“Enough,” he snarls, his mask slipping for just a second before he calms himself again. “We both know you don’t have what it takes, Travis. Now, I’ve got to get going but remember what I said last time, you tell anyone about our little chats and next time, you’ll have a whole body to deal with instead of just a head.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Rowan
“This is a terrible fucking idea,” Blaze grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest as he scans the mall’s parking lot. Tate hooks her arm through mine and flashes him a look of annoyance along with a heavy sigh.
“We have to keep living our lives, Blaze.”
He shoots her a glare. “We fucking won’t if we get killed by a madman.”
“We’re not getting killed. You have your gun and I have mine, too. Plus, Rowan’s got my taser so you need to take a chill pill. We’re prepared for anything. Besides, how upset would your sweet grand babies be if they woke up on Christmas morning and there were no presents? They have no idea what’s going on with the club and they shouldn’t.”
“Those kids are the only fucking reason I agreed to this little shopping trip but we still need to be quick. In and out within an hour.”
She scoffs. “Yeah, okay. Good luck with that.”
“Goddamn it, Tate. Why don’t you take this more seriously?” he snaps as we make our way across the parking lot to the mall doors and she sighs again. When Tate first ran the idea of doing a little Christmas shopping past me this morning, I was in agreement with Blaze but the more I thought about it, the more a little piece of normal in the chaos of everything else sounded like just what we needed. If I thought people were on edge before the raid of the clubhouse, it has nothing on the mood hanging over all of us now. And it’s not that we’re not taking this threat seriously but we all desperately need a break from it.
“I do take the threat seriously but Warren didn’t put in all this work just to take some of us down in a fucking mall. Also, how would he be able to achieve that? It’s five fucking days before Christmas, this place is packed to the fucking rafters and it would so insanely stupid to come after us with this many witnesses.”
He rakes his hand through his hair. “That’s just it, Tate. In a crowd this size, he could easily get lost in the chaos and I’m not even sure he wouldn’t do something as drastic as taking out innocent civilians to get to us.”
“Blaze, I know we haven’t always has an easy relationship but I say this with love… you need to relax. The way all of you are going, you’ll keel over from strokes or heart attacks before Warren ever gets to you and then what is it all for? We’ll be as quick as we can and we’ll be careful if you promise to just fucking take a breath.”
He meets her eyes as we reach the mall doors and after a tense moment, he sighs and nods. “Okay, but keep an eye on our surroundings, you hear?”
“We will,” she assures him before pulling open the door. Christmas music and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg smacks me in the face and as we step inside, it’s like stepping into another world. Tate was right, this place is packed and there is a little twinge in my chest as Tate starts pulling me along with her. Right inside the doors is a large food court, bustling with more people than I’ve ever seen in one place, and as we pass various vendors, new scents greet me and my stomach growls. Tate stops in front of a large mall map in the center of six different hallways and she turns to look at us. “Where to first?”
“I need to find a toy store,” Blaze says, scanning the mall. “As you mentioned, my grand kids will riot without toys on Christmas morning.”
She nods, pointing to a store down the hallway to my right. “Let’s save that one for last since it’s right here. Anyone else have somewhere they need to go?”
“Nope,” I answer, shaking my head when she glances at me. I’m just along for the ride and if I happen to find something that I think someone will like, I’ll grab it. Otherwise, I’ll just order something online for my brother and Tate.
Shit…
Do I need to get something for Travis?
“Piper?” Tate asks and she blushes as she glances back at Blaze before turning and pointing to a store on the sign. I look up the number and bite my lip to keep from laughing. Tate isn’t as successful as she flashes Blaze a smile.
“You might want to hang out here while we go to the first store.”
He scoffs. “If you think I’m going to leave you girls alone, you’re out of your damn mind. Where are we going?”
“Suit yourself,” Tate whispers, her smile wide as she points to the lingerie store Piper asked to go to. Staring at it for a second, his cheeks redden before he pulls back and clears his throat.
“I think I’ll stand guard outside the store.”
The three of us burst out laughing as Tate nudges him and winks. “Sounds like a good plan, old man.”
“You’re a pain in my goddamn ass, you know that?” he grumbles as we all walk toward the hallway straight in front of us. The lingerie store is in the second space on the left and Blaze posts up outside the door, crossing his arms over his chest and scanning the crowd, as we step inside. Tate turns to Piper.
“So, what are we looking for?”
Color rushes to Piper’s cheeks as she looks around the room. “Truthfully, I don’t know. I… kind of wanted to just do something for Wyatt to take his mind off of all this shit.”
“You could do a sexy little dance for him,” I tell her, toying with the lace of a little red number next to me and she shifts uncomfortably, shaking her head.
“Uh, no. I can’t dance… especially not like that.”
I glance back at her. “It’s really not that hard and I could show you a few things… if you want.”
“I’m sorry,” Tate interrupts, staring at me with raised brows. “How do you know “a few things”?”
Shit…
I didn’t really think that all the way through.
Tate has been a close ally since I got here, keeping my secrets and trying to smooth things over with my brother when it comes to Travis and me but I have no idea how she will react to my former job. Sucking in a breath, I meet her gaze as my belly does a little flip.
“If I tell you, you can’t tell my brother.”
She nods. “Deal… unless you’re like in danger or something.”
“Wouldn’t you just come rescue me then?” I ask and she laughs, nodding.
“Maybe but Lincoln would be pissed.” She nudges me. “Now, come on, tell me all about your experience doing sexy dances?”
Taking a deep breath, I nod. “Back in Alaska, I was… stripping.”
“Oh,” she whispers and my breath catches in my throat but she scoffs and swipes her hand through the air like she’s dismissing it altogether. “Is that it?”
I nod, studying her. “Um… yeah…”
“Hell, that’s not what I was expecting but I can honestly say I’ve done worse. Though, we should definitely keep that between ourselves because your brother would shit a brick.”