Chapter 13

Of course I’m an organ donor. Who wouldn’t want a piece of this?

-Raven’s secret thoughts

Raven

“Why are we watching the baseball game when soccer is on?” Xavier asked.

“Because I want to watch the baseball game, and it’s my fuckin’ TV,” I told the annoying kid. “Why don’t you go watch your precious soccer on the TV in the room I gave you?”

Xavier grinned.

“I like baseball, too.”

Wolf held his hand out for the computer, and Xavier grimaced before giving it to Wolf.

I wanted to laugh.

The two men were very alike, and the fact that they’d just met less than three days ago was telling.

“Nathan,” Wolf called. “Your grandma will be here in less than twenty minutes. Are you ready to go?”

Nathan started stomping down the hallway, and I looked up and watched as he made his way toward us dragging his R2D2 rolling bag down the hallway in his wake.

“Dad,” Nathan growled. “I can’t find Chewy.”

I got up and immediately walked to the last place I’d seen his Chewbacca figurine, and immediately cried out in excitement. “Found it!”

Nathan came clomping in with his two-sizes-too-big boots that he just had to have and held his hands out for the tiny figure.

“Where’d you find it, Rave?” Nathan asked, throwing himself at my thighs.

I rocked back on my heels, thankful as hell I had the table at my back.

“On the hutch next to the cars you lined up. And I’m glad Marky Mark didn’t find it first,” I pointed to the make-shift garage he’d been using as his Hot Wheels’ storage facility.

Nathan followed my hand and nodded.

“Those better be there when I get back,” he said, pointing at me for good measure.

I held my hand up in a ‘I promise’ gesture and tried not to break out in a smile.

“Good woman,” Nathan said, sounding like he was Wolf’s age of thirty-five rather than his actual age of five.

“Dad!” Nathan cried as he walked out of the room, shoving Chewy into his pocket as he went. “Make sure you don’t let any girls play with my cars!”

I nearly laughed my butt off, but managed to withhold it. Although, that was only because the doorbell rang, detouring my path to the front door instead of standing at Nathan’s back listening to him tell his father about why girls shouldn’t be able to play with cars.

“Hi!” I said to the older woman. “You must be Nancy.”

The woman’s face, very pretty for an older woman, stared curiously at me for long moments before her face split into a grin.

“You look like a fairy princess,” the woman replied to my greeting.

“She’s an evil fairy princess,” Nathan muttered as he walked past us towards the stairs.

Wolf caught up with him before he could even make it to the steps and scooped him up into his arms, tossing him over his shoulders.

“Daaaddddy!” Nathan squealed. “I’m going to barf!”

Wolf ignored him and continued to swing them in circles.

I was dizzy just watching them.

A chuckle had me bringing my gaze back to Nancy.

She was watching me watch Nathan and Wolf.

Her eyes filled with something I couldn’t quite decipher.

I turned away from the scene outside and continued to get to know Nancy. “I made him eat his vegetables,” I explained. “He didn’t want to eat the asparagus, but I told him if he didn’t eat it, he couldn’t have any of the chocolate cake I made.”

Nancy grinned.

“My granddaughter and Nathan get the same treatment at my home,” she smiled. “Although Nathan’s a lot more receptive to vegetables than Iona is.”

I leaned against the door frame. “How old is Iona?”

“Twenty-four.” Nancy continued on describing her obviously loved granddaughter.

I started to chuckle. “No,” I agreed. “I don’t think she would be very accepting of her grandmother telling her how to eat at twenty-four.”

Nancy grinned. “My house, my rules.”

We continued to visit until Wolf came up behind us. “Doesn’t Iona pay for groceries, utilities and the car insurance?” Wolf asked, scaring us both.

Nathan was asleep against his shoulder, and yet again I was surprised by the fact.

I’d realized over the last weekend that Nathan could sleep still anywhere and everywhere.

Not much had changed on that front in the months since I’d first met him.

“I still own the house,” Nancy said somewhat defensively. “She’s more than welcome to leave.”

I looked to Wolf and immediately had to cover up a choking laugh as I saw him roll his eyes so far heavenward.

“You know Iona will never leave you,” Wolf grinned. “But let’s go. If I hurry, I can get dressed in some different clothes before I leave for work.”

I looked over to Wolf.

He was dirty.

How had he gotten so freakin’ dirty?

Wolf caught me studying him and immediately became enthralled in the conversation he was having with Nancy.

I could tell something was wrong, though, especially with the way his eyes seem to light with an inner fire. Or possibly the way he scanned the nearly deserted neighborhood.

The only person doing anything on the entire block was a woman four houses down smoking a cigarette and speaking to someone on her cell phone while she pushed a lawnmower around almost as an afterthought.

“Let’s go, Nancy,” Wolf ordered, holding his arm out like the gentleman he was.

I backed into the doorway and stared at the dark night waiting for Wolf to come back.

