BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (31 page)

“I asked the right person.” 

“Oh yeah?  And who might that be?”

“Come, I’ll introduce you to her.” 

Footsteps began moving toward the dining room.  Niall grabbed Sinclair and pulled her out of view of the doorway.  He didn’t want their presence known immediately. 

“Her, huh?  I like the sound of…”  Joseph’s words choked to a stop as he stepped through the doorway of the kitchen.  He looked at Angela then to his grandmother and son.  Gabriel regarded his father with little to no recognition. 

“Sit, Joseph.”  Angela said sternly. 

“Sit?  What am I?  A pet poodle?”

“
I said sit
!”  Angela’s voice roared.  Dishes rattled in the cabinets, and the sprayer hose in the sink shot a stream of water across the room. 

Joseph jerked a chair out and plopped down angrily.  He glared at his grandmother.  “Why did you take him to her?”

“I didn’t.  I asked for other help and she called her.”

“What help?”

Carla pointed to the opposite side of the kitchen where Niall and Sinclair were standing.  Joseph followed her bony finger with an angry gaze. 

“That’s just great.  I’m sure they were a big help.” 

“Actually, they were.  There may still be a chance to save your son’s life.”  Angela said calmly.  

“There’s nothing to save!  He’s transforming into something greater!  These things take time!”  Joseph leaned into the table, his face becoming flushed and sweaty. 

“If that’s true why didn’t you use it on yourself first?”

“I needed to see it work first.”

“So, you experimented on a helpless child?”

Joseph shook his head.  “No!  Besides…he’s
my
child, and I can do whatever the hell I want with him!  It’s none of your damn business, and definitely not theirs!”  He shot a thumb over his shoulder to Niall and Sinclair.  “So you can just go straight to…”  Joseph fell backwards from his chair, clawing at his throat.  His fingers tried to curl around an unseen object, his eyes bulging dangerously from their sockets. 

“Angela!  Stop this!  You’ll kill him!”  Claude rushed forward to try and help Joseph.  A force knocked him in the chest and sent him to the floor.  He sat up, his face pleading.  “Please…”

Angela clapped once and spoke a single word in the strange ancient tongue.  Sinclair gasped as she saw two distinct wisps of black smoke appear above Joseph before moving behind Angela. 

“Holy hell.”  Claude whispered. 

Niall grimaced.  He knew these things were what Sinclair had seen at the hotel.  He knew they had been the unseen presences all along. 

“Yes, holy hell and all that’s blasphemous in between.  May I introduce to all of you my brothers Marquis and Phillip.” 

“Brothers?”

“Yes, they served their purposes in life, but in death they have been indispensable.” 

Sinclair looked across the room to Carla.  No one had noticed that her head had fallen backwards.  It leaned back as if she were staring at the ceiling, her mouth open in surprise. 

“My God!”  Sinclair breathed and hurried to her, pushing a now standing Joseph out of her way.  She grabbed Carla by the shoulders and shook her, causing her head to loll.  Her eyes were fixed and glassy.  Sinclair frantically touched her wrist and neck.  The room was silent. 

“She’s…dead.”  Sinclair felt a well of tears spring into her eyes as she carefully laid the old woman face down on Claude’s breakfast table. 

“And now you have another innocent’s blood on your hands.”  Angela said stonily, looking into Joseph’s unbelieving face. 

Sinclair watched the ambulance leave Claude’s yard from the camouflage of floral curtains in the upstairs of Claude’s house.  There were no sirens or lights.  There was no need for hurry. 

She wrapped her arms around herself tightly, an anger building from deep within her for Joseph.  Niall had requested Sinclair be hidden and her presence not mentioned to the police.  Gabriel had been hidden with her.  Luckily for everyone, the boy had remained silent. 

Sinclair looked down at the boy.  He had slipped a marred and dirty hand into hers as they watched the proceedings in the yard below.  She had no idea how much he understood, but it was obvious he understood enough to remain silent and solemn.

Sinclair squeezed his hand lightly.  “I’m sorry this has happened to you, Gabriel.”  She sighed and closed her eyes.  “You will have to trust Niall and me.  We will help you the best we can.” 

