Chapter 11 #2
Lucas nodded.
“So are we done?” Mo asked.
“We’re done, but we’ll need you to come in as soon as you can to make this official,” Lawson told him.
“And with this whackjob makin’ false statements, what’s my girl up against?” Mo demanded to know.
“Hawk’s right,” Lucas answered Mo. “We got him on intent to do grievous bodily harm, stalking, malice aforethought and the Feds got a case. He typed out the letters, but handwrote the addresses, which might have been ballsy, but mostly it was stupid. Threats delivered, an employer took action to see his employees were safe. In these situations, bringing in security details is not unheard of. Even hired security using force when a threat has been identified isn’t unheard of and that won’t be a problem.
The search of his home possibly against his will… ”
Lucas let that trail, but he wasn’t done.
“If the judge can get past that and what was in his house is admissible, though, he’s fucked.
Our search had a warrant. The judge just factors that, we’ll be fine.
As for bail, the letters alone will give any judge pause.
The rest, the DA will drive hard to either have bail set out of his price range or hold him until trial since he’s clearly not all there, so not only a likely flight risk, but just a risk.
She’s good. But we’ll stay on this and if it comes to a point we’re concerned, we’ll be makin’ a lot of calls, so she’s covered. ”
That was what he wanted to hear.
Mo got up.
“Morrison, I’ll tell her myself when I see her again, but if you can get it in, apologize to Lottie for me. Yeah?” Lawson asked.
Game over.
Mo lifted his chin.
Eddie started to make short work of getting Lawson and Lucas out of there, but Mo didn’t hang around to watch.
He took the stairs three at a time and went to Lottie’s bedroom.
Lottie was curled up in a ball, her head in her mom’s lap, her mother stroking her hair.
Jet, on her other side with Lottie’s feet in her lap, caught sight of him and gave him a small smile.
“Lawson and Lucas are taking off,” he told Jet.
Lottie’s head came up and her eyes found him.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I’m good, baby,” he answered, moving into the room. “You okay?”
“She needs her sister’s chocolate sheet cake,” Nancy decided.
“I’ll get on that,” Jet said, scooting to exit the bed.
“How about you get on this and I’ll get on getting those boys to move along?” Nancy asked him, tipping her head sideways and down to her girl.
He was one hundred percent down with that.
Lottie pushed up.
She was down with it too.
Jet touched his forearm as she moved around him.
Mo went to the bed.
He helped Nancy out of it. Seemed she had something wrong with her arm, not a lot of mobility with that. Though the rest worked fine.
Probably a lasting result of the stroke Lottie mentioned.
“Thanks, Mo,” she murmured when she was steady on her feet.
He didn’t wait a long time to ascertain that before he slid in and took her place.
Lottie didn’t hesitate to put her head in his lap.
“Be back, baby girl,” Nancy said.
“Okay, Momma,” Lottie replied to his feet.
Mo gave Nancy a look, she gave him a small smile and moved out of the room.
Mo then gave it a beat, another, up to five.
Then he murmured, “Okay, now, how’s my girl really doing?”
“I just had a blip. I’ll be fine.”
He curled his hand around the side of her neck, ordering, “Stop it.”
She twisted that neck so his hand was light on her throat and she could look up at him.
“Really, Mo, I’ll be fine.”
“That for me, your mom, your sister, a combo, all of us, or are you just lying to yourself?”
She closed her eyes, rolled her body and shoved her face in his gut.
It was for all of them.
Including herself.
He slid his hand into her soft hair, cupped the back of her head and held her there.
It took some time before she said, muffled by his stomach, “I will, you know.”
“What?”
She turned her head slightly to look up at him. “Be fine.”
“It’s just now, you’re not.”
A hesitation before she nodded. “I’m a little freaked.”
“Natural,” he told her.
Her gaze went vague and she muttered, “Feels weak.”
“It’s natural, Lottie.”
She focused on him again. “Yeah, but it feels weak.”
“It isn’t.”
“Okay.”
“ It isn’t ,” he stressed.
“ Okay ,” she snapped. “Jeez. Stop being all supportive and sweet. It’s annoying.”
He grinned down at her. “Right, I’ll snap into being an asshole. How’s that go again?”
“You know, in this moment it’s troublesome you’ve no clue how to do that.”
“I could share that the first time I had your face in my lap, this wouldn’t be my call on how you’d be using it.”
She rolled her eyes and mumbled, “That works.” She stopped mumbling to tell him, “Though I will say my blowjob plans being indefinitely delayed pisses me off.”
