Bear, p.7
Bear, page 7
The defensive team rushed off the field, and Roxie wanted to run down and hug her boy because she was so proud, but she didn’t want to do anything to embarrass him. Instead of running up to his coach, Chad stayed on the path that led him straight to the Bang Shift crew, who were still celebrating his touchdown. Teddy ran the last couple of steps toward Chad, grabbed his face mask, and yanked him forward so their foreheads rested against each other. The closeness touched Roxie, and she wished she could hear the words Teddy said to him. After several seconds Teddy released the guard of Chad’s helmet and clapped him on the back.
The moment was brief, but Roxie still choked with emotion. The other guys gathered around and pounded their palms on her son’s shoulder pads, and then Teddy hugged him before he had to rejoin his team.
“Aww, look how much they care. Especially Bear,” Shelby said with a smirk. “He’s a care Bear.”
Roxie snorted, but Shelby was right. He did care. They all did. It was completely surreal, almost earth-shattering. No, Chad’s father wasn’t in his life, but her son had been right. He had plenty of male role models who loved him.
Xander began to cry, and Xan cooed at him, apologizing for being loud.
The rest of the game had a charged energy that the opponents weren’t able to overcome. When it got down to the two-minute warning, the other team was on their last down, and Scott sacked the quarterback. Xan cheered, holding baby Xander, telling him how awesome his big brother was. When the game bell sounded, the crowd rushed the field.
No one cared who won homecoming queen.
Well, Tasha hadn’t been crowned, so that was all that mattered to Roxie.
When she made it to the field, she had to push through crowds of cheering kids. She watched as Becca rushed to Chad. He yanked his helmet off and scooped her up in his arms. He twirled her around, laughing, and Roxie hesitated, enraptured by his joy. His team closed in around him, and they slowly made their way to the field house.
“C’mon, little momma,” Teddy said right beside her.
Roxie looked over her shoulder, at a loss for words. This night had been epic. Not in her wildest dreams could she have dreamed something more perfect.
“Yeah, he’s celebrating with his friends,” she said, knowing her boy has been practicing the spread of his wings, but it didn’t make the reality that he was almost all grown up any easier.
“He’s always gonna need you.”
She leaned against Teddy’s chest, and he wrapped his arms around her.
Nothing had changed between them, but there wasn’t another person alive she wanted to share this moment with.
She sniffed and leaned back to stare into his face. “What did you say to him?”
“That I was so proud of him. That he did good. That’s how you play as a team. Hell, I don’t know, babe. I just rambled a bunch of stuff, trying not to cry like a little bitch.”
Roxie looked up at him, and the sincerity of his gaze took her breath away. She searched her brain for something light to say. “Well, well, well, Teddy, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you love my son just a little bit.”
“I love the game a lot.”
She rolled her eyes and chuckled before she turned to watch her son in the distance. Chad dropped Becca to her feet, held onto his helmet with one hand, and clasped her hair in his other. Then he kissed her.
Roxie tried not to wince, knowing Becca’s family usually came to watch her cheer, but then Teddy’s breath fanned her ear, completely distracting her.
“But yeah, little momma, I love him a little bit, too.”
Chapter Nine
Although it was October in Arkansas, the weather was actually cool, so instead of riding his bike into the shop, Bear messaged Brody to hitch a ride with him. He made his way across the dew-covered grass, mentally preparing himself for the meeting he’d be conducting this morning with his team.
Heather had made quick progress getting clients rescheduled as she’d been asked. The insurance adjuster had also come in right away to assess the damage. That allowed the guys to spend the last week monitoring the cleanup while digging into The Shadow. They’d been squeezing in these meetings in between contractor appointments.
Those not on shift to watch Roxie and Chad were digging into their mark’s background, but so far, they hadn’t found much more than they already knew. After moving into Roxie’s yard, Bear had talked to her several times about Chad’s father. She wasn’t convinced they were one and the same, but she’d given him the timeline of when he’d come to town as best as she could remember. It was better than nothing. He hadn’t shared his theory with her about her problems with her car’s tires, but he’d brought up the subject with his group.
