Chapter Seven.
Vortex
“Why are you coming downstairs?” Lasher demanded as soon as I entered the rec room. Conversation ceased, and all eyes focused on me. There was an expression of intense curiosity on Lasher’s face.
“Morning, asshole,” I replied, and Lasher didn’t blink.
“Well, boy? Your room is down here.”
“Lasher, you’re aware I’m not a kid anymore?” I challenged.
“Why are you sidestepping the question?” Nanci was now involved.
“There’s a guest up there,” I said, and Inglorious immediately scowled.
“Why are you taking your fuck toy upstairs and not to your own bunk?” he demanded.
“Keep your voice down!” I snapped.
“Why, she doesn’t wanna do the walk of shame?” Daisy-Duke sniped. “Bitch should have made sure she was gone when you’d done with her.”
“Why are you fuckin’ someone in a room that ain’t your own?” Chill asked.
Christ, these were a nosy bunch of fuckers.
“I’ll go kick her out, maybe she’ll want a real man,” Hercules added and flexed his biceps. Nanci and Daisy-Duke both wolf-whistled, which made their men scowl.
“Go near her, and I’ll rip your throat out,” I warned Hercules, and surprise flashed across his features. Everyone stopped their teasing and stared. “It’s Amy. Last night, somebody tried to break into her apartment.”
“Why bring her here? Why didn’t Amy call the cops?” Inglorious demanded.
“Amy thought she’d dialled her Papa. She hit me by accident. I told Amy to phone the cops and rode out. When I got there, someone had placed a wreath by her door with the message, ‘RIP AMY’.”
“Wait a minute, I’ve been reading and watching everything on the crash. Amy’s name isn’t mentioned as one of the survivors,” Nanci said, straightening.
“Exactly. How the hell did anyone know Amy was involved? That wreath is a threat,” I replied.
“Shit. And she’s upstairs?” Inglorious asked.
“Would you have wanted me to leave her?” I shot back.
Inglorious sent me a dark look. “What type of asshole do you think I am? Of course not. Is she okay?”
“No. Amy’s grieving her friend’s death, and now this. I want to think it was an innocent mistake, and they got the names confused, but it rings false. It might be a crank, but I didn’t believe there was any harm in ensuring her safety.”
“Agreed. Did the cops interview her?” Inglorious asked.
“No. They contacted the JTTF, who are sending someone here today at eleven.”
“No rush on their behalf then,” Chill sneered.
“Guess they just think it’s a storm in a teacup,” I replied, even though I felt the same as Chill.
“Not for long,” Nanci interrupted, glancing at her phone. We looked over as she picked up the remote for the huge TV in the rec room and switched it on.
I blinked as the reporter stated that Mr Nathan Coleman, one of the guys who’d survived the crash, had been found dead in his hotel room. It was the guy who’d lost his wife and unborn child. Fuck. Was it suicide or something more? Something worse?
Inglorious and I swapped grim glances. The woman speculated on the cause of death, which hadn’t been released. The Feds were crawling all over the scene, and that worried me.
“Keep Amy close,” Inglorious muttered.
“Your gut kicking in too?”
“Yeah.”
I glanced around at my brothers and saw concern reflected in their eyes. They were all thinking along the same lines as Inglorious and me. Could be that the guy couldn’t live with what happened to his wife and kid. Could also be something darker. For now, I’d prefer Amy stick close.
“You know she’s a teacher?” I asked as Inglorious changed the channel. Nanci made a noise of protest.
“Baby girl, the last thing we want is Amy coming down and seeing that shit. Let Vortex tell her. A teacher?” Inglorious said in an aside.
“Okay,” Nanci replied.
“Yeah, and worked with kindergarten kids.”
“Tell me more,” Inglorious said as Nanci’s gaze wandered around the room and lit up when she saw someone. I followed it and sighed.
Meadow, the cook for the clubhouse, was placing trays of food on the service counter.
Nanci hadn’t got excited because breakfast was ready.
Nope, she had Meadow in her sights and wanted to set her and Chill up.
Nanci needed to tread carefully there because Meadow had severely reacted once when Sabre had startled her in the kitchen.
She’d been completely terrified and clearly had expected a punch or slap—or maybe worse.
Luckily for all Nanci’s ball-busting, my friend had a heart of gold.
She might be pushy, but she’d be gentle around Meadow.
Not so with Chill. Nanci would handle Meadow with kid gloves while smacking Chill with a bat.
The one thing we’d learned was that when Nanci set her sights on something, she’d make it happen.
Chill wasn’t going to get away with ducking and diving for much longer.
I began explaining to Inglorious everything that Amy had told me while we filled our plates. He nodded and asked questions before lapsing into a contemplative silence. It was up to him now.
Everyone was finishing breakfast when it happened.
