Gentleman Wanted 1

Gentleman Wanted 1
Gent

I heard them coming before I saw them.The heavy thud of biker boots on the polished hospital floor was unmistakable.

It was Ruin himself that came into view first, Truth close behind him. Both of them looked haggard, the dust and grime of the road clinging to their skin and clothes. They wore equally wary looks on their faces as I stood to meet them, straightening my back with a crack where it had cramped up from sitting on one of the hospital waiting room chairs for too long. Those rickety pieces of plastic weren’t meant for men my size.

“Brother.” Ruin nodded his head in greeting, stopping dead in front of me. 

It was a strange thing, hearing that word. I didn’t say anything, though. I just continued to stare at the pair of them.

If they had anything to do with what had happened in that cafe, I would never forgive them. If they wanted war, then I would give it to them. I was many things, but I drew the line at women and children, and I had always thought the Black Aces did as well. 

“Gent?” Truth stepped around Ruin, reaching to clasp my arm and I moved away without thinking about it. “What happened?”

Levelling my eyes at him, I studied him unblinking. He did look genuinely puzzled, but I had to know the truth. “Did you have something to do with this?” I looked between the two of them, trying to gauge their reaction.

“We don’t even know what this is, Gent.” Ruin made a motion to encompass the narrow hospital corridor. 

The way he said it and the almost flippant way he looked around caused something to shift inside of me. Anger bubbled up. I took a step forward, and it was only Truth stepping in front of me that stopped me in my tracks. 

“Did you shoot up the cafe? There were women and kids there, man.” I shook my head, turning away from him in disgust. I didn’t want to believe it was them, but I had to ask. 

“Anyone hurt?” Ruin’s eyes drifted past me and settled on the closed door I was guarding. His eyes narrowed. “Gemma, ok?”

I didn’t like the way he was looking at the door. Maybe it was my imagination and that after a year of running and protecting her, I was just paranoid.

“Gent, we had nothing to do with it.”

There wasn’t a hint of a lie in Truth’s voice. But then again he was called Truth for a reason. As far as I knew, he had never lied to me. 

Why would he start now?

The tension in my shoulders eased slightly. I had known, deep down. Like really deep, deep down. 

“You believe him but not me?” There was a note of joking in Ruin’s voice. 

“Truth doesn’t lie, you, on the other hand….” I laughed, and they chuckled right alongside me. The mood shifted, became lighter. 

It was almost like old times, almost. Just three brothers having a laugh. 

“Avery has knocked that out of him for the most part.”

Truth’s words made me smile. Not because I was particularly close to Avery, but because it was nice to hear that Ruin hadn’t fucked things up with her yet. 

“How is Avery? And Cali?” The last I had heard, Cali and Truth had gotten engaged. Had they tied the knot yet? “Has she made an honest woman out of you yet?”

Throwing back his head, Truth laughed, a great booming sound that echoed off the walls. “She wants to, but I keep telling her no.”

“Does she fuck.” Ruin shook his head. “He keeps trying to set a date, and she’s having none of it. And Avery and Parker are great. They keep me grounded, you know?”

My eyes drifted to that closed door. Yeah, I did know. I knew exactly what he was talking about. 

Ruin’s eyes narrowed as they followed mine. “Did Gem get hurt today, Gent?”

For a second, I paused. 

I had to decide whether to tell them or not.  And honestly, it was a no brainer. The Black Aces had always had my back. If they said that they hadn’t tried to kill us, I had to believe them. We would need their help. Gemma would need their protection.

“No, not Gemma, well, apart from a few cuts from when the glass exploded. She’s good….”

Truth frowned. He knew I was hiding something. “Then who?”

Groaning, I ran my hand through my hair. Making it stand on end. Sometimes I opened my mouth without thinking. “It doesn’t matter.” 

Shit, I should have just said no one. I wasn’t ready to answer the barrage of questions they would have. Hell. It wasn’t even my secret to share. 

“The baby.” Gemma’s voice was unsteady as she appeared in the doorway. She looked haunted like she had aged twenty years in just a few hours. Worry made the lines around her eyes deeper. 

“Someone fucking shot a baby?” Ruin sounded outraged. “Are they ok?” He shifted, the soles of his boots squeaking on the tile. It was apparent he wanted to say something else. That something was eating him up. Maybe an apology for thinking she had killed his dad. Not that I could ever see Ruin saying sorry to her face. 

“I threw myself on him when the window exploded. He didn’t get shot. I fucking slammed him to the floor.” I would have to deal with that particular guilt on my own. 

“You saved his life, Gent.” Gem’s voice was soft, her pale hand squeezing my forearm. For a second, I could do nothing but stare at it. “I might have lost him if you hadn’t done what you did.”

Ruin’s eyebrows slammed down, a line appearing between them as he looked between the two of us. “You would have lost him?” He cocked his head to the side, and the question was clear in his eyes. “The kid yours?” His eyes narrowed on me. “Shit, just how close did you two get?”

“The kid’s Gem’s, not mine.” The moment the words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back.  “Shit, Gem. I’m sorry.” 

What the hell was I thinking blurting that out? It wasn’t my secret to tell.

“So you have just been playing daddy to someone else’s kid for the last….”

I cut Ruin off with a scowl, but it was Gemma who answered, her voice rigid. 

“Gent is my best friend, and to answer your question, he hasn’t been playing daddy. He’s been there for my son and me when we needed him. He protected us when Bobby’s own family wanted us dead.” There was so much venom in her words it took me by surprise.

It was nice to see a glimpse of the old Gemma back, that fiery barmaid who didn’t take any shit from anyone. Not even the big bad bikers of the Black Aces. 

“Who…?” Ruin looked genuinely confused.

“She’s talking about you, asshole.” Truth was shaking his head. His words made Ruin frown even more.  

“Why would I….

Truth didn’t let him finish, smiling at Gem. I knew he had figured it out. Instinctively I stepped up beside Gem. I had spent the last year protecting her, the boy as well, and God, I wanted to protect them now. Because I knew the repercussions of Truth’s words were going to be epic.

“Because the kid is Fender’s son, isn’t he?”