Hot Mess (An Iron Tornadoes MC Romance Book 5) Page 5

  That still doesn't explain how she ended up running drugs, but I'm now confident we'll get there.

  I just need to give her a little time.

  12

  "How did it go with your grandmother?"

  A huge smile grows on her face. She stops bracing herself and answers with passion.

  "She's incredible," she says. "She's in her nineties and still going strong. She's tall and so big." Her hands spread wide to indicate a very large woman. "It must have skipped a generation 'cause in the picture, Dad's so rail thin, it makes me want to cook for him."

  I laugh good heartedly. I love that she's the caring type. I keep to myself the fact that, with such genes, it's probably her father's drug habit that has kept him on the skinny side.

  "She was a teacher, just like Mom. Of course, she's retired, but she barters tutoring kids against some housekeeping and stuff. That's how she's managed to stay in her home."

  I nod to encourage her to keep going while wondering if the pension of a retired schoolteacher is enough to pay for the maintenance in the Pink Flamingo community. It's a rather fancy over fifty-five gated community with serious security. Maybe the drug money her son does is going to some good use. Somehow I doubt it. That sort is more the taking than the giving type.

  "She had many sisters and brothers and so she's got a bunch of nieces and nephews who had kids as well. I guess that makes them my second cousins or something, I've never been big on family stuff..." Her smile vanishes again and she rolls her lips together riding on a rollercoaster of emotions.

  Discovering an instant new family sure must be overwhelming, especially for someone who's still mourning her mother and never knew her dad.

  "You know what the strangest thing is?"

  I shake my head. I have no idea.

  "She doesn't blame my mother one bit for running away with me. She said she would probably have done the same."

  "But you still do?"

  The surprise in her eyes is kind of cute. She didn't expect me to get it, but I do. That's my thing. I don't read minds, I feel. Yeah, that's what I do, and most days, empathy is a curse.

  "I'm so mad at her." She's almost screaming in frustration.

  "And you have every right to be. She did lie to you."

  "But she thought she was doing the right thing."

  "She probably did, but it doesn't change the fact she lied to you for years."

  "So I should be mad at her?"

  I smile and take her hands in mine again. "I didn't say that." She gives me a puzzled look and sighs. "We're not talking cold hard logic here; we're talking about feelings."

  "And?" she says.

  "And feelings are just feelings. They're not right or wrong. Feelings bubble or simmer inside no matter what you think. The logical part of you gets it. When you think about it, you understand that your mother thought the best thing she could do for you, and maybe for her as well, was to take you away and make you believe your dad was dead.

  “And you know what, if your grandmother doesn't blame her for doing it, chances are your mother was right." Kristal tilts her head. "But understanding what she did doesn't make it hurt less. You're in pain 'cause your trust was betrayed and that's painful. Especially since your mother passed suddenly, without giving you a chance to talk it out with her. So there you are, mad at your mom and even more mad at yourself for being mad at a dead woman who can't fight back and justify her actions."

  "Yep, that's about it."

  Her shoulder drops as if she's abdicated.

  "Of course, now I made it even worse by telling you your father lied to you as well."

  She chuckles sadly. "Yeah, he did that too."

  "Will you help me figure out why?" I ask softly.

  "Why would I do that?" She's sincerely wondering and I can't blame her. If I were in her shoes, I would seriously consider packing up and leaving without a backward glance.

  "I could you give you a whole bunch of reasons, but as far as you're concerned, there's only one relevant one."

  She raises a questioning eyebrow. "Yeah?"

  "Those people, the one who made you carry the drugs," she opens her mouth to protest but I don't give her a chance to do so, "they'll be looking for you 'cause you lost them a bloody fortune and they can't let that go."

  Kristal attempts to pull her hands away, but I don't let her. I need the physical connection to get my message across.

  "You're in danger, Kristal, and there's no way I can protect you from them if you don't help me." Her entire body stiffens as if attempting to prevent the idea from entering her mind.

