Page 10 of Ember (Royal Harlots: Yonkers, NY Chapter #1)

“Where the fuck have you been?” Hurricane shouted from across the bar as she walked in through the double-door front entry.

“Well, Dad,” she sassed, putting her hands on her hips to really drive home her current smart-ass attitude. “I was out with friends and forgot to call. Why don’t you just ground me?” Hurricane looked her over, and she could tell that he wasn’t as amused about this whole scene as she was.

“I’m sorry about worrying everyone,” she said. “It wasn’t my plan to worry everyone.”

“The girls were fine,” she said. “I talked to a few of them before I took off for Florida.”

He seemed to stand down a bit, and for that, she was grateful. “I know that it’s hard to be a part of a group now, but you’ve got to try better.”

“Yeah, I’ll add that to my list of things to do,” she insisted. “I’ve already had my ass reamed out by Jack via text messages. I don’t need you jumping on the bandwagon too,” she grumbled.

“He was worried about you, too,” Hurricane said. She didn’t need him to tell her that Jack was worried about her. He had left her a gazillion messages every night that she was gone. “Did you at least find what you were looking for?” he asked.

“Yes, and no,” she admitted. “I’ll explain all that later, but right now, I need to talk to Jack. Is he around?” she asked. She had checked the house, and he wasn’t there, and tracking him down if he was on a case wouldn’t be easy. “Something’s up with Marco and Keith, and I need his help.”

“Cop help or boyfriend help?” Hurricane asked. She wanted to tell him that she wasn’t sure that Jack and she were even still together anymore, but that wasn’t Hurricane’s business.

“I just need his help, and if you know where he is, I’d appreciate you telling me,” Ember said, with a little more heat.

“You are as about as patient as a kitten wanting its milk,” Hurricane accused.

“He’s back in my office. But Ember, you'd better go easy on him,” he warned.

She planned on being as sweet as pie, but that never ended well for her.

For some reason, she knew just how to push all Jack’s buttons and had even found a few more to press.

“You really have no faith in me, do you?” she asked.

Hurricane rolled his eyes at her as she waved her fingers at him and started for the back office.

She couldn’t wait until she and the Harlot’s had a place to call their own.

Meeting at the abandoned church was one thing, but she loved that the Bastards had their own bar, and well, running water was nice too.

She hated not having a bathroom for the girls to use while they were meeting, but she planned on changing all that soon enough.

Ember didn’t bother to knock when she found the door partially open.

She pushed her way through and found Jack sitting at Hurricane’s desk, and some blond bimbo practically sitting on his fucking lap.

“Um, sorry if I’ve interrupted,” Ember said, not really meaning it.

Here, the man told her that he had feelings for her, and the first chance he got, he had another woman sitting on his damn lap.

“Shit,” he grumbled, trying to stand and put the bar bunny back on her feet, but the woman couldn’t seem to take a hint. She clung to him as though he was her only lifeline. If Ember weren’t so pissed off about finding them in Hurricane’s office together, she’d find the whole thing amusing.

“Oh, don’t get up on my account,” she sassed. “You look as though you have your hands full, so I’ll make this quick. As you know, I went to Sarasota to see Jean, and well, things took a turn.”

“Is she okay?” he asked, as though caring.

“She will be. She’s just a little worse for wear, but she’ll recover. The issue is that Marco is dead.” Ember was always a cut to the chase kind of girl and now was no different. If Jack didn’t like her bluntness, well, that was just too bad.

“What?” Jack almost shouted. He pushed the blond bombshell off his lap this time and told her to get lost. The woman pouted like a fucking three-year-old, and all Ember could do was roll her eyes.

She waited for MC Barbie to hit the road before turning back to smile at Jack.

For some odd reason, she liked the way he seemed to be thrown off his game every time she was in the same room as him.

“Marco is dead?” he asked.

“Yep,” she nonchalantly replied. “It’s no secret that I have no love loss for him, but I do care for his mother.