Bear spotted Oz sitting in his car on the other side of Roxie’s house and waved. He hated leaving her security up to anybody outside of the Bang Shift, but Axle had been adamant that the man wanted The Shadow almost as bad as they did. Bear didn’t trust the guy to bring him into their meetings, but he’d take all the eyes he could get watching over Roxie and Chad.
Before Bear reached the front door of Brody’s house, the man stepped out and stretched.
“You look better,” Bear said.
“Actually got about four hours, uninterrupted sleep last night. Feel like a new man.” Brody chuckled as they made their way to his truck.
“Let’s stop for breakfast,” Bear said. “I miss having a real kitchen.”
“You could always rotate with everyone else.”
“Nope. I’m the only single one in our group. I’m not going to stuff two people into a camper.”
“Yeah, that’s the reason why you’re staying there,” Brody said as he shot Bear a look. “And I already called in some breakfast platters at the diner.”
Bear’s retort died on his tongue as his mouth watered at the thought of getting a fresh, hot meal. His food lately had been the microwaved variety, basic sandwiches, or cereal.
After swinging through the restaurant, Bear held the hot sacks in his lap while Brody drove. When he’d said called in some platters, he’d meant he’d ordered enough food for everyone. Brody parked in the bay closest to the office—farthest from the damage—and Bear toted the bags into the conference room.
“’Bout time y’all got here. I’m starving,” Blade said.
“You had a packet of oatmeal this morning,” Anna said, side-eyeing her fiancé.
“Right. Only one. I was saving room for bacon and eggs.”
Bear unpacked the load, and everyone grabbed containers. At least Roc, Hunter, Gauge, and Blade served their women first.
“What about me?” Shelby asked when her brother took a container for himself.
“Get your own,” Axle huffed, but he handed her the platter anyway.
“Thanks, bub.”
They all gathered around the large table and ate while talking about the shop’s progress. Everything was on schedule, which was shocking. With the holidays coming up and then the wedding in Louisiana, they hadn’t booked too many clients, so that was good at least.
“I got some preliminary interviews scheduled next week on my short class day. For the mechanics who pass muster, I’ll move on to the next round of interviews and make sure y’all are available,” Heather said.
“Who said you could decide who was qualified enough?” Hunter asked, narrowing his gaze on his sister.
“Me,” Roc said, tugging Heather onto his lap. Bear was shocked the man even let her sit in another chair while she ate.
Maya tugged Hunter’s arm, quietly urging him to leave his sister—and her best friend—alone. She was here because it was Saturday, and the girls had volunteered to help decorate the gym for the dance tonight.
“I compared the timeline that Roxie provided against the known locations in the dossier that Roc’s father gave Miguel Lopez. There are no overlapping dates,” Anna said. “And prior to Thad Howes becoming involved with Roxie, there is no electronic trace of him.”
Roc grumbled Miguel’s name. There was no love lost between Bear’s teammate and the US Marshal who had used him to take down some members of his cartel family.
“That doesn’t mean our Thad Howes and Roxie’s are the same,” Ann continued, “But it doesn’t disprove the theory, either.”
“It’s him,” Bear said. There were too many coincidences for him not to be. He looked at Roc. “I know how you feel about Lopez, but maybe we should reach out to see if he’s learned anything new.” Lopez wasn’t just a Marshal. He was a member of their tactical operations, giving him authority to respond to any federal violation, and his target right now was The Shadow. If they needed an inside man, Lopez was their best option.
“Mierda. I’d rather play child games with Hunter than talk to that sorry man.”
“Hey,” Hunter said, clearly offended. “I Spy is a great way to kill time.”
Heather snickered, and Roc buried his nose in her hair even as he still vibrated with tension.
