Jamie

 

“What?” My eyes nearly popped out of my head, and my jaw nearly hit the floor. I could tell from the way he grinned that it was exactly the reaction he had hoped for.

 

“You heard me. I want you to stay here.” He sat behind a desk, grinning still. He put his feet up on the surface, crossing his ankles.

 

“You can’t be serious.”

 

“As a heart attack.”

 

I sat in one of the chairs across from him. “For how long?”

 

“As long as it takes.”

 

“As long as what takes?”

 

He sighed. “As long as it takes to find Rae.”

 

“So you really don’t want her, huh?” I felt a strange sort of disappointment for Gigi, and for him. He was missing out on so much by pushing her away.

 

“Listen, I’m not an idiot. I know this isn’t the place for her.”

 

I leaned forward, crossing my arms on his desk. “You know what else isn’t the place for her? Her home, with her mother.”

 

He sat up, looking at me very closely. “It’s that bad?”

 

“It’s not good.” I told him about the day she showed up in spring clothes during a snowstorm. The times I had to give her my lunch because she didn’t have any food of her own. The trouble I got into when I bought her new clothes.

 

“You took her shopping?” he asked. I thought I heard admiration in his voice, but reminded myself that I didn’t care either way what he thought about me. He was lower than scum as far as I was concerned.

 

“Yes, I did. She needed clothes for winter. I figured the previous year’s clothes wouldn’t fit her anymore. She’s a growing girl.”

 

“Smart.” He nodded his head, as though he had any idea how to raise a child. He would never have thought of something like that—he probably wouldn’t think to take her shopping until her old clothes were ready to fall apart. And he thought he could take care of her better than I could?

 

“Yes, well, I have experience with children.” I let the words hang in the air. From the half smile on his face, I knew he understood what I was trying to say.

 

“And I have experience with Rae,” he said. “I know how she thinks.”

 

“So what is she doing, then?” I asked.

 

“She’s either high somewhere, or on the run from something. I wanna find her. I can’t just take Gigi without knowing what happened to Rae first. What happens if she shows up one day, wanting her back?” He looked pensive, and I wondered how deep his feelings for his daughter actually ran. He wanted to play it cool, to pretend he didn’t care, but there were cracks in his façade. I wondered if she hadn’t already found a place in his heart when he wasn’t paying attention.

 

I kept my cool. “I don’t think this is the right place for her. I just don’t.”

 

“It’s where her father is. It’s the right place for her.”

 

“Don’t you have a house?”

 

“Yeah, but I’m not there all day, am I?”

 

“So why don’t I stay there with her, then?” I couldn’t believe I was negotiating with a piece of scum like him. He acted like the whole thing was a joke. I wanted to slap the sneer off his face.

 

“I don’t think so. This place, believe it or not, is better for her than my house.”

 

I shuddered, imagining the absolute pig sty it probably was. I wouldn’t put anything past him.

 

I felt myself losing ground. To think, I was so sure I could get him to let her come with me. I was sure he’d be sick of her, unsure what to do, desperate to get her off his hands. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

 

Wasn’t that a good thing, though? Fury’s Storm aside, wasn’t it good for Gigi’s father to want her?

 

I looked Lance up and down. He smiled a little, and I felt my cheeks flush. Why the heck was I blushing? I wished I could stop. I didn’t need him thinking I had a crush on him, or that I’d be a pushover for whatever he wanted from me. I didn’t plan on making things easy for him. Not one bit.

 

“Okay. Listen.” I folded my hands, trying to get some control over the situation. “I can stay the weekend. Just the weekend, though. You have two days to find some way to make her life better, or I’ll take her myself.”

 

“You have no grounds to take her. What are you gonna do, kidnap her?”

 

I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him. “No. You’re going to let me keep her until something better comes along. Let’s face it, I can’t stay here more than the weekend. I have to go to work, and Gigi absolutely has to go to school. She’s already missed an entire week. Didn’t it occur to you to find out where she goes to school?”

 

“I asked her. She didn’t know where the school was, or what it was called. Do you know how many schools there are in town? For all I knew she was from two towns over. She didn’t know her own town. What the hell did Rae teach her?” Then he looked at me, smirking. “Or is it your fault that she didn’t know?”

