Chapter 5
Jules
F ootsteps thump down the hall and I just know that I’m going to be invaded. Flicking my eyes to the clock in the bottom of my laptop screen I note its 9.15am, so they left me longer than I expected.
“Morning, brother, how are you on this fine day?” Tav asks, flopping down in the chair across from my desk, not even waiting for an invitation.
I scowl at him, waiting to address him when Gus and Dayz are here, which won’t take long as I can hear them coming now.
“Jules,” Gus offers roughly.
“Hey Jules,” Dayz follows, albeit slightly perkier.
She sits at the small conference table in the corner, eyes on her laptop, while Gus leans his big bastard body against the wall, arms and feet crossed.
He and Tav stare at me, while I stare back. I don’t know why they’re here and I’m not one for guessing, so I’ll wait them out.
We sit in silence, the only noise the sound of Dayz tapping away on her keyboard.
“Ugh, fine!” Tav throws his arms up. “How was your morning? Did you fret leaving Juno with Violet? Did you shed a tear, looking at your daughter, saying things like ‘they grow up so fast!’?”
I glare at him and his lips twitch. He’s fucking loving this.
“No, you asshole. I didn’t feel anything. Violet knows what she’s doing. I handed Juno over, and left.”
They all stare, even Dayz has stopped typing abruptly.
“You didn’t!?” Tav gasps, scandalized.
“I did. It’s her job . Besides, Juno won’t even notice. She’s a baby and she’s only known me for a few weeks.” My reasoning is sound. A few weeks isn’t enough to form a bond strong enough to result in separation anxiety.
Gus’s brows lower, “I think you’ll find that a baby will imprint pretty fucking quickly, there, brother.”
I stare at him for a moment and then shrug it off. Even if she was starting to get attached, I still have work to do and Violet is well qualified to take care of her. She’s a nurse for fuck’s sake. Juno’s probably safer with her than with any other woman. At least Violet knows what to do in an emergency. And I know that this morning they’ve just been hanging out around the house getting to know each other.
I can feel both of my brothers staring at me, so I Iock gazes with Gus, knowing that Tav will get pissy at me ignoring him.
Gus’s brow raises as he stares me down. “So you just walked straight out the door, not a care in the world?” I nod in reply, “And you haven’t contacted them to check in to see how they’re getting on?”
I frown. “Why would I? Violet knows what she’s doing.”
I finally move my gaze to Tav, giving him my famous blank stare. I even add in a little frown, the one I know he hates. He frowns back, then his lips twitch and a knowing look comes over his face.
“You’ve been watching them, haven’t you?” his smile spreads.
Fuck! I hold his gaze, giving nothing away. If I react too fast he’ll think I’m being defensive.
“Oh, resting bitch face me all you want, big brother, but my money is on you checking in on them. And look at that.” He looks down at his watch. “It’s only been two hours since you left the house.”
Gus has a shiteating grin on his face and I know he’s happy to sit back and let Tav run this bullshit interrogation of sorts. It’s not really an interrogation, not when the person asking questions has started answering them himself.
“So, two hours out of the house, I think you’ve checked the feed, hmmmm,” he taps his stupid bottom lip, “four times? Once every half hour?”
How the fuck does he know? Has he been watching me?
“Actually, he’s checked them six times.” I direct my glare over Tav’s shoulder to my little hacker sister who hasn’t looked up once.
“Ohhh, I see. So the dump and run was really a dump and crawl away at a snail’s pace only to then check in on them like a creeper. Got it,” Tav nods and then throws his head back and laughs.
I fucking hate his laugh. He sounds like those hyenas from the Lion King. Not only is it a grating sound, but it always lasts for fucking ever, coming down from full hysterics to giggles. I tip my head back and stare at the ceiling tiles, counting them from left to right .
“Well, good to see you have a heart brother,” Gus says, pushing off from the wall. “But don’t forget, you can always work from home if you need.” He walks out of my office, tapping twice on the door jamb before leaving.
