Torched (21 page)

Maric eyed them suspiciously, his right hand behind his back, presumably on a gun.

“We’re just here to talk,” Torch said, opening his cut to show that he wasn’t armed. He was, in an ankle holster, but that was neither here nor there.

Maric nodded and pulled his hand back around. “What about?”

“Jovan,” Zed spoke up. “Your idiot grandson.”

Maric scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. “What about Jovan?”

“Well, we have a little problem with your boy,” Torch said as he picked up a stack of vintage baseball cards and spread them out over the counter. “Apparently he’s gotten into business with a man named Pierce Masters—”

“Masters you say? I don’t know him. What kind of business?”

“Seems the two of them concocted a plan to attack my club at a community event this weekend, no regard for the innocent men, women, and children attending. You
know
we can’t let that slide. My men are holding him and his crew right now—”

“
Holding
him? What crew?”

“Well, your precious heir isn’t just doing business behind your back, he’s recruiting your own people. Fifteen formerly loyal Kraja that we know of. Here,” he said, handing over his phone, “see for yourself.”

Viktor scowled as he watched the exchange they’d just recorded in Jovan’s warehouse, but didn’t say anything, probably trying not to give away the fact that he was just now finding out that he’d been betrayed. When the short clip ended, he placed the phone down on the counter and leaned on his elbows, his eyes bulging like they were about to explode from their fucking sockets. “Goddamn it,” he muttered through his teeth.

Torch slid the phone back in his pocket. “We’re working on finding out what exactly they’re trying to accomplish. And who’s paying for it. Looks like Masters is their go-between.”

Maric looked like a combination of pissed off, faint, and confused as fuck. He pulled it together and stood back up to face them. “I didn’t know about any of this. The Kraja and your club have never had problems. I don’t—”

“Listen, we know that this isn’t a Kraja move,” Zed assured him. “As far as we’re concerned, Jovan’s acting on his own and we’re dealing with it accordingly. Just thought you deserved a courtesy head’s up. We’d want to know about this kind of betrayal.”

Maric nodded. “I’m grateful you came here. Where is my grandson now?”

“An undisclosed location,” Torch told him. “I’m sure you understand that we need information before we let him go. Unfortunately, we can’t let them all go. It would set a bad example.”

Viktor cracked his knuckles and stretched out his neck. Yeah, Jovan was completely fucked. “Gentlemen, I apologize for this. I can assure you the Kraja has no interest in provoking violence between our families.”

“Then you need to reel that asshole in. Trust me, a war won’t end well. And now that you’re informed, anything Jovan does
will
be considered Kraja-sanctioned. Understood?”

Maric nodded. “Understood. I am in your club’s debt. Just one request—”

“What’s that?”

“Do what you must with the others. In my eyes, they’re dead. But bring Jovan back alive. I want to deal with him myself.”

Torch nodded and reached out to shake the man’s hand. “We can do that.”

Viktor said he wanted his grandson alive, he hadn’t said they couldn’t make him bleed.

: 13 :

Friday afternoon rolled around and I was busy trying to catch up on some work. I’d pissed away the better part of a week dealing with the Serpents mess. Not that I had any regrets, but I was beyond behind.

Ty had been called away late that morning, presumably because the club had taken care of the problem in their own way. I could use my imagination and didn’t ask questions. He seemed relieved to be off babysitting duty, but it wasn’t like he’d had it that bad lounging on my couch and eating the contents of my entire fridge. I hadn’t even given him a lick of shit after we came to our understanding, but I knew he was probably itching to be with his boys and in the middle of the action. I was just glad to have my space back.

My home was off-limits to everyone, except Lexi and Neil on the random occasions they decided to visit. It was weird to have someone there, awake and just watching. Not bad weird, just uncomfortable weird. I didn’t know whether I’d hear from Torch or the club again, but it would be just as well if I didn’t. I was still convinced that nothing good could come of me getting tangled up in their web, or them in mine.