 

“Watch it,” I warned. “She was probably too scared to remember, that’s all. Wouldn’t you be scared, surrounded by scary strangers, only seven years old, if your mom abandoned you?”

 

His face took on a strange look, and I remembered his reference to a foster home when he was a kid. I thought he might know how it felt all too well.

 

“Anyway, that’s the deal. I’ll stay here and take care of her, keep her out of your hair, while you look for Rae. If you can’t find her, I have to take her with me. I won’t keep her, honestly. I won’t. But I need to be home if I’m going to work. And Gigi needs a place where she can get peace and quiet.” A bottle crashed to the floor elsewhere in the building. The timing couldn’t have been better. “She’s not going to get peace and quiet here.”

 

He looked less than happy with the crashing bottle, even wincing a little. “Yeah, you might have a point there.”

 

“So, what do you think? Are you with me?”

 

“Is that the only way I can get you to stay and stop bothering me?”

 

“Yes.”

 

He shook his head ruefully. “I guess I don’t have a choice, then. All right. It’s a deal.” Lance extended a hand across his desk, and I shook it. I couldn’t ignore the way his hand engulfed mine, or the way I felt a little flutter when we touched. This was no time for my hormones to start acting up, and I told myself to knock it off.

 

If he noticed, he didn’t show it. He stood, going out to the lounge. I followed him, wondering about the sort of person he was. He tried to play the big, tough guy. Underneath, I thought there might be a little something more than what he was letting on. After all, he cared enough about his daughter to fight with me over her. Or maybe he just liked to fight.

 

Either way, he was the most exciting, challenging, infuriating man I’d ever met. I had the feeling he wasn’t going to make life easy for me. That was fine with me. I had no intention of making it easy for him.

 

He glanced at me, nodding toward her. Like I was supposed to give Gigi the good news. I bristled at the way he thought he could tell me what to do. I wasn’t his employee, for God’s sake. Still, Gigi noticed the funny way he was acting and turned to me with an inquisitive look. I had to tell her something.

 

“Guess what?” I gave her a big smile. “I’m going to stay here with you this weekend.”

 

“You are?” She immediately jumped up onto the couch, then jumped into my arms. I laughed, hugging her. She squeezed me tight around the neck. I understood how important it was for her to feel like she had a friend with her.

 

“We’re gonna have so much fun!” she squealed.

 

“We’re also going to get you caught up on the work you missed this week.”

 

“Erica and Traci helped me with that already.”

 

I smiled at the girls, who still gave me a funny feeling. I didn’t think they liked me very much. From the way they smirked, I got the feeling they thought I didn’t think they had it in them.

 

“Thanks,” I said, still smiling. “You’ve made my life a lot easier, then.” Their faces softened a little, like they didn’t know what to make of me. I wouldn’t push them away or alienate them—on the contrary, I needed all the friends I could get in that place. Surrounded by men.

 

“Do you have anything to sleep in?” one of them asked. The one who had opened the door to me.

 

“I don’t. But it’ll be okay. Do you need me to get a room ready?”

 

She smiled. “No, I can do that for you. We have lots of empty rooms. What about the one across from Gigi’s?”

 

I was so grateful, I didn’t know what to say. I understood how Gigi felt, having a friend. “That sounds great.” I looked down at my charge. “Want to show me the way?” I picked up my purse, took Gigi’s outstretched hand and followed her up the stairs.

 

As soon as we got to the top of the stairs, I bent to whisper in Gigi’s ear. “Which girl was that? The one who offered the room?”

 

“Erica,” she whispered back.

 

“Thanks.” I grinned at her as Erica followed us to the second floor.

 

“Here’s my room!” Gigi showed it off with a grand flourish, and I had to say I was impressed.

 

“You bought all of this for her?” I asked Erica, looking over the toys and books. There was even special bedding for her, unless the members of the MC liked sleeping in Disney sheets.

 

“Yeah, it was fun.” Erica ruffled Gigi’s hair. “We had a great time this week, didn’t we?”

 

“We did! We went to Target.” She pronounced it “Tar-jay,” which made me laugh.

 

“And you bought all these things? Erica and Traci are so nice, aren’t they?”

 

“They’re my best friends. Plus you, Miss Jamie.”

 

Erica and I grinned at each other.

