AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mountain was tired of this guy’s threats. He wondered what the hell Red was waiting for and he knew that he would have to put a fire under his Prez ass. Then again, Spike may not have any other options, but the Steels, which meant they had all the cards. It’s the only reason the man kept coming back like a man given a fake number by a woman. Then coming back around again, hoping to find a way to sweet talk her.
Either way, the fact the man didn’t flinch at Mountain touching his cut told him the guy was trying to figure it all out. As were we all. If the Steels didn’t have the founding charter and all the other ones across the United States, would they know what they were doing? With having been gone, he would have thought Red had reached out by now.
Getting on his bike, he put in his earbuds and called Red as he drove towards Amber’s house.
“Who’s with you?” Red snapped. “We’re on watch.”
“We are? I must have missed that, I was heading over to Nightingale’s,” Mountain said over the roar of his motorcycle. The whole ear pod invention allowing actual communication while riding. “Was there another threat to the compound?”
“No, but we’ve been waiting on our shipment and we didn’t want the dumbasses that think we’re FedEx to keep fucking with us.”
“Too late,” Mountain confessed. “But I sent them away.”
“They found you again?” Red questioned.
Mountain realized they were focused in on him it seemed. Sure, he’d been in the bar when they first stepped to the Steels. And he’d been on the two runs previously, but that didn’t mean he was who they needed to check in with. “I tend to stand out,” Mountain said hoping to quell any fears.
“That you do,” he replied. “What did they say?”
“Same shit different day. Bitching about not having the guns they want.”
“Anything else?” Red asked.
Mountain wondered if he’d crossed one of the Steels’ lines? None he knew of. “He has a thing with grabbing coats.”
“Does he now?” Red said, his tone hard in warning.
“Hopefully, I broke him of it,” Mountain said. “At least he knows how I feel about it and I gave him options.”
“Which were?” Red asked.
“He could have stumps at his wrists or elbows.”
“Damn, you are a softy. Was he solo?”
The laugh that followed Red’s comment freed Mountain in a way. “Nope, he had a half dozen with him.”
“Seven? And you walked away?” Red questioned. “Unscathed.”
“They’re just idiots,” Mountain said. “Outside of nut grabbing and few punches, I’m not sure they know what they’re doing.”
“That can be more dangerous than the ones who know what’s going on,” Red replied.
Mountain had to agree Like a child holding a gun. While they could be taught safety? didn’t mean their sheer excitement over the pop, pop, bang, bang? wouldn’t take over.
* * *
Amber was stillupset with Kevin as she violently scrubbed the cookie sheet of stains or crust she’d ignored in the past. The damn thing would either end up with holes by the time she was done or shining brighter than the star on the top of a Christmas tree. Win-win in her mind.
All the positive energy she’d gained from her new job dashed in five minutes with Kevin. For the first time since she’d worked in the ER, she had actually tapped into skills and felt she’d made strides toward helping people, instead of just moving them along a conveyor belt. Mrs. Nelson being the biggest example of actually making a difference in someone’s life.
Even though she managed to make her kids’ dinner, she was still fuming that her ex would suggest she had no right to make a grown-up choice without asking him first. Let alone the idea of getting back together. He had a lot of nerve. Biggest thing, she knew what had happened and he didn’t deny it. Some latest thing had turned him down or the weekend hadn’t been all sunshine and roses. While he kept going younger and younger, what the man didn’t understand, was those girls weren’t as desperate as she’d been when he’d found her. More importantly, she wasn’t that girl either. Amber was now a woman and barring a slight meltdown of doubt, the choices she made were based on her family and not a man.
Even with Mountain laying out a ready-made home, school and job for her, she wasn’t jumping in blindly. And better yet, the man hadn’t been trying to force her into what he thought was best. Mountain showed her options then walked away. Letting her have the daydreams of living with or without in the places he’d showed her. The only home, the one he wanted to build, being the one he came up with.
A strange scraping noise cut through the silence of her sleeping home. Wiping her hands on her jeans, she walked to the door, flipped on the porch light and moved the curtain to the side.
Mountain glanced over his shoulder and their eyes met, he smiled before returning to clearing the snow off her porch.