“Invite her to accompany you to the opening day ceremonies,” Nanci hissed at Chill. Meadow had retreated into the kitchen and wouldn’t hear anything.
“Back off,” Chill retorted. That was a red flag at a bull.
“No. You like Meadow. Ask,” Nanci pushed.
“Used to like you, should I ask you?” Chill challenged, and I choked on a mouthful of coffee.
“What did you say?” Inglorious growled out.
Nanco blinked, unsure what to reply. I tried to hide my laughter at her bewildered expression.
Chill sat back and considered his words before his face twisted in disgust. “Not like that! What’s up with you guys?”
“Hey, wait a minute, what’s wrong with me?” Nanci demanded.
I swapped a look with Sabre, who snickered. We both guessed what was coming because Chill had the foot in mouth syndrome.
“You aren’t my type.”
“I’m everyone’s type,” Nanci retorted.
“Nope, not this guy. You’re too hard to handle, too much hard work, I like an easy life,” Chill continued.
Sabre groaned. “This is going to go so badly.”
“Yup,” I murmured, already amused. Chill just couldn’t see that Nanci was getting offended, and Inglorious looked ready to kill him.
“Are you saying I’m high-maintenance? Difficult? Maybe even…” Nanci broke off as she searched for the word she wanted.
“All that and then some. Add stubborn, crazy, no, make that a raving lunatic and twisted. Yeah, you ain’t God’s gift, babe,” Chill stated. Two growls met his words. Chill looked up as Sabre snorted. Inglorious glowered at Chill, but Nanci looked murderous.
“Chill’s so fuckin’ dead,” Sabre whispered.
“I’ll say,” Lasher said, sitting beside us. “Nanci’s gonna kill him.”
“Fifty bucks, he’ll tap out,” Sabre murmured.
“Bet Nanci makes him cry,” Lasher replied.
“Brother, I’ll match that and reckon Chill escapes as he usually does,” I added. Oil placed his own bet, followed by Razor and Inglorious. Hercules, Moon, and King also got their bets in as Nanci and Chill exchanged words.
Without warning, Nanci leapt from the table and lunged at Chill with a fork. Chill saw the weapon, screamed, and scrambled away. His chair tipped over, which gave Nanci a momentary pause as she decided to go around it. By then, Chill was crab-crawling backward as he eyed the fork in Nanci’s hand.
“Take it back!” Nanci ordered.
“No. Add violent to that, too!” Chill spat. He got up, and Nanci leapt. She landed on him, and the fork got jabbed somewhere that made Chill shriek.
Meadow’s head popped up over the serving counter, and a look of concern crossed her face before she realised Nanci was attacking Chill. Meadow shook her head and returned to work.
I snorted, amused. If Meadow understood why they were fighting, she’d be mortified.
Nanci got a grip on Chill’s ears, and I grinned.
Chill could easily buck Nanci off, but wouldn’t want to hurt her, so she’d always get the upper hand.
This wasn’t about Nanci just trying to bash Chill’s brains in because she wanted him and Meadow together.
She’d admitted to me that Chill had said he wasn’t good enough for Meadow.
That had rankled her. Nanci adored Chill and believed with all her heart that he was a great guy.
If Chill were hurting himself by not pursuing Meadow, then Nanci would want to fix whatever image problems Chill was facing.
The problem was, Chill was hardheaded, and Nanci wouldn’t be able to bash it into his mind that he deserved Meadow.
Chill would have to arrive at that conclusion himself.
Fuck knows why Chill thought he didn’t deserve a good woman.
As far as I was concerned, he was a stand-up guy.
Nanci and Chill’s shrieks reached a higher level.
I spotted movement near the stairs.
Staring in disbelief, a little fear and complete confusion, stood Amy.
I moved across the room quickly before she fled. “It’s okay. That’s just Nanci, Inglorious’s old lady. She’s trying to bash some sense into Chill. The idiot has some stupid ideas about what type of guy he is,” I said.
“Is it working?” Amy asked as she let me lead her to our table. Inglorious and the others nodded a greeting to her.
Nanci glanced up and spotted Amy, and Chill snatched the advantage. He bucked her off, and Nanci landed on her backside. Before she could catch her breath, Chill was up and running.
“Pay up, fuckers!” I crowed. Sabre muttered something as I grabbed the wad of cash.
“You wagered on me?” Nanci demanded.
“Nope, I bet Chill would escape as he always did, and where is the asshole now? Gone!”
“How much did you win?” Amy asked shyly as she glanced around and squirmed when she saw everyone looking at her.
“Four hundred and fifty bucks,” I said. Amy’s eyes widened.
“Wow, you guys don’t mess about.”
“Not when betting. Although the club rules, we’re not allowed to bet each other more than one hundred bucks. In the past, that led to fights. Inglorious installed a rule that no more than fifty per wager,” I explained.
“Seems fair.”