It didn’t take him long.

Maybe four minutes tops.

However, the moment he came back around the bend of the house, I knew something was really wrong.

“Wolf,” I said, moving forward.

“Inside,” he snapped.

My brows rose, but I backed up and moved until he could get inside, which he did moments later.

He slammed the door shut and turned to survey the room.

“Xavier,” Wolf called.

Xavier’s head, which had been resting on the couch, jerked sideways.

“What?” he asked, standing up slightly.

“Pull up the video feed for the house,” Wolf ordered, threading the chain through the holder before backing away and heading toward the living room where Xavier was seated.

“What angle do you want?” Xavier asked.

“Back porch near the driveway,” Wolf said in anger.

I watched in fascination as the cameras pulled up on Xavier’s small computer screen and then started to replay the last ten minutes.

“Holy shit!” I cried, leaning forward over Xavier’s shoulder. “What the fuck was that?”

“That,” Wolf said, crossing his arms over his chest, “was someone trying to kill me.”

“Where is the body now?” I whispered worriedly as he dragged the man to where the trashcans were in a small enclosure on the side of Wolf’s house.

The moment he passed behind the trashcans, we lost the angle, only for it to appear five seconds later, from a completely new angle.

“Chained up on the water faucet,” he replied, taking his phone out of his pocket.

“That his foot?” I asked, pointing at the screen.

It was the only thing I could see poking out of the portioned off area.

“Yep,” Wolf confirmed, then held up a finger for me to hold on and not speak. “Ridley. Got a trespasser. Tried to hurt my boy … Yes.”

My brows rose.

Had the man tried to hurt Nathan?

Now I could see why he’d be mad. Enraged even.

***

“Where are we going?” I asked Wolf for a tenth time, dipping a finger into the cast that was really starting to get on my damn nerves.

It itched like crazy. It never fucking stopped itching.

“Clubhouse,” he answered distractedly.

I sighed.

I’d gotten the same answer five times now, and I was getting quite annoyed by his one word answers.

“Why?” I pushed.

“Because Xavier needs to stay somewhere that we’re not. We’re fucking screwed if everyone gets taken out at the same time. No witnesses, nothing,” Wolf explained patiently.

I rolled my eyes.

“Dramatic much?” I teased.

Wolf’s eyes were serious when they turned to me.

“We’re all likely going to be giving testimonies on the stand that explains what we’ve all been going through the last month,” Wolf said. “How fucking convenient if he took all three of us out at the same damn time.”

I looked over at the sleeping Xavier. “I think Peek might kill him.”

Wolf snorted and shifted down into third, making me jump when he copped a feel.

“You’re doing it on purpose, aren’t you?” I asked him.

“He might want to,” Wolf said, ignoring my question. “But Alison won’t let him. They’ve never been able to have kids, and Alison does everything she can to live vicariously through the members of the club who have babies.”

“She’s the one who introduced me to Nathan,” I reminded him. “I know how much she wants babies.”

“Don’t mention that in front of Peek,” Wolf muttered as he took the final turn that would lead us to the clubhouse.

A strong bump had something solid in the truck bouncing, and then a low moan followed the thump.

“What was that?” I asked in confusion, looking behind us.

“Did you call your credit card company this morning?” Wolf asked, distracting me from the sound.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Card is now canceled. As well as my debit card, and all of my checks. The account is frozen, so they can’t access it anymore, and when I’m ready, I’ll start a new one.”

I’d found out earlier that morning that someone had charged nearly fifteen grand on my credit card.

When the bank noticed the charges, they deemed it suspicious and called to see if I had made the purchases.

I, of course, hadn’t been. So that started a series of telephone calls to everyone and their brother about canceling cards and closing out accounts.

Now the only thing left to my name that wasn’t frozen in my account was five hundred dollars that was burning a hole in my pocket.

Cash always had that effect on me.

If that same cash was in my bank account, it wouldn’t affect me at all.

The fact that it was sitting in my wallet made me think of going to the store and spending every single bit of it on three hundred bags of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

I never said my mind was logical.

He pulled up to stop at the same flat bottom boat that he’d used a few days ago, and I stared.

“The water’s gotten higher,” I muttered.

“Supposed to go up a few more feet before it crests,” Wolf agreed. “Fucking terrible, isn’t it?”

I nodded forlornly and got out, being sure to shake Xavier awake as I moved.

Xavier folded his lean body out of the seat and stood beside the truck, staring at the water in front of him.

“This is eerie as fuck,” he said, looking at the entire area much the same as I’d done a few days prior.

“It is,” I agreed. “We have to take that to the front steps.”

I pointed at the flat bottom, and Xavier actually grinned. “Never been on a boat before.”

I snorted and walked over to it, stepping inside and taking a seat as I waited for the men to gather bags and computers.

For a fifteen-year-old boy, Xavier sure was concerned about his appearance.

Was that normal for a kid his age?

