Page 5 of Mischief Mayhem

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Hollywood! How could you?’” I grabbed my chest in mock dramatics, sighing as Thor rolled his eyes. “It’s a terrible sacrifice I had to make for my own well-being. You understand, don’t you? I mean, you’re off the market now. How long were you whacking it solo before Selene finally?—”

I ducked out of the way just in time to miss his massive fist as it flew at my face.

“Find something to do, Hollywood,” Thor growled.

“Temper, temper. I tugged too hard on the wolf’s tail.” Mirth singing in my blood from getting under his skin, I laughed and walked back toward the Honda I’d been working on all morning. “I’ll keep Selene’s name out of my daily dick updates . . . I call them dick-dates.”

Thor glared at me while he backed into the customer service area, his features lighting up as soon as he set them on his wife, who currently read a book behind the counter.

“Anything I need to know about Leo duty tonight?” Bear took a drink of water and sat down on the chair next to the truck, tilting his head to the side while he waited for my answer.

“He’s healing up,” I said, “but Saint says he’s still not talking to anyone but me.”

Bear nodded. “Good. It should be an easy shift, then.”

Six months ago, we’d abducted Leo Caputi, the heir apparent of the notorious Caputi Mafia. For the first few weeks, he’d been detoxing off a bunch of shit and hadn’t spoken to us. Around Christmas, Selene had insisted he be moved to a house, and the only MC-owned space that didn’t have someone living in it was the two-bedroom I’d once shared with my older brother, Trojan. I had since moved in with Saint and Ru, but I came by daily to nurse the fucker back to health per a personal request from Crow. Leo had settled in and, after Selene did surgery on his knee to reset the poorly healed joint, he seemed to be doing much better. But being in that house again . . . looking at all the things I’d left behind . . . my chest ached just thinking about it.

Trojan had died while trying to protect Alba and Ru from Leo’s uncle, Benito, the former boss of the Caputi crime family. After his death, the family had been taken over by his widow, Gabriella. We were still trying to figure out how to take her down.

Of everything I’d lost in my life, of everything that fate had stolen from me, that one hurt the most. I should have gotten over it by now as it had almost been two years, but in my darkest moments, I’d admit I probably never would.

I opened my mouth to tell Bear good luck, but my phone vibrated and cut me off. I reached into my back pocket, and after recognizing the number, I headed toward the door so I could take it outside.

“Will you accept the collect call from Allegheny County Penitentiary?” the robot voice asked.

“Yes.” I reached into my pocket for my cigarettes, pulling one out to light it while I waited to be connected.

“Matty?” came my mother’s hoarse voice. “Matty, is that you?”

“Hiya, Momma,” I said, clenching my eyes shut at how horrible she sounded. She’d been a smoker all my life, but these years in prison had not been good to her. “How ya feeling?”

“Like rotten hell,” she said. “But it’s so good to hear your voice.”

“You, too,” I said, smiling. “Tell me what you’ve been doing.”

“Not much of anything,” she confessed before updating me about her sewing job and how little she’d made last week. “I hate to be trouble, but I need shampoo and conditioners.”

“I’ll put some cash in your account as soon as we hang up.” I’d been taking care of her ever since Trojan died, sending her as much as I could every month. It never made a dent in helping her well-being, but I’d like to think it did more good than bad. “How’s everything else?”

“Everything is all right, baby boy. How are you?”

I filled her in on the garage and the upcoming charity auction for Pollux. “I’m living with Saint and Ru, but I think I need to find a new place.” They were still in the honeymoon phase of their reunion, and not that sex normally bothered me, but when I wasn’t getting any of my own, I itched hearing it through the walls.

“It’s good to talk to you, Momma,” I said at the end. “Will you call me tomorrow?”

“I’ll try,” she said. “I love you.”

“Love you most.” We hung up and I cleared my throat, swallowing back the shame that usually burned in my gut when I talked to my mother. Images of being that scared little boy floated through my mind—the feel of the gun in my hand, the warmth of brains splattered on my face, the wail that had come out of her mouth after it’d happened.

“Don’t you ever blame yourself for that,” Trojan had once told me. “He got what was coming to him.”

I repeated that to myself and stuffed those complicated emotions deep down inside where they couldn’t gnaw at me.

“Hey, you still working on this Honda or what?” Bear said, leaning out of the door with his eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, just taking a smoke break.” I flicked my cigarette out and went back inside, determined to get the damn thing going before I left.

I hadn’t always worked at Rose Garage. Back when Trojan had been alive, I only took shifts when times were rough. With no older brother looking out for me and Mom, I had to make up for both of us, and Thor needed the help now that KC’s cam-star career was taking off.

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