Head Above Water (Nightshade MC Book 4)

Head Above Water

Nightshade MC: FOUR

By:

Shannon Flagg

Head Above Water @ Shannon Flagg

2015

All rights reserved

Shannon Flagg has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this book under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

Cover design by:

Lina Andersson

Other Works:

Center City Series:

The Only Witness

The Way Home

Nightshade MC Series:

Make It Right

Through The Weeds

All That Matters

Dedication:

In Loving Memory of Oz.

I'll never be able to put on big earrings again without thinking of you.

Chapter One

The bell over the door at Love and Lace chimed; Drea Vargas looked up from the game she'd been playing on her phone. The automatic smile on her lips faded at the sight of her cousin, Frankie, standing just inside the door. It had been about a year since the last time they'd seen one another, the day after his father's funeral, to be exact.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Frankie broke the silence. “Hey Andrea. It's good to see you.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, took them out again. He'd always been a fidgeter, never satisfied to just sit still and be. Uncle Tony used to say it was why he'd always gotten into so much trouble.“What the fuck are you doing here, Frankie?” Drea slid open the top drawer of the counter without taking her eyes off of him.

“Couldn't I have missed my favorite cousin?”

Drea lowered her hand into the drawer; the tips of her fingers brushed along the cold barrel of the gun. “If you wanted to see your favorite cousin, you wouldn't be here.” When they were kids, Frankie had told her they weren't cousins, she was just the half-breed that his father had felt sorry enough for to bring home. There was no love between the two of them and no reason for that to change now. “What do you want?

“I want to talk to you about a very lucrative business offer. You see, Andrea, you're sitting on a gold mine, and I'm not talking about this shop.” He looked around with a sneer on his face. “It is a cute place, though. Shit location. You'd have been better off closer to downtown.”

“I'm not interested in location advice from you, Frankie. Get to the point.”

“I'm talking about your father's business. I know that his entire estate went to you.” His sneer twisted into something more feral. “Funny how that keeps happening.”

“Your father chose what to do with what he earned,” Drea replied. “I'm not interested in rehashing this again. I've got just as little interest in my father's business.” Everything was locked in a storage room. It could rot there or burn, for all that she cared. The look she'd taken into the records, the videos that she'd viewed, were worse than she'd imagined. The memory was enough to make her sick, knowing that she'd been created by a man who had been happily involved in buying and selling humans.

“You've always been a little stupid, Andrea. Let me explain it to you slowly. Porn is big business. Lots of money. And you don't even have to handle the day to day of it. I'll do that. You've just got to sit back and reap the profits. It'll keep this little hobby running until the end of time. Your father might have been a sick fuck, but he had a good business model.”

“He exploited anyone he could to make a buck.” Andrea found it hard to keep her voice impartial. “Fuck the porn business and fuck him. If that's what you came for, you should just go.”

“I can't do that,” Frankie answered. “I need this, Drea. You owe me. If it wasn't for you bending my father's ear, I'd have had enough money for my club. I wouldn't have had to borrow.”

Drea didn't ask who he borrowed from. She'd lived in the same world as he did from the time that she was ten years old. “How stupid are you, Frankie?” She'd thought that she'd known, but obviously she was wrong.

“Fuck you, Andrea. Fuck you.” He lunged towards the counter, a mad look in his eyes.

Drea lifted the gun our of the drawer. “Stand back, Frankie. I'd hate to get your blood and brains all over my new stock.”

“You owe me, Andrea.”

“I don't owe you anything.” She kept the gun on him even when he stepped back. Frankie ran a hand through his ombre brown and blonde hair. He was a handsome enough guy; there was never a shortage of women who wanted him, despite the fact he was an asshole. “Get out.”

“We're not done here, Andrea. I don't care what you say, you do owe me and you will pay,” he threatened.

“Burn in hell, Frankie.” Drea watched as he walked backwards towards the door. She was tempted to shoot him, but it was broad daylight, there were people right outside the store and orange wasn't really her color.