I was definitely planning on a date with my vibrator that night to orgasm him out of my system.

Two pots of coffee later, I’d made good progress. I tended to do better under pressure anyway. If a deadline was too far out, I usually dicked around until it turned into crunch time. The damn internet always beckoned. I had a weakness for Wikipedia, sometimes spending hours just hitting the “Random Article” button. It wasn’t that I liked stress, I just happened to thrive on it for whatever reason. And I enjoyed accumulating useless knowledge while procrastinating.

My eyes were glazing over, the code I could write in my sleep starting to look like Swahili, when a high-pitched alarm broke me from my stupor. The perimeter motion sensors were going off, signaling that someone was coming down my secluded driveway.

I flipped over to the security feed and saw a silver sedan crawling up to the house. Who the hell would just be showing up? It wasn’t Ty, he’d be on a bike. And Lexi or Neil would have called.

Shit.

I stayed low and sprinted across the living room to grab a Glock 19 I kept stashed under a couch cushion. I also pulled a switchblade from a secret compartment in the coffee table, and tucked it into my bra, before slithering to the bay window by my front door.

Pulling the curtain back an inch, I watched as the car came to a stop. Both of the front doors opened and out came a familiar head of blonde hair from the passenger side.

Lexi.

Goddamn it, she knew better. By the time I stood back up and hid the gun and blade in an entrance closet, they were walking up the front steps, with little Chloe in Neil’s arms.

Yes, they’d named their kid after my old self, something that had initially horrified me. But they’d explained that
their
Chloe would bring honor back on the moniker, and she’d be every bit as independent and strong as they claimed I was.

“Auntie Livie!” Chloe squealed as I opened the door. Neil put her down and she flew the rest of the way, almost knocking me over as I bent down to scoop her up.

“Hi lovebug,” I said, squeezing the shit of my favorite little person. I didn’t know what her parents bathed her in, but she always smelled like cotton candy. Sickeningly sweet, just like her personality. Over her golden curls, I scowled at Lexi and Neil. “You two almost got s-h-o-t,” I spelled out.

“Sorry, honey,” Lexi apologized as she hugged me around Chloe. “Surprise?” I swear that smile of hers could light up and already bright room. I could never stay mad at her, not that she was actually sorry.

“I told her ass to call you,” Neil grumbled, shaking his head. He leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. “But you know my trouble-making wife. She recruited my kid to join in on this plan to surprise you and it was all over.”

“It’s cool, I’m really glad you guys are here,” I assured him.

“No, it’s
not
cool,” he argued. “We need to hurry up and make a boy. I’m tired of being outnumbered.”

Lexi smacked him in the arm, causing Chloe to dissolve in a fit of giggles.

“See? Teaching our girl to beat up on men. Nice, right?”

“I don’t like boys, daddy!” Chloe exclaimed. “I want a sissy.”

Neil groaned. “F-u-c-k that!”

“Mommy! Daddy spelled a bad word.”

“Yeah? How do you know?” Lexi inquired.

“Uncle Bruno told me what it spells,” Chloe said sheepishly, then turned to me proudly. “He showed me how to play cards too.”

Lexi smacked Neil again. “I told you not to take her to your damn poker games.”

He shrugged. “Can’t imagine Aunt’s Honeysuckle and Candy, or whatever the fuck those skanks go by are any better.”

“Language,” Lexi snapped.

“You heard the child,” he laughed, “she already knows what it means. Maybe now we can stop spelling shit out and talk like normal people—”

“Shitfuck!” Chloe screamed. She ran into the house before getting smacked on the butt.

“Well that’s just great. This man, I swear,” Lexi sighed, apparently too tired to deal with Neil and his offspring. “You have any wine, honey?”

“Who are you talking to?” I grinned. “You know I always have wine. And beer for your long-suffering husband.”

“Oh please, he’s just milking your sympathy.”

