Head Above Water (Nightshade MC Book 4) (22 page)

There was a brief knock at the office door and then it opened. Casey stepped in, a brown bag in her hand. She mouthed the word lunch before putting it down on the desk.

“Thanks, Casey. I'm on hold so you can talk. What did we get today?”

“Salad with grilled chicken. Boring but healthy, I got you fat free ranch dressing.”

Fat free dressing translated into tasteless dressing in Drea's opinion, but she kept it to herself. “Sounds pretty good to me.”

“There's an apple in there for dessert.”

“An apple is not dessert,” Drea corrected. “Anything sold at Sugar Sugar is dessert.”

“Sugar Sugar was closed,” Casey told her. “I had my heart set on chocolate chunk. All in all, it's been a pretty disappointing morning.”

“Personally or professionally?”

“Personally, I've got no chocolate chunk cookies, and I didn't get to see any hot construction guys this morning.”

Nightshade Construction was renovating an amazing Victorian-style house on Casey's street. Drea had walked through it once with Monroe. She remembered feeling a pang of jealousy towards the new owners because it was really a beautiful place. “There was no one there?”

“Not a truck to be seen, not even one of the average guys.”

The sense of unease that Drea had felt since she still hadn't heard from Monroe by the time she woke up bloomed into something more like dread. Before she could say anything, a voice that belonged to a living breathing human filled her ear.

“Andrea Vargas, right?” The woman rushed on, not even giving a chance to respond. “All of your test results are negative. Have a nice day.”

Drea hung the phone up. “I swear, the doctor I went to see and his office have absolutely zero bedside manner. Anyway, I'm sorry that you missed your daily eye candy and chocolate fix. Tell you what, take the afternoon off to make up for it. Go and get your nails done or something.”

“You're an awesome boss, Drea. Seriously. But I'd rather work, I need the cash. My landlord raised the rent again. It's the third time in as many years and the place is one step up from a slum.”

“Let me clarify, take the afternoon off with pay.” Drea made a mental note to give Casey a raise. “I'll handle things here. You come back in the morning and we'll tackle the hell that is interviewing.” The ad had only been online for a few hours, but Drea had no less than three dozen emails about it.

“I'm not going to ask if you're sure, I'm just going to run.” Casey did a shimmying little dance and took off out the door.

Drea couldn't help but laugh. She reached for her salad and apple, not out of hunger but because she knew that she needed to keep her strength up. There was a lot of work to do, too much to have let Casey go, but she'd never seen the sunny blonde as down as she'd been the past few days. Something was going on with her.

As she refueled, Drea returned several emails, set up three more interviews and handled a variety of phone calls from the serious to ones questioning if GP had an escort service. As she worked, she heard people coming in the building and then the telltale sounds of filming upstairs. Drea reached for her earbuds, set the phone system so that all calls would go to voicemail, and cranked up music to drown out the sounds.

Drea continued to work until she saw the door open out of the corner of her eye. She expected to see either Claude or Stuart; her heart jumped as she saw it was Monroe standing there. He smiled at her as she pulled out the earbuds. “I was going to try to scare you,” he admitted.

“I don't scare easy,” she replied. Relief washed through every part of her, nearly drowning the dread.

“Good to know. I tried calling, but you weren't answering.”

“Wait, what?” Drea turned to where she'd plugged her phone in, pressed the screen and nothing happened. “I started to charge it hours ago and it's dead. What the hell?”

Monroe chuckled as he walked over. “It helps to plug the charger into the wall, hon.”

Drea looked down and saw that he was right. “Oh, for fuck's sake.” She leaned down and plugged it in. “Sorry, I didn't realize.” She got to her feet, walked over to him. Fear fluttered, what if he didn't reach out and pull her to him like he always did? She didn't have to find out because he pulled her close. “I missed you.” She whispered the words.

“I missed you too, hon. There was a lot going on.” He pressed his lips against her hair. “I'm going to tell you all about it, but I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” she answered without hesitation.

“Leave what you're doing for tomorrow and come with me. Ace made bail this morning, and we're all going to Gino's to celebrate.”

“Okay, let's go.”

“I was thinking that I need to go home and shower first, change my clothes.”

Drea realized they were the last clothes she'd seen him wearing. “I just did laundry, you had a bunch of stuff there.”

“Really? Awesome, because I haven't done laundry in what seems like a really long time. I'd ask you to ride with me, but you wore a dress today so instead, I'll follow you home. Sound good?”

“Perfect.” Drea shut her eyes and listened to the steady beat of his heart. It was a beautiful sound.

