Blade (Silver Shadows MC #1)

Chapter Five

Blade

After leaving the kitchen, I headed to the bar in the common area. Johnny, a prospect, had a beer waiting before my ass hit the seat.

Jack appeared a minute later, slapping me on the back as he sat.

“How’s it going, brother?”

I growled, thinking about how things were going with Becca.

“Don’t ask. Hey, I need you to do something for me.”

“Name it, brother. You know I’ll do anything I can to help you out.”

“I want you to get close to Beck and give her your number.”

Jack choked on his beer, on hearing my request, spraying beer everywhere. “What the fuck, Blade? I am not moving in on your girl.”

“First, she isn’t my girl. Second, you try to move in on her and I will put you in the fucking ground.” I lifted my beer to my lips as if I didn’t just threaten to kill my best friend.

Chuckling, Jack looked at me. “Ok, so why am I getting close to her and giving her my number?”

“She’s going on a date with Grant Nicholson.”

Just saying his name left a sour taste in my mouth.

“What the fuck for? Grant Nicholson is an asshole.”

“I know that. And you know that. Apparently, she doesn’t know that.”

“How did that even happen?”

“She ran into him at Manny’s. I guess they went to school together.”

“Wait, so you went to school with him too?”

“No, he must have moved here her junior or senior year. I was gone by then.”

As far as Becca knew, I was already ‘dead’.

“She already likes you. Just talk with her tonight.”

I turned to look him in the eye.

“Keep the other fucks around here away from her. Get her to let you put your number in her phone. If she goes out with Nicholson, she’ll need someone she can call when he gets out of line.”

And he would step out of line, the shmuck.

“Ok, I’ll stick close tonight. Keep the guys from getting out of line. You know she’s gonna think I’m interested in her.”

“Just make sure she understands that interest is friendship and nothing more.”

“HEY, BLADE! MY OFFICE, NOW!”

Letting out a deep breath, I slid from my stool.

“What’s up King’s ass?”

“Could be anything with him,” I called over my shoulder as I headed toward King’s office.

I stopped to check in the kitchen to make sure Becca was ok with the club girls. Those girls could be vicious to someone they perceived as getting between them and what they thought was theirs, and they believed my brothers belonged to them.

Setting my sunglasses on my face, I pushed the door open, surprised at what I found.

“Hey, Beck, can you grab that pot over there?”

“Sure, Brandy. Give me a sec to put this pan in the oven.”

“Beck, can you show me how to wrap this tight like yours?”

“Absolutely, Amber. Let me just give this pan to Brandy and I’ll be right over.”

I watched Becca flit around the room, going from girl to girl, helping them with various things. When she noticed me, she stopped.

“Blade, do you need something?”

I tore my eyes from Becca and looked at Rachel, who tilted her head, waiting to hear what I was gonna say.

“No, just checking in to see how things were going in here. Wondering what’s for dinner that smells so good.”

“You just take your wondering and get out of here, Blade. You know the rules.” Turning at Grams’ voice, she gave me a look that said she knew exactly why I was in the kitchen, and it had nothing to do with the food they were cooking.

“Alright, I’m going. Can’t wait for dinner though. It smells incredible.”

One last look at Becca and I backed out of the room. She watched me leave, and I saw the curiosity in her eyes.

Just as I walked away, I heard her ask.

“Why does he always wear sunglasses?”

I hoped Rachel or Grams could come up with something to distract her. That just assured me I needed to keep my distance. I had already let her get too close. Close enough that she was already asking questions.

Making my way to King’s office, I remembered just how stubborn Becca could be when she got a question in her head.

“Hey, Micah, guess what?”

“What?” I asked, not looking up from my book.

“I got a story.” Becca plopped down beside me in the library, excitement radiating from her.

“What do you mean, a story?” I turned and saw the smile on her face. “For the school paper? Don’t you get stories all the time?”

It was so easy to get lost in those amber eyes and not hear a word she was saying.

“No.” She sighed. “The school paper won’t publish this. All the school paper publishes are boring articles about sports and grades. They never want to print something that people actually want to read.”

Closing my book, I gave her my full attention.

“Who are you writing the story for, and who is going to read it? Who will print it?”

“I am writing it for my blog, and everyone online is going to read it! With any luck, it will go viral, and the local paper will want to pick it up, or maybe even a national paper. Oh my God, can you imagine if a national paper picked it up, and I got published at fifteen?”

She was practically bouncing in her seat.

I needed to rein her in before we both got kicked out of the library. I stood up and dragged her along with me into the stacks, away from the disapproving eyes of the uptight librarian.

“Ok, slow down. What is this story that is going to break the internet and make you famous?”

“The Mob!”

I stared at her.

She had my attention now.

I grabbed her shoulders and held her still.

“Becca, what are you talking about?”

“The Mob, Micah, that’s what I’m talking about. The Mob is here in Diamond Creek.”

I let her go as I ran my hand through my hair.

I was freaking out, but I couldn’t let her know.

