From The Ashes (The Knights of Mayhem Book 3) (17 page)

“Let’s go to bed.”  He carries me up the stairs to his room, he sits me on the bed and I realize I haven’t answered his question, the one that had started the whole fight. 

I grab his hand before he can pull away and take a deep breath. “I’m on the pill. I have check-ups every six months so I can be tested for anything Marcus could have brought home to me.  My last visit was a month ago.”  I swallow the lump in my throat then continue because I know this is going to be just as hard for him to hear as it is for me to say.  “I haven’t been with him since.”  I look up into his blue eyes, watching them soften.

“Was that so damn hard?”  His voice is low. 

“Kinda.”

He falls to his knees burying his face in my lap.  “Oh baby I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

I cradle his head.  “I never gave you the chance to.”

Roman

The smell of bacon drifts up from the kitchen, jogging me from one of the best hard-on inducing dreams of Hollis.  “Hmm, I’ll have to convince her to do that later,”  I mumble as I throw my feet over the bed.  I rub my hand through my nappy hair and the sight of all the clothes scattered on the floor makes me laugh.  I look at the clock—7:00 am. Damn, I overslept.  I scramble to run through the shower and hurry downstairs. 

When I round the corner into the kitchen, I stop.  She has music playing quietly and is dancing around while making breakfast.  I cross my arms over my chest and lean my shoulder against the door jamb and watch her.  Her body moves fluidly with the music.  I smile as she begins to sing along.  She can dance, that’s one thing for sure.  I could get use to this, her being here cooking me breakfast, making sure dinner is on the table for me when I get home from work.  Even the house being filled with music and her laughter.   

“Oh shit, Roman.”  Her hand flies up to her chest to cover her heart.  “How long have you been standing there?”

I cross over to her and take her in my arms.  “Long enough to know if you can move like that, I nowhere near did my job last night.”  I kiss her forehead.

“Oh, you did a fine job. That’s why I’m dancing around.”  She smiles and kisses me back.  “Now let go or your eggs are going to burn.”  I release her and step back.  “There’s coffee if you want some.”  She points to the coffee pot beside the fridge.

I pour me a cup and sit just in time for her to place a plate in front of me.  “Thanks, babe. It looks great.”  I dig into the plate full of eggs and bacon, swallowing my first bite then wiping my mouth before looking at her.  She’s leaning against the counter, drinking her coffee.  “You not eating?”

“I already have. Emily will be here in a minute and we have a long day ahead of us.”  She turns to wash out her cup and turns back to me with a knowing look on her face. 

“Emily told you?”

“Well, not really, but she did ask me if you were going to let me stay alone tonight.”  She raises her eyebrows.  “So, are you, or do I need to pack a bag?”

“I’m sorry. With all the shit that went down last night, it slipped my mind.”  I push the chair back and pat my leg.  “Come here.”  She crosses over to me and slides down into my lap.  “No, I’d prefer you stay with Emily.”  Her shoulders slump but she doesn’t argue.

“Okay, but is this going to become a frequent thing?”

“Babe, you know the job … all-nighters are a part of it.”

“Are you going to work all day then sit on the house all night?”  Her voice is laced with concern.

I tug her into me and kiss her temple.  “No, I’m going to knock off around one and come home to get some shut eye.  But you can come home and keep me company until I drop you off at Cowboys.”  I smack her ass, making her jump.

“I’ll see what I can do. Emily might be taking off early, seeing as how Cowboy will be gone all night.”  She stands, rubbing her ass cheek.  “That hurt.”  She gives me the pouty face. 

“Well come back over here and let me kiss it and make it better.”  I tease, holding out my arms.

“Oh god, please tell me Cal and I are not this gross?”  Emily interjects from the door.  I’d been so distracted with Hollis sitting on my lap I hadn’t heard her come in.

Hollis blushes and I laugh.  “Nope, you’re five hundred times worse.”  I stand, taking up my empty plate and placing it in the sink.  I give Hollis one more kiss and we’re all three out the door.

