I had taken about three steps inside when a loud crash sounded and an angry voice called out, “What the fuck happened to her face?”
I turned toward the familiar sound and locked eyes with Sebastian. And what eyes they were. A little green, a little midnight blue, and a lot pissed off.
“I—” I started to say even though he wasn’t talking to me, his attention on the man who drove me here.
“Prez asked us to bring her in, so I brought her in,” Big Guy said.
Lena decided she’d had enough and started pushing against me in her efforts to get down. She turned into a little eel and slipped out of my hold. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she let out a triumphant squeal and tried to bail.
I managed to grab her by the back of her sweater and her escape attempt came to a screeching halt. And I meant that in the most literal sense, because she let out a screech so loud it could shatter eardrums.
“What the hell is going on here?” another voice joined in.
The guy who came with the voice was just as built as the rest of them, making me think they all took steroids. Didn’t they know that stuff would shrink other parts of their bodies?
“Sorry, she just woke up,” I said, looking back at my daughter, who was now shadowboxing.
“Ace, take care of the kid. You”—he pointed in my direction—“come with me.”
“What? No. I’m not leaving my daughter with a stranger,” I protested, my eyes jumping from the new guy to Sebastian.
Now I wasn’t just worried but terrified.
Before I had a chance to argue further, Sebastian stepped forward and scooped Lena up off the floor. She was so stunned from being picked up by a stranger that she immediately stopped screaming and stared at him.
I could get behind that. If I could, I’d stare at him as well. Even though he was part of the same group of people that had basically just kidnapped me. But tell that to my eyes. They were only interested in his broad shoulders and the sharp angles of his face.
“She’ll be here when you come back. I won’t let anything happen to her,” Sebastian said, leaning down so nobody else could hear him but me. “Go with our prez.”
I wanted to scoff at him, but I didn’t get a chance to do more than widen my eyes as someone grabbed my arm and dragged me away.
Sebastian growled and pierced the guy pulling me behind him with a glare. I had to admit I was feeling better knowing he was the one watching Lena. Irrational, but still reassuring.
They led me into a messy but clean office and pushed me down into a chair. My breath hitched and my whole body trembled.
“Your man owes us a lot of money,” said the guy Sebastian called the prez.
He took a seat behind his desk, making me feel like I was in the principal’s office.
“He’s not my man,” I responded, my voice quivering.
“Then why did he stay at your house last night?”
Jim, you buttgoblin. I’d always known that waste of space only thought of himself, but this really took the cake. If he’d even cared about his family at all, he would never have come to me. And now they probably thought I was helping him with whatever shady business he’d cooked up.
“He came by last night because he needed a place to stay,” I said, forcing the words out of my dry throat.
And I let him. One of the worst decisions I’d made in a while. Right after adding red highlights to my raven hair last year.
“Where is he?” Prez asked.
I jumped at his loud voice. “I don’t know.”
“He borrowed money from us that he never paid back.”
I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath before saying, “That mother puffin banana sucker.”
Why would he borrow money from a motorcycle club? Had he completely lost his mind? Wait, that was a stupid question, because evidence suggested he was one cup short of a set.
“Since you have no money either, we’ll have to get it back another way,” he said, and my eyes went wide.
“Oh God. Oh no, please don’t cut off my fingers,” I called out, jumping out of my chair and burying my hands in my armpits. “I have kids. I need to work. If you maim me, I’ll be out of a job.”
“Why would we cut off your fingers?” he asked, frowning.
“Or my toes,” I added, looking at my sandals. I’d painted my toenails a deep red last night, and they looked too pretty to be cut off. They weren’t even chipped yet.
“Calm down,” Prez grunted and got up. “You won’t lose any body parts. But we’ll put someone on you until Jim shows up.”
I looked up at him with wide eyes. “What does that mean?”
“Someone will be with you at all times. If Jim is stupid enough to show his face again, it’ll be a win for both of us. You get rid of us, and we get Jim.”
“But I have to go to work. I can’t just show up with a stranger,” I said, glad my shaking hands were still safely stuck in my armpits.
Prez leaned closer. “You won’t be showing up with a stranger. Ace works at the same place as you. And since he’s the one who will be glued to your side, it won’t be a problem. You’ll just have to line up shifts. Which is also no issue since we own Pepper’s.”
I gasped, blinking at him, not comprehending how things could get worse.
And who is Ace? Why does everyone here seem to have a ridiculous nickname?
“We’ve been watching you for a while. But you had no contact with
