I spend way too long in the bathroom hiding out. I’m being a pussy, but I can’t face questions of what happens between us next. I text Chains and ask him to call me in exactly five minutes and say I’m needed urgently at the club. It’s a shit move, but I need an excuse to get the fuck outta here so I can get my head straight.
I find Eva in the kitchen washing dishes. I stand awkwardly in the doorway. She glances over and then goes back to washing up. “You okay?” I eventually ask.
She nods her head. “You’d better get out of here,” she says quietly.
“I had?” I ask, hardly believing my luck. No chat, no dissection of feelings, or going over what happened?
Eva dries her hands and turns to me. “Yeah. What just happened can’t happen again. I’m really sorry, Cree. I should never have let it happen in the first place.”
I stare at her with my mouth half-open in shock. She’s actually blowing me off. “Let me get this straight. You want me to leave? You regret what just happened?”
“I don’t want it to be awkward between us. Let’s just stay out of each other’s way from now on.” She turns back to the sink and continues with the washing up. My cell rings, bringing me from my frozen state. I press it to my ear.
“Hey, man, Pres needs you back at the club now,” Chains lies just like I asked him to.
“Forget it. I’m busy,” I mutter, disconnecting the call. “You regret it!” I repeat. “Why?”
Eva takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m done with this conversation. I’d really like you to leave now.”
“Are you fucking shitting me!” I suddenly yell. She jumps slightly. “You’d rather fuck that geeky piece of shit than me?”
“Cree,” she starts, then sighs. “It’s not a competition but if I’m honest . . . ” She shrugs her shoulders. “Yeah.” My eyes almost bug out of my head. “He’s kind,” she continues. “And thoughtful. He doesn’t boss me around.”
“Because he’s a pussy,” I mumble.
“Because he likes me,” she counters.
“I never said I didn’t like you,” I argue and she scoffs.
“You can’t even stand me to touch you, Cree.”
I shuffle uncomfortably. “I can’t stand anyone to touch me,” I confess. Sadness fills her eyes, and maybe a touch of pity.
“Is that why you turned me away from you just then?” she asks, pointing to the living room, where we’ve just had sex. I keep my eyes fixed to the ground. I want to talk to her. I want to say why I hate being touched and why I can’t take her for myself even though I want to, but the words are clogged in my throat.
“I have to go. That was Chains. He said Pres needs me at the club.”
She doesn’t believe me, I see it in her eyes. Instead of calling me out, she nods and smiles. “Well, as long as we’re clear, Cree,” she says, and I look at her for an explanation. “Let’s stay out of each other’s way from now on. No more turning up here. No more bringing me lunch. You got it out of your system, leave it there.”
“Got what out of my system?” I snap.
“Me,” she says simply. “I want you to leave now.” She keeps her back to me, and after a few seconds of silence, I turn and leave.
When I get back to the club, Riggs is pissed. He glares at me. “Where the fuck have you been?”
“Why?” I ask.
“Because you’re my fuckin’ VP and you went off radar. I told you about Callum Myles and then you disappear. I bet my ass you weren’t looking into that for me though.”
I shake my head. “I was with Eva,” I say.
“Right, well, now you’re back, let’s call church and discuss some real shit.” He stomps into the large room we use for church and I whistle to the brothers who are standing around idly.
We file into the room one by one and take our seats. “The mayor is worried. There’s kids being trafficked in and out of London right under our noses and we knew nothing about it. He’s given me some names. We need to stick to these guys and watch what the hell is going on.” He throws a piece of paper on the table and Callum is the first name on the list.
“I can watch Callum Myles,” I say.
“You sure about that, VP?” snaps Riggs. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from the pussy you’re chasing.”
A few of the brothers whistle, but I feel Lake’s eyes boring into me. I stare back. “You got a problem, brother?” I spit out. He shakes his head. “That’s what I thought,” I add.
“Cree will watch Myles. Lake, you take the second name. Chains, the third, and Blade, the fourth. Spend the week on them and then we’ll meet back up and compare movements. I know this is gonna be hard, but you see them with a kid, you call it in. No heroics. We don’t know what we’re dealing with and the mayor just wants intel.”
“Can’t the boys in blue do this?” asks Blade.
“The fourth man on the list is a cop, Blade. We don’t know how deep this goes.”
Riggs dismisses us and the brothers leave the room. “Not you,” he says to me, so I sit back down while we wait for the room to clear out. “You sure you’re in the right headspace to deal with this?”
“Of course, I am,” I snap. “She’s outta my system now.”
He arches a brow. “You fucked her?”
I nod. “And then