Chapter Fifteen

Roman

I have sat in this fucking van until my back has started to hurt and my ass is numb.  We’re going on three weeks of nightly surveillance.  “I’m getting to old for this shit, man.”  I turn to Cowboy who’s started to snore beside me.  “Why don’t they have rookies out here doing this shit instead of us old fuckers?”  I lean up and arch my back, trying to work out the kinks.

“Fuck if I know,”  his sleepy voice replies.  The steady flow of in and out traffic happening at the house has the camera on the dash clicking every two or three seconds. 

“Leo say if it was this busy last night or not?”

“He said they had more traffic than he was comfortable with.”  He yawns, rubbing his hands over his bald head.

“You think it’s all for show?”

He adjusts his big frame in the driver’s seat.  “Could be, but Kent doesn’t want to back down and let it be.”  He turns to me.  “What do you think Markus is playing at?”

I study his words hard and bounce them around in my head, but it always comes out to the worst scenario I could possibly think of—he wants Hollis, and he wants her dead.

Although I’m not quite sure how he’s going to do it, I know it will happen.  He wants us to relax, let down our guard to the point that he can take her off the street if he wanted to. 

“Not sure, but with Megan and all, he’ll want Hollis dead.”

“Agreed, but I don’t think it’ll help anything if the others know about all of it right now.”  The sound of loud pipes draws our attention to the four motorcycles pulling up into the drive.  They’re wearing cuts and for a moment, it makes me miss mine. 

The top rocker announces the Hell’s Bastards have arrived.  Cowboy and I both sit up in the van, watching them dismount their bikes and enter the house.  “Son-of-a-bitch.”

Cowboy takes out his phone and dials Leo.  “It’s four o’clock in the fucking morning.”  Leo barks over the line.

“Yes, asshole, I know, but you might wanna know the Bastards just showed up.”   The Bastards have been on our radar for several years.  They’re an outlaw club that ran in the same circles we had before we’d been outed, and now they know we’re DEA, and they know that we know they’re nothing but a big bunch off fucking trouble.

“Holy shit, man. What the fuck are they doing here?”  I ask the stupid ass question.  It’s stupid because we know what they do, and what they do is traffic drugs, run guns, and bust up every bar they set foot in.  Cowboy ends his call with Leo.  “What did he say?”

“We’re bringing in Oz.”  Oz, being Oz Kellen, the president of the Hell’s Bastards chapter in our area.

“Damn. What’s been a long night just turned into a very long fucking day.”  Cowboy throws his phone on the dash.

“That it did, brother.”  I take a deep breath.  “You think he’s working with Markus?”  The thought scares me because Oz Kellen is one sick motherfucker and has men that’ll do just about anything. They have no rules or morals.

“God no. He would never work with or for him, but sell his shit?  Yes. Oz is all about the almighty dollar, brother, and you know it.”

“We’re fucked if he employs Oz and the Bastards.”