 

“You know something?” I sat on the edge of her bed, holding a hand out to Gigi. “Just for this weekend, while I’m staying here with you, you can call me Jamie. Just plain Jamie. No ‘Miss.’”

 

Her gray eyes went round, and her mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”

 

“Well, yeah. I mean, we’re gonna be together all weekend long. You don’t call Erica ‘Miss Erica,’ do you?”

 

She looked at Erica. “Should I have? Was that dis-respeckful?”

 

Erica giggled. “No, sweetie. That’s just fine.”

 

“It’ll be our special secret this weekend. You can’t tell any of the other kids, though, when we go back to school. They might get jealous.” And if Vickie ever hears you calling me Jamie, she’ll have a cow.

 

“Okay.” Gigi nodded solemnly.

 

“Let’s show Jamie her room, okay?” Erica led us into the hall. My room was just like Gigi’s, without the toys and such. Erica turned to me. “There are clean sheets on the bed. Did you want to share Gigi’s bathroom, or do you want your own?”

 

“I have to ask, how many rooms are in this place?”

 

Erica smiled with obvious pride. “Two dozen. Plus a dozen bathrooms.” My face must have given away my complete surprise. The entire building seemed comfortable, modern. Not at all what I had expected.

 

“It used to be a warehouse,” Erica explained, pulling towels out of a linen closet. “When the club bought it, they had it completely refurbished. They really went all-out. There’s plenty of room for the club members—you know, if we ever have to stay here for some reason.”

 

I glanced at Gigi, who was busy bouncing on the bed. “Would there ever be a reason? Have you ever been here when there was?”

 

Erica nodded. “Back in the day, there was a lot of fighting with another club in the next town. I don’t even think they’re around anymore. There were a few weeks when the whole club was under lockdown. The guys, their families, everybody stayed here together.”

 

“That sounds pretty interesting,” I said, chuckling. “You said ‘back in the day’—you can’t possibly have been here. You’re too young.”

 

“I was a kid,” she explained. “My dad was a member. Me, my mom, we came here with him so we would be safe.”

 

“Oh, wow. I had no idea.” Did this sort of life run in the family? I guessed so. I would never have imagined it.

 

“It was a lot of fun, really. For the kids, I mean. The old ladies—wives, girlfriends, mothers—they worked hard to keep us kids happy. We did a puppet show, a play, they played games with us. It was great.”

 

“Like a big family,” I mused.

 

“That’s exactly what it is.” She smiled, like she appreciated my understanding. I didn’t understand, though. It didn’t make any sense to me. Why expose children to this lifestyle? Why would a child grow up wanting to be part of it when they were forced to live in lockdown? Then again, if they thought it was all fun and games…

 

“It’s been quiet since then. Peaceful. There’s nothing like there used to be when my dad was in.” She caught my eye and mouthed the word “drugs.”

 

“Selling? Buying?”

 

“I don’t know exactly. But when Lance took over, he made sure that stuff stopped. All of it.”

 

I remembered him telling me he had no time for drugs and made sure none of his men were involved with them. I wondered why it was so important to him, aside from the obvious reasons. It was like the way he was so opposed to a foster home for Gigi. What was that all about? He had a deep, dark history, I could tell. Maybe I’d get some answers as the weekend went on.

 

“I’m starving,” Gigi said.

 

“Yeah, I should get downstairs to get dinner started. It’s spaghetti night.”

 

“Spaghetti! Yum! That’s my favorite!”

 

Erica pulled me aside. “Every night’s been spaghetti night this week since she loves it so much.” She laughed as she left the room, and I wondered at the way all those big, tough men were willing to spend a week eating spaghetti just to make a little girl happy.

 

“Come on, pal. Let’s see if we can help the girls make dinner.” I held out my hand, and Gigi happily followed me down to the kitchen.

 

It was actually sort of fun, making dinner. I lived alone and had a pretty quiet life. I didn’t want to work around somebody else’s schedule or habits. I didn’t know if I could stand living with somebody who kept odd hours or played loud music or watched TV all day. So I chose to stay on my own. I didn’t realize until I spent a half hour making dinner with two complete strangers, and a boisterous little girl, that I’d been missing out on anything.

 

All throughout dinner, I felt Lance’s eyes on me. As much as he irritated me—and he did, in every way possible—he made me wonder what else I had been missing out on in my solitary life.