  "Listen to him, Kristal. He's telling you the truth." Ice's voice startles both of us as it resonates in the patio. He's standing by the door, a mug of coffee in hand. "You're in trouble, little girl, deep trouble and unless you help figure out who the source of that crap is, you're the one who's gonna take the fall."

  "But my father ..." she leaves her sentence unfinished.

  "What about your father?" I ask.

  Ice spells it out for her, demonstrating that he's been listening to our conversation for a while.

  "As far as I can tell, there are only two possibilities. Worst case scenario, he took advantage of your innocence to make you do his dirty work." My brother raises his hand to indicate he's not done. "That's one possibility. The other is that he's in a bad spot and that, possibly under duress, he sold you out to save his own skin."

  We give her a few seconds to digest the information. Both possibilities are bleak, but she's not stupid, so why would we try to sugarcoat the truth. She needs to understand what a mess she's in.

  "Why would you want to help me?"

  That's a reasonable question.

  "’Cause I want to find the source of that product and you're our best lead in this case." That's the first reason that comes to my mind. "Also 'cause I think you got tricked into delivering those packages without realizing what their contents were." She nods slowly.

  "You're forgetting the most important reason," Ice interjects.

  We both turn to look at him and he pauses for effect. When he thinks he’s built up enough suspense, he stares at Kristal and adds one more reason.

  One I would rather have kept to myself.

  At least for now.

  13

  "Everest has the hots for you," he says. "Actually I think it's more serious than that." He sighs looking very happy with himself. "At least a bad case of lust at first sight."

  Kristal turns a nice shade of crimson and tilts her head to look at me just in times to watch me roll my eyes at Ice. My brother ignores me and keeps on observing our guest. She's surprised, but clearly not in a bad way.

  Fuck. I have to stop thinking about the fact that the attraction is mutual. My judgement is clouded enough as it is. And anyway, at this point, I can't do anything about it. Well, nothing more than protect her.

  Kristal raises a pacifying hand to put a stop to that line of discussion, demonstrating that she understands that all the reasons I have for helping her are not really that relevant. Whatever they are, she's accepted the fact I'm in charge and is now being practical.

  "So what's the plan?" she asks.

  Damned if I have a complete one. I do have a few ideas, but nothing I could run and present to my captain. For now, the only thing I'm certain of is that I will keep her safe while I finish figuring it out.

  "Are you going to keep her here?" Ice asks.

  "Do you have another suggestion?"

  "Nah. But we're opened tonight, so you'll have to put her upstairs, in your place. She can wait there while we do more digging. Sure beats the station's cells."

  Kristal shuffles in her seat clearly uncomfortable about the fact that we're talking about her as she wasn't here.

  "Do I have a choice?" she asks.

  "Nope." Ice and I answer in perfect unison.

  She decides to take it with good humor.

  "I'm not about to complain," she says. "This place is certainly mo
re comfortable that your local jail."

  "The local facility doesn't have a pool, I'm afraid."

  My mentioning the water makes Kristal smile again.

  "You know what would be really nice? If that's okay with you, I could get my bathing suit and take advantage of the pool."

  "I'm not sure."

  "Why?" Ice asks. "Her car's in the garage. Getting the bag is no problem."

  Watching my expression, Ice understands where my mind has gone. With his best poker face on, he observes, "But then again, if there's no one around but you, she doesn't really need a bathing suit, does she?"

  Kristal opens and closes her mouth like a fish out of water. I watch her search for something to say for a few seconds and then I let her off the hook. I don't want to push her boundaries too far. Well, not yet, anyway. I laugh and shrug.

  "No worries, you'll get you your bag."

  She lets out a sigh of relief and relaxes enough to study Ice's face. Some people see a physical resemblance between us, but objectively, I know it's not there. That doesn't mean we don't have a lot in common. We do. We both have picked up gestures and expressions from our father. Also, but I guess that's not readily visible, we share the same values and trust each other blindly.