“I’ve been doing some digging into The Shadow’s name,” Shelby said, drawing everyone’s attention. “You know my federal specialty was in linguistics, and it fascinated me that The Shadow is an anagram for Thad Howes. I wondered if he’s used the same moniker for all crime syndicates, or some variation thereof.”
“That’s how he became known,” Viola said with a frown. “He couldn’t have done that if he’d gone by different names.”
Bear had called Viola in, too, because it was a Saturday and the local FBI field office wouldn’t miss her. Even though the Bang Shift worked through McMillian on assignments brought to them by the FBI, this assignment wasn’t federally sanctioned. If it became so, Bear wanted one of their own on the official team. Having Viola as involved as possible now was the best way to make that happen.
Not that he figured the government would willingly tie themselves to an organized crime hitman. Unless, of course, Bear and the gang were successful in bringing him down.
“True, but maybe his love for anagrams runs deep,” Shelby said. “I’m running a script to scrape all possible name combinations using those same letters that could be linked to The Shadow. Maybe we’ll get another hit. Since there’s no record of him older than nineteen years, he could’ve gone by a different name. Any available images for those results will be compared to the photos Roxie provided.”
“Good thinking,” Bear said, nodding. “Let me know if you get any hits.”
“You got it.”
“What about Zeke?” Axle asked. “He was working with Miguel when they were in town and has extensive cartel experience.” Axle glanced at Roc. “Present company excluded.”
“Whatever Zeke knew wasn’t on the level of Lopez’s knowledge, and my father already provided him more,” Roc said.
“I’ll double check with McMillan, but I’m pretty sure they’re already working together. If not, I’ll make sure whatever Zeke knows that McMillan is up to speed.”
Bear rapped the table. “Good work, everyone. I need to get the Camaro to Chad’s for the dance.”
“Still can’t believe you’re letting him drive it,” Hunter said, shaking his head. “You won’t even let me sit in the driver’s seat.”
“Because you’re reckless behind the wheel.”
“Dude,” he said, dragging out the word. “I helped you pick out the paint color.”
“Quit begging,” Heather said, rolling her eyes at her brother, then looking at Bear. “I think you’re forgetting someone who can help.”
Roc leaned to the side to look at her face, but Bear was the first to ask, “Who?”
“Luc.”
Roc gritted his teeth. “No.”
Bear wasn’t surprised at Roc’s hostility toward Luciano Grasso. The man had drugged and kidnapped Heather. Twice. The first time, she’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time, but the second? He and his uncle had targeted her. If that hadn’t been bad enough, the man had caught feelings for Roc’s girlfriend, which had made Roc want to end him for that alone. Since then, Luc had taken over the former Romano family in Texas—the syndicate responsible for Heather’s abduction—and the Collins family in Chicago—Xan’s former in-laws, who’d come after her and Scott. That made Luc one of the most powerful mafia dons in the country.
Heather turned in her seat to face Roc and put her hands on his cheeks. “Just listen to me, baby.”
“No,” he repeated, shaking his head. The way his muscles tightened, Bear figured the man was about ten seconds away from grabbing his girlfriend and locking her away for safekeeping.
“Luc was the one who came to us with the name. If he hadn’t helped—”
“We’d have learned the name from Roxie after the bomb went off,” Roc said, cutting her off.
Heather sighed. “All I’m saying is he might have more information. The Shadow is a mafia hitman who might still be working with other families. That psycho wouldn’t know that we’re, um, cordial with Luc, especially since he was behind…you know…what happened. He probably thinks we’re enemies.”
“We. Are.”
“I get what you’re saying,” Gauge said, sitting forward, “but men like that don’t do anything for free.”
“So y’all pay him,” Maya said as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“Men with that kind of money and power already won’t expect payment in typical currency,” Viola said and flattened her lips.
“Fuck. That. Noise.” Roc scooted his chair back.
“I don’t mean Heather,” Viola said with a roll of her eyes.
“But he’d want a favor, no doubt,” Blade said.
Bear had to wrap this up before Roc stormed out with his girlfriend. Problem was, he’d be willing to do just about anything to make sure Roxie and Chad were safe, including making a deal with the devil himself. “We should reach out to him.”