A policeman flipped a notebook shut and shoved it in his front shirt pocket.  It would be an easy case to close.  A group of friends were visiting.  The elderly woman had a heart attack.  Joseph was even playing the part of the grieving grandson.  Maybe his grief was real, but Sinclair doubted it.  He was probably more concerned with the fact that his permanent babysitter had bit it. 

The floor creaked behind Sinclair, but she didn’t need to turn to know that it was Niall.  She now knew the sound of his footsteps.  She even knew the cadence of his breath.  It was comforting and disconcerting at the same time. 

“We need to wrap this up while we have help.”

Sinclair watched Joseph pull a cell phone from his pocket.

“You better hurry then, Joseph’s on his cell phone outside.” 

Niall hurried from the room taking the steps two at a time as he descended.  Niall waited until the policeman was in his car and driving away before he bounded outside. 

“Joseph!  We need to end this now.” 

Joseph calmly replaced his phone and looked at Niall with red rimmed eyes.  “No, I don’t think we have any business left.  I suggested already for Sinclair to go home.  Both of you need to go.  You have no idea what you’re wrapped up in.”

Sinclair came onto the porch.  Angela was standing calmly watching the increasing tension rise between the two men.  Claude came from the other side of the porch, a man with tan skin and jittery lips close on his heels.  Sinclair wasn’t for certain, but she felt that other people were nearby.  Nearby enough to be in the yard in a matter of seconds. 

The clouds had finished moving in and a large droplet of rain splattered on the railing.

“You need to give the stone up, Joseph.  You’ve caused innocents to be hurt.” 

Joseph whirled and looked at Claude with a deadly stare.  “
I’ve
caused it?  You’re wrong, old man.  All great accomplishments come at a price.”  He turned his attention to Sinclair as a car came slowly into the yard.  Joseph smiled.

“Ah, my Calvary.” 

Niall tensed as four men, one he recognized as having held a gun to Sinclair’s head, emerged from an old Cadillac.  All four were armed. 

Joseph moved to the bottom step of the porch.  He held his arm out and motioned with his fingertips.  “Give me my son, Sinclair.” 

Gabriel tightened his grip on Sinclair’s hand and growled deeply in his throat, moving his small body closer to hers. 

“No.”  She said. 

Joseph turned his head as if he had trouble hearing her.  “What?”

“I said no!  You’re not taking this child with you!” 

Joseph moved up the steps and the men from the car raised their weapons.  The yard became a flutter then a flurry of furious movement.  Several more people emerged from the trees surrounding the house.  All were armed.  No one knew who to point their gun at. 

Niall moved across the yard and up the steps.  “She said no.  You don’t really want him, so leave.”

Sinclair couldn’t believe her ears.  They needed Joseph
and
the stupid stone!

“Have it your way.”  Joseph backed off the steps and made a whirling motion in the air. 

There was multiple clicking sounds right before Niall and Angela both moved to push Sinclair and Gabriel down.  Gabriel began howling against Sinclair’s chest as the first shots were fired.  Bullets zipped from all directions and Sinclair watched in horror as one of the men from the Cadillac jerked several times before falling to the ground; his shirt front bloody and torn. 

Niall opened the front door of the house and pushed Sinclair along her hips and rear end until she was safely on the other side. 

Sinclair pulled Gabriel against her and tried to watch from the safety off the wall on the side of the doorway.  Angela had her arms raised and her head back.  Her smoke brothers were moving in a tight circle around her keeping her in a sphere of safety.  Her mouth moved silently and the light rain became a howling torrent. 

Sinclair screamed as she watched a bullet rip through Niall’s jeans.  He fell to the porch and pounded a fist beside his wounded leg.  His body shuddered and Sinclair could see that he was beginning to shake. 

“Niall!”  She reached for the door and began pulling it open, but Angela kicked it closed. 

“No!  Stay inside!” 

Sinclair watched helplessly as Niall rose to his hands and knees, his torso moving and his chest heaving.  He lifted his head sharply and blew air sharply from his nose. 

