoulders at the base of his neck, doing my best to smooth out the tension there.

“We need to come up with some kind of a plan, figure out who is gonna be involved, who is going to look after things back at the proverbial ranch… Shit.” Archer hung his head and I felt my breath still in my lungs, my chest tighten up.

“Mali, it’s fine, they’re going to help, ease up.” I startled and let go of Kyle and he turned in his desk chair and pulled me down into his lap to make eye contact with me.

“Trust me…” he said and I nodded because whenever had I not? He was my compass, and he’d absolutely never steered me wrong.

“Right… I think we can all make an exception on a kind of she’s here and we’re stuck with her for now?” Dragon winked and I frowned at him. The rest of the guys grumbled their assent. He nodded and said, “Okay, we’ll put it to a vote.”