<#<#<#<#

Drea hadn't been exactly sure what to expect for Ace's welcome home bash, but it ended up feeling a lot like every other time that all of Nightshade got together. It was her favorite kind of gathering, where it was just them. There were no hang-arounds and definitely no pass-arounds, which was a relief because she didn't want to see Claire.

They would eventually face off, it was inevitable, but Drea was glad that it wasn't tonight.

Ace and Jillian were in the far corner of the room; everyone seemed to be giving them a wide berth. If Drea had to guess, she'd say that Jillian was less than thrilled by the party. She wasn't one for crowds. Ace, on the other hand, was a social creature. He liked people and liked being around them. Even though they seemed to be so opposite, there was no way to deny the love they had for one another. Drea wasn't sure anyone anywhere had ever loved with the fierceness they had.

Monroe grabbed a couple of beers for them from the large ice bucket at the end of the loaded down buffet table. Drea realized she hadn't eaten, but when she saw Meg and Train in line, she didn't mention it. Her mere presence made Meg uncomfortable, which made Drea sad in return. She'd thought that they were friends once.

“Let's go and say hello to the lovebirds,” he suggested.

“I don't know how Jillian is going to survive with him in jail,” Drea said without thinking.

“Neither do I,” Monroe replied softly. “She likes you, though. You should call her, hang out and do whatever it is women do together. You'll have more free time to do stuff like that when you hire someone else for GP.”

“I've got a bazillion interviews set up for tomorrow.” Just thinking about it made her feel tired.

“Really? That's great. Well, it's not great, but I'm glad you went through with it. Wait a second, what about Jillian? She's not working and it would be good for her to get out of the house every day.”

“I'm not sure that she wants to work at GP, or that Ace would like that,” she said skeptically.

“Ace would love it. And maybe she'll want to work with you or she won't, but we won't know until we ask.” Monroe steered her towards the table where Ace and Jillian looked deep in conversation. The conversation stopped as they approached.

“Hey, Drea.” Ace's smile was as warm and wide as ever. He rose to his feet, came over and gave her a hug. “What's up, Monroe?” The two exchanged a brief man hug. “Got a second, brother?”

“Absolutely,” Monroe replied. “Excuse us, ladies.”

Drea met Jillian's eyes and smiled. Jillian smiled back. “Hey, Drea. It's nice to see you.”

“Same here.” Drea stepped closer to the table. “How's it going?”

“It's going. How about you?”

“I'm tired. Work is kicking my ass, and maybe you can help me with that.”

“Me?” Jillian looked skeptical. “How's that?”

“I need someone to do the office work, sort of a cross between a receptionist and a secretary. Is there any chance that you'd be interested?” Drea truly expected the woman to refuse immediately, but she didn't.

“What are the hours?”

“I go in at ten, so let's say ten to six? Lunch is on the house. Sometimes we work during, but we try not to.” Drea realized she was probably going to be canceling a bazillion interviews by email on her phone when they got done here.

“Can I start tomorrow?”

“Sure, if you want.”

“Great, I'll be there at ten.”

“Be where at ten?” Ace cut in to the conversation as he sat back down next to Jillian.

“At GP. Drea's just offered me a job,” Jillian replied. “I said that I'd take it.”

“I hope it's not an in front of the camera job,” Ace said playfully.

“You wish it was.” Jillian rolled her eyes at him, but she did so with a smile. “Answering the phones and the like.”

Drea didn't miss the look that crossed Ace's face as he realized that she was serious. It wasn't anger exactly, more like confusion and a healthy dose of surprise. “Really? That's great. I didn't know that you were thinking about going back to work, Jilly.”

“Neither did I, until Drea made the offer. I think it's going to be fun.”

“I'm sure that it will be,” Ace's smile wasn't quite as warm as it had been. “Did you guys eat yet?”

“Not yet,” Monroe answered.

“I am pretty hungry. Everything smells amazing.” Drea hoped Train and Meg were done getting their food, so she glanced to the buffet table. They were no longer standing there, but someone else was. Claire. The woman had a plate in her hand and was filling it like she didn't have a care in the world. Drea was no longer hungry. She no longer heard whatever Monroe and Ace were talking about. Instead, her eyes were locked on the woman. Apparently she wasn't the only one who'd noticed Claire, because Train walked over to her.

Monroe laid his hand on her shoulder. “Hon?” His tone made her realize that it wasn't the first time he said her name. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing. I just got a headache all of a sudden.”