With the way everyone gaped at Bear, it was obvious none of them had thought he’d say that. He turned to Roc. “You’re the only one who can contact Miguel Lopez. You two have history, and you know him better than anyone.” He took a deep breath. “I’d rather you not be the one to contact Luc. In fact, I don’t think you should be in the room when the call is made.”
“Bear—” Roc said, his teeth gritting.
He lifted his hand to stop Roc’s protest. “I get it, man. I do. We shouldn’t trust him, but with as much shit as he has on his plate right now, I doubt he wants to make more enemies. It’s a phone call. He probably won’t help anyway, but we gotta at least try.”
“I’ll call him,” Heather said, and Bear surpassed a groan, knowing Roc was about to explode.
“No fucking way,” he roared.
Heather jumped up and stared down at her boyfriend. “I’m the only one he might be willing to share any information with. I refused to press charges against him. He owes me.”
“He paid us back,” Gauge said and clasped Viola’s hand on top of the table. Luc had helped deal with Giuseppe Costa when he’d snatched up Viola. Granted, Giuseppe had been acting on Luc’s grandfather’s orders, but still. Luc didn’t have to cooperate back then.
“He will always owe me,” Heather said slowly, leaning closer to Roc. The cartel prince was grinding his jaw as he glared at her. “I’m doing it.”
“No,” Roc said, low and deadly. Anybody else would’ve been pissing himself scared at Roc’s tone, but Heather just smirked.
“I didn’t ask, big guy.” She turned to Bear. “I’ll do it today.”
“Heather,” Roc barked. “I said no.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, dragging out the question as she reared back and put her hands on her hips. “If you want to keep your balls, you’ll watch your mouth.”
Hunter snickered.
Heather briefly redirected her glare to her brother and then turned on her heel. “Let’s go, Maya. We got stuff to do today.”
The two of them marched out.
Roc swiped his arm across the table with a roar, knocking off the empty container. He stormed out of the room and slammed the backdoor.
“That went well,” Blade said, and then pointed his fork at Bear’s platter. “Are you gonna finish your pancakes?”
Chapter Ten
Roxie was going to cry. Like big ugly cry. Like there was no waterproof mascara strong enough to stop the waterworks type of cry.
“Okay, now I want one with just with girls,” Xan called out, adjusting her camera.
Becca and Malorie stayed under the tree where they’d been getting their photos taken, and Chad and Scott walked over to the side just out of the shot. The girls’ parents were at the gym, setting up to take pictures when the boys escorted the girls inside, so Xan and Roxie had made them stop at the park for an impromptu photo session.
“Y’all are so beautiful,” Roxie said. She bit her lip to stop the sob that bubbled up. The couple’s photos they’d just finished taking had the setting sun in the background and looked stunning. It hadn’t set completely yet, so there was this ethereal glow surrounding the girls now.
“Oh my gosh, mom, are you gonna cry?”
“No,” she lied.
Chad threw his hands up and laughed. He didn’t understand what this moment was for her. He wouldn’t until he had his own kids…and that thought sobered her right up. She couldn’t forget these four young adults were walking bags of hormones. When he walked over to her to hug her, she quietly asked, “You have condoms, right?”
“Mom,” he said quickly and looked around.
“I’m serious, Chad. It’s not just coochie cooties you have to worry about when you have sex.”
“Oh my God, really, mom?”
“Look, if you’re old enough to do it, you’re old enough to be responsible and talk about it. You’re eighteen, which means I couldn’t have been born yesterday.”
“Yes,” he hissed. “I have condoms. Jeez.”
“Now, just the boys,” Xan called out.
Chad shook his head and joined Scott by the weeping willow. He mumbled something to his friend who then shot his gaze over to Roxie. Scott was probably worried he was going to be asked the condom question next. In his horrified stare, Roxie pointed at her eyes with two fingers and then turned them on Scott, indicating that she was watching him.