Dayz picks up her laptop and leaves, not saying a word after snitching about my viewing habits to Tav. The big bastard is still in the chair across from me.
“You know, there’s nothing wrong with worrying about your kid. It’s natural.”
When I don’t reply he gives me a pitiful look and a huge sigh. “Fine, I give up. But one day, it’s going to sneak up and kick you in the balls, just how much you love your daughter. It happened to me with with my kids, it’ll happen to you with Juno.” He stands and starts moving toward my door, turning to back out as he singsongs, “Mark my words, Jules.”
I wait until I can hear him further down the hall before I do a cursory glance around my office and then log in to the camera feed in my cabin. My checks are running a few minutes behind thanks to my annoying family.
I flick through the rooms. They’ve been mainly in the lounge for the past two hours, but seeing my empty lounge on the screens means they must be somewhere else in the house. I cycle through the rooms and pull apart the images, noticing where some things have been tidied or other things have been filed. Huh. No sign of them. Maybe they’re on the deck? I tap into the outdoor camera and take a look around. Still no one to be found. I cycle through the interior cameras again in case I missed something, but still nothing. A quick check on our perimeter cameras show’s her car parked exactly where she left it, on a ridiculous angle between mine and Pops’ houses, pretty much blocking the path .
My fingers tap on my desk and I wait for my body to relax. No point in getting worked up about nothing. There is no real trouble the two of them can get into. Unless you count the scum that Tombs Security investigates on a regular basis. Not all people trafficking is women from poor countries. People would be astounded if they found out that the lovely couple in their cul de sac aren’t the biological parents of their kids. Enough money means you can pretty much buy a nuclear family. Kids are taken everyday to sell on the black market to infertile couples. I close my eyes, and breathe, consciously focusing on lowering my heart rate. I’m sure they’re fine. I mean, they may have just popped over to visit Pops. My shoulders loosen and I tap a few keys, bringing up the tracker I put in Juno’s little carseat. And the one in her baby carrier thing. And the one in her diaper bag. It may be a little much, but this kid is in my care and it will never be said that I wasn’t doing my absolute best to keep her safe and well.
The location of all three trackers light up in a cluster on my screen, meaning all three of them are together. That’s good. Leaning closer and squinting I check the map, then the satellite images of the maps. How in the fuck did they get to town if Violet’s car is at home? And why the fuck did they go to town? Violet never said anything about taking Juno anywhere. 20 minutes ago they were at home, where I saw them safe and sound. Don’t they know what type of people are out there?
Standing abruptly I snatch my keys from where I’ve left them on my desk and stride out of my office, crashing into Gus on the other side of my door.
“What the fuck! Move!” I growl, Gus’s brows flying up.
He opens his mouth to speak, then closes it, tilting his head to assess me .
“I don’t have time for your bullshit, get out of the way, Gus.”
I barge past and make my way to the elevator, mashing the button incessantly until it opens. Stomping inside I hit the ground floor button, watching the doors close in, cutting off the view of Gus texting. Then his fat hand shoots out and jams into the doors before they close and he climbs in with me.
“So, brother, where are we going and who are we dealing with?”
Violet
I dance around to the tinny music in the supermarket with Juno frowning at me from her position in the shopping cart. I have never in my life met a baby with resting bitch face. It’s almost crazy. But then I guess you see her dad and it’s a face she comes by honestly at least.
“What else do we need, girl?” Sidney, or Pops, as he told me to call him, asks.
“Well, do you want them healthy or unhealthy?” I’m not sure if he’s a healthy eating type of guy normally. I mean, for his age he’s in good condition. Still very spry, but I guess love will do that to a man, and whoa, does he love his woman!