“Becca, what makes you think the Mob is in Diamond Creek?”

“Ok, so I was down at Old Man Johnson’s feed store, and I was wandering the aisles looking for peanuts.”

I stopped her there.

“Peanuts? Why were you looking for peanuts?”

“For the squirrels.” She tilted her head like I should have known what she was talking about.

“What squirrels?”

“The squirrels at Grams’, Micah.” She waved her hands at my face. “Anyway, that is not the point of this story.”

I knew it wasn’t the point, but I needed to distract her.

“I was looking for peanuts when I heard Old Man Johnson arguing with someone.”

“Who was he arguing with?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t recognize his voice. I was hiding, so I didn’t get a look at him either,” she muttered, pacing the library aisle, stacks of books on either side of us.

“Then what makes you think it’s the Mob?”

“I’m getting to that if you would stop interrupting me.” She stopped her pacing and turned toward me. “You know you do that a lot. Why do you do that? Anytime I get super excited about something.”

I tilted my head to the ceiling, letting out a long breath.

“Becca, you’re spiraling. Why do you think the Mob is here?”

“Right, we’ll come back to that in a minute.” She wiggled her finger in front of my face, and I grabbed her hand, pulling her to sit on the floor because I knew the only way to get her to focus was to keep her from moving.

“Ok, so I didn’t see who he was talking to, but I heard what he was saying. He was threatening Old Man Johnson.”

Before I had time to ask, she continued, “What was he threatening, you ask? He was threatening Old Man Johnson with a beating if he didn’t give him what he wanted.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger, I released a small growl.

Becca jumped up from the floor.

“Why are you growling at me, Micah?”

“Because you are infuriating sometimes.”

Her mouth dropped open as I stood up. I placed my finger beneath her chin and lifted her mouth closed.

“Becca, you are jumping—no, leaping to conclusions that are going to put your life in danger one of these days if you aren’t careful.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Now she was mad.

Mad was better than stupid.

I stepped toward her. “Becca.”

“No, Micah.” She stepped back out of my reach. “No, I know what I heard.”

“Becca, everyone knows Old Man Johnson has a gambling problem.”

No one knew this, but it was the best I could come up with on short notice. “He probably gambled more than he had, and the guy wants the money he owes. That is a tremendous leap to the Mob. One that you can’t just print. As a journalism student, you should know that.”

“I know that, Micah, I am still investigating. I won’t print anything until I know for sure. A talented journalist always prints the facts, not speculation. I thought you had more faith in me than that.” Becca turned on her heels and stomped away.

I would work that out later.

First, I needed to talk to my dad.

I knocked on King’s door.

Hearing him yell, ‘Come in’, I opened the door to find him sitting behind his desk working on something.

“Hey, Prez, what do you need?”

Without looking up, he asked, “How are things going with Willow’s granddaughter?”

“What do you mean?”

King put down his pen and leaned back in his chair, giving me his full attention. “You two have history, correct?”

“Yea.”

“History that you don’t want her to be aware of, correct?”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I wondered where he was going with this line of questioning. “Yea.”

“So how the fuck is that working for you?”

“It’s… complicated.”

“Complicated?” he asked, rubbing his hand down his beard, as he stared at me. “Are you going to continue doing the lawn and taking her shopping? Or should I get someone else to do it?”

“Who were you thinking of?”

“Romeo.”

“No fucking way.” King lifted his eyebrow, and I knew what he was thinking.

“Sit down, Blade.”

I dropped my ass in the seat in front of his desk and waited.

King leaned forward against his desk. “Romeo runs a landscaping company. He would be the one to take over the lawns. It just makes sense. Unless you plan to continue doing them yourself.”

He wasn’t asking. He knew there was no way I would let Romeo take over. Hell, his name was Romeo for a reason, and I didn’t want him anywhere near Becca.

“I will continue doing the lawns, and I can talk to Cash about maybe Rachel taking her shopping. I mean, Becca can take her, but if we are paying for it, one of us will need to be there, unless we give her cash. Her and Rachel are friends, so I’m pretty sure Rachel will help.”

“Do you have any idea how long she’ll be here?”

“She hasn’t said, but I assume she’s back for good.”

“That will make it difficult to keep her from finding out who you are.”

“As long as I stay away from her, she won’t find out.”

King chuckled. “And how the fuck is that working out for you so far?”

A corner of my mouth turned up.

“Shut the fuck up. Is there anything else you need?”

“Do you know someone who can do this paperwork shit?”

“No, I thought that was Jack’s job as the secretary?”

“You think I’m letting Jack get his hands on this shit?”

“Maybe you should look into hiring someone to come in. You have that outer office there. Get yourself a pretty little secretary to organize your shit and give you something to look at.”

Waving his hand at the door, King dismissed me, “Get the fuck out of here and make sure everything is ready for tonight.”

“You got it, Prez.” With a cocky grin, I saluted him as I headed out of his office. Walking down the hallway toward the common area, I avoided the kitchen this time.