He playfully slapped her ass. “Shut up and get me a beer, woman.” Those two were still disgusting, in the cutest way possible. I knew Lexi wasn’t actually pissed, their bickering was foreplay.

Lex and I headed to the kitchen while Neil hauled their luggage to my spare bedroom. Chloe made herself at home and picked up the TV remote, figuring out how to find the cartoon channel before I even had the bottle of wine uncorked. Kids these days. They’d be putting me out of business, all techno-savvy and shit before even learning their abc’s.

I looked my best friend up and down. She was beautiful as ever, but looked exhausted. Rambunctious children… no thanks. I preferred being the crazy aunt who loaded them up with sugar and sent them on their way. I’d already promised little Chloe that I would teach her to ride one day, much to Lexi’s dismay.

“You alright?” I asked. “You look beat.”

She gave me another hug. “I’m good, sweetie, just tired. That child is hopped up 24/7. I swear Neil’s supplying her with crystal behind my back.”

“Oh come on,” I laughed. “He’s a good dad. You lucked out.”

“Yeah, I totally did,” she admitted. “But fuck if we get any time for ourselves anymore. I need
my
daddy for more than ten minutes sometimes too.”

I poured two glasses of white zin and handed her the fuller one. “I really don’t need to hear about the kinky shit you guys do after bedtime. Makes me jealous.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah right, you probably get laid more than I do.”

“Quantity doesn’t make up for quality,” I smirked. “You know this.”

“Jared’s not giving you what you need?” she asked.

“Jared’s yesterday’s news. Well, last week’s news.”

“Liv, you scandalous bitch! You chased off another one?”

“I didn’t chase him off. He broke the rules.”

“You and your damn rules.”

“You met him last time you were here. You honestly think he was the kind of guy who could deal with my life?”

“No, I know,” she conceded. “But
somebody
might and you’ll never know because you just use them for the nookie and leave them hanging. You could at least offer to pay the first therapy bill. It would be the honorable thing to do.”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. He was bland anyway. I need a little more flavor. We don’t all find our Neil’s in a bottomless sea of boring sea creatures.”

Neil popped around the corner, his timing impeccable as always. “Did I hear someone say my devilishly sexy name?”

Lexi gave him a sloppy kiss. Right, foreplay. “Liv wants a go at you, baby. She’s running out of boy toys.”

“Shut your mouth. I said someone
like
you,” I growled. “And only because your woman thinks I need a man. I beg to differ.

Neil held out his arms. “Hey, there’s plenty of me to go around if Lex would quit being so greedy.”

“You wish, asshole” she groaned.

I grabbed Lexi’s empty wine glass to refill it before she threw it at his head. I don’t know why I bothered, he probably got off on being assaulted. “As tempting as that is, Neil, I’m good.” I didn’t know how I’d become the topic of conversation. Hadn’t we started off talking about how ragged Lex looked?

“What the hell happened to Jerome… Jason... Wait, what the fuck was that douche’s name?” Neil asked.

“Jared,” I said, handing him a beer. “See? Even Neil knows that one was a no-go.”

“He was nice enough,” Neil shrugged. “Kinda boring for my taste. I can see why he couldn’t make you cream your panties.”

Jesus, these people had no boundaries, but I loved them for it. I knew that I was indescribably lucky to have them in my life.

My first stop after the summer at Snoop’s had been Seattle. It was as far away from Mitch as I could get without crossing the border or an ocean. I’d confided in Lexi and Neil soon after. Since then, from one state to another, they’d made it a point to come see me as often as possible, knowing that I couldn’t step foot in Pennsylvania for the time being. They kept my secrets and Neil—a titan in the underground gambling circuit now—did everything he could to stay informed through his vast network of criminal contacts. If it hadn’t been for the two of them, I honestly didn’t think I would’ve been alive to make it this far. Lexi kept me sane and Neil kept me safe.