Page 15 of Escape You

“Really? Because I feel like my soul wants to leave my body.”

For the past few weeks, we’d been getting ready to deliver the biggest cargo our crew had ever attempted, the biggest and also the most lucrative. If we pulled this off tonight, we’d be set, and I would finally be accepted as their new boss, not just by my crew but also the council and the neighboring crews. Everything was riding on tonight's success.

Vic’s idea to train and blow off steam had done wonders for my racing mind. Even if everything went well with the arms deal and the cartel, I still had to deal with my one-night stand with the stranger from the bar.

“What’s wrong with you? I hope you have more focus later tonight.” Vic slammed his pad on my shoulder again. “Bend your knees and follow through with your hips. Come on.” His face was red and sweaty.

The timer went off, and he shuffled back. Saved by the bell. “Jesus, I thought you said you’d take it easy on me today.” I pulled my gloves off and wiped the sweat off my forehead with my tank top.

“I never said that. What’s going on with you? And don’t lie and tell me it’s because of the shipment. You’ve been acting strange for days.” He squeezed the plastic bottle to squirt water in my mouth and then all over my head.

I braced my hands on my knees and took deep breaths. “I’m pregnant.”

“What now?” Vic’s face drained of color. He squeezed his eyes closed. When he opened them, he jumped off the boxing ring, pulled up two stools, and sat on one. “You’re fucking with me, right? I just made you train for two hours.”

“Please don’t be one of those people who think pregnant women can’t do shit.” I joined him, feeling mentally exhausted.

He opened his mouth to speak but said nothing. Instead, he patted his back pocket. No doubt looking for his notebook to scribble a few notes about what not to say to pregnant women.

The worst part of finding out about the baby was my first reaction—a fleeting image of me telling the beautiful stranger from the bar that I was expecting his baby. I didn’t even know where to find him. Who the fuck fantasizes about that? Why could I not stop thinking about him? Why did I want to see him so badly?

“Is it the guy you know nothing about?”

“Yes. Were you able to dig up anything on him?” My heart raced at the idea of something as small as learning his name.

“No, nothing yet. He’s been at the bottom of my list. But he just got promoted to the very top. Are you going to tell him?”

“He deserves to know the truth.”

“What truth is that? That he’s going to be a dad or that he’s not going to be a dad.” He raised both eyebrows at me. His forehead filled with wrinkles and deep furrows.

“I don’t know yet. I have time to think about it.”

What was there to think about really? I couldn’t raise a baby in this gym while I ran the crew. I couldn’t raise a baby period. Mom died protecting me. Having a kid made her and dad weak. In the end, their love for me turned them into targets.

“I’ll find him for you. Three days, tops.” Vic patted my shoulder. “This complicates things with the crew. They’ve never had a lady boss, let alone a pregnant one.”

“Oh, come on. This training in front of the guys, this showing off how tough we are, that’s a load of crap and you know it. The work, all the strategies needed to keep this crew alive, is done behind the desk. I need a brain, not a dick. Being pregnant doesn’t change a thing.” My hand automatically landed on my stomach, and all I saw were my stranger’s steely blue eyes.

Vic snorted a laugh. “You’ve obviously never had kids. Your life will change. But that’s a conversation for after you make your choice. Right now, we gotta focus on the task in front of us.” He stood and offered me a hand, which he’d never done.

I slapped it out of the way. “I’m with child, not convalescing.”

“You got it, Boss.” He strode to the back of the room, past the line of punching bags and the second boxing ring, to my office.

The gym was the main front for our warehouses. We had a total of two CrossFit boxes and three bars throughout the city. The setup gave us the excuse to have cars and trucks coming in and out at odd hours of the day. Our patrons were mostly members of the Rogue River crew.

“Let’s go over it one more time.” Vic took his spot by the window.

I walked around my desk and sat. “Three crews, two on American soil, one just across the border in Sonora. The yellow team flew in two nights ago, and they’ve confirmed they’re in position in the safe house. So far, the cartel doesn’t know we’re in Mexico. I want the guys to have a full three days to make it back before we release the coordinates to the cartel. Did we receive payment yet?”

“Yes. Half of it, anyway. The other half upon delivery of the goods.” Vic still didn’t like that the cartel was being so accommodating. “I don’t get it. Technically, we screw them over, kill one of their own, and then, just like that, they’re doing business with us again.”

“That was Uncle Mickey, and he paid for all that with his life. Maybe they do think we’re even. Or they must need those guns in the worst way possible.”

“Let’s hope that’s it.”

I opened a bottle of water and drank. “The red team leaves tonight with the shipment and will do a handoff in Arizona to the blue team.”

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