“More like an ass-ache,” Jillian quipped from behind her. “When did we start inviting club pussy to family things?” She motioned to where Claire stood, still talking to Train.

“She wasn't invited,” Ace said. “None of the girls were.” He got to his feet, his expression pissed. “If it was one of the new girls, I could maybe think that she was confused, but this is Claire. She knows better.” Drea stifled a laugh that had nothing to do with humor. Sure, Claire knew better, but she just didn't care. “Am I missing something?” As if to answer his question, Claire called out for Monroe from where she stood in front of Train. It seemed like the entire room went silent, or maybe all Drea could hear was the increasingly frantic beating of her heart as Claire laid a hand protectively over her stomach.

“Monroe!,” Claire cried out again.

“What's going on here?” Buster spoke up as approached Train and Claire. “Claire, what are you doing here?”

“I came to talk to Monroe. I saw the food, and I just got so hungry. You remember how Caroline ate everything in sight when she was first pregnant?” Drea heard the collective gasp through the air. There wasn't one person in this room who was stupid; everyone got what Claire wanted them to know. Pregnant or not, she deserved a fist to the teeth. “Monroe, please. Can we talk now?”

People were starting to whisper, darting glances between Claire, Monroe and Drea as if this were a really riveting episode of a trashy reality show. Time seemed to slow and then go still as Monroe let out a sigh. “This better be important, Claire.”

“After you're done talking to her, I'd like a word.” Buster said with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh for fuck's sake,” Drea muttered as she wished she could just sink into the floor. “She did this on purpose,” she hissed.

“I'll get rid of her and be right back,” Monroe said as he walked away.

Drea remained where she was as he approached Claire. She reached out for him, but he recoiled, pointing towards the door and saying something that had the smile disappearing from the woman's face in an instant. The minute that the door closed behind them, it seemed all eyes turned to Drea.

“Alright,” Buster's voice rang out. “Let's get back to eating and celebrating having Ace back home with us.”

“For now,” Jillian huffed.

“What was that?” Ace asked.

“You heard me, for now. You're home for now. For maybe three months if we're lucky?” Jillian's voice was brittle, as if she were fighting back tears. “We're not doing this, not now. Drea, you look like you need some air. Want to go outside? I need a smoke.”

Drea nodded, not trusting her voice enough to speak.

Chapter Sixteen

In all of his life, Monroe had only hit one woman, and he didn't count that since he hadn't known she was a woman when she came at him, wearing a mask, during a search of a known drug house. As he walked out of Gino's with Claire next to him, he fought the urge just to smack her across the face. Drea was right; she'd come to the party with the purpose of making a scene.

“Why are you here, Claire?” he demanded. “And the answer better be good, really good like an alien invasion or the first reports of zombie sightings at Riverwalk.”

“I really did need to talk to you. I've been thinking and I'm not sure that I should be living where I do in my current condition. It's a bad neighborhood. I found a place, a house, but they need a security deposit I don't have. You told me that you'd help me. This is me telling you that I need help.”

“I did say that,” he admitted. “I also told you that it hinges on the paternity test results, Claire. And that whatever involvement I have isn't about you.”

“And you heard the doctor, the tests to determine paternity carry a risk of miscarriage. Do you really want to risk your child? The doctor told you the date of conception. I showed you pictures you took of me with my camera that night. We were together. What do you think? Do you think I waited until you passed out and went out into the main room and fucked one of your brothers?”

“It wouldn't be the first time you'd been with two guys in one night, Claire,” Monroe reminded her. “And I'm aware of what the doctor said, but I need to know.”

“Can't you just trust me? Come on, Monroe. I know what kind of can of worms this opens for you with Drea, and I'm sorry for that, but you've known me longer than her. Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to point the finger at you as the father if I wasn't one hundred percent sure of it? All that I'm asking now, is you treat me like a person, like you used to.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you've been a bit of an asshole since you met Drea,” she said bluntly. “And I get it, you're with her. You love her, but that doesn't mean you've got to treat me like shit. We used to be friends.

“We used to fuck,” Monroe corrected. “That's not exactly being friends.”

“It was more than that. You know it and I do. I was your favorite. And now I'm going to be the mother of your child. I deserve some respect.” She took a deep breath in. “Like tonight, I should have been invited. I'm family, your family, if you like it or not. The landlord needs the security deposit in the next two days, he won't hold the place any longer. I'll text you the information.”

“You might be carrying my child, but you are not my family,” Monroe corrected her. “That's not the way that this is going to work, Claire. You need to get out of here. Go home, now.”