He’s told me a million times how amazing a cook Debs is, so I’m not sure how I’ve ended up here, at the supermarket buying ingredients for tamales, but hey, it gets me and Juno out of the house. As lovely as Jules’ house is, it’s very manly and expensive looking and not overly comfortable. He seems to really like architectural type furniture so his couch looks amazing but it’s as hard as a brick. It’ll be interesting to see if he ever changes that out, now that he has a baby. My brother’s house is full of soft squishy furniture with no real edges because his kids keep walking into things. In their defence, they’re only two and head height to a lot of stuff. I’m sure they’ll grow out of that. Eventually.
“What’ll happen if I opt for the unhealthy ones?” Pops asks, his eyes narrowed.
“Nothing, they’ll just taste infinitely better.” I shrug.
“Unhealthy.”
“Good, grab the lard for me?”
Pops hustles off in that direction and I push the cart further into the store. Before I can get through the frozen section I’m stopped in my tracks by a 6’2 wall of man with a scowl deep enough to make a normal woman crap her pants. But alas, I’m not a normal woman and a big grumpy man isn’t going to scare me. Although he does make my down belows tingle. I ignore that and hold his eye contact to see if he’ll move.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jules growls at me.
“Shopping. What the hell are you doing?”
He looks taken aback at my question, but recovers a lot quicker than I expected. “I’m the one asking questions here. Why the hell are you here and not at home?”
Oh, so that’s how he’s playing it? “I am employed to nanny your child. The contract is completely clear on my tasks, which all involve child care and some housekeeping. What the contract does not state is that I have to do all of that from your home. Also, as a ground rule, I refuse to answer questions if they’re barked at me.” I mean mug him for a moment, which probably isn’t that intimidating given that he’s a foot taller than I am and made of muscle, whereas I’m made of cheesecake.
“Hmph,” he grunts at me, “As the father of the child you are caring for, it’s my right to know where she is at all times and if you are to leave that you inform me of this. I wasn’t informed that you would be leaving.”
My eyes narrow at his wording. How did he know we left the house? And how did he know where we were? Glancing around the supermarket I look for clues as to how he knew where to find us. Pops doesn’t seem like a snitch, and he also doesn’t look the type to put up with any shit. Turning to look behind me I notice the other two Tombs men, both hiding unsuccessfully. If they were here earlier Pops and I would have seen them. Turning back to Jules I narrow my eyes, mirror his stance and then it hits me. The family owns a high end security company.
“Are you tracking me?”
He scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Not you. Her.” He nods to Juno who is smiling up at her daddy, the first real smile I’ve seen her give.
Huh. For a man that shows little affection, it’s kinda heartwarming that he cares enough to have a tracker on Juno. Heartwarming and a little crazy but hey, there are worse things to be.
“Fine, so you tracked us here and the plan was to interrogate and or scare me enough that Juno and I stay home forever?” His eyes dart to his siblings for help. I spin toward them and they jump, then take off further into the store.
“Yes. I guess,” he mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck.
I stare him down, trying to get a read on the man. He acts disinterested about most things, and then has a freak out about us leaving the house. I know that he has to work overnight sometimes, and my brother has alluded to the fact that Tombs Security works alongside the alphabet agencies and the MC, so maybe he knows something I don’t know? I decide to cut him some slack. For the moment.
“Well, how about I send you a message if we leave the house and we leave it at that?”
Before he can answer Pops comes around the corner, slowly at first then speeding up when he sees Jules. “What the hell are you doing here? Violet is with me today, so stop sniffing around and get back to work. Fuck’s sake,” he grumbles.
“I should have known you’d have something to do with this,” Gus says, coming to join us in the middle of the aisle.
“What the fuck is that meant to mean?” Pops growls.
The Tombs start to bicker about something amongst themselves. Well, Gus, Tav and Pops do. Jules is glaring at me saying something but I’m mesmerized by the scene taking place over his shoulder.
“Violet, I asked you a question,” Jules voice breaks through momentarily and I’m not sure whether I should pay him attention or find this kid’s parents. “Violet! Are you listening to me?”
I really want to tell him that actually, no, I’m not listening to him, but I can’t. Because right there behind Jules’ back, that ginger bespectacled kid from my sister’s class is making the blowfish face that you do on windows. From the inside of the frozen meat case. I have no idea how he crammed his chubby body in there.
“Violet!” Jules growls before he whirls around and stops. Frozen in place. “What the fuck?”
“What?” a chorus of Tombs voices all call out.
We all stare at Rodney for a moment before Gus snaps to attention, “Shit, how the hell did he get in there?” He walks over and pulls the door. It doesn’t budge. He investigates the door for a moment, tugging here and there. “It’s like, fixed shut. I think the kid might be stuck.”
“I’ll go get the store manager, you lot figure out how to get him out of there.” Tav races off as Jules, Pops and I all look at each other.
“He’s a tubby fucker. I’m sure that’ll keep him warm until we can get to him,” Pops says very seriously. So seriously in fact that I burst into laughter.
Jules stares at me like I’m insane. “There’s a kid stuck in there, Violet. Who knows how the fuck they’ll get him out.”
“He looks really wedged in there,” Gus agrees.
I roll my eyes, damn men. “Here, watch Juno for me,” I tell all three of them, Tav still off in the store somewhere.
“What are you going to do?” Gus eyes me, “No, seriously Violet, this is an actual emergency. Probably will need the fire department or something.”
I ignore his comments, storm up to the door and knock directly where Rodney’s mouth is wide open, pressed against the glass. He leans back so he can see me better, then a wide grin covers his face as he yells “Pirate!” clear enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear.
I let out a sigh, then concentrate on the matter at hand. “Rodney, get out of the meat case.”
He smiles wide, but refuses to budge. He got in there himself, he can get himself back out. “Rodney, get out of there, right now.” He shakes his head and blowfishes the glass door again. He thinks he’s winning, but I have his number. I slap my hand against the door before threatening, “Rodney, if you don’t come out of there right this minute I will tell Miss Davies that you were being naughty, and naughty boys don’t get to use hot glue guns do they?”
His eyes go huge and he starts to wriggle sideways like his life depends on it. I step back and take my position at the cart handle. Juno is wide-eyed watching the goings on.
“How the hell did you get him to move?” Pops asks.
“His name is Rodney and he’s the kid who painted my boobs the day of the interview. He’s in my sister’s class and covets the hot glue gun. He’s been working on his behaviour to earn enough stars to use it. He’s almost there, so I threatened to take that away from him.” I shrug.
All three men slowly turn to look at me. We stare at each other, the only noise the sound of Rodney’s big, pale belly dragging across the glass of the door to the frozen pizzas.
“I bet you were a mean nurse,” Pops says, eyeing me.
“Hey, this is the manag-oh look! He’s getting himself out,” Tav says, just as Rodney pushes open the door next to where he was wedged and steps out into the aisle.
“Not cool, Pirate, not cool.” He points and narrows his eyes at me before waddling away.
“Pirate?” Pops says, turning to look at me.
“Don’t ask.” I turn my attention to Jules. “So, you were saying?”
He stares at me a moment, “Fuck it. Just tell me if you’re leaving the house.” I narrow my eyes at him. “Please.”
I nod once. “Better. It’s amazing how far you can get with good manners, you know.”
Gus and Tav snort and Pops smirks and waves the middle finger at Jules as we head off to finish our shopping, Juno frowning at the world from her carrier.
“That went well, girl,” Pops says after a minute.
“What’s that?” I ask, grabbing the things we need off the shelves and throwing them in the cart.
“Your first showdown. Jules is an asshole of the highest order. Love him, but he’s a moody pain in the ass. The fact that he knows you’re not a pushover is a good thing.”
“Hard to be a pushover in my family. You’ll be destroyed at the mere whiff of weakness.”
He nods once. “I’m going to love having you around girl, I think you’re exactly what he and that baby need.”