  "Come with me," Ice says as he stands. "I'll take you to your car and you can get settled in."

  She looks at me and I rejoice at the fact that she seeks my approval before following him. I nod and only then does she get up and catch up with him.

  While they cross the patio, I wonder what I'm going to do with her. Keeping her safe is one thing, but it shouldn't be my priority. I need to get to the source of the Biker's Dream supply chain and whether I like it or not, she's my only link for now. The kids who took it yesterday are in no condition to give us any information about their supplier.

  What I need her to do is to agree to call her contact again. Yeah, she could say we let her go because we didn't find the stash in her car.

  In a perfect world, they'd set a new drop place, we'd follow her and catch whomever comes to pick up her delivery.

  The problem is we're not in a perfect world.

  I get lost in thoughts until Ice returns, alone.

  "She's up, getting settled in." He takes the seat next to mine. "She asked about Bunny."

  "What did she wanna know?"

  "If she was your girlfriend." He smiles and adds, "I said no and that you weren't the one who had knocked her up either."

  Interesting she would ask ...

  "Would you be open to suggestions?" Ice asks.

  "Hell, yes." If he could come up with a better idea than mine, it would be fabulous.

  "I assume you didn't tell Stevens about her." I nod. His suspicion is right. Even though the captain has become cooler since he married Lisa's mother, he's still very much a by the book type of guy and would have ordered me to bring Kristal and the drugs in right away. "So we have bait."

  "Yeah, the drugs."

  "Her and the drugs." Watching my expression change, Ice puts up his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, bro, I'm not suggesting we throw her to the wolves, just that we dangle her in front of them to get them out of the woods."

  "But we can only do that if she agrees to cooperate."

  "And you're afraid to test her loyalty?"

  "Something like that."

  "You care to elaborate?"

  After checking that Kristal is not back on the patio, I let him know what concerns me. "See, she's just lost her mother, and she's been craving a father's love all her life." I raise my hands in a surrendering gesture.

  "We need a plan B," he admits.

  And for now I'm coming up empty. No clue at all.

  We sit in silence until Kristal returns. She's wearing a sarong, which hides her perfect curves. Ice barely notices. He's just looks at his watch and curses.

  "I was supposed to be at my mother's half an hour ago," he says. "Gotta run. I'll get back as soon as I can."

  I barely pay attention to what he tells me 'cause Krystal has dropped the light material next to the steps of the pool and is entering the water.

  Her bathing suit is sort of an animal pattern, shiny like a snakeskin, almost like scales. She walks down the steps quickly, the expression on her face revealing her love for the water.

  As she starts doing laps, I can't resist the impulse to join her. I make quick work of my clothes and the chill of the water barely dampens my enthusiasm for her. Oh well, I'll have a keel.

  I wait for her to get back to my side of the pool and when she does, I reach out for her.

  She's breathless.

  Is it the laps or me?

  Her eyes are on mine, her gaze intense, searching for answers. The thousand questions she seems to have for me remain unspoken. Wise woman. I like that she keeps them to herself.

  When I pull her to me, she doesn't resist. On the contrary, her soft curves mold against me until my erection presses against her. She only opens her mouth to form a perfect little O and doesn't look away.

  Never have I wanted to kiss a woman so badly.

  I want to but won't unless she initiates it.

  I remain immobile while she continues to stare at me.

  One of her hands comes to rest flat on my chest and the other lands on my face, gentle, tentative. She caresses my cheek with the back of a finger and pushes away a wet strand of hair.

  A very long minute passes until she finds the courage to ask, "Aren't you going to kiss me Ernest?"

  Smug doesn't begin to describe the way I feel this instant. The first battle has been won.

  I watch her eyes close as my lips take hers. She tastes so sweet, I become painfully aware that I'm doomed. She runs her fingers through my hair as I plunder her mouth and wraps her legs around me making me regret not sticking to my first impulse which was to deny her access to her bathing suit.