“So that’s why we offer Oz a deal he can’t refuse,”  Cowboy says with more confidence than he should have, or maybe he has knowledge to back it up.

~~~~~~

Leo, Dalton, and Eno are sitting at the table when we make it back to the clubhouse.  The only person who’s strangely absent is Kent.  I yawn as I take my seat―the late nights and long days have started to take their toll on me. 

“Is he out there?”  Leo asks as Cowboy takes his seat.

“Yeah, but they aren’t too happy about it,”  Cowboy answers him.  “I had Beeker get them some beers while they wait, so that might smooth things over.”

Leo lets out a long breath.  “Unfortunately, this is how we’re gonna have to play this thing.  How much did you catch them with?”

Cowboy looks to me to answer.  I sit up, clearing my throat.  “Enough for several hundred people to get high for days.  Add to that, they’re four hundred miles from the state they’re on parole in, helped convince them to see things our way.”

“This whole damn situation leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”  Dalton sighs at the way we’re going about getting Markus.

“It makes my skin crawl too, making back alley deals with the very men we’re paid to put away.”  Eno shakes his head.  “I don’t see this ending well.”

Leo throws his hands out.  “It’s either this or dangling Hollis in front of Markus like a fucking carrot.”

“That shit isn’t going to happen.  I would much rather Markus put a bullet in Oz’s head than come around Hollis.”  I interject.

“Obviously, that’s why those fuckers are out there.” Leo points to the doors. 

We all jump to our feet when Oz Kellen comes busting through the double doors. “What the fuck? Are you gonna keep me waiting all goddamn night?”

Leo steps up to him.  “I’ll make you wait ‘til tomorrow after-fucking-noon if I want to, asshole.”  Oz is the same height as Leo and has the same short fuse.  These two together in the same room should be interesting. 

Oz pushes Leo back, making us all move towards him.  “Get the fuck out of my face, asshole. You don’t scare me.” 

Leo holds his hands up to stop our progress.  He straightens his shirt before stepping back into Oz’s space.  “That’s your one, fucker. Lay a hand on me again and you can kiss your fucking riding days goodbye.”  Leo steps back away from him, seething.  I’m impressed the big man has control over his anger.  If this would’ve been a year ago, Leo would’ve put Oz on his ass. 

Leo takes his seat, prompting us all to sit back down, leaving Oz standing at the door.  “By all means, take a seat.”  Leo holds out his hand for Oz to take the empty seat to my left. 

Oz looks at the leather rolling chair then scoffs.  “I’ll stand.  So what kind of fucking puppet dance you gonna make me and my boys do?” They’re about to find out.

Hollis

I toss and turn in the bed, the silence engulfing the house is making me crazy.   Emily, Caden, and I had gone to Lloyd’s for dinner, then came back to their house.  I’ve been staying with Emily every night Roman’s on duty because he and Cowboy were assigned the same nights.   They’ve been sitting on the house for weeks and haven’t seen Markus once, just his second, Mario.  Roman tried not to let me see his worry at the absence of the man, but I picked up on it. He’s short with me on the days after his shifts and it’s not from lack of sleep, it’s from frustration.  I’m eat up with guilt for bringing this back to them, but if I hadn’t, there’s no telling what would’ve happened to Caden or me.  I hated not being able to help. Every time I’d offer, it was shot down immediately. 

I sit up in the bed and throw my feet over the side and head down to the kitchen for a glass of water. 

The house is lit enough so if Caden needs to, she can find her way to her parent’s room in the night.  I stand at the kitchen sink, drinking my water when movement in the backyard catches my attention.  I step back into the shadows and see it again.  He steps out into full sight and at the shock of seeing him, the glass slips from my hand, shattering on the tile floor.  I back away and keep backing up until I’m stopped by a warm body, making me jump and scream.

I turn with my fist drawn, ready to defend myself, but Emily throws her hands up in time to block the first blow.  Grabbing my arm, she jerks me hard, dragging me out of the terror.  “Hollis, what is wrong with you?”

“Outside, there’s a man outside in the backyard. It’s Markus.” I point to the window over the sink. 

She drops my arm and runs to the window to scan the area.  “I don’t see anything, sweetheart.”

I run to stand beside her and point to the place in the yard where I’d seen him.  “He was right there, I swear he was.”  A sharp pain radiates up through my leg. Looking down at the floor, I see a pool of blood around my feet. In my panic, I’d walked through the shards of glass from the glass I’d dropped.  “Oh shit.”

Emily looks down to see what I’m looking at.  “Oh my god, Hollis.”  She reaches for the dish towel.  Bending down, she picks up my foot and gingerly starts picking out the largest pieces.  “We’re going to have to have the light on to get the small ones.”  All the commotion in the kitchen has jolted Caden from bed.  She sleepily walks around the bar, rubbing her eyes with her fist.  “Hey baby,”  Emily greets the child.

“Why is it so loud in here?”  she asks, looking from Emily to me.

“Tend to her. I’ll go to the bathroom and get them out,”  I tell Emily as I look back out the window to the empty yard, telling myself I’m starting to see things. I must be going crazy.

“Okay, I’m going to get her back into bed and call Calvin to let them know what you saw.”

“No, don’t bother. I must be seeing things.”

She shakes her head at me.  “No, I’m going to let them know. Even if it’s nothing, they still need to know.  I’m not dealing with them if they find him in town and we didn’t tell them we saw him here.”  She turns to Caden, placing her hand on the little girls back.  “Come on, baby. Let me get you back into bed.”  She swipes her phone off the counter as she passes it, then leads Caden back to her room.

The pain from my foot is the furthest thing from my mind. I decide to look out the window again before heading to the bathroom, but I’m not seeing things … it’s really him out there. 

I step back and yell for Emily.  I take off running, wincing each time I put pressure on my right foot.  I race down the hall in a blind panic.  “Emily! Emily, he’s out there again.”  I shriek as I round the corner into Caden’s room. 

Emily’s on the phone.  “Hollis, slow down. You saw him again? He’s out there?  Wait Cal, what?  Hollis, did the flood lights come on when you saw him?”

“What?  No, there were no lights … nothing came on.”

“Then how did you see him?”  She’s looking at me like I’ve lost my fucking mind, and I really want to agree with her, but I can’t.

“The street light from the street.”  I don’t understand why she’s being so calm with Markus right outside.

“She said no lights came on, but she saw him in the street light.”  She once again looks at me like she doesn’t believe me.  “Hollis, we have motion activated lights on the house―”  She no more gets the words out when the power throughout the house shuts off.  “Okay Cal, now I’m starting to panic. The power to the house just went out.”

Roman

We sit and listen to Cowboy talk to Emily.  “Wait, what? The power just went out?  Go to our room, get your gun and lock yourself in our bathroom and wait for us. We’re on our way.”  He stands with a panicked look on his face.  “Hollis just saw Markus in my fucking backyard and he cut the power to the house.”  He tells us as he runs for the door with the rest of us fast on his heels.

We leave Oz dumbfounded, sitting at the table.  As we rush to our bikes, Leo and Dalton are on their phones with Avery and Piper, letting them know what’s going on and telling them to take precautions.  We all five jump on our bikes and point them in the direction of Cowboy’s house.