Once she was sure he was gone, she dialed the one person she still kept in touch with from back home. Sarah was the first friend she had made after she'd gone to live with Uncle Tony. Sarah had always known what was going on with everyone, and little had changed. Even though she was now married with two children, somehow she still managed to know everything. If anyone knew about how bad Frankie had fucked up, it would be her.

When Sarah didn't answer, Drea didn't leave a message. Instead she sent a quick text saying that she needed to talk. The rest of the day dragged on with only a few customers, but she did sell several swimsuits and a pair of expensive boots. By the time that she closed the store, she was ready to go home and starving. After Frankie's visit, she'd completely forgotten to get lunch. The idea of having to cook made her feel exhausted; if there was ever a night for take out, tonight was it. Drea debated her choices and finally decided on Italian; she deserved a pizza or maybe something with creamy alfredo sauce. Definitely garlic knots and a nice bottle of wine. She'd consume the feast on her couch, in front of the television in the most comfortable pajamas she could find.

Tomorrow, she'd deal with Frankie and his bullshit.

Just as she was about to close up the shop, the bell over the door rang. Drea bit back a sigh until she saw that her customer was none other than Monroe. He was a member of Nightshade, and if that didn't make him memorable enough, he was also hot. He was naturally tan, with piercing eyes that varied from green to blue depending on how the light hit them. His dark hair and beard were neatly trimmed. It was really easy to picture him naked. “Welcome to Love and Lace.”

“Thanks. Hi,” he replied.

“Hi,” Drea replied. “Can I help you find something?”

“I was thinking I should get something for this woman I've been seeing but...” He trailed off and shook his head.

“You're not sure what to get?” It was a story she'd heard from countless guys. Drea ignored the disappointment that he was involved with someone. Of course he was, look at him! “I can help you find something,” she offered. “If not from up here, I've got another room in the back.”

“I heard about the back room. Sadly, that's definitely not her scene. Actually, I'm not even sure that lingerie is her scene. This stuff is great. I like it, but she's more....”

Drea watched him struggle for the right word. “Maybe something a little less revealing?” she suggested. “I've got a robe and slipper set she might like. Less revealing but still really feminine.” Even as she said it, she knew that Monroe wasn't going to look at anything at all, with the way he was edging back towards the door.

“I'm sure they are, but maybe I need to rethink the gift. Sorry about wasting your time.”

“No worries,” Drea told him. “Have a nice rest of the night.”

“Thanks. You too.” He smiled at her, it really was a panty-dropping smile, and left.

Drea walked to the door behind him, locked it and sighed. Of course, he'd be seeing someone. She was surprised that he wasn't already married or something. Quickly she counted out the register, prepared the meager deposit and dropped it into the safe.

She drove to Gino's, the best pizza place in town, parked in the lot and headed inside. Drea placed her order at the counter and headed over to the benches near the door to sit and wait. As she sat, she felt the weight of seeing Frankie settle on her shoulders. The fact that he'd come to Detroit meant that he was serious about wanting the porn business. He wouldn't make her life easy. He never had.

A wave of restlessness washed over Drea. She was sure that she'd never waited so long for a pizza. She didn't want to be closed in the restaurant, surrounded by so many people. Everyone was laughing, talking and having a good time. As far as she could tell, she was the only one there alone. On a normal day, her mind would have never even registered the fact. But today wasn't normal. A feeling of loneliness joined the restlessness and was followed quickly by sadness. Drea tried to figure out if she was just being hormonal, but she wasn't at that part of her cycle.

“Penny for your thoughts,” a male voice spoke as someone sat down next to her.

“Seriously, Caesar?” Drea found a smile for him.

“Seriously, I've got a penny right here, somewhere.” He made a show of digging in his pockets. “I figure they're some fucked-up thoughts. You're over here looking like someone ran over your dog.”

“I don't have a dog,” she answered. Drea wasn't sure when she and Caesar had become friendly. The first time they'd met, at Love and Lace, he'd actually asked her if she was willing to give him a demonstration of how one of the sex swings worked. When she'd refused, he'd taken it in stride and promised to report back to her with his opinion of it. She'd thought that he was joking, but he'd actually come in a week later and told her.

