Ride Steady (Chaos, #3)(139)

“I think my body can hack it,” he told her.

“Well that’s good,” she mumbled, eyes on his mouth, which he felt on his mouth and also in his dick.

“What you want, Carrie?” he whispered.

She lifted her gaze to his and whispered back, “You can start by kissing me, sweetie.”

He started there.

Some time later, he finished a f*ckuva lot differently.


Tack

Tack stood on the deck of his house, his eyes to the silent dark of the woods on his mountain.

He had his phone to his ear and it was ringing.

“Tack,” Knight greeted.

“Yo, you hear?” Tack asked.

“Not yet,” Knight answered.

“Lee found Tine. He sang for Hank. They’re booking Monk right now for conspiracy to commit murder,” Tack told him.

Knight was silent.

Tack gave him that for a few beats before he said low, “We need to deal.”

“He stands trial,” Knight returned quickly. “He goes down. I want him to squirm.”

“Agreed,” Tack replied.

“He’ll be taken care of after he goes down.”

Tack drew breath in through his nose.

Then he stated, “You got a Chaos marker.”

“No,” Knight said quietly. “No marker from Chaos. I do this for a woman I didn’t know named Heidi.”

Tack heard the disconnect.

He didn’t smile at his phone.

He dropped his hand and stared at the quiet peace of his mountain.

Then he turned and went inside to his woman and their boys.





Chapter Twenty-One




My Place





Carissa

THE NEXT EVENING, I was at the stove making dinner. Joker was still at Ride. There was a meeting of the brothers. Therefore, for the first time when we’d both worked during the day, he was going to be home later than me.

This meant I got my house all to myself, another first.

I didn’t mind solitude. I liked it.

But I wasn’t a woman who wanted a big family just because.

I preferred company.

So I was looking forward to him being home.

On that thought, my phone rang.

I turned down the water that would eventually be boiling the broccoli and went to the counter where my phone was.

I saw the name on the screen and sighed.

Then I took the call and put it to my ear.

“Hello, Aaron. Is Travis okay?” I greeted.

“Hey, Riss. He’s fine,” he replied. “Listen, I have some interns working on things for me at the office and that means I have a break. I thought I could bring Travis over and we could all go out to dinner.”

I wouldn’t mind him bringing Travis over but only if Aaron left him and he could have dinner with Joker and me.

I didn’t say this to Aaron because I didn’t think he’d be big on that idea.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” I mumbled.

“I’ll bring your boxes.”

Darn.

I wanted those boxes.

“Did you get them out of the attic?” I asked cautiously.

“Yes, Riss. I can just load them up, grab Travis, and we could be over there in fifteen minutes.”

He had the boxes down and he was bringing them.

Maybe he hadn’t looked inside.

“How about if you bring them when you return Travis to me on Monday?” I suggested.

“Would like to see you sooner, honey,” he said softly.

“Aaron—” I started.

“We shouldn’t be apart,” he declared, a declaration that seriously concerned me. “This isn’t good for us. For Travis. For you, having to stand on your feet behind a cash register at a f*cking grocery store all day. Travis being with people who aren’t his parents while we both work.”

He was such a jerk.

He knew that’d get to me. He knew I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.

But things had changed. Big Petey was awesome. And as much as I hated to admit it, Tory loved Travis. She watched him during the day for Aaron, and as far as I knew, she liked doing it. It wasn’t optimal, but any child should have as many people love him (or her) as they could get.

Further, I liked my job. LeLane’s was great. They took me on when I was pregnant, knowing I’d have to take a maternity leave imminently, but they’d still done it. Sharon managed everyone’s schedules as best she could to fit their lives. They employed nice people. They were family owned, and as such, they treated their employees as if they were family.

Scanning groceries might not be very challenging, but I liked people. I liked gabbing with the folks who came through my line. I liked making the ones I’d become familiar with feel a part of the LeLane family.

It didn’t pay a lot but it was good work.

I didn’t like the way he’d started knocking it.

I also didn’t think I should tell him that.

“I’m thinking we should start to talk only through our attorneys,” I told him instead.

“Don’t do that, Riss. Not to Travis.”

Emotional blackmail.

Another something not new from Aaron.

But I was in a pickle.