~~~~~~

We cut our engines three blocks away and travel the rest of the distance on foot.  We circle the house, weapons drawn and ready for anything.  The house is dark and there’s no movement inside or out.  I follow Cowboy to the left side of the house while Leo and Dalton take the right side, leaving Eno on the front porch. 

The pale blue glow from the street light reflects off the late night, early morning droplets of dew that have settled on the grass.  I can see some have been disturbed.  I nudge Cowboy’s back and tilt my head to the obvious signs that someone had definitely been walking around the house. 

The sight ratchets up the desperation in both of us. We move a little faster, around to the backyard, meeting Leo and Dalton in the middle.

“See anything?”  Leo tucks his gun in the waistband at his back.

“Yeah, the dew was disturbed.” I say as a desperate Cowboy goes through the pool area to the patio doors, testing the lock.

“And that?”  Dalton points to the cables running to the power box on the side of the house that’ve been cut.  Cowboy frantically takes out his house keys, unlocking the door.  We’re at his back as he cautiously enters the dark, silent house.  We fan out, moving through and using the darkness for our benefit.  We clear each room before standing outside the closed door, leading to Emily and Cowboy’s room. 

“I’ll go in first,”  Cowboy says as he reaches for the doorknob, turning it and gently pushing it open.  The room is silent and empty, just like the rest of the house.  “Emily, it’s Cal. Don’t fucking shoot me.”  He calls into the darkness as he steps through the threshold into the room.

The bathroom door slowly opens, revealing three very scared females.  Caden’s been crying and all Emily can do is hold her as she runs to Cowboy.  Hollis sees me and at first she isn’t sure if she should come to me or not.  I hold out my arms for her and she runs, with a limp, into them, wrapping herself around me.  “Roman, he’s here.”

I kiss her hair and try to calm myself before I answer her.  “I know, baby.”  A knock at the front door has us all turning in the direction of the noise.

“Shit, Eno’s on the porch, and I need to get to Avery because if he isn’t here, where the hell did he go?”  Leo slaps Dalton on the chest as he passes him.  “Let’s go. The rest of you, meet us at the clubhouse.”