“They’re getting intel on the O’Malley’s. Seems they’re bigger than we thought and they’ve been infiltrating in and around town for well over a year. We have brothers out looking for Grinder and Kincaid as we speak. The plan now is for you to wait. We’ll let you know as soon as we have anything. Okay?” It’s strange to see Sledge so somber and serious.
“Sure.” Parker’s response is an outright lie but Sledge seems to ignore it as his sister wraps her arms around his waist. “Thanks for being an awesome big bro. I know you’ll find Grinder. Me and Spence will just wait here. Might try and get a bit more sleep. Ya know.” She hiccups a little, sniffing upward before wiping at her eyes.
Sledge can’t see her face as he awkwardly pats her back, but I can. And she isnotcrying. But she does glance up at me from where she’s hugging her brother and winks.
“I’m just so tired.” She sniffles again and squeezes him before letting go, keeping her head down.
The brief narrowing of Sledge’s eyes tells me that he’s probably suspicious of his sister’s attitude, as well he should be, but he chooses to ignore it as he begins walking away.
“Keep an eye on my sister, Spence.” He throws his voice over his shoulder without turning back.
I don’t have the opportunity to ask Parker what is going through her mind because her phone rings and she answers, holding it in front of her. I can’t see the image of the video call,but I can hear as I lean against the doorframe and rub at my forehead.
“Little Easton.”
“Butcher.”
“Robson practically offered me his first born just to make this call, thought he was gonna shit his pants.” The man on the call chuckles. “What can I do ya for?”
“I’m in the U.S. Rockford Beach in North Carolina. Found my brother, found the love of my life, and now some motherfucking wankstains have taken him because one of them has a super cunty daughter that should have been fucking swallowed by her mother. Only name I have is O’Malley, and one location that the Sons of Khaos already obliterated. I need to call in my final favor and get as much info on these people as possible. I can’t sit on my arse and wait around. I need some guns, some grenades would be fun, and a location nearby where someone could imprison two psychos.” She barely takes a breath and I can’t help the way my eyes widen and my heart thumps.
I don’t know what it is, but her sheer determination gives me so much more hope and almost erases the sadness that had begun to creep in.
“Woah. First, well done. Never doubted you’d find him. As for the rest, send me the location you have and give me an hour.” The man she’s talking to is British, too, and I shake my head at the absurdity of it all.
What even is my life?
British gangsters with connections to the New York mafia, who have a connection to this motorcycle club, who have a beef with the Irish, murders, whatever illegal activities they have on the side…it’s a never ending cycle of thing after thing after thing…
Finishing the call, Parker types into her phone before dropping her arms to her sides and finally looking up at me. Asmall piece of my heart breaks for her as the energy she was holding on to just drops, almost in relief that she is one step closer to Grinder. I can see it in the way her face changes, her eyes holding mine, her chin wobbling. She’s fighting it.
I open my arms wide and she doesn’t hesitate to take up my offer, immediately hugging me.
Neither of us speaks, we just hold each other. Me in my boxers, her in one of Grinder’s T-shirts, like this is all normal. It’s anything but normal, though, because I can feel a light dampness against my chest and I’m positive it isn’t snot. Bringing one hand up, I hold my palm against her head, carefully stroking her hair in comfort.
The problem is, the more I stroke, the wetter my chest gets. I won’t stop because she needs this…and so do I. A few tears slide down my cheeks as I try, unsuccessfully, to blink them away.
This is the shit that leads to me making bad decisions. The kind that I know, without a doubt, are going to mess with my perfect little plan of being an upstanding citizen.
After a few short minutes, Parker pulls away and begins furiously wiping the tears from her cheeks, and when she lifts the hem of Grinder’s T-shirt, I immediately close my eyes. It’s not that I can’t appreciate the female form; more like I’m giving her some privacy.
She huffs, but it’s the kind of huff you make when you’re steadying yourself, steeling your spine to do shit you really don’t want to do, and I open my eyes again to find a very determined Parker.
“Okay, I’ve had my moment. Now time to plan. C’mon.” She attempts to shoo me back into the bedroom, and of course she succeeds, but this is not me agreeing to be on board.
“The Sons have a plan, or are you choosing to ignore your brother?” I know the answer, but if I’m honest, her rapid switch in emotions is a little unsettling. The enthusiasm is great, butI don’t know her as well as I know Mac, so going along with whatever she’s concocting is going to be a huge stretch for me.
I guess I have some growth, after all.
“They can do their plan. But mine will be better and faster.” She sits on the bed and leans against the headboard, bringing her knees up and reading something on her phone. Then she grins. It still doesn’t reach her eyes, but it’s real. The kind of real that promises pain and destruction.
“It sounds like you’re about to cause some trouble and I’m not entirely on board here.” I gesture to myself as I say, “Doctor in training. Paramedic. Upstanding citizen.Nota criminal.”
“Not yet, you’re not. But you wouldn’t let me save our man all by myself, would ya?” She blinks up at me and pouts, as if that’s going to change my mind. It doesn’t, but she’s cute.
I sit beside her, one foot tucked beneath my thigh, and huff a little as I ready myself for whatever craziness is about to ensue. I guess the thing with Mac was a trial run; making her sandwiches while she tortured her brother after first helping her fake her own death and whisking her away in an ambulance I ‘borrowed’…yeah, I feel like that’s child’s play compared to Parker’s mind.
Before I can give her any more resistance, she pins her big blue eyes on me and I swear, she’s the reincarnation of Athena and Ares all wrapped up in one small package. Love and war swirls in her blue depths, promising vengeance and the return of our man.