“You don't need to be so mean,” she sniffled. “Fine, I'll go.”

Monroe turned away without another word. He headed back inside, to the back room and immediately scanned for Drea. Panic seized him when he didn't see her.

“We need to talk, Monroe.” Buster must have been waiting inside the door for him.

“I need to check on Drea.”

“She's outside with Jillian, from the rampant giggling I'd say they're getting good and stoned. This'll be quick. Tell me that you didn't knock Claire up.”

“I might have,” Monroe admitted. He hated the disappointment and disapproval that he could see in his eyes. “Her birth control wasn't working, she says I went in raw. I was so fucked up, I don't know. She blindsided me with this shit. I'm figuring it out.”

“You know what they say about scorned women, Monroe. Claire's been around a long time.” Buster didn't elaborate, but Monroe knew what he was thinking, knew that Claire had been around long enough to know things. “Tread lightly.”

“Especially since she's crazy as a bag of cats,” Caesar called out.

Monroe laughed. He always laughed when Caesar used that expression. His brother had known that and used it to lighten the mood a little. “I'll watch out for claws.”

“And teeth. Cats and crazy bitches always use teeth, and not in a good way.”

“You'd know on both counts, wouldn't you?” Monroe shook his head. He headed to where the beer was, grabbed one and downed it in two long swallows. He set the bottle down and noticed Ace next to him. “They okay out there?”

“Yeah, they're talking about some television show they both watch and laughing their asses off. No morose introspective high for them. I'm really picky with the stuff I give Jilly. Remember that when I'm gone.”

“Don't start talking like that,” Monroe told him. “You've been out less than twenty-four hours. Enjoy yourself.”

“You know what I'd enjoy? Getting the fuck out of here.”

Monroe could understand that feeling. “Yeah, Claire was sort of a mood killer for your night. Sorry about that.”

“Don't apologize. Jillian wanted to go before the two of you even got here. You know what, fuck it. I'm taking my old lady and going the hell home. I want to sleep, and not sleep, in my own bed. I'll see you tomorrow. I've got to get back on the North job.”

“I'm finished with my remodel. I'll drop by and give a hand since you're behind.” Monroe offered. “What time do you start?”

“Everyone else will be there at eight. I might be late.. No, I will be late. Justin's helping me. He'll show you what needs to be done. And I'll bring coffee and sugar. Look, here come the stoners now. Wanna bet that they're looking for food?”

They were looking for food. Monroe watched with amusement as Drea reached for another slice of pizza. Jillian and Ace had left shortly after she'd come back inside. Everyone else was eating as well, all studiously trying to avoid the elephant in the room.

Monroe looked up as Train approached the table, Meg right behind him. “These seats taken?” Train asked.

“Nope,” Monroe replied. “Take a load off.”

Train pulled out a chair, sat and pulled Meg onto his lap. “Enjoying the food, Drea?”

“God yes. I don't know where Ace got that weed from, but I need more of it in my life,” she answered around a mouthful of pizza. “I like that shirt, Meg. It's really pretty.”

Monroe knew that if Drea was sober, she wouldn't have said a word to Meg. He didn't expect Meg to say a word back. “Thanks, Train picked it out.”

“I miss picking out her naughty stuff in person. I can't tell what something feels like over a computer screen, Drea.”

“I've still got some Love and Lace stock. You're welcome to come by and feel as much of it as you'd like. Both of you are,” she added with a glance towards Meg.

“That's really nice of you,” Meg said with a smile.

Monroe began to wonder if somehow he'd drifted into some sort of twilight zone where Meg didn't hate Drea because she was, in her own words, Detroit's porn queen. He looked over at Train, who simply shrugged his shoulders. “I hear you're working on the North job with Ace.”

“I'm between things, figured I'd give him a hand since he's behind.”

“You're going to have your work cut out for you,” Train informed him. “There's a ton of shit that needs to be done before the contract deadline.”

There were a lot of jobs that were approaching their contract deadlines. Something Nightshade Construction threw into each contract, to sweeten the pot, was a discount for every day after the contract date that the work ran. After two days, they'd lose money on the jobs. “Yeah, that's going around. Hey, do the boys want to make some extra cash?”

“They're a little young for heavy construction,” Meg said protectively. It didn't take much for her to go mama lion on anyone when it came to Joshua and Leo. She had a good reason to be protective. Train's family had been through a lot before, and after, he'd come into the picture.

“I was thinking more along the lines of painting, working in the yard and hauling crap around. Give 'em a chance to make a few bucks and get them out of your hair for the day.”

