The One I Need (Snakes Henchmen MC 2)

I have had one or two who've paid me to take someone out and I've ended up not doing the job because it was all bullshit. The person ended up being an innocent who those that hired me had beef with. I'm just grateful Marlon is good enough to figure the truth out quickly enough so that I don't end up killing innocents.

Their shit is not something I wanted part of, so I dropped the job.

I always keep the payment, I'm not stupid. Fuckers don't try setting me up and get away with it.

Yes, I may have taken those lyin' fucks out.

Well, you don't fuck me over and live.

An innocent person is not a spiteful cunt who tries to hire an assassin to take out someone else. That shit is low. I don't stoop to that level. Ever.

I took the beads from my clutch, placed them in his hand, not bothering to cover him up. He was a sick fuck who killed his own child. Why the hell should I have covered up his tiny dick? He didn't deserve modesty.

I took one last look at Mr. Pathetic, checked his non-existent pulse just to make sure he was gone and walked out the room with my head held high.

I was unrecognizable so I wasn't worried about being spotted.

Even if the cops checked the CCTV footage, that would be able to tell who I was. I never look directly at any camera; my face is never frame.

I always have the place scooped out before I enter any building. I always have to know where each and every camera is. I have to know where those who work in those buildings will be each and every time.

This is why I charge so much for my services. It costs me money to set all this shit up. I don't just walk into a place and off a person. It takes time and thought to make it all happen. I can't afford for anything to go wrong. Period.

I smiled to myself in the elevator mirror without lifting my head enough for the camera to pick up my face. The job was done.

I've been waiting outside her apartment for the past hour. After this past week, I need to talk to her. She's been away for a week so I haven't had the chance yet. God only knows where she's been, but Jett told me not to worry. Idiot thinks I see her as a little sister the way I do Willow. I do in a way.

But it's more than that. It's not just the fact I want to fuck her, and I do want to fuck her, quite badly, in fact. I feel something more, I want all of her. Everything.

Hell, what the fuck am I talking about? I don't even know what I feel for her anymore. I can't get her out of my head, I know that much. I've been so worried about her this past week it's almost driven me to distraction.

I thought she'd be home by now. Jett said she'd called him to let him know she was on her way home and wouldn't be long. I just want to check on her, make sure she's okay. I know it's late, but I won't be able to settle unless I see for myself that she's okay.

I hear the rumble of a bike. I turn my head and see her gliding up the street on her Harley. A girl that can ride a motorcycle and enjoys it as much as me? Solid Gold.

My mother rode bikes, she loved them, said she couldn't get enough of the wind blowing through her long hair. My father wasn't so keen on his old lady riding like that. He soon put a stop to it. To all of her dreams. He was a good man but he worried far too much about his wife and the things she did or wanted to do. But she loved him regardless. Plus, he'd have her riding on the back of his bike every day if that's what she wanted. It made her happy, and that's all that mattered.

I watch as Nova removes her helmet and shakes out her long wavy hair before climbing off her bike. I shove my leather gloves inside my helmet and walk out of the shadows. Yeah, I'm kind of a stalker.

“How long have you been hiding in the dark?”

I stop dead in my tracks. How in the hell did she know I was here? I didn't make any noise, or at least, I don't think I did, and my bike isn’t in view.

“How did you know I was here?”

She turns her pretty eyes to me and a slow smirk creeps across her face. Man, she's hot. “Intuition.” Is all she says on the matter. Well, she's got damn good intuition. “Coming in?”

I nod and follow her into her small apartment hardly big enough to swing a cat.

I notice she doesn't have any bags with her. What kind of vacation has she been on where she doesn't need luggage?

We both place our helmets on the dresser beside her front door. I then watch her in fascination as she strips away her leathers without even batting an eyelid that I'm watching her. She shimmies into her room and I follow because it's like she's cast some sort of spell on me and I can't help but do so.