She helped me out when things got really bad with him, and I just felt as though I owed her.

I can’t explain it, but when I got the call that she was in an accident, I knew that I had to go back down to Florida to check on her.

” She was rehashing everything that they had argued about before she took off, and maybe it was because she really wanted him to hear her this time, but from the look on his handsome face, he wasn’t listening to a word that was coming out of her mouth.

“You’ve already said,” he drawled. “Get to the part about Marco being dead.”

She crossed the small office to sit on the edge of the desk, and he sat back in the chair.

“I had no idea that he was the one driving until I showed up at the hospital and Jean’s youngest daughter told me what had happened.

It was raining the night of the accident, and from Marco’s blood alcohol levels, he had had a few too many.

Jean had gotten into the car to try to stop him from driving but only ended up putting herself in danger.

She was ejected from the car at the time they collided with the electric pole.

The police said she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and she’s lucky to be alive.

Marco wasn’t so lucky, though. He died on impact. ”

“So, it’s over then?” Jack asked. Ember was trying to figure out if he was relieved or upset that her stalker was dead.

If Marco wasn’t a threat anymore, she wouldn’t need his help, and Jack had used that as his in to get her into his bed.

If he had a hero complex, then this next part would tell her for certain how he felt.

“Nope,” she breathed. “Marco was never really interested in being my full-time, professional stalker. See, he was good with letting me go, even told his younger sister that. But then, his best friend, Keith, got involved and convinced him that I was worth fighting for.”

“Keith was with Marco when he showed up at the church that day that we met, right?” Jack asked.

“Yes,” she admitted. “Apparently, Marco had moved on with a few of his other band groupies until Keith convinced him to come after me. He convinced Marco that I had made a fool out of him, and ultimately, out of the band. Keith had him believing that if I left him, he’d never amount to anything, so he came after me.

I guess Keith tagged along for the trip north to make sure that Marco didn’t fuck things up too badly. ”

“But why would Keith even care?” Jack asked.

“I mean, I know that he’s in the band and everything, but you dumping Marco wasn’t going to hurt the band one way or the other.

” She shrugged. That was something that she had been trying to figure out for days now—ever since Marco’s sister told her the details.

“I’m not really sure what Keith had to gain by Marco stalking me, but I don’t plan on trying to find out either.

Hopefully, Keith will stay as far away from me as possible now that Marco is gone.

He’ll have no reason to continue his charade now that his best friend is dead, and that works for me.

I’m done trying to figure out their crazy asses.

From here on out, I’m going to figure out my own shit—starting with the Harlots.

” Jack almost looked disappointed, and she wondered what that was all about.

He had all but begged her to stay in town and not go back down to Florida, and now that she was back in Yonkers, and saying that she was sticking around, he seemed mad about it.

“I’ll stop by your place later to grab my things,” she said when he made no move to add to the conversation.

“Where are you staying?” he asked. Ember wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his business where she stayed, but she at least owed him the truth. Otherwise, he’d just go out of his way to figure it out anyway.

“I’m going to be staying at the church for a bit,” she said.

“Just until I can save up first and last month’s rent to get a place.

” She had started working for a little boutique in town that not only sold cute clothes but also had a hair salon in it.

She was hoping that before too long, she’d have regulars who would be coming to see her every other month and that she’d be able to earn a living in New York.

Although she wasn’t foolish. Ember knew that earning a living in the Big Apple looked a lot different than earning one in Sarasota, Florida.

“You can’t be serious,” Jack spat.

“Sure, I can,” she hissed, “I just choose not to be most of the time.”

“You can’t go even a few minutes without giving back a snarky remark, can you?

” he asked. He stood from the chair, and she stood in front of him, going toe to toe with him—which wasn’t an easy feat.

Jack was a big man, and intimidating didn’t even begin to cover how he looked, but she also knew that he would never hurt her.