“We’ll get there,” he told her.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Not a lot of dudes would be free and breezy with indefinitely delayed blowjobs.”
“The guy who did this to you is fucked,” he announced.
“He’s going to be charged on some serious felonies, three of them Federal indictments.
It’s doubtful bail will be set, and if it is, he can’t afford to post it.
You’re safe. You got a lot of people who love you and will look out for you.
I got all that and I’m with you in your bed, somewhere I’ve wanted to be for what feels like years.
I’m gonna sleep beside you here tonight, not on that fuckin’ couch.
And I’m gonna wake up next to you tomorrow.
With all that, I can wait for a blowjob. ”
Her pretty hazel eyes warmed and she pulled herself up so she was curled in a ball in his lap, not beside him on the bed, her cheek tucked tight to his chest, his arms around her.
Her head in his lap didn’t suck, no matter how he had it.
But still, having her in his arms was a whole lot better.
“I don’t like that I didn’t handle things too well,” she told his pec.
“You handled them fine,” he told the top of her head, pulling her closer.
“I buried it. Acting strong isn’t the same as being strong.”
“Whatever works, works.”
She tipped her head back. “I fell apart, Mo. Lost it in front of everybody.”
“Do you think any of those men care you lost it in front of them?”
“I—”
“Lawson’s kicking himself in the ass a million different ways, he laid it out for you and the way he did,” he shared.
“Education, Lottie. Those men love you. As for Lawson and Lucas, they respect you. And the only thing they’re feelin’ now is honored you’d trust them enough to show weakness.
I’ll tell you what, if Tex, Eddie, Hank, Luke and the rest had a choice, only one , either to be there for you and catch that guy or be there for you to catch you , they’d pick the second.
In a way, they got that. So move on. They have. ”
“But, they’re action men.”
“They’re men like me,” he declared, and her eyes widened.
“When I saw him and knew it was him, my skin itched to be out there to take him down. But every other part of me needed to be with you . Trust me. You didn’t fight Smithie’s decision to keep them in the dark and I can tell you feel bad about that.
But they got to be in on the important part, being here now for you , and they know it. So get over it. It’s all cool.”
“Right. You’re hot. Have a huge cock. You’re spectacular in bed. You approve of my OCD tendencies. And you’re quick as a whip?”
He grinned at her. “That’s me.”
“Then I hit the mother lode.”
Because he could.
He did.
That being, he pulled her up even as he dipped down, and he took her mouth.
He kept the kiss gentle and light.
He wanted more, and he’d get more.
But he’d take it later.
He broke the kiss and asked, “Chocolate sheet cake?”
“Yeah.”
“You gonna eat that?”
“Probably. But Mom’s just using this as an excuse to get Jet to make one because she loves it. Tex loves it. It’s Eddie and the boys’ favorite. But mostly it’s just because Mom loves it.”
He grinned at her.
It faded before he asked, “What’s up with her arm? That happen from the stroke?”
“Yeah. Her stroke. She had it a long time ago. She fought to get her leg back, but we thought she’d never have her arm.
A couple of years ago, some physical therapist was in Fortnum’s, getting a coffee and chatting with Indy while she did.
She’d had some success with stroke patients, even years after the event.
Indy introduced her to Jet, Jet and Tex talked to Mom, they started working and she got some mobility back.
” She shrugged. “Not much. It isn’t strong.
She can’t fully grip or lift anything. But she can use it to shove things around to position them and stuff like that.
Anyway, something is better than nothing. ”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “Though hate that happened to your mom, baby.”
“Me too. But she survived and takes care of herself, Tex takes care of the rest, so it’s all good.”
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“Mo?” she called, and his focus went back to her.
“Chocolate sheet cake means the boys are gonna come over. Since Blanca’s probably watching them, and will hear what happened to me, she’ll wanna know I’m okay so she’ll come over.
If Blanca isn’t watching them, one of the Rock Chicks is watching them, so they’ll come over.
I need to shower. Get ready, albeit belatedly, to face the day. ”
He bent in and kissed her forehead before he said, “I’ll go down and make sure they’re cleared out.”
“I don’t mind them here.”
He studied her closely and saw what he needed to see.
“Then I’ll make that clear.”
She nodded and gave him a little smile.
“Mo?” she called again, even though he was looking right at her.
The smile he gave her wasn’t small. “I haven’t gone anywhere, baby.”
“I know. And that was what I was gonna say. Thank you.”
It might make him fucked in the head, but in that moment, he really didn’t care.
Because Mo knew the most precious thing he’d ever heard in his life was Lottie shrieking, I need Mo!