Calming the Riot Read online

  “Not necessarily. If your gut’s tellin’ you that keepin’ her carefree is the way to go, it might be right. I just know Jackie’d lose her ever-lovin’ mind if I kept her in the dark.”

  Jackie and Andrea were two very different women. Liar didn’t want to worry Andrea unnecessarily, and he wasn’t certain how she’d react if she did know what was going down at the pawn shop. What he had with her was really fuckin’ good, but he still felt like she might bolt if things got dangerous. He was falling for her and even if it was selfish, he wasn’t going to do anything that might force her out of his life. She looked at him like he was her hero, and it felt damn good. No, he wasn’t going to jeopardize that.

  “Andrea doesn’t have quite the same attitude as Jackie,” Liar muttered.

  Volt chuckled and led the way back to the stairs. “Yeah, she does. You can’t tell me you’ve forgotten her ranting about the WD40.”

  Liar chuckled. “Nope. You’re semi-right. She’s got attitude, but it’s all about protecting Mother Earth.”

  At the top of the landing, Volt faced Liar. “She’d want to protect you, too, you know.”

  One of Liar’s eyebrows lifted. “Ain’t how shit works in my world, Prez.”

  Volt’s chin dipped down. “Maybe it should.”

  They walked back into the apartment, and Mallory’s head was thrown back as she belly-laughed loudly. When she was under control, she looked at Andrea. “You are a hoot and a half. I had never seen biodegradable disposable bamboo forks and spoons before today, but seriously? You attended a condo board meeting to talk them into starting a compost heap?”

  Andrea crossed her arms, shoving her tits up and Liar felt his cock twitch. He seriously loved watching her when she was getting riled up.

  “Yes. I think they would’ve gone along until a bitch who lives in another building mentioned that staring a compost requires worms. She went out of her way to be graphic and turned them off on the whole idea.”

  Mallory nodded but pointed a finger at Andrea. “You could sell this place and rent my house. I wouldn’t care if you started a compost heap in my back yard. It’s overrun with dollar weeds any damn way. It’d probably be an improvement.”

  Andrea gave Mallory a sympathetic look. “I’ve got a pretty good set up here, Mallory—”

  “Just think about it. Otherwise, I’m gonna have to put the house on the market, even though Cal’s trying to talk me into renting it out. I just don’t want to go through that hassle, but if someone I know and like was living there, that’d be different.”

  The conversation petered out, but Liar decided he’d have a word with Cal about that. It was a good idea, and if things kept on being as good as they were, there was no way he’d be moving into this place with her. He liked space, and while her apartment was nice it was only a two bedroom. Yeah, he’d definitely find out how much Cal was thinking the rent ought to be on Mal’s place. He didn’t need to go see it because Cal had called on him as a prospect to do some work at Mallory’s place back in February.

  ***

  Liar’s phone vibrating on the nightstand woke him. He was in his bed alone. It would’ve been nice to have Andi with him, but he’d spent Saturday and Sunday nights with her, and there wasn’t much sleeping going on. Monday, he spent half his day with her, did a few hours at Hock, took Andi to dinner, but they both needed to rest up for their week ahead.

  Grabbing his cell, the display indicated it was 2:43 in the morning and his father was calling.

  “Yeah,” he answered with a croaky voice.

  “Jim, you and your cousin need to get down here if you want to see your Gran one last time.”

  He sat up and swung his legs to the floor. “Shit. Seriously? We were just there last week, how did she—”

  “Cancer ain’t the only health issue she’s got, and it seems her heart’s failin’ her. She’d filled out a DNR before she even told me about the cancer comin’ back. Cause of the DNR—”

  “What’s a DNR?” Liar interrupted.

  “Do not resuscitate form. Anyway, because of that, she’s in hospice care now. I wouldn’t call you if it weren’t serious.”

  “Got it. I’ll get Beast. We’ll leave soon.”

  He disconnected, pulled on jeans and walked to Beast’s door. Knowing that Beast probably still had a girl in his room because he could hear them loud and clear just before midnight, Liar pounded on the door three times. No sounds could be heard on the other side of the door, so he pounded again only harder.