He was a big teddy bear, not that she’d admit knowing that to him, and one of the kindest people she had ever met—again, something that she’d keep to herself.

“I just say what I mean,” she admitted. “You have an issue with me telling you how things are because no one else does. I mean, all these pretty little bar flies aren’t going to tell you that you’re an overbearing ass, right?

I’m betting they’ve never said one nasty word to you for fear that you wouldn’t take them home and give them the promised—one-night of fun speech. ”

He put his hands on his hips and stared her down, but Ember refused to back away from him.

She had hit a nerve, though, and she wasn’t sure if that should please her or scare the hell out of her.

“I never gave you that speech, Ember,” he reminded.

He hadn’t. “In fact, you are the one who told me that our night together was a one-and-done ticket to nowhere, and I pretended to be fine with that.”

“And why would you be okay with that, Jack?” she asked.

“I mean, you say that you had developed feelings for me at that point, so why give in to my one-night stand demands?” That part had always baffled her.

How could he use her and let her go so easily?

Sure, some might argue that he didn’t let her go without a fight, but Ember needed more from him.

Maybe she was asking too much. Hell, maybe she should have stuck with her own rules and walked away from him the next morning without a word, but she hadn’t.

Everything with Jean’s accident had happened so quickly, she really didn’t have time to figure out her next move.

She thought that if she ran her plan by Jack, he’d actually be okay with her going to Florida, but she was wrong.

“We had only known each other for a month before you told me that you had feelings for me, Jack,” she reminded.

“What did you want me to do? Should I have run into your arms and begged you to marry me? I think that finding you here with your latest conquest has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that would have been a huge mistake on my part.”

He sighed and hung his head, and God, she almost felt sorry for him. “I know that I was moving quickly, but I won’t deny the fact that I did have feelings for you—I still do.” She barked out her laughter, and he took a step back from her as though she had physically attacked him.

“Sure, the blond on your lap was the dead giveaway that you still have feelings for me, Jack,” she spat. “How did I miss such a telltale sign?”

“Sarcasm again—great,” he grumbled.

“I’m not sure how else you expect me to react,” she shouted. “I won’t play second fiddle to any blond bitch, and I won’t cater to your hero complex.”

“My what now?” he asked.

“Your hero complex,” she repeated. “You know what I’m saying.

All the women around the Bastards know how you like to swoop in to save women.

They say that you get off playing the knight in shining armor, and I can see that about you.

Isn’t that how you found me? You followed me to the church that day, and when you realized that I was a damsel in distress, you swooped in to save me. ”

Now it was his turn to laugh. “Well, that’s some bullshit,” he swore.

“It’s the dumbest thing that I’ve ever heard, Ember.

I do not have a hero complex. I helped you that day because you looked like you needed my assistance.

I’m a cop, and you were going into an abandoned church.

It’s my job to make sure that both you and the building are safe, and when I found out that you weren’t, well, I decided to help you. ”

“Oh, I see,” she spat, “your training kicked in and you just decided, ‘What the hell, I’ll lend her a hand.’” Ember wasn’t playing fair, and she could tell that from the hurt staring back at her in his hazel eyes.

“If that’s what you think about me, then I have nothing more to say,” he whispered.

She wanted to take back her words—tell him that she was tired and hurt by finding him with another woman in Hurricane’s office, but she had no right to feel that way.

She had told him not to wait for her when she left for Florida.

Ember was the one who insisted on just one night, and she was also the one who said that they could never be anything more. But, God, she wanted more with Jack.

“Pick up your stuff whenever you want,” he said.

“I’ll have it all delivered here for you by tonight.

” Hearing that he was going to pack up her life and drop it off at the local bar stung a bit.

That was her life, though. It had been unpredictable since hooking up with Marco, so why should she expect anything to change now?

She watched as Jack brushed past her and out of the office.

Having him mad at her was a good thing, really.

Ember would be able to get over him faster, because whether or not she admitted it to him—she had fallen for Jack too.