I hear her giggling to herself as she steps out of her jeans, and there she stands in nothing but her bra and panties, a perfect red set that somehow makes her body look a shade darker. Her body is so toned. God, I think I'm about to bust outta my jeans I'm so fuckin' hard!

She's so beautiful it's stifling. Even with the visible scar on her chest above her right breast. Jett's a good-looking guy but Nova is a fuckin' goddess. They definitely have good genes. I wonder if she looks more like her mother. I know she doesn't look much like Shepard. Which is crazy when Jett looks like Shepard, and you can so see she's Jett's sister.

“You're so beautiful.” The words came out before I could stop them. And I can't seem to tear my eyes away from her body. I don't think I've ever seen a woman with such defined abs before. I know she works out, but shit. “I've never seen a woman so...” I'm lost for words.

“I'm not all that.” She practically mumbles, snapping me out of my erotic trance. She pulls an overly long t-shirt over her head, covering that incredible body. “I'm going to take a shower. I've been riding for hours. Why don't you grab a couple beers from the fridge and I'll meet you in the living room in a few. Maybe you can tell me why the hell you were skulking around outside my house in the dark.” She doesn't wait for me to give a response, she's already closing the bathroom door.

What the hell was all that about?

Sitting on her small blue couch, too small for my massive frame, I notice a small photo album on her coffee table. I sit my bottle beer on the table and snatch up the album. I sit back in my seat on this not-so-comfortable couch and open it up.

I smile at the pictures of a little girl no older than maybe six or seven months. A pretty little thing with brown hair and blue eyes smiling wide for the camera. There are many pictures of the same child from birth to six or seven months. She's a beautiful child.

I wonder who she is. Maybe this is Nova when she was a baby. The child definitely looks like her. Just the way Shepard described his baby girl. Just like the pictures he used to show us all.

The front door suddenly knocks. I can still hear the shower so I know Nova isn't done yet. I know what it's like when you've been riding for hours on end and all you want to do is stand under the shower for a month and relax those aching muscles.

I place the album on the coffee table and make my way to the door. I open it to a woman in her mid-thirties, with blonde hair, holding a sleeping baby in her arms. A cute little thing with short brown pigtails, sleeping on the woman's shoulder.

“Can I help you?” I ask as she adjusts the bag on her other shoulder.

“I'm looking for Nova. Is she here? I hope so, I managed to track her to this address. She wouldn't give it to me when she called, so I found out for myself.” She says while looking past my shoulder as if trying to find Nova.

“She's in the shower. Who are you?”

“Mandy. I'm not staying.” I watch as she places the baby bag on the floor in front of my feet. “This is Ember.” She says as she hands the sleeping babe to me. I take her, not really knowing what to do. “Rest her head on your shoulder. You're a big guy, she won't wake with you holding her.”

“Right. You wanna tell what the hell is going on? Because I'm a little confused here.” I'm more than confused, to be honest. I adjust the baby in my arms. God, she's so small it's like holding a doll. I just don't get why she's handed her baby off to me, and why the fuck I took her.

“Her things a

re in this case.” She pulls a small suitcase from behind her. And now I'm even more confused. “Her diapers and milk are in the baby bag along with her favorite blanket and teddy bear.”

I narrow my eyes. Why does it feel like this woman is about to leave her baby with me?

“You are Nova's boyfriend, right?” Boyfriend, I haven't been anyone's boyfriend in a good long while. “You're Tank, right?” I narrow my eyes again. She can see my name on my cut, any idiot can, but why the hell would she think I'm Nova's boyfriend?

“Nova told me about you. I must say she described you to a tee. She seemed to like you from what I got when we talked the past couple times, so I assume you're her boyfriend.”

She told this woman we were dating?

Why on this earth would she do that?

“Yes, I'm Tank,” I say warily. “Do you want to come in? I'm sure you'd like to put your daughter to bed. I'll make you some coffee. Nova should be out in a moment.”

“My daughter?” She almost laughs sarcastically while pointing to herself. “Hell, she's not my daughter, she's your girlfriend’s, and I am done.”

Nova has a daughter?