Robyn Amos - Hero At Large

“You look beautiful…and successful,” he said, noticing the diamond studs sparkling in her ears. He was glad she’d moved up in the world, but part of him still wished she hadn’t had to leave him to do it. “What have you been doing with yourself?”

“I’m a psychologist.”

“Perfect. I bet you have your own office where the rich and pampered of Beverly Hills make weekly appointments to whine about their overindulgent mothers and their cold, stern fathers.” Despite his best effort, he couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Things were going from bad to worse.

Rennie’s lips twisted at his mockery. “Well, you’re right about one thing. Only one thing. I do have my own practice. But it’s in downtown L.A., not Beverly Hills. I work at the Help Center. I counsel women who have been battered or abused.”

Gray opened his mouth to respond, but Rennie cut him off. “So what about you? You’re what? A bouncer here?” Her tone was imperious.

“That’s right. You know there aren’t a whole lot of options for an ex-con.”

Rennie stood from the table. “My friends are probably worried by now. I’d better get back to them. Uh, it was…nice seeing you again.”

“No, it wasn’t.” He stood, too. “Not as nice as it should have been. But, like you said, a lot has happened since we last saw each other, Rainbow,” he said, using his old nickname for her.

He could tell he’d caught her off guard. The change in her demeanor was immediate. The line of her lips softened, and her eyes became dewy.

In that split second, they were transported back to a time where only the two of them existed. Before she had a chance to recover, he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. He needed to be close to her for just a moment. He had to have a memory to carry with him.

“You take care of yourself,” he said, pulling back.

She nodded and bolted down the stairs and, most likely, out of his life.

After Rennie left, Gray stayed behind trying to make some sense out of what had just happened.

Franco walked over and sat down across from him. “Hey, G, what’s up with TK? You cutting him in?”

Gray looked up slowly. He hadn’t been expecting to hear that name for a while. “What do you mean? He’s in prison.”

“Not any more.” Franco grinned. “Los says a key witness just…disappeared.” He snapped his fingers to demonstrate. “They had to let him out.”

Gray felt his lips tighten. Once upon a time, TK had been their gang leader. “Where have you seen him?”

Franco shrugged. “He’s come around a few times. I thought he would have caught up to you by now.”

“Is he looking for me?” It was clear that TK had been avoiding him. That could only mean trouble.

Franco sobered, finally realizing that Gray wasn’t as thrilled with the news as he’d expected. “I don’t know, but he knows we’re all working here with you. So, you gonna cut him a piece of the action, or not?”

“We’ll see. If you run into him again, tell him I want to talk to him.”

Franco nodded. “I’m going on my break. Later.”

After Franco left, Gray swore under his breath. It wasn’t hard to imagine what was going through TK’s mind right now. He’d always had grandiose dreams about the money and power they were all going to have, but he’d never been able to make it happen. He was sloppy and he’d kept getting caught. Once TK had started going in and out of prison, the gang had fallen apart. Now it seemed Gray had stepped into his shoes and taken over his dreams—and he was succeeding.

Gray knew TK wouldn’t appreciate having to be cut in on his old territory. When Gray came back to L.A., he’d heard TK was up on murder charges, tied up in a trial that should have dragged on for months. Gray hadn’t expected to have to deal with TK at all.

Back in the day, Gray and TK had never agreed on anything. If TK did want a piece of their operation, it wouldn’t be long before he tried to run things again. Gray couldn’t let that happen. There were too many other forces at work here.

Still, he couldn’t quite leave TK out in the cold. His men wouldn’t understand. It didn’t even matter that their old gang no longer existed in its original form. They would always be bound together by the old codes and traditions.

Dealing with TK was going to be tricky. Now that he was out of prison, he’d expect things to go back to the way they were when they were all banging. It would be useless to try to convince him that those days were over.

After all, everyone knew that the only way out of a gang was to die out.

Gray awoke the next morning to the persistent ringing of his doorbell. Cursing as he dragged on his jeans, he hopped to the door and shouted, “Who is it?”

“Overnight Express.”

Gray rolled his eyes and jerked the door open.

On the surface, nothing seemed out of the ordinary about the dark-haired package carrier dressed in the standard polo-shirt-and-shorts uniform. The man narrowed his green eyes, squinting at the envelope in his hand. “I’ve got a delivery here for Kee…Keesh—”

Gray snatched the envelope out of his hands. “Shut up and get in here.” Glaring at his partner and longtime friend Seth Greene, he tugged on the thread unsealing the letter. “I don’t suppose you could have waited until a decent hour?”

Seth made himself at home on Gray’s sofa, propping his feet on the coffee table. “Ten o’clock is a decent hour for most people.”

“Maybe, but you know I had to work at the club until three last night.”

“Anything interesting happen?” Seth rested a throw pillow behind his head.

Gray dropped the envelope without looking at the contents, shoving Seth’s feet down from the coffee table. Oh, yeah, something very interesting happened. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with his assignment.

There was no point in telling Seth about Rennie, though she’d been on his mind constantly since he’d laid eyes on her last night. It didn’t matter, because he wouldn’t be seeing her again.

“Actually, there is something that you should probably check into. TK, the guy who ran the gang I used to hang with, has turned up. I haven’t seen him myself, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“What’s his story?” Seth propped his feet back on the table. “He heard you were back in town and wants in on the action?”

Gray shook his head. “I’m not sure yet what he wants. But it’s a safe bet that he’s not going to like the fact that I’m sort of in control now.”

“So you think he’s going to make trouble? Maybe even try to take over,” Seth concluded.

“No doubt.” Gray propped himself on the arm of the sofa.

“I’ll see what I can get on him.”

“That shouldn’t be too difficult. He was just up on murder charges. I don’t know the details, but the witness has apparently disappeared. It’s a safe bet that you’ll find TK behind it.”

“Got it. In the meantime—” Seth picked up the envelope he’d brought Gray “—here’s the list of names you need. These are all the major players. Seems things are going well. Your name is spinning in all the right circles. The word on the street is that you’re the man to see if you want to get into the drugs and weapons game in L.A.”

“Gee, wouldn’t Mom be proud.”

Seth scowled at him. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing.” Gray took the paperwork and shoved Seth’s feet off the table one final time. “I’ll look over these names just as soon as you leave.”

Seth stood and Gray followed him to the door. “Who are you kidding, Gray? You’re not getting ready to get to work on anything but a mattress and a pillow.”