A Real Bad Boy(54)

"If shit gets dodgy, you make sure to get out of here, you understand?" Greyson said.

"You know that's not going to happen," I answered as I gripped the  handle of the knife in my belt. Fuck that shit. I would go down with him  and he knew it.

We stormed in through the club doors and looked around until we saw him.  He was just fucking sitting at the bar drinking a cocktail while women  danced up on the stage in little more than a pair of harem pants and  bikini tops. It was a foul sight, but that didn't matter.

I grinned as we made our way through the crowd to David. We couldn't do  it here, no, we would have to convince him to talk to us, walk outside  with us. We'd have to use a little bit of creative magic on our part.  But we were part of the Irish mob. That's what we did.

Greyson clamped a hand on David's shoulder and he turned around to face  us. The man staring up at us had the right body, the right hair color,  but the wrong fucking face.

"I'm sorry, man. I thought you were someone else," Greyson said as he pulled his hand away.

"I know. I was paid three hundred dollars to just sit here and order  beers. He has a message for you," the man at the bar said. He had no  idea who we were. What we were, I could tell from the blank expression  on his face.

"What's the message?" Greyson asked as he glared out at him.

"He said to tell you ‘better luck, next time.' I guess you guys lost a  bet or something? He couldn't say." The man in the suit just shrugged.

"Something like that," I said. "Did he say anything else to you?"

"No, just offered me three hundred dollars and free drinks. After the  week I was having, I couldn't say no to that." He shook his head and  took a swig of his beer. "You mind if I stay a while?"

"Where was he when he said this?"

"Here. He left maybe twenty minutes ago." The man just sat there.

"Yeah, stay, drink." Greyson grabbed his phone and dialed. "You have the wrong man. David left. Anyone witness this?" he asked.

Then he nodded. "Search the area, see if you can put out a tail on him."

The phone I'd been ignoring rang again. I grabbed it and looked down. One text from Kat.



Baby is coming. Need you both. Now.



I answered it. "Kat?"

"Yeah, you two need to get here, but I don't think you're going to make  it. Doctors said she is a good little laborer. She's in there screaming  her head off. I have to get back, but I wanted to let you know that the  baby is on its way." She sounded rushed and short of breath.

"I'll let him know," I told her.

"It's quicker than almost any first-time labor they've seen. You two might not make it before the baby comes," she told me.

"We'll rush."

Fuck. David would have to wait. We needed to get to the hospital now.





Kathryn



"Where in the hell have you been?" I asked as I watched the two men  burst through the doors. Joanna was resting and I wanted to give her  space, so I was sitting in the waiting room staring at the doors.

"On a wild good chase," Greyson said, his nose flared. He was pissed and  scared. I knew the combination. Ever since I could remember, if he was  scared, he was also pissed. "Where is she?"

"What?" I asked, but it didn't matter. They went and did their business  and we were here running the household, running our lives together. It  was the way it was with Mom and Dad, and it was the way things would  always be with men like this. None of that was important in the moment.  All that mattered was Joanna. "Through the doors. She's in labor room  3B," I said as I pointed.

I wanted to go back, to see the little baby that I helped bring into the  world, but I needed to let the couple have time together. I needed to  give her a chance to rest. So, I sat down in the waiting room and looked  up at Janson.

"How is she doing?"

"Fine, just pissed off that you two knuckleheads picked the one night  she was going into labor to take off." I was angry for myself, but I was  angrier that she had to go through this with me at her side and not  Greyson.

"We had no idea," Janson said, but I punched him in the shoulder anyway. "What the fuck?"

"It's to mimic the fucking finger shaped bruises on my shoulder from her clutching on to me. Joanna is strong as hell."

He chuckled. "It was part of her charm."

I rolled my eyes and nudged him. "Are you okay?" I asked. I was really worried.                       
       
           



       

"Yeah, it's fine. What we were looking for never materialized. So, we  just have to keep searching." He was brooding. I could tell by the look  in his eyes. He was so angry. This man really wanted to find whatever he  was looking for.

I nodded.

It seemed really important to them. I wanted to ask so many questions,  just like I wanted to wrap myself in his arms, but I knew that it wasn't  going to fly. Not here.

Watching him sit there in quiet anger was enough to make me want to do anything to stop it.

But then I saw the doors swing open and I knew who was coming through. They were here.

"Sir," Janson said as he stood up. "How did you-"

"My daughter called me. I hear Greyson had you retrieve her?" James  Fitzgerald stood tall as he looked over us. My mother stood behind him  until she saw me, then she burst forward towards me.

My mother embraced me, pulling me close as she kissed the top of my head. "I've been so worried about you."

All I could do was clutch her back and breathe her in. I couldn't  believe how much I missed her. How much I longed for her to hold me like  this. It was enough to bring me to tears. Almost.

She meant it. My mother loved me. She'd been a good wife to this  monster, but that didn't mean she denied the love for her kids. I missed  her every day that I was gone. I'd missed my sisters, too. I regretted  leaving for their sake, but living with him was going to be so hard. I  didn't really want anything to do with him, even now. That man totally  repulsed me. But I knew that was impossible.

"I called, Mom. I did." I said it again, my lip quivering. I just wanted  her to hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay, but  instead, my father grabbed me by my arm and pulled me away from her, his  grip so tight on my already bruised shoulder that I almost screamed.

I just grunted and looked at him, though. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"I'm glad you did, daughter." That fake smile told me everything I needed to know. "Our family didn't want to miss this moment."

I'd spent my entire life trying to read my father, trying to understand  his moods. It was a delicate game, one that my mother was adept at. But  me, I was never that great.

Still, I could tell just by looking at him that he was smug. Angry. And  it was all directed at me. I was going to hear about this later.

Any congratulations that went to my brother and Janson for bringing me  home was going to be chewed out of my hide when he got the chance. My  freedom was over.

But I had to make the choice. I had to do this. It was the opportunity  here and now to make my way back into the family with as little anger as  possible.

My hope was that he would recognize that I'd made the right call and told him of the birth of his grandchild.

We all stood in awkward silence.

Greyson came through the door, his smile huge as he looked at his family.

"I have a beautiful daughter," he said. He was glowing, and all the  stress that had been dragging him down since I first saw him seemed to  melt right off. "She's six pounds, three ounces and absolutely perfect."

My father let go of me and walked over to him, grabbing a cigar from his  coat pocket. "For you, Dad. You've possibly just solidified peace  between the families."

It was probably the most tender thing my father had ever done, and it  didn't change my mind about him at all. He gave zero shits about that  baby, instead caring only about what it represented.

He'd rather kill that baby than take any blame for his actions. I knew  my father. We were all just pawns for his little world, and right now,  his granddaughter meant a political gain and nothing more.

Peace. That was all that man cared about. Not his own granddaughter.

"She's beautiful. They said you could come see her. Joanna is resting, but she is comfortable," Greyson said.

Everyone started walking towards the maze of rooms except for me and Janson. I wasn't ready to meet my niece. Not yet.

"Are you coming?" my mother asked, looking expectant. I bit my lip and thought up the best excuse I could up with.

"Why don't you and father meet her first? I don't want to overwhelm Joanna," I explained.

Janson also hung back.

Everyone accepted this explanation and continued down the hall.

"Scary, isn't it?" Janson asked, his voice husky as he looked into my  eyes. "The idea that you could create a new life. Helpless and so tiny."