I shook my head and smacked my lips, giving her a what the hell look. “You know Jana, doctors frown on pregnant women smoking crack.”
“Teddy,” she whined.
“Look, Max thinks the sun shines out of your pussy. He’ll be so happy that he’s probably going to smother you with love and overprotectiveness. You’ll be wrapped so tight in cotton that you’ll want to kill him before you even start showing.” She laughed and I wrapped my arms around her. “Seriously, you should probably jump up and down, maybe run up the steps two at a time and carry a big box before he finds out.”
Jana’s body shook with laughter and I felt better too. “Thank you, Teddy.”
“Don’t worry. I love you and you’re going to be an amazing mother, trust me.”
“Teddy,” she began nervously. “What if...what if my face scares my baby?”
My heart instantly broke for Jana. Not because of the jagged scar on the right side of her face, but because she really didn’t see how incredible she was. “That’s never going to happen. You’ll love that little tyke so much, take such good care of it that it’ll think something is wrong with the other moms who don’t have a hero mark.”
“Oh, Teddy,” she cried and then sobbed so hard her body shook.
“Well now that you’re already a blubbering mess, I think I should tell you about something.” I sucked in a deep breath and put a few feet of distance between us as I finally told her all about the gifts. “They started a while ago. I think it’s Kip Riley.”
“Teddy, you have to call the cops.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, I did that and they were no fucking help at all. Laughed, if you can believe it.” That still made me angry enough to cause bodily harm, but it wasn’t worth it so I shrugged it off.
“Teddy,” she began but I held up my hands to stop her.
“I’m doing all that can be done, Jana. Don’t worry about me and please, don’t tell Max.” She hesitated but I looked right through her. “Please.”
She nodded. “As long as you’re not in any danger, I won’t say a word.”
“That’s good enough for me.” For now, anyway. I didn’t want Max getting involved and especially not now, with a kid on the way. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry.” I would worry enough for the both of us.
She listened as I told her about the randomness and over all sexual tone of the gifts, nodding as her gaze was set on a fixed point in the distance. “You should stay with us.”
“Yeah, right. Because I want to catch you christening every part of this place? No thanks, but thank you for the offer. Besides, you and Max are still getting used to living together.”
“It’s been six months,” she reminded me with a roll of her eyes.
“Still. You’ll be nesting, or whatever, soon. I’ll be fine and even if I’m not, there’s no way I’m putting you in the vicinity of harm’s way.”
I groaned when Jana began to tear up again. “You are too good to me, Teddy. I love you.”
“I love you too, honey. Now you need to go rinse that face and put on something sexy when you tell Max he’s gonna be a daddy. There’s a bottle of wine at home calling my name.”
And thankfully no gifts waiting for me when I got there.
Chapter 7
Tate
Running my shop was easier than I’d thought it would be. Hell, getting the paperwork done for a business license had been harder, plus all the health and safety shit the state and the city required. The job itself was easy — scheduling the guys, booking appointments and disinfecting between customers — but the days were still long with inventory logs and bookkeeping. As I closed up late on a Friday evening, I started to think that maybe I should take Jana up on her offer to help.
I knew I wouldn’t, not yet anyway. So far none of it was too difficult, just time consuming as fuck. But it’s not lik
e I had a lot to keep me busy other than GET INK’D and the Reckless Bastards. Sad fucking life, but I wasn’t ready to do much more yet. Prison life was very regimented and even if I hadn’t needed that kind of structure, it stuck with me. Some guys had gotten out and come back in less than a year because freedom made them go buck wild and they ended up right back in a cage. I refused to let that shit happen to me.
No. Fucking. Way.
I’d just finished locking up when I felt a pair of hands grab me from behind. Instantly my instincts kicked in. Six years of being locked up with murderers, rapists and con men, I learned not to let anyone get the jump on me. I turned quickly, grabbing the asshole by the throat and slamming him against the steel gate. Only it wasn’t a him. I blinked at the familiar blonde-streaked brown hair and growled. “Sheena? What the fuck, I could’ve fucking killed you.” Fucking woman had no sense of self-preservation, did she? “I’m sure I told you to stay away from me.”
She stuttered as I let go of her and took a few steps back, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “I-I’m sorry, Golden Boy. I just wanted to come see if you wanted to go to my place and order a pizza.”