“Tell him about that baby in your belly.”
His words are like a stone sinking to the bottom of my stomach. Pressing my lips together, I shake my head once. I think about lying to him. I think about a lot of things, none of which I say or do.
“How did you know?” I ask.
Bones shrugs his shoulder, leaning back slightly as he looks across the bar and directly into my eyes. He clears his throat and just when I think that he’s going to tell me that Ana or Dutch squealed, he stands up, placing his palms against the bar top and leveling me with his gaze.
“Not hard to see. Your face is rounder, your ass bigger, so is your belly. My woman just had one, I know the signs.”
“Don’t tell anyone,” I beg.
“He’s got a right to know. Don’t you think? Unless he abused you, then I’ll just fucking end him and you won’t have to worry about it.”
Reaching across the scarred bar, I wrap my hand around his forearm and squeeze. “He didn’t abuse me. I just… I’m not ready to tell him yet.”
“You got until that belly of yours is popped out. Mainly because these men gossip worse than any woman I’ve ever met and he’ll find out through them. He does and he won’t be fuckin’ happy about it, I know I wouldn’t.”
Nodding, I swallow the lump in my throat. “I’ll tell him in a couple weeks. Just give me a few more weeks,” I beg.
He jerks his chin, turning away from me, and I watch as he makes his way toward a woman sitting next to a leather sofa. There is a carpet down, it looks plush and soft, she’s sitting on her knees, her head bowed and her hair pulled up in a high ponytail.
As soon as Bones stops in front of her, he dips his chin and I see his lips moving. Slowly, she lifts her head, tipping it far back so that she can look up into his eyes. He reaches forward, cupping her cheek before he slides his thumb along her bottom lip.
“He loves her. It looks different than traditional love, but what’s traditional anyway?” Ana asks from beside me.
“I have no clue what love is, so I wouldn’t know the difference between traditional and non,” I whisper.
She’s quiet for a moment, then she slides her arm around my waist and tugs me close to her side. “I don’t know much about love either. But that, with them and the others here. That’s love. Doubt I’ll ever have it, but you will with your new little one, it’s a different kind, but you’ll have it.”
“Yeah,” I breathe.
I’m not so sure she’s right, but I don’t bother arguing. I have no clue if I’ll even be able to show the kind of love a baby needs. Maybe I won’t? Maybe I’m just going to fuck this child up? Maybe I shouldn’t keep it, give it up for adoption and just run?
My entire body starts to tremble at the idea of giving this baby, any baby, away to strangers. I feel like I’m a complete mess. My emotions are all over the place, and honestly, I don’t know if there is a right choice. I think I’m just fucked in general.
MOUNTAIN
“How many more do you have?” Dragon asks.
Lifting my face to the sun, I close my eyes and let out a sigh. There are way more perverts than I had originally anticipated, but we’re almost finished. Three more that have been out of town and are now back. Three more and I can go home. Although, I’m not sure what I’m going to be headed home to since I haven’t heard fuckall about Leighton, from anyone, back in Eagar.
“Three,” I grunt.
He hums but doesn’t say anything more. I wait a moment, wondering when he’s going to give me the information that I crave. Information on Leighton. There is no way that he doesn’t know where she is, he can’t.
“Hurry home,” he says.
“You gonna tell me where my woman is?” I ask on a demand.
There’s another moment of silence and it’s long, too long. I think that he’s hung up, but he hasn’t. Instead, he clears his throat. I’m seconds from losing my fucking cool, this silence, this makes me certain he knows exactly where she is.
“No. But when you get home, I’ll take you to her.”
“Where the fuck is she?” I grind out.
He waits a moment, again. I don’t know why he’s fucking with me, why he doesn’t tell me what I want to know—what I need to know, but he better get to spilling his goddamn beans, and fast.
“She’s safe. Gator found her. She’s staying put until you get home, but she ain’t goin’ anywhere, and again, she’s safe.”
Dragon ends the call and all I want to do is fucking choke the bastard. I don’t understand why he always has to be so goddamn secretive, but he does. It’s something he’s always done and it is something that has always driven me goddamn insane.
“You ready for this guy?” Worm asks.
Jerking my leg, I shove my phone in my pocket. “Yeah,” I grunt. “Yeah.”
This one is on me. This fuck is already looking for another victim. He plays the knight in white. He goes to street hookers, pretty and young ones. Girls that have only felt the tip of life’s big ass dick.
He kidnaps them. Nobody even looks for them. He uses them the way that he wants, then he discards them. He’s different than any of the others, but it doesn’t make his actions any less disgusting.
He is filth and he’s about to meet his fate in this dark alley he’s turning down. No guns needed. I am going to take my frustration out on him with my knife. I whistle as I follow him into the dark alleyway.
He’s got a pretty young thing against the wall, his hand next to her head, the other somewhere else. His face is dipped and I know he’s whispering so many words to her, lies, all of them. Straight-up lies.
“Hey little girl, I think you need to get outta here,” I call out, careful not to be too loud.
He jerks, looking back over his shoulder at me. “Go find your own, plenty of girls work this street.”
“I would, but I’m not looking for a pretty girl,” I say with a grin. “I’m looking for you.”
With my knife in hand, I take a step forward. The girl wriggles out of his grasp and takes off. I know she’ll run into Worm, he’ll get her help if she wants it. But this fuck is all for me. Every fat fucking inch of him.
“Time for you to meet the devil,” I rasp.
Chapter Twenty-Six
MOUNTAIN
Gavino grins from across his desk, his eyes aren’t smiling, but his lips are and that’s good enough for me. He leans back, then jerks his chin before he spins around in his chair. I watch as he leans down, opening a cupboard and then reaches inside.
When he turns around again, he has a duffel bag in his hand. Tossing it toward me, I reach out and catch it with a grunt.
“What the fuck?” I ask.
“Compensation. I added more, because you had to be gone for so long from your people. There should be enough that everyone walks away a little happier. Plus, you’ll get some more coming to you, once everything else is set in place.”
Standing, I lift the shoulder strap of the bag and slip my arm through it. It’s heavy as fuck, and I can’t hold back the grunt of surprise.