I wouldn’t really know.

I hadn’t been around a lot of fifteen-year-old boys.

“Oh, my God!” Xavier said once we arrived inside the clubhouse five minutes later. “What is that smell?”

My stomach growled at the smell as well, and I followed my nose to find Alison in the kitchen with a wooden spoon in her hand.

“Lasagna?” I asked hopefully.

I loved lasagna. It was my favorite.

I could eat it seven days a week and twice on Sunday.

However, I valued the clothes that fit over my ass, so it wasn’t something I let myself cave on.

Alison turned and smiled.

“Yes,” her eyes went to Xavier. “You the boy that fucked with my bank account?”

Xavier’s eyes widened.

I grinned.

Wolf and I had been over Xavier’s role in all of this the first day he’d been at the house, and it hadn’t taken me long to forgive Xavier.

Xavier was fifteen-years-old, but he was a young fifteen. He was an introvert and looked like he rarely had any adult interaction of any kind. And if he did happen to get some adult interaction, it was with a couple of men—his father and a man who forced him to do illegal things—and they weren’t what I would call good role models.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Xavier replied, his eyes staying straight on Alison’s.

Impressed that he was able to hold the older woman’s eyes without flinching, I threw my arm over Xavier’s shoulder and stared at Alison.

“He’s already promised to set everything right, and he’s officially switched to the good side,” I told her, pulling Xavier down to my level so I could put my head against his.

Xavier took the manhandling like a pro and kept his head pressed to mine while Alison decided what to say or do next.

In the end, she surprised me and went back to cooking without another word.

“I’m going to have a word with Peek,” Wolf said. “Then we can go.”

I nodded my head and watched him leave, all the while keeping Xavier in a hunched over position.

“You can let him go now, dear,” Alison said without turning around.

“She has eyes in the back of her head,” I whispered to Xavier. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Alison chuckled.

“I heard that.”

“She has ears like a hawk, as well,” I told him. “One time, when I was staying here while I testified in the case against the men who hurt my friend, she caught me sneaking out of my protective custody. I felt like I was sixteen again.”

“Why were you sneaking out?” Xavier asked. “Everybody knows when you sneak out, you get caught.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I was a sheltered child. Sort of. More like uncared for. Nobody gave a shit if I snuck out; meaning, at the time, I didn’t realize anyone would give a shit that I was leaving,” I informed him haughtily.

Xavier smirked and I pushed him away with a hand on his forehead before walking to the bar and planting my ass on the barstool closest to Alison.

Wolf had gone down the hallway to his room or possibly the meeting room, church. Two other people shared that hallway with him, but I couldn’t tell you who. The only person that ever interested me in the entire situation was Wolf, and I could tell you just about anything you wanted to know about him.

His height, which was six foot three. His weight, which I happened to figure out only because I asked him a few days ago. His alma mater—LSU. His military occupation. You name it, I knew it.

Wolf had interested me for a long damn time, and I was on top of the fucking world.

My bank account was frozen. I had no health insurance. My dog was being passed around to friends and acquaintances. My car was taking up space in front of an apartment that I was no longer welcome in, and I was unemployed…sort of.

All of that didn’t matter, however, with Wolf in the picture.

Wolf had been my dream come true—the one thing I never thought I’d be able to have.

In fact, it still didn’t seem real.

Which might explain why I said what I said next.

“Xavier,” I said, turning my head to the boy that was still standing where I’d left him. “Would you mind going to find your room? It’s on the right hallway—first room on the right.”

Xavier nodded and bolted, not sparing even a ‘thank you’ or ‘okay’ before he was gone.

“Interesting kid,” Alison said as soon as he left the room. “What was that look you gave him before he left?”

I stared at Alison’s back, wondering how in the hell she’d seen the look when she’d been facing the pot at the stove.

Either the woman had exceptional ESP, or she could see out of the sides of her eyes better than the rest of the normal human population.

“I need to talk to you,” I hesitated. “I need to talk to someone that’s not going to bullshit an answer just to make me happy.”

Alison turned her head to stare at me. “And you think I’m that person?”

I nodded my head.

“I do,” I confirmed.

Alison smirked.

See, the thing about the woman standing in front of me, was that her husband always came first.

The Uncertain Saints came second, and everybody else came third.

She was a mother hen, and all of the men were her chicks.

If one was in trouble, she was going to be there to help them in any way she could if they needed it.

Right now, though, I was about to ask her something that would go against the grain.

Hell, it went against my grain.

But I needed to do it. I needed to be independent.

I needed to leave, and I needed to do it now before anything more would tie me to this place and to Wolf. I wasn’t becoming one of his responsibilities. I wanted to be his partner, not his charity case.

“I need your advice,” I murmured, looking over my shoulder covertly to make sure we were alone.

“My advice on what?” Alison asked, giving me her full attention.

I raised my casted hand and scratched my nose.

“You’re not going to like it.”