  “Jesus Christ,” he heard Beast saying. Before the door opened, he heard Rage’s door behind him open.

  “Christ Almighty! What is with you assholes? Not even three in the fuckin’ mornin’ and you’re raising an unholy racket.”

  Liar shot the man a glare, but Beast’s door finally opened.

  “What the fuck?”

  “It’s Gran,” Liar said, and he watched the fury seep out of Beast’s face. “It’s bad. I’m leavin’ in ten.”

  Five minutes later, Liar was in the kitchen fully dressed, and the coffee had finished brewing. As he poured his first cup, he heard Beast getting rid of the woman who had been in his bed.

  Beast walked into the kitchen area grousing. “Bitches, I tell you. Some of them can never take a fuckin’ hint.”

  “You need a travel mug?” Liar asked lifting the pot of coffee.

  He groaned. “No, not all of us have fancy-ass touring bikes like you do. Got no cup holder. I’ll have to scald my fuckin’ throat and then get a 5-Hour Energy when we stop for gas or some shit.”

  The upside to leaving at three in the morning was that traffic was light, but the downside was that they also hit Tampa around six in the morning and were in the thick of the morning rush hour. Beast gave him a signal to split the lanes of traffic, but Liar shook his head at him. It wasn’t worth getting a ticket or worse getting sideswiped in an effort to shave an extra twenty to thirty minutes from their drive.

  They parked their bikes and sauntered up to Gran’s condo at a quarter to eight in the morning. Liar had just pulled open the storm door when his Uncle Delmas opened the front door.

  “You boys must’ve hauled serious ass to get down here so early.”

  They both walked into the small apartment, but there was no sign of his Grandmere. His father was sitting in a recliner watching the morning news.

  Beast looked between the two other men. “Where’s she at? Liar didn’t tell me anything except it’s bad.”

  Uncle Delmas sighed clapping a hand on Beast’s shoulder. “She’s at the local hospice facility. Should’ve insisted she downsize from that king bed a long-ass time ago, but there’s not enough room in here to bring in a hospital bed like she needs right now. They don’t expect her to make it through the day. Yesterday was rough, to say the least. She isn’t lucid all the time, but when she is, it’s like she knows her mind’s comin’ and goin’ and she does not like that one bit.”

  Moving past his uncle, Liar brewed a cup of coffee in his Gran’s fancy single cup coffee machine. He noticed there was a plate of bacon sitting on the counter. Even though he didn’t have much of an appetite, he decided he should probably eat something.

  “Want some eggs, Beast? There’s five rashers of bacon sittin’ over here to go with it.”

  “Sure, if you’re cookin’,” Beast said.

  While Liar and Beast ate, his father and Uncle took turns in the bathroom to get ready. By ten o’clock, they were waiting in the lobby of the hospice care center. A volunteer took them back to Gran’s private room. What Liar expected was not the room he walked into. It was a spacious, yet small, living room area and French doors led to a small patio. The only other door led to a bedroom where Gran was resting in a hospital bed.

  The volunteer went into Gran’s room and spoke brightly to her. “Mrs. Huntley, you got yourself not two but four fine men here to see you. Are you ready for that?”

  His father and uncle were holding themselves stiffly. His father pinned
his eyes to Liar’s. “You head in there first, Jim. Me and Del said most everything we had to say last night. If she’s lucid, you and David need to talk to her.”

  The volunteer returned to their huddle. “She seems to be all there. Likely the morphine is wearing off, and once she gets another dose of that, she tends to not be all there.”

  Jim lifted his chin at the woman and felt a harsh sting at the back of his nose. He took in a deep breath and willed himself not to cry. Gently, he closed the door to Gran’s room behind him. There was a folding chair near her bed, and Liar sat in it as he took Gran’s hand in his. She looked at him and smiled wanly.

  “Look so much like your daddy,” she whispered.

  Clenching his jaw, he fought the tears. “Gran,” he croaked and cleared his throat. “You sure you can’t hang in there a little longer. I met a woman, and I think you’d love her as much as I do.”