Sinclair and everyone else froze.  Niall was enlarging right before her eyes.  His skin was changing color and she was positive hair was sprouting all over his face and body.  He gave another heave and his clothes burst from his body.  Instead of Niall Amrit there was at least a six foot long Bengal Tiger. 

Sinclair felt her mind bend.  The sound of yelling people and running feet seemed odd to her since they all had guns.  Gabriel touched her face and whined.  Sinclair looked down at him and smiled, her shoulders beginning to shake in laughter. 

Angela looked through the screen door at Sinclair with a frown.  The girl was double bent over, her sides laughing.  She froze and raised only her eyes to see the tiger spring from the porch.  Sinclair’s laughter had evaporated into a throat ripping scream.

A Tiger.  Niall’s a tiger
.  Sinclair felt another scream threatening to tear from her.  Gabriel, still clinging to her side, howled and snapped his mouth.  The air shifted and changed.  Sinclair stood, Gabriel in her arms, and watched the scene outside through Claude Monroe’s screen door.  Everyone looked like they were scattering in different directions in slow motion.  The heavens had opened up and rain was falling in thick sheets.  Angela looked back at her and grinned before bounding from the steps into the rain. 

I have to get out of here
!  Sinclair opened the screen door and rooted through what was left of Niall’s shredded ruined clothes.  The keys to the rented Mustang and the hotel room key were easy enough to find amongst the tatters.  She looked out over the yard and saw Niall the tiger lunging towards Joseph.  Angela seemed to be helping him corral the wide eyed man.

Sinclair didn’t waste any more time and grabbed Gabriel up by a skinny arm.  He willingly wrapped his arms around her neck and his knobby legs around her waist. 

“We’re getting out of here, kid!”  She panted and hurried through Claude’s house to the back door.  She dashed through the rain to open the Mustang’s door, flipping the driver’s seat forward hurriedly and putting Gabriel in the backseat.  She fumbled to buckle him in.  Her hands didn’t want to obey her brain.  Rain ran down her back and her hair was soaking wet by the time she roared the car to life.  She had to drive around the front of the house to get away, but she doubted anyone would be able to stop her.  Who would want to?  They all currently ran for their lives, and she doubted anyone would notice except Angela and the tiger named Niall.  Every armed person had forgotten they were armed once they saw a man turn into a tiger.

Sinclair’s hands shook as she aimed the car key at the ignition, missing and having to try again.  She lifted her eyes as a dark skinned man darted past the car.  He didn’t look at her as he sprinted for the brush and tree line beyond.  He disappeared just as she slammed the car into reverse and backed out in a wide arc, barely missing the tree with the swing.  Gravel and dirt flew once the car was in drive and her foot pressed the accelerator to the floorboard.  Sinclair glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Gabriel was smacking his thighs, hooting happily, with a crooked grin on his dirty face. 

The rear of the car wove back and forth as it fishtailed.  Sinclair let off of the accelerator long enough to correct the movement, before pushing her foot back down.  She gripped the steering wheel tightly, her face set.  Niall the tiger stepped into the path of the car, his mouth open wide in warning.

“
I will hit you
!”  Sinclair screamed.  “I
will
do it!”  Sweat broke out across her forehead as he stepped out of the way just in time.  He was so close she could have brushed his orange and black fur as the car barreled past. 

Sinclair took a sobbing breath as the car approached the main road.  She had made it past them.  She was free. 

No
.  She corrected herself. 
Not free.  Just on the run again.  On the run from things I can see and I few I cannot.
     

The hotel staff only gave her a cursory glance as she marched through the hotel lobby with a still hooting Gabriel curled around her torso.  Maybe they remembered him from before.  Maybe the staff was so used to seeing oddities and madness’s presence that they couldn’t do anything
but
give it a cursory glance.  The porter on the first day had informed them that the hotel was haunted.  Had it been Angela’s smoke brothers, or was there another?  She didn’t care to know.  Sinclair shuddered at the thought as she struggled up the steps.  Gabriel was trying to bounce in her arms and his head hit hers several times.

“Come on, kid.  Give the bouncing a break.”  Much to her surprise Gabriel stopped and was silent. 

