Chapter 11
Jameson
“FUCKING CHRIST, KNIGHT. THAT burns.” Jacques deserved more pain than me scrubbing his road rash clean.
“Should have gone to a hospital, then.”
“Can’t you give me some drugs? You’re killing me,” he practically cried.
“So you can go back to rehab?” He knew better, and his eyes danced with mischief I didn’t have time for. “I should actually shoot you up with something so you have to endure the withdrawals again.”
“That’s fucked up.” His dark brows slammed down before he started laughing. “I like it. That’s the Jameson we’re used to.”
I poured disinfectant in his wound. Mostly because I wanted to hear his scream. “Franny’s here today. A hospital would be better suited for your—”
“Jesus, you fucker.” He shoved my hand away that held the liquid. “What do you want me to tell them? Xavier stabbed me after we raced down the highway?”
“I want you to consider the repercussions of your choices.”
“You sound like your father.”
“My father’s in the ground, Jacques, and maybe I sound like your dad, but definitely not mine.
Mine never considered the repercussions of his actions either.
I agonize over every single one.” Then I poured more disinfectant on the wound for good measure.
Another scream. I should have recorded this to hold over his head.
“You’re an asshole. You know that? You were the least careful of all of us before Franny. And now you’re even more twisted. I heard what you did to Paolo’s men. You got one here now, don’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
” I wasn’t answering any of his questions because I didn’t have to.
They all answered to me. Not the other way around.
“Whatever it is you or the other Heathens think I did, I can do much worse if you keep stumbling in here, bleeding out every week.” It was a warning to him and his motorcycle club as I started to close the wound with a sutured needle.
It would only take seven stitches, but I intended to make each one hurt.
He winced at the pressure. “What else you got this room for if not to help us?”
The last-minute addition three years ago had served our community well, actually. I’d perfected surgeries, treated gun wounds, saved lives, made allies.
And made enemies.
“Not to deal with you and Xavier’s spats. You’re two stupid cats from the same litter clawing at each other. I don’t have time for it.”
“Cats?” He looked affronted as he jumped off the metal operating table, holding his side that was now bandaged. Immediately, two of my guys started cleaning the area. “I’m a pit bull of a fighter.”
“You’re choosing to argue about that?”
“I’m not a damn cat.”
I walked to the sink to clean up. “Get out of my house, Jacques. My daughter is home, and I have a new nanny who’s skittish. I don’t have time for this.”
“If you want the Heathens to run down any of the guys left who came to her school …” He clapped me on the shoulder, his voice sincere.
Being allies with his club afforded us a certain amount of protection, but I didn’t need favors. “I’ll be handling all of them.”
“The Diamonds okay with that?”
As I washed away the blood from my hands, red ribbons threaded through the water and swirled down the stainless-steel sink.
Mixing and tinging the water pink, just like my ties to the Heathens, to clubs, to societies—we warped and changed each other’s existence.
Since my father was gone, I led the Diamonds. They didn’t lead me.
“Daddy?” My daughter’s voice singsonged through the basement walls, and I narrowed my eyes at Jacques as I finished the last of my cleanup.
Two of my men continued cleaning the operating table, and another folded up the stained clothing I’d cut from Jacques.
“Franny, we’re back here,” he yelled out, because not one of the men I dealt with missed a chance to see my daughter. I would have let it be had I thought Franny was only with Hades, considering it wasn’t the first time she’d stumbled upon me while operating.
Not the first time I’d worked on Jacques either. He was reckless on a motorcycle, and with his life. Faulting him for it would have been hypocritical after what he’d said—we both knew I enjoyed tempting death before my daughter.
My problem now wasn’t Franny. It was with Mia. Pretty, sweet, na?ve Mia, who followed my daughter in with Pink and Olive flanking her.
Two women who weren’t sweet or na?ve.
Olive lived down the street and had grown up with me. She was sharp, strategic, and always three steps ahead of anyone who dared to cross us. Plus, she was married to Dimitri, who owned part of HEAT, one of the largest tech and real estate businesses in the world.
