Falcon grunted as he stepped in front of me and took the seat Raven abandoned. “Yeah,” he sighed and watched our son play. A small smile touched his lips, and I felt it in the deepest recesses of my heart.
“I heard about what happened at Leather & Chrome.” I watched for any hesitation, but he simply nodded.
“They paid some fucking kids,” he growled and shook his head. “Nobody was seriously hurt but that’s pure luck, not sharpshooter precision.” His hands fisted at his sides. “We put the fear of god into the kids, but we got a lead, at least I fucking hope we do.”
He was stressed. I laid my hand on his thigh and gave a supportive squeeze. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For working so hard to keep me and TJ safe.”
He turned to me with a dark, affectionate look. “Of course.”
I rolled my eyes and flashed a smile. “I know, you’re a stand-up guy and I am the mother of your child, but it still means a lot to me that you’ve taken this on when you didn’t have to.”
He took my hand off his thigh and wrapped it in his. “It’s not just because you’re TJ’s mom, Viv. I wanted you well before he came into our lives.” He brushed a kiss across my fingers that shot through my whole body, settling between my thighs and deep in my chest.
“Falcon,” I whispered, unsure what I wanted to say.
“I was falling for you, Viv. Before you up and vanished, I was falling for you, but I didn’t realize it until you were long fucking gone.”
My chest clenched hard at his admission of words I’d confessed to his sister just an hour ago. I opened my mouth, ready to tell him that I was falling too and explain exactly why I left but before I could, the real world intervened once again.
“Falcon.” Maverick’s deep voice was tight with tension, his brows knitted into a serious expression. “We got something.”
Falcon pulled back and his spine snapped straight, the softness in his expression melted away until a hard, all-business mask fell into place. He gave my hand one final squeeze, another reminder that he was my steady anchor in this storm, and then he stood and our connection was broken. “Later,” he promised. “We’ll talk about this later.”
I nodded, unsure what else to say in the face of such a serious expression. I watched him walk away while Raven’s words played in my mind. Could I choose to stay here and hope everything worked out well? That neither James nor the Russians would get to me or TJ, or anyone else?
That was wishful thinking, but was the potential for happiness and family worth the risk?
Chapter Fifteen
Falcon
Iwas in a daze as I made my way down the hall where we gathered for informal meetings, bypassing the office because this wasn’t just a regular meeting. It was Church, which meant that it was something important. I stepped inside the room, realizing I was the last one to enter. “What’s going on?” My hands clenched into fists and my mind raced, thinking about the words Viv and I exchanged. The admissions we made. I wondered if that meant we’d reached a turning point in our relationship.
Slate looked up from his laptop with a satisfied smile that defied the circles under his eyes. “Got something.” The spark in his eyes said it was something good and history told me that I’d like what he had to say. “This would be easier in my office,” he grumbled to himself before he turned the heavy black laptop to face the table. “This is the guy that approached those wannabe gangbangers.”
I leaned towards the screen until the man came into view.
“I started with the corner store where the kids said they were approached,” Slate began as the video played. “I started there and tapped into business cameras, city surveillance, and any other visuals I could to follow him back to his starting point.”
Excitement made my fingertips tingle. We were getting close to finding a solution to this problem. I felt it. “Did you get any footage of his whole fucking face?”
Slate grinned. “I’m glad you asked, Falcon.”
I flipped him off and half the table laughed.
“He stopped at that fancy tobacco store on the other side of the Steel City-Vegas border. That place is packed to hell with Euro-gangsters.”
“That tracks,” Diesel grunted, looking pissed as fuck. “Anything else?”
“Oh fuck, yeah,” Slate said in that giddy voice that was a constant reminder he was a nerd first, biker second. “But before we get to that, check it out.” A crystal clear image appeared on the screen of a tall man with a light blond crewcut, icy blue eyes, a sharp jaw, and a crisp suit. “Thank fuck the owners know their clientele.”
“Did you identify him yet?” I studied that asshole’s face carefully, taking in every detail right down to the scar in his left eyebrow. If I saw him again, I would make that motherfucker pay.
Slate shook his head. “I’m still working on that part. But after he left the tobacco shop, look who he met up with.” He tapped a key and a new video began. It was the tall blond dude meeting up with a familiar face in a three-piece suit.
“Son of a bitch!” My palm smacked against the table, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the friendly greeting, the smiles they shared.
Slate flashed a sympathetic grin. “Is this thesomethingyou were hoping I’d find?”