The hotel room was a welcome sight, and she wished she could hide out there with Gabriel until she could consider what to do next, but this would be the first place they would come to.  The first place
he
would come to.  It was lucky for Sinclair that her bags were still packed.  It only took a quick look under the bed to retrieve a few things that had rolled there when Niall had cleared the bed with one swipe of his long arm right before they had…

“Oh my God, I had sex with a…a…tiger man!”  She wailed out loud and sat on her butt, a small bottle of hotel shampoo clutched tightly in her hand. 

Gabriel entered the bedroom and looked in the bathroom.  He clapped his hands and jumped up and down. 

“Cut it out, kid.”  Sinclair said, and rolled her eyes as she heard the shower come on.  She stood and entered the bathroom, only to find that Gabriel had gotten into the shower and removed only his shoes. 

“Aww, come on!  Now your underwear is all wet!”

“SOOOAAPP!”  He yelled, his eyes and cheeks bunched together. 

“Let’s go to our next stop, then you can bathe.”  She reached for him and jerked her hands back as his jaws snapped together in an attempt to bite her.  “Hey!  No biting!”

Gabriel lowered his eyes, but yelled “SOOOAAPP!” again as he stared at the water running down his legs.  Streams of dirt ran down his legs and pooled momentarily at his feet before washing away.    

“Ugh!  Whatever!”  Sinclair said and grabbed a bar of the hotel soap from her bag.  She handed him a washcloth and pulled the curtain around the tub. 

“Sinclair?”  Niall’s voice called from the sitting area, panic the dominant sound. 

“Great!”  Sinclair said to the ceiling and allowed her hands to slap the sides of her thighs. 

Niall appeared in the doorway a moment later, his hands on either side of the door jamb as if he were about to slingshot himself into the room.

“Sinclair.”  He whispered. 

Sinclair looked him up and down and didn’t know if she should laugh or punch him in the face.  He had some kind of ladies shawl tied around his waist, the material thin enough that she could see his private parts through the black fabric.  She wondered what the hotel staff thought of
that
.  Probably nothing considering this was where Mardi gras happened every year. 

“Sinclair, let me explain.”  His eyes were on her and pleading. 

“Explain?”  She crossed her arms and made her eyes into slits.  “What’s there to explain?  You’re a tiger man thing and I allowed you to make love to me!”  She threw her hands up exasperatedly, once again smacking her thighs.  “I’m so stupid.”  She finished in a mumble. 

“No, no you’re not.”  He moved from the doorway, stepping towards her. 

Sinclair held up a warning finger and backed away.  “Don’t.”

“Please, just allow me to explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it, Niall.  It’s none of my business anyway.”  Sinclair lowered herself by her knee keeping her eyes on Niall, as she reached for the strap of her bag. 

“It is your business.  I told you…I love you…I want you to…”

“Just stop it!  Stop lying to me!”

“I’m not lying.” 

“I promised myself after the Joseph debacle that I would
not
just give myself to a man again.  I would wait…give the relationship time to grow into a real relationship before doing that.  I even considered waiting until I had the promise of or was actually married!”  She zipped her bag closed and shook her head at him sadly.  “But who was I kidding?  No one’s ever going to want to marry me.”

Niall attempted another step towards her, his near black eyes soft.  “
I
do.”

“Right.”  Sinclair said and pushed past him to get to the bathroom door.  She pulled the curtain back and found Gabriel dozing with his back to the stream of water.  She pulled the last thick towel from the rack and wrapped it around him.  He yawned groggily and smiled at her. 

“Clean.”

“Yeah, you’re clean, but your underwear is wet, like I said.”

Gabriel sensed Niall enter the bathroom.  He growled low in his little throat. 

“No!”  Sinclair chided him sternly.  “Be nice.  Even to Niall.” 

Gabriel gave on final rumble before shrugging and letting it go. 

“He likes you.  It’s amazing.”

“Not really, Niall.”  Sinclair said as she tossed the wet towel aside.  “All he needs is a little love and care.  Carla was just too old to help him through…whatever it is he’s going through.” 

“Knock.  Knock.”  Angela’s silky voice called from the doorway of the bedroom. 

Sinclair closed her eyes. 