  The smile on her lips now was not as bright as she could muster. “Hang on to her. Knew something was different last week.”

  Liar returned her smile. “Yeah,” he whispered.

  “Her name?”

  “What,” Liar asked, but then put it together. “What’s her name? Andrea Paglia.”

  Her hand gave his a light squeeze. “That’s a pretty name. I love you boys, don’t you forget that.”

  Liar couldn’t fight the tears any longer and felt one slip down his cheek. “No, Grandmere. I’ll never forget that. You’ve always been the best woman in my life.”

  “Glad you found yourself a woman, Jim. I’ll tell your momma you love her when I see her.”

  “Gran,” he whispered as another tear slid down the other side of his face.

  “Send in Davy before they give me more drugs, honey.”

  ***

  His Gran’s frail body was only able to tolerate two more rounds of morphine before she passed away during the afternoon. Helplessness was never a feeling Liar dealt with very well. When he really pondered it, he was surprised he wasn’t more accustomed to being helpless. He’d been dealing with it since childhood.

  “You need us to call anybody, Dad?” Beast asked.

  His uncle shook his head. “No. She had all her affairs in order and swore us to not having a funeral. One thing she did ask for was that you boys stick around for the reading of her will. I’ve contacted the lawyer, but the earliest appointment is next Tuesday.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Andrea

  “Are you crying?” Liar asked in my ear.

  I sighed even as I kind of smiled. “Well, yeah. You just told me your Gran died, and I knew you wanted her to be around for Christmas…” I trailed off because a fresh wave of tears were slipping out of my eyes.

  Liar pounced on my silence. “Babe, you never even met her.”

  If I weren’t holding my cell phone to my ear, I would’ve folded my arms across my chest. Seriously, he was starting to tick me off. “That doesn’t matter,” I said haughtily. “She meant something to you, and you mean something to me. Plus, I know this can’t be the least bit easy on you, so it makes me sad.”

  Liar made a strange sound and then it sounded like the phone was being jostled gently. I heard what was probably the click of a door, and then he spoke. “I ‘mean something’ to you? What do I mean to you, Andrea?”

  Well, now I’d done it. “I don’t want to get into this on the phone, Liar.” And I didn’t because telling him I loved him was something that was far better delivered in person than on the phone.

  “What do I mean to you, babe?”

  I decided to pull out the big guns and use his given name. “Jim, this isn’t —”

  “Asked you a question, Andi. Be nice if you gave me an answer.”

  “You know what you mean to me,” I hedged.

  “Do I? Spell it out for me, anyway.”

  My sigh was mixed with a growl. “You said you were falling for me. Well, I already fell for you, Jim.”

  He was silent for quite some time. “Are you there?” I asked.

  His gruff voice said, “Yeah. Anything else I mean to you?”

  “I love you, okay?” I said in a low voice. “That isn’t something I should share for the first time over the phone, you know.”

  “Fuck that,” he growled. “I love you, too, Andrea.”

  More tears filled my eyes as happy surprise filled me from top to toe. “You do?” I asked.

  “Fuck yeah. Hell, I asked Gran to stick around a little longer so she could meet you because I knew she’d love you as much as I do. She told me to hang onto you.”

  It was a good thing I had no more appointments that afternoon. My face was soaked with tears because hearing her advice to him about me, sight unseen, brought another deluge of tears.

  After a moment, Liar said, “Anyway, Dad wants me and Beast to stick around until after the will’s read. Won’t be headed back until sometime next week.”

  “Really?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

  “Yeah. Probably be good for me and Beast to help our dads with their grief. They’re acting tough about it, but it ain’t gonna be easy to go through all her stuff. Neither one of them can stick around much longer either, so if we need to list her place, it’ll be good to have all hands on deck.”

  I did not envy him the days ahead of him. “I’m sorry, honey. I wish I could head down and help you out, but I’m booked solid this week. And next Friday, I’m back at the poker room because Paula’s headed out of town for the end of Hanukkah.”

  “Fuck,” I heard Liar hiss. “I forgot about your poker room schedule. If I’m not back by Friday, look for Vamp and Rage or Cal and Rage.”

