Motown Showdown (15 page)

“You understand,” my dad says handing me a loaded forty cal.

“Yes,” I tell him taking it. “I understand.”

“Never hesitate,” he says placing his hands on my shoulders. “Aim true.”

“I will,” I say staring at the target twenty yards away. “And I won’t miss.”

“Pep,” he says pulling me into his chest. “I promised her I’d quit when you were born. Only promise I’ve ever broken to your mother. But I can’t quit and by not getting out, one day trouble will come looking for me.”

“I’ll be ready, dad,” I vow. “I’ll be your wingwoman.”

“Pep,” he says urgently. “That day ever comes… you run. You run, so you live to fight another day. There will always be evil. There’s only one of you.” I nodded my agreement, closed one eye, let out a breath and filled my target with holes.

After working the better part of the morning, I knew he was irritated with me for ignoring him. He could stay irritated because you’d have to breathe to be irritated, and I was okay with that. Damage control was part of the game. A necessary part. Because he chose to stay away from this part of the business he didn’t grasp its importance.

Like the private message, I received from Pilgrim.

In it were dozens of photos of Gage. In the field, out in public and, of course, with various women. Pilgrim isn’t stupid. He knows my feelings run deep for Gage. He doesn’t know how deep but he knows they’re deep enough that I would follow, kill, and start a war for him. The message he hoped to deliver fell flat. These are all things I already knew. What he doesn’t realize, and in the end will be what kills him is, he knows
Gadget
. But I know Gadget
and
Gage. In this fight Gage, would side with me, already has. He’s figured this out, hence the power play. But as these photos prove, he’s spent years watching his own man. However, it also tells me that he’s desperate enough to shut him down by any means necessary.

Over my dead body.

I get paid to kill bad people. Not play war games. Unfortunately, Pilgrim did get paid once to do that and excelled at it. But in the end, it all came down to tipping his hand. When he did that, I’d be there, and I’d kill him. Being idle wasn’t my strong suit. Waiting for the ball to drop wasn’t either. I was an action girl, and Pilgrim was holding out on me for that very reason.

Shutting down, I open the back door and jog to the neighbor’s fence. Jumping over, I scan for the owners and when none are in sight. I scale up the tree easily. Out here, with fresh air and room to climb, I breathe a little easier. Scanning the neighborhood, I see nothing out of the ordinary. Kids, dogs, and traffic. Like it should be.

Looking at Rome’s house, being a duplex it had security issues. Two front doors, two sliding doors off the back, two side doors and one boarded up window on Roman’s side of the house. Those sliding doors for some reason bothered me the most. When Roman’s side opened, he sauntered out and was trying to appear subtle and failing.

“I’m up here,” I call out. “Four o’clock, smack in the middle.”

Roman was a big man. Had he not done time and went pro instead, he’d be a hall of famer. He still carries himself like a baller; it’s in his gait. Life should have turned him into a bitter motherfucker, but it didn’t. Hell, even prison had a way of making you hard but somehow he managed to fight it, to stay Roman. I suspected that was mostly due to Kandace.

“Fuck,” he says looking up. “What is with you and trees, woman?”

“It’s pretty up here.”

“It’s safe down
here
,” he says pointing at the ground.

“Climb up,” I dare him. “I bet you do it better than Gage.”

Seeing the challenge for what it was, he hopped the fence. He did not look for neighbors; he just didn’t give a fuck. It was clear he and Gage were just figuring out their relationship. The lovebirds had a rocky past, rough start and some drama in between. Gage loved his sister. Roman, for a while, was the enemy. But he liked Roman. He wasn’t ready to admit it, but you couldn’t not love the guy, he was Roman Peterson. I mean, come on!

And let it be said, Roman could climb a tree.

Coming up and hanging on the thick limb below me, he looks up and asks, “Who climbs better?”

“You,” I laugh. “Hands down.”

“I’ll be rubbing that indirectly,” he laughs. “You looking for something?”

“I’m always looking for something. Sometimes I find it. Sometimes I don’t.” Letting that marinate, I bring something else up. “Do me a favor, cut a broomstick or find a piece of wood that you can wedge between the sliding door and the jam. It’s a security risk.”

“On it,” he says easily. “You remind me of a guy I used to work with, named Bishop.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Ex-military bad ass,” he explains. “Thinks with his dick. But when he’s not thinking with it, he’s looking out for me. Saying shit like that.”

“Sounds like a good guy.”

“You’re not just a notch,” he says out of nowhere. Saying nothing, because I don’t know what he means, he tells me. “To Gage. You’re not just a notch to fuck. You’ve been a fantasy to him for a long time. Now you’re reality and doesn’t know what to do about it. Been there, learned the lesson. He will too, just be patient while he does.”

Because I didn’t know what to say, I zipped it. “Well,” he says preparing to climb down. “My work here is done.”

“Roman,” I whisper. “Karma comes in all shapes and sizes. But she never forgets. Just remember that, okay?”

Clearly confused, he doesn’t push for an explanation. Instead, he just nods and climbs down.