“You should get a dog. Dogs are awesome. You order already?”

“I did.”

“You in the mood to share? We could head back to my place. You still haven't tried my swing.” There was a teasing quality to his voice, but Drea knew that if she said yes, he'd get serious really quick. “We could eat before or after, whatever you want.”

She considered the offer, nearly accepted it because at that moment the idea of human contact was seriously tempting. For tonight, it would be enough, but when morning, or later on tonight, rolled around, she'd only feel worse. “It's a tempting offer, Caesar, but I don't think so.”

He sighed. “Yeah, that's about right. I had to give it a shot, though. If we're not going to get out of here and have hot against-the-wall sex, we should probably just go into the back. We've got the room for the night, everyone's back there.”

Drea preferred Nightshade in small doses. They were all polite to her, some were even nice like Caesar was being, but when it came down to it, she'd set in motion the events that had taken the life of one of their own. The last thing that they wanted was her being around during their down time with their families. “Thanks for thinking of me, but I can't. I've got something I need to do tonight.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I'm sure.” Relief rolled through her when Gino called her number. “That's me. I shouldn't hold up the line. Stop by the shop one of these days. I just got a bunch of new things in.”

“I'll do that. See you around, Drea.”

“Bye, Caesar.” Drea watched him head for the back, and she turned to the counter. She paid the high school girl behind the counter, turned and headed out the door with her mind on getting home and getting into her pajamas.

She'd made it halfway to the car when she saw Monroe. He hadn't seen her yet, he'd just gotten off of his bike. Drea began to walk faster, used her key to unlock the car doors. The tell tale beep of it made him look in her direction. She waved with the hand not holding the pizza and turned her eyes back towards the car.

“Hey, Drea. Wait up a second,” Monroe called out. Drea stopped, unsure what he could want. “Hey,” he repeated as he came over to her.

“Hey, Monroe. What's up?” She wondered if he'd changed his mind about the present and wanted her to hold something for him. Other than that, she really couldn't think of anything else he could possibly want from her.

“I was going to come by the shop tomorrow, but you're here now, so I figured I should just come over and ask if you want to have dinner with me sometime. Obviously not tonight since you're carrying your dinner, but some day this week.” He flashed her that smile again, the one that made her panties want to fly right off.

Several seconds ticked by as it registered with Drea that he was asking her out. Her mouth opened to say yes but slammed shut when she remembered that he was already seeing someone. “You were just in my shop to buy a present for the woman you're seeing but you're asking me out?” she asked for clarification.

“It's complicated with the woman that I'm seeing,” he explained. “I could tell you about it over dinner.”

“I don't date guys who are with someone. Nothing against you,” Drea held back from saying she'd lick him from head to toe if he were single. “No hard feelings?”

“No hard feelings. I guess that I'll see you around.”

“I'd say that's a safe bet. Probably I should go before my pizza gets cold.” Or before the moment got any more awkward than it had suddenly become. A few hours ago, the invitation would have made her weak, but now it just made her feel strange.

“Let me get the door for you,” he offered and moved to do so before she could say she'd do it herself.

“Thanks.” Drea placed the pizza in the passenger side. “Have a nice night, Monroe.” She felt the roll of loneliness through her stomach as she pulled away from the curb. When she looked back, Monroe was almost inside, which was for the best because if he'd still been standing there, she might have gone back and disregarded one of her cardinal rules.

She drove home in silence, not bothering with the radio. The front porch light was on; she'd set it to a timer. The steady bleep of the alarm greeted her when she stepped inside. The house didn't look like much from the outside, but the security system was top of the line and everything was just how she wanted it.

Drea juggled the pizza and punched in the disarm code. She carried the box into the kitchen with her, set it down and headed straight for what she needed. All of her wine glasses were still in the dishwasher, which she had of course forgotten to turn on, so Drea just carried the bottle with her up the stairs to her bedroom.