“Well, you'll have to ask them, but I've got no problem with it,” Train said. “It's good for them to know an honest day's work.”

“No power tools,” Meg said sternly.

“No power tools,” Monroe agreed.

“If they want to, they can,” she said after a pause. “I'm not sure I know what it feels like to have them out of my hair for a day. I can actually clean the house without it getting dirty immediately after.”

“Aim higher, Meg,” Train said. “You can actually do something outside of the house. Go and see Sandra, drink some wine with lunch.”

“You're right. I could, and you could clean the house.” Meg chuckled. “I see Sandra over there, I'm going to go make the plans.”

“You walked right into that one.” Drea didn't bother to hide the laughter in her voice.

“He certainly did. You want to come with me, Drea? You should come tomorrow, if you can. It'll be fun.”

“I think that I could make time. It's one of the perks of being the boss.” Drea got to her feet as well. “I'll be right back, Monroe.”

“Go on, hon.” Monroe watched the two women walk away. He turned his attention to Train. “What the hell was that all about?”

“That was Meg remembering that Drea used to be her friend. Claire coming here tonight was a bitch move, nasty and calculated. Meg told me that once she saw the look on Drea's face, she felt more protective of her than pissed at her over the porn shit. My advice, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.”

<#<#<#<#

Monroe woke to the feeling of Drea shoving him and the sound of her saying his name over and over. There was an urgency to her tone that made him automatically assume that there was something wrong. “What happened?” He sat up quickly, ready for anything.

“I knew that there was something I was forgetting to tell you,” she said. “Did I scare you? I didn't mean to.”

“You didn't scare me. I thought that something was wrong. What time is it?”

“It's like four in the morning. I'm sorry. Probably it could have waited until the morning.” She lay back down with a sigh.

“Well, I'm up, so tell me,” Monroe suggested. “What's going on?”

“Last night, Alton came here.”

“What? While we were sleeping? And you didn't wake me up.”

“No, yesterday night when I was here alone,” she explained. “He knocked. I thought that it was you so I answered.”

Monroe didn't understand how she could be so calm about it. “Why didn't you call me?”

“I called you several times that day. You didn't answer. I figured that you were on club stuff, so I wasn't going to just keep calling.”

“Did he hurt you? Did he touch you?” Anger burst through Monroe. Anger at himself for not answering the phone. He could have, but he'd still been pissy that she'd asked him to leave. He'd spent most of the night waiting outside the lockup for Ace to be released, time he used to get rid of that pissiness and get his head around the startling changes to his world.

“No, he didn't. Believe it or not, we talked.” She sat back up and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Long story short, the deal that I made with the lenders still stands. They're just persnickety about the details being followed exactly. Nine months from now, I'll make the final payment and the debt will be done.”

“And you believe him?”

“Actually, I do.”

“Why?” Monroe didn't understand how she could flip from one side to the other when it came to Alton and the lenders. She'd been completely convinced that the men meant to kill her. After his research, he hadn't been sure that she was right. Still, her sudden flip-flop concerned him.

“Well, first of all, I'm still breathing. Alton wasn't what I expected, in appearance or manner. He knew my Uncle Tony, considered him a mentor. Like I said, we talked. And he made me an offer. Once my debt is done, he wants in on GP.”

“What do you mean wants in?” Monroe reached over and turned on the bedside light.

“He wants a partnership with me. Told me to think about it. I said that I would, anything else would be insulting to him. Don't look at me like that, Monroe.”

“You aren't seriously considering that, are you?” Even as he asked, he knew that she was.

“I'm not sure. I always told myself that I'd sell GP, but now, I'm not sure that I want to.”

“What about Love and Lace? Isn't that what you really want?”

“I'm not sure anymore,” she admitted. “I never expected to like GP as much as I do. I like the people I work with, and I think that I want to keep doing it.”

“Why do you need a partner to do that? Why do you need Alton?”

“I don't know that I do, it's why I said that I was going to think about it. You're mad.”

“I am not mad. I just... I wish that I'd have been there.”

“You were taking care of what needed taking care of, Monroe. I handled it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away, but you really wanted to get to Gino's. And then I got high and I don't really remember much except I'm apparently having lunch with Meg, Sandra and whoever else can get away.” She frowned. “And I'm pretty sure that the only reason Meg invited me is that she feels sorry for me because you knocked up a pass-around.”

“Maybe she just got tired of being mad at you,” Monroe suggested, even though he knew her thoughts were close to the truth.