Thirty Three

Thirty-Three

Ana

“H e was acting a bit weird, if I’m honest.” I pull myself up onto the counter and bite into one of the sandwiches Joel and I had never got around to eating at our hastily-cut-short lunch.

“Weird, how?” Cady asks as she puts the finishing touches to the window display.

“I don’t know. Like, he was contradicting himself, I suppose. At times it felt like was thinking out loud.”

“He’s worried about you.”

“He doesn’t need to be.”

“Yeah, well, you could tell him that a thousand times and it wouldn’t make any difference. That man cares about you, so he’ll worry.” She sits down in a rattan chair by the window and picks up her coffee from the small side table next to her. “Your estranged daddy is an unknown entity right now. They need to get a handle on him.”

I wasn’t aware that club girls played a big part in club business, or that’s what I assumed anyway, but then, Cady is no ordinary club girl. I’m beginning to see that now.

“I can look after myself, Cady.”

“Oh, I have no doubt about that now, kiddo.” She takes a sip of coffee. “So, how do you really feel about your dad coming back into your life?”

“He’s not back in my life.”

“Do you want him to be?”

I shake my head, because I don’t want him in my life, I don’t know him. He’s a stranger, and not one I feel comfortable around, but, if Skip needs me to keep on seeing him, I will. I’ll help, if I need to.

“All I want, