Chapter 18
Overdrive
“What are you doing?”
Glancing over my shoulder at Flir, I grinned and grabbed one of the camp chairs nearby, pulling it closer as I motioned for him to sit. “Catching the show.”
“Show? What-”
Loud swearing cut him off, drawing his attention. We both watched as Bolo threw a water bottle at his older brother. Isaac laughed as he dodged the bottle and flipped his brother off.
“It’s going to be chaos around here with that whole family on the compound,” Flir said, blinking slowly as he watched the brothers meet in a clash of muscle.
“How the hell am I going to keep inventory… They’re all monsters and probably eat a metric ton.
” As if Flir wasn’t a big guy in his own right.
He was six-two and had a six pack that made most women forget that he was a bit OCD.
Isaac wasn’t as big as Bolo, but he was still a big fucker and, having a family with three boys, wrestling over disputes wasn’t uncommon. Even Chad, their father, joined in most of the time.
“When isn’t it chaos?” I asked, watching the brothers roll around in the dirt with amusement. I didn’t bother to address the inventory thing. He’d figure that out.
As expected Bolo ended up on top, shoving his older brother’s face into the moon dust and rubbing it around. Not many managed to get the upper hand on Bolo. Not since he was about ten anyway, according to his father.
“Their poor mother,” Flir said, ignoring my obvious comment, with a shake of his head.
“She fucking loves it.”
We both looked up when a shadow fell over us. Chad sat down in one of the empty chairs and watched his boys exchange blows.
“You sure?” Flir asked, doubt heavy in his voice.
He chuckled. “Yeah. She resigned herself to being a boy mom pretty early on, and really she’s a pro at it. All it takes is a look, or even worse, the mom tone, and all three of them straighten up real fucking fast.”
“Just them?” I teased.
He snorted and took a swig from a beer bottle. “Like I’ll admit that in front of you two assholes.”
“Do I even want to know?”
I didn’t need to look to recognize Ruck’s exasperated tone. “Just working out some differences,” I told him.
“That’s not going to happen every day, is it?” he asked Chad.
Chad shrugged and kept drinking his beer. “If it gets bad I’ll replace the plastic water bottles with glass.” He winked at me. “That’ll put a stop to it, one way or another.”
“He’s kidding right?” Flir asked, mild panic on his face. “Right?” I shrugged.
Sighing, Ruck sat down. “May as well watch,” he explained when we all looked over at him.
“Entertaining as hell,” Chad said. “Shoulda seen the first time Bolo called me out.”
“Called you out for what?” I asked.
“To prove he could win against me in a fight.”
We were all staring at him now.
“Come again?” Flir asked.
He frowned at us. “Didn’t you all challenge your fathers?”
“No,” Flir said, looking at him like he’d just admitted to something completely crazy. Like going to bed without doing the dishes first. Or not counting the forks…whatever weird shit got Flir all worked up. Leaving coffee mug rings on the table. Shit like that.
Ruck raised his brows. “Never did that.”
“You should try it,” Chad suggested.
“I don’t think I’d win any points for beating up an old man,” Ruck said with a grin.
“I’ve met your dad,” I told him. “Pretty sure he could still take you even in his seventies.”
He chuckled. “We’re not going to find out any time soon.”
“I don’t have a dad,” I said, raising my hands in defense when Chad’s eyes turned to me.
“No fucking excuse.”
“What?” I asked with a shocked laugh. “Was I supposed to challenge my mom?”
“You hit your mama, you’ll be dealing with me,” Chad said, putting his finger in my face.
“I’d never hit my mama- Mom,” I replied, wondering how the hell we’d gotten to this point of the conversation.
“So what happened?” Flir asked. “When Bolo challenged you?”
“He was bouncing around like an idiot,” Chad said with a smile. “Like he was fucking Rocky or some shit. Waited until his kangaroo ass bounced just close enough and hit him as hard as I could in the gut.”
We were all staring again.
“How old was he?” Ruck finally asked.
“Ten.”
“You took a cheap shot at a ten-year-old?” I asked in disbelief.
Chad swiveled in his chair and turned a disapproving scowl my way.
“That bastard was my height and had thirty pounds on me by that point. Bet your right fucking nut I gave him a cheap shot. If I didn’t take him down right then and there, we’d be doing it again when he was twelve and was even more of a monster, fuck that… ”
“So how old was he when he tried again?” Ruck asked with a laugh.
“Fucking week later,” Chad muttered. “My sons are stubborn.”
“Wonder where they get that from,” Flir muttered, avoiding Chad’s narrow eyed look.
“Did he win?” I asked.
“Learned to keep his trap fucking shut and get down to business from the first time,” Chad said. “So I had to cheat in a different way.”
We all hooted with laughter while the man sat there beaming with pride, then covering it up with a glare if any of us looked at him for too long.
We fell silent as Relay stalked over to his brothers. They were still rolling around, though they were gassing out and moving a lot slower. Ruck just shook his head as Relay kicked out and caught Bolo in the ribs with his boot.
Bolo rolled to the side with a pained grunt. Isaac laughed, but it was quickly cut off when he took a fist to the face. “Asshole!” he snapped at Relay.
“We’re on a timeline here,” Relay told them. “Get it together.”
“That’s gotta be like…a foul…or some shit,” Flir pointed out.
“They’re brothers.” Merc walked up, eyeing the cloud of dirt the men had kicked up. “No such thing as a foul. Anything goes.”
“How much blood did your wife have to mop up while they were growing up?” Ruck asked Chad.
“A lot. Still does,” he said with a grin as he shoved out of his chair. “Don’t worry boss man, we’ll have these apartments done on time.”
“Not if he keeps stopping for a beer,” Flir said, though quieter than normal.
“Yeah, you go ahead and tell him he can’t have those,” Ruck challenged.
Flir scoffed. “I’m not the president.”
Ruck laughed. “As the president, I’m going to say as long as the work gets done and done well I don’t give a shit if he’s drunk off his ass.”
The sun was just starting to go down as we jammed tiki torches into the ground to light up the area as Mercy, Rue, and Code brought out the food.
I reached out and grabbed my girl around the waist, reeling her in toward me. “You helped cook this?” I asked, mouth watering as Mercy uncovered a seafood boil.
She made a face. “Help is a relative term…”
I sat on one of the benches and pulled her down onto my lap, ignoring the way she stiffened up.
She’d get used to me putting my hands on her in front of the others soon enough.
Same way I’d get used to my brothers shooting me those shit-eating grins.
I flipped Drifter off as he made a kissy face behind Rue’s back.
“Appreciate any help you gave,” I told her in a low tone. There was a lovely shade of red creeping up her neck and I knew it wasn’t from the heat. Summer was creeping in, but the heat wasn’t the culprit here.
“I appreciate the help you’re giving me,” she countered.
“We’re not going to be keeping score,” I told her, dismissing her gratitude.
She put her hands on my chest and I had to fight the urge to preen like a fucking peacock. She leaned in until her face was near mine. “Can I sit on the bench? Please?”
“I kind of like you here.”
She nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t like everyone staring at us.”
“Fair enough.” I released her hips and watched, a little mournful as she slid that delectable ass off my thighs.
Everyone was piling onto the benches and into the chairs surrounding the different tables we’d dragged out here earlier in the day. I scooped up a portion of food and set it in front of Rue. Then I focused on my own.
“I can’t eat all that,” she told me.
“I can,” I replied. “Have what you want and I’ll take care of the rest.”
She gave me a dubious look. “How do you stay so fit?”
Grinning at her, I took a bite of cornbread, then swallowed. “Good genetics. And lifting. Keeps me in shape and helps me work out some of the demons.”
“Demons?” she asked, cocking her head.
She was going to learn about that side of me soon enough. “Military took me as an eighteen-year-old kid and molded me into a killer,” I told her point blank. She didn’t even blink as she listened. “I go too long without doing something physical and I end up having impulse control issues.”
A look crossed her face. She was so damn expressive.
I read it for what it was immediately. “I’d never hurt you,” I told her.
“Just end up with an overabundance of energy and aggression that I either work off in the boxing ring with these assholes, or I take out on the scum of our city.” I shrugged as her shoulders relaxed.
“It’s better if I keep ahead of it. We’re all like that. ”
Grabbing a piece of shrimp, I slipped my hand down and let Norman have it. A long tongue lapped at my fingers in appreciation.
“Can he eat that?” she asked, giving me the stink eye for feeding her pet questionable food.
“Sure,” I said. “Worst thing that could happen is Rottie farts.”
“Rottie…what?”
I chuckled. “You’ll find out for yourself soon enough.”
Merc, Hype, and Code sat down across from us. Code had a wide smile on his face as he glanced between us. “Soooo…”
“Great, the girl band is here,” I commented, putting a stop to whatever idiotic quip he was about to voice.
Hype gave me a sharp look. “The fuck?”
“I mean the three of you are inseparable," I pointed out.
“Probably do each other’s hair,” Strike said, mouth full of food.
“At least we have some table manners,” Merc pointed out, looking not in the least bit fazed by the topic of conversation.
“We’re not inseparable,” Hype said, getting back to the topic at hand. “These assholes just follow me around.”
“You wish,” Code said.
“Fuck off,” Merc replied at the same time.
Rue shook her head, smiling as she listened to us. I enjoyed seeing her relaxed and enjoying herself. I planned to keep her that way as much as possible.
Shit was going to get crazy by the end of this so I fully planned to take advantage of the down time to get her used to being around me.
To date her. To do whatever it took to ease any worries she had.
I wasn’t sure when I’d gone from ‘I want to sleep with this woman’ to ‘I’m keeping her’, but that was the new plan.
It’d only been a few days, but that was all I needed.
Seeing the hurt on her face when she explained what’d happened with Ryan.
The fear after she’d found Teddy, and seen the shape he was in, made me want to protect her from everything this world could dish out.
She brought out a protective side of me I didn’t realize I could have for a singular person.
I knew protecting innocent people was a compulsion for me, just like it was for my brothers, but I never thought I’d find a woman I wanted to keep and protect for myself. Turned out I was wrong.
Now I just needed to convince her that staying with me was in her best interest, without sending her running. I had a feeling it was going to be a challenge.