Then there was Pink, Bane’s girl—a player in her own right, one who had a seat at the table of the highest syndicate discussions. Her involvement went far beyond being a companion—she was a mastermind, known for navigating our world in a way that left our enemies scrambling.
They always had a seat at our table when large decisions were made and always would. I trusted them both with my life and with the syndicate.
Trusting them with Mia was a whole other situation, though.
My daughter flew at Jacques and abruptly stopped right before she hugged him, her brows slamming down. “You’re hurt again, Jacques? You have to drive safe and stop at all the red lights!”
Jacques whispered placations to her as I took in that Hades was nowhere to be found but Mia stood there almost frozen.
Her eyes were wide, her tiny fingers wringing themselves into oblivion, and the rapid rise and fall of her white blouse told me she was uncomfortable.
Her cheeks were flushed and she took breaths in through her nose, out through her mouth, like she was trying not to faint.
Glancing behind me, I knew what it looked like: A crazy surgeon had built his own little hospital.
Glass walls stood around an operating table with lights that were state of the art, as were all of my tools.
I could rip someone apart and put them back together on it easily. I’d done it time and time again.
I’d designed my space with some of the best engineers in the country. I took pride in it but also knew how it looked to an outsider.
And that’s what she was.
“Ms. Darling, you’re supposed to be teaching,” I ground out.
“Franny wanted a snack,” she murmured as she took a step forward, but then, like she thought better of it, she took one back as she glanced at the blood seeping through Jacques’s chest bandage.
“In the basement?” I ground out. I didn’t wait for her answer as I glared at the other women.
Both of them were meddlers, and both served our society well.
I had utter respect for them in that regard and no respect for them when it came to snooping.
“You two have anything else to do with your lives?”
“Nope,” they said together. Olive pulled me in for a hug and continued, “My husband has Baby Grayson at work today, and I was bored as ever, but then Pink showed up at my door wanting to come visit you. You’re welcome for not bringing all the nosy neighbors too.”
“Can you imagine?” Pink snickered.
They both chatted on and on, but I watched how Mia’s hands shook at her sides. “You should be upstairs, not down here,” I said.
“You’re not a real surgeon. This isn’t … The liability of—”
“You’re right. He’s a half-assed surgeon, for sure.” Jacques laughed as he scooped Franny up with a wince and held her on his good side. He walked over to Mia and held out a hand. “But I can guarantee you I’m not worried about any liabilities. Ms. Darling, is it?”
I shoved his hand away. “We don’t need introductions. You need to leave, and Franny needs to go upstairs with Mia.”
My daughter frowned at me. “You used to let me come down here.” Her tone was hurt, and I didn’t know what to say. Yesterday, I’d seen a glimpse of the old Fran, carefree while she swung that racket with us at tennis, but we couldn’t be that way always.
Jacques wasn’t deterred; he leaned around me, and Franny started giggling.
“Of course Ms. Darling needs to know my name is Jacques. I’m here all the time.
Right, Olive?” He continued on like he was going to tell Mia everything about our lives.
“Olive comes over way too much too, but I guess that’s what happens when you grow up neighbors. Old habits die hard.”
“He does get hurt a lot, Daddy,” Franny reasoned with me quietly while Olive rolled her eyes and brushed a curl from her face.
Then Olive walked around me like no one had any respect for my concern.
My daughter shouldn’t be exposed to any of this.
It’d bled into her life too much already, figuratively and literally.
Olive pulled Jacques in for a hug to tell him, “You’re making this worse for Jameson.
We already had planned to surprise Ms. Darling. Now she got two surprises.”
“But who doesn’t like surprises?” Jacques scanned Mia head to toe, and his smirk hid nothing. I didn’t like the hunger in his eyes. I didn’t need complications with someone who was employed in my home.
“She doesn’t.” I shoved him toward the back door. “Go home, and don’t come back here.”
“I’m waiting for a ride. My bike got laid out and I’m injured, remember? Unless you want to lend me that Ducati?”
“Fuck off. You’re fine. Wait outside, and don’t come here for stitches again. If you and Xavier want to spar like children, my doors aren’t open to you.”
That’s when Hades walked in, nostrils flaring like he’d sprinted down here.