  As we grind against each other like silly kids in heat, she lets out soft moans of pleasure. The sound is so intoxicating that I stop thinking about anything else but peeling her bathing suit away.

  But my dream doesn't last.

  It suddenly turns into a stupid nightmare.

  14

  It's now my father's voice that echoes in the patio.

  "Everest," he calls out. "Get your ass over here, we need to talk."

  Kristal freezes and pulls away from me slowly readjusting the straps of her bathing suit.

  I release her but only after whispering in her ear, "Later."

  Ignoring Cracker and his arrogant smile, she resumes her lap with a stylish backstroke and a tender smile on her lips.

  "I'll be under the pergola," my old man says turning away from us.

  By the time I have found a towel, dried, and put my clothes back on, my father appears to have fallen asleep on the shady bench on the other side of the patio.

  Instead of waking him, I return to the kitchen to get two fresh mugs of coffee. When I return, the fragrant aroma of the brew wakes him up.

  He reaches out for his cup and immediately starts bitching about the fact that he had to fend for himself this morning since his old lady was called into work. I distractedly listen to him ramble on how inconvenient it was for him.

  His selfishness used to exasperate me. Now I'm more tolerant. Knowing one's days are numbered is enough to make anyone totally self-centered. The fact that he now has an excuse to behave this way makes it acceptable somehow.

  Kristal's no longer alone in the water. Earplugs has joined her and they're chatting away under Pat's supervision. Our Domme in residence is flat on her stomach working on her perfect tan keeping an eye on the swimmers.

  The patio is so peaceful, it's hard to imagine that in a few hours the Styx will open and the quiet will be over.

  I sigh. When did I begin aspiring for calm?

  "Everest!" my father's voice rises to catch my attention. I've been so distracted today. I try to remember what his last sentence was. In vain. He shakes his head and asks, "What's so special abou
t her that your head is so far up her ass you can't be bothered to listen to what I'm telling you?"

  "I have no idea." I shrug. "Pheromones?"

  Cracker frowns. "You mean like chemistry?"

  I nod. That's basically what it is.

  "When shit like that happens, there's not much you can do about it except screw her every which way you can think of until it passes."

  "My father, the last true romantic," I jest.

  He cracks a smile and true to form, adds, "But if that doesn't work, if it doesn't get her out of your system, then there's no choice but making her your old lady to make sure no one else gets to screw around with her."

  He doesn't specify that, as far as he's concerned, exclusivity is a one-way street. His old lady had to be a paragon of virtue while he was the epitome of a womanizer.

  The fact of the matter is, that three decades ago, no one ever blamed my mother for chasing Nancy out of the compound when she could no longer ignore how much Cracker had the hots for that lovely Sweet Butt.

  Only Mom did it a little too late for Nancy's sake. By the time she had moved out, she was already expecting my brother.

  But then again, my father being a cheat was a good thing after all. Ice's presence makes my life easier. Without him, it's likely I wouldn’t have become a cop. The fact that he stood by me when I decided to have a life outside the Iron Tornadoes really helped me.

  "So what are you gonna do about her?" he asks.

  "Use her to take down the network."

  "She's onboard with it?"

  "I haven't had a chance to ask yet."

  Cracker laughs. "Next thing you're gonna tell me is that you were about to ask when I interrupted."

  I ignore his wise crack.

  Asking her to call the supplier was the last thing on my mind when he walked in. In retrospect, I'm glad he did interrupt. He saved me from myself, gave me an opportunity to take some sort of distance.

  "I think I'm going to take her to the hospital," I tell him as the idea pops in my head.

  "What the fuck for?" My father frowns to show his puzzlement. He's unable to figure it out. Yep, he's losing it. He's manipulative enough that a few month ago he would have gotten it. Hell, he himself would have suggested to jolt her out of her illusions about her father with a cruel reality check.