“She brought me here, and loaned me…this.”  Niall said and gestured to the shawl wrapped around his waist. 

“Great.”  Sinclair took Gabriel by the hand and looked at Niall pointedly until he moved out of her way. 

Angela smiled slyly as Sinclair emerged from the bathroom.  “You love birds can work out your differences later.  Joseph is on the lamb again.” 

“Of course he is.”  Sinclair said flatly.  “I need to see about Gabriel first.” 

“What’s there to see?”  She shrugged lightly.  “I doubt seriously that Joseph ever gave his Grandmother custody.” 

Sinclair shook her head.  “He’s of school age.  Surely the school will be looking for him.” 

Angela twisted her full lips.  “I daresay if he’s ever seen the inside of a school, much less attended one.”

“What?”  Sinclair couldn’t believe such a thing.  Gabriel was at least seven or eight years old, although he did seem a little small for his age.  But to have never attended school?  It seemed too farfetched.   

Angela shrugged.  “It wouldn’t be the first or the last time something like that has gone on.”  Her light eyes slid to Gabriel.  “Deep in the Bayou things are sometimes run by a different set of rules.”    

Sinclair was tired.  It was a bone deep aching kind of tired, but she didn’t see relief in her near future.  She turned to Niall. 

“I need some of that money Enrique gave you.  Gabriel and I will need a place to stay, and he needs some clothes.  I don’t think I should take him back to Carla’s right now.” 

Angela laughed lightly before Niall could answer.  “If you can’t stand to stay with him then you will come to my place.  I can ensure your safety and we can get what you need for Gabriel before we go there.”

“Fine.” 

“Hold on, one damn minute!”  Niall stepped forward, earning him a snap from Gabriel.  Sinclair jerked his small hand and shook her head ‘no’.  Gabriel bunched up his face but, stopped and stared at the floor.

“There’s a bounty out on her.  She has to stay with me.”  Niall lifted his chin. 

“Seriously?”  Sinclair exclaimed. 

“Yeah, seriously.” 

Angela seemed to be enjoying the scene before her.  “Well, now that is a predicament.”  She sighed dramatically.  “The law is the law.  Perhaps you
both
should come and stay with me.”

“What?”  Sinclair and Niall said in unison.

She lifted one shoulder gracefully and turned to go back into the sitting room.  “It would appear the most logical choice.” 

Niall and Sinclair looked at each other.  Sinclair licked his lips and waited.  Her fate was once again back in Niall’s hands. 

“We stay here.”  He said firmly.  “If we need to come to your place, I’ll let you know.”

Angela’s mouth twitched in some yet unveiled source of amusement.  “Have it your way.”      

Walmart wasn’t Sinclair’s favorite place to shop, but it was convenient for their pressing need.  The store wasn’t overly crowded, but the fact that Gabriel wandered around in only shoes and underwear caused every head they passed to turn.  Unfortunately for them, the little boy’s department was in the back of the store. 

Sinclair chose three shirts and two pairs of shorts for him.  She picked out a pack of Spiderman underwear and socks.  She had to guess on the sizes by holding them up to his thin body.  His shoes were in tatters, and they headed to that department next after Sinclair sent a reluctant Niall to the front of the store to pay for the clothes so Gabriel could at least be dressed. 

Niall was brooding and his mood was only getting darker.  It had taken all that he had to not blow up when Angela insisted that she come along to the store.  The way she looked at Sinclair and Gabriel, watching them with a delighted puzzled look, made Niall think of a scientist staring at lab rats in the middle of an experiment. 

He brought the clothes back to Sinclair and waited silently beside Angela while Sinclair took the child into a dressing room and changed him. 

“She’ll make a wonderful mother someday.”  Angela looked at Niall from the corner of her eye.  “Especially if she needs to tend to more…difficult children.”

Niall looked at her hard.  “Do you think us
devils
come out of the womb ready to shift?”

“Of course not, but it’s hardest on the parent who can’t shift to understand when their child suddenly can.  Is it not?”

“Yes.”  Niall replied tightly. 

Sinclair emerged from the dressing room with Gabriel.  He touched the camouflage pattern of his shirt and pinched the stiff fabric of his dark green shorts.