After five minutes of Franny and Mia being unattended, his hustle didn’t matter.
“You take a wrong turn?” I lifted a brow at him.
“Rosy and I were discussing the week. Ms. Darling and Franny were supposed to stay put,” he pointedly said at Mia, but then his gaze fell to Pink and Olive. “Figures you two were behind this.”
“Oh no, Hades. I wanted Daddy. I knew he would be down here. I was using my spy eyes and binoculars this morning. I saw Jacques, and you lied about it.” Franny pouted as she leaned into Jacques. “Jacques, when you come to get fixed up, I want to visit.”
“Of course you do, Fran Bran, but you were learning, right? School blows, but you gotta do it.”
“Actually, school doesn’t blow,” Mia piped up, crossing her arms. “And although I’m not sure this is the routine learning space”—she cleared her throat and looked between my daughter and me—“Franny obviously enjoys new, outside experiences.”
I tried not to growl in annoyance at Mia.
Her pushing me continually still wasn’t warranted.
That email was out of line. Her insisting on being at the club was out of line.
And her being down here was too. She’d caused another bloody crime scene with her actions, because I’d been done with checking over my damn shoulder at the club after yesterday.
She’d be happy to know we’d neutralized the threat late last night.
My men dragged O’Connor to one of our warehouses, and I had personally pulled information from him piece by piece before taking his life.
We were all wound tight because of it, but I’d acted quickly after seeing my daughter at the country club.
Seeing her smile outside, under the sunshine, made the decision quite easy.
Maybe seeing Mia in a different element had made it easier to act quickly too. She’d met me swing for swing on the tennis courts and opened up to me in a way I didn’t expect. I wanted that more from her.
For Franny.
“I do like outside experiences.” Franny nodded vigorously. “I even want to ride Daddy’s motorcycle bike, too, but he won’t let me. Probably because Jacques keeps falling off.”
“A motorcycle?” Mia’s wide eyes ping-ponged everywhere.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I didn’t need this girl knowing any more about me or my family than she already did. I turned to Hades. “Are you capable of escorting her back to the study?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should, since you want me to continue to be the prick,” Hades threw back at me. He was running on about an hour of sleep, but I didn’t give a fuck.
“Don’t make me fire you today.”
“We can’t fire Uncle Hades, Daddy. He’s family.”
“Yeah. I’m family.” He chuckled and patted her head like the happiest man in the world. Franny had him wrapped around her finger. “Anyway, I’m guessing Franny actually needs a snack since she barely ate any of the food on the table after calling me a liar.”
Franny huffed. “You said nothing was going on today, but you knew Jacques was here. I know it.” She wiggled away from Jacques to stomp her little foot.
“I’ll make it up to you, kid. We can go beg Rosy for more food, huh?” Hades said, his voice full of remorse as they started walking toward the door.
“Oh, I want a snack, too, I think,” Olive announced while Pink considered her options.
“Really? I wouldn’t mind seeing this play out.” She smiled between Mia and me like she knew we were about to bite each other’s heads off.
Mia needed to know her place around here, and the conversation would have to be direct. She couldn’t wander around unattended or follow Franny wherever she wanted to go. She needed to be the disciplinarian along with being the nanny.
“Just get out of my operating room, Pink.”
“Fine. Fine.” Didn’t they know they should fear me just a little?
When Hades hesitated, I told him, “I’ll show Mia back to the study after we have a discussion.”
“Maybe on the way, you can show me the rest of the house, too, since I never saw this part on the tour,” Mia said.
“Yeah,” Hades said with a chuckle. “Show her the rest of it.” His statement was pointed now, poking at the one place I didn’t want him to, and he knew it. I kept one other room sectioned off from all the staff. Mia would be no different. “Every single room.”
“Get the fuck out of my sight.” Or maybe she was already so different that I didn’t want her seeing that room at all. Not after the way her eyes widened at seeing the basement.
Hades walked by me and leaned in. “Lay ground rules for the teacher. She’s already completely bulldozed through the norm.”
He was right.
And I wasn’t sure if I cared, because I was about to bulldoze through every single professional rule I had as soon as they left.