Smiling to myself as he walks into the house, once he was safely inside, I let out a chuckle. His work here was done, but mine was just getting started.

The trees, Pep.

Those were her father’s last words to her. Jesus, she was up in a tree when her parents were killed. A stain like that never leaves your soul. Camo now, Pepper then, was only thirteen. Despite that, she still has a light about her. A light that shines on me always has. The woman still has the capacity to love, fight, and defend what she believes is good.

She counts me among that lot.

And she shouldn’t.

Waking up alone after a great night inside her, no lie, pissed me off. The female did not stay still. Yeah, she let me cuddle and touch her until I fell asleep, but she only catches a few hours before she’s up and gone.

She loves to climb.

Especially when she’s thinking or sad. In this case, she was thinking. I know this because she was glued to her laptop this morning and none too pleased about what she saw there. She did not share what she saw. Instead, she bottled it up pasting a smile on her face. So she went climbing and now Rome was scaling the tree to sit with her.
He’s a better a climber than me, the dick
.

“Rome’s fascinated with her,” Kandace says standing beside me. “I am too. I see why you fell so hard. Seriously Gage, how could you not? She’s the coolest chick I’ve ever met, and I know some pretty kick ass chicks.”

This was true. My sister was a fixture at Lush and fell in with the crazy broads that ran, worked, and hung out there. Jules was ex-military and caused some serious damage from what I hear. Macy was a genius with medicine and liked to taze people, mainly her husband and Rome a couple times. Lina, I’m told, is a human lie detector and not someone I ever want to meet. Then there’s Venessa who I would want no part of, ever. They love my sister, and she loves them. But she’s never talked about them like she does Camo. Hands down, Camo has all their asses beat.

“You’d never know she took two bullets, grazed or not. Nothing slows her down.”

“I checked her stitches,” she says. “There’s some tugging but nothing worth bitching at her about.”

“She wouldn’t listen if you did.”

“Nope.”

“What’s her place like?”

“You’ll see it soon enough,” she says looking out the window. “Let’s talk about what’s really on your mind.”

“You won’t find her,” I remind her. “Not unless she wants you to.”

“Kind of like you and the shadow shit you pull.”

Shrugging it off, she nudges my shoulder. “Spill it, big brother.”

“She’s up to something,” I tell her. “She won’t tell me, but I can feel it. It’s part of her plan to save my ass. It’s emasculating as hell. No lie, it really fucks with my head.”

“I’m good at my job. Worked hard to be good. I’m better than most of my male counterparts too. Should Rome feel emasculated because I busted my ass to be the best?”

Shit. She had a point.

“Gage,” she says hugging me. “When Camo speaks of you, to her, it’s
you
who’s the best. When she talks about you, she shines. My advice is, you want to be the best then you should learn from the best.”

“She’s been trying to teach me for years,” I admit. “I just didn’t listen.”

“Camo and trees, I bet there’s a story there.”

“It’s where she feels safe.”

“That’s sad,” she comments.

“That’s life, Kandace,” I whisper. “She lost her parents. Started this life when she should have had it easy. Went to the mall, broke boys’ hearts and curfew. She didn’t have that; she’s only had this.”

“Then when this is over, you give that to her,” she says kissing my cheek. “By the way, I’m taking her out tonight and before you bitch…you and Rome are coming too.”

I wasn’t looking forward to sharing her with anyone. The time I had with her, I wanted
alone
with her. I wanted as much time as I could get because as much as I wanted forever, I knew I wasn’t going to give that to her.

When this was over, she’d hate me, I wouldn’t give her a choice. Until my hand was forced, I planned to gorge myself on her. However, we were going out on a fucking double date tonight…

But before that happened, we had someplace to be.

“I can totally believe he’s taking you home,” Kandace smiles.

“But why so soon? I don’t get it. He said after, this isn’t after.”

“You get it,” she says softly. “And Gage gets it, too.”

“I guess…”

“They’ll love you,” she insists. At my skeptical look she laughs. “Seriously, Camo, they won’t be able to help themselves.”

I wanted to argue, but she looked so damn hopeful that I kept my mouth shut.

Meeting his dads. The men that raised him.

So he mentioned meeting them
after
. This wasn’t after. This was now and considering I’ve never met a guy’s parents; I was a smidge nervous. If they didn’t like me, I wasn’t sure how I would handle that. Odds are there would be crying involved and that made me even more nervous. Then I shut it down because I reminded myself that I was amazing, adorable and good for their son. See? Easy.
No, pressure
…

“Relax,” he says taking my hand. “We’ll hang out, they’ll ask questions and then I’ll have you back in time to go out tonight.”

“I need a drink…”

“Beauty,” he says smiling. “My dads are the shit; you’re the shit. See where this is going?”

“That’s a lot of shit,” I mumble.

Pulling in the driveway, I check the house out. A brick colonial, three car garage and a fenced in yard.
A white picket fenced-in yard, God that’s adorable
. Immediately, I scanned the property for possible security issues but found only the basics. Most homeowners assume that locked windows and doors meant safety.