  My head tilted to the side, not that Liar could see it. “Call me crazy, but after what you did to him on Black Friday, I don’t think I’ve got anything to worry about where Gil is concerned.”

  “Well, you are definitely crazy. Bottom line, Gil Grant is not necessarily the only threat to you. That poker room ain’t the best place for a woman like you to be at midnight. So, keep an eye out for Rage along with either Vamp or Cal.”

  “Liar, what are you talking about with this ‘not the only threat to me’ business?”

  Liar sighed, and I could sense his impatience. “Humor me, baby. Please.”

  It was probably his ‘please’ that did it, but I acquiesced. “Okay, Liar. I’ll look for them on Friday.”

  ***

  It was my Friday night at the poker room. Liar had called me the night before and said he’d be driving back up sometime today. Unfortunately though, even if he was in town, he wasn’t certain he could get by to see me at the end of my shift. I understood that. He had been out of town for over a week, and there was something to be said for finally getting back to your own bed and back to your own routine.

  Even if it made me selfish as hell, I was anxious to see him because telling him I loved him in person would be much more gratifying for a variety of reasons. I noticed it was just after nine o’clock as I was taking my second break of the night; and since I didn’t get to eat at seven, I was beelining toward the stairs. A man who looked vaguely familiar stepped in my path.

  “Andrea. Shayla introduced us the first time you were here. How are things going for you?”

  I realized it was Mr. Allen, and he was just as well dressed tonight as he was the first time I met him. Tonight he was sporting a charcoal gray blazer over a white dress shirt with faint lavender and blue vertical stripes. The top three buttons were undone, and not only could I see the thick gold chain I noticed before, but also a smattering of his gray and white chest hair. Meh. And much like our first meeting, something about him still rubbed me the wrong way.

  “Things are going, Mr. Allen. Sorry to cut this short, but I didn’t get a chance to eat earlier, and I’m going to pass out if I don’t get a sugar fix if nothing else.”

  He smiled sympathetically, then waved an arm behind him as if to usher me out. “By all means, dear. We can’t have a masseuse fall out on the floor.”

&n
bsp; I smiled back and went to grab some food. The entire time I ate, I wondered why he bugged me. Something was amiss, and I could not put my finger on it. Shaking my head, I put it out of my mind. I didn’t have to work with him, and he wasn’t someone I actually knew, so it didn’t matter if he raised my internal red flags.

  When I returned to the second floor and the poker room, Mr. Allen stopped me again.

  “I wanted to ask you about the commotion two weeks ago. What was that all about? I noticed there was a man with sights set on you, but then many very tough looking gentlemen escorted him out. Do you have troubles, dear?”

  I didn’t like him calling me ‘dear.’ It was senseless, I knew, because it was a throw away endearment and many people used it all the time. Hell, a waitress could say that to me, and I wouldn’t think twice. This guy doing it though, I suddenly realized what I didn’t like about him. He was fake. I shoved all of that out of my mind so I could end this conversation as quickly as I could.

  “No, sir. I don’t have troubles. That was someone who was unaware that I was here. I have a restraining order against him for good reason, and my boyfriend and his brothers made sure the man knew where things stood. It was nice chatting with you, but I really have to get back to the floor.”

  There was a man who looked vaguely familiar waving at me frantically as I moved around the tables. I made my way to him.

  “It’s about time you came back to be my nurse, lady! Sent my wife to see you back when you were a regular, and then you had to go and abandon us.” The moment he started speaking, I recognized his voice.

  With a sideways look, I said, “You are…you’re Jeff, aren’t you?”

  “Yep. Lost over a hundred pounds.”

  My eyes bulged. No wonder I didn’t recognize him. He not only lost the bulk he was carrying on his frame, but he lost weight in his face as well. Back when I was working here on the regular, he also had a full grizzly-style beard. Now, he was clean shaven, so that kept me from recognizing him too.

  “Good for you. That couldn’t have been easy to do. Were you waving at me frantically to get a massage for yourself or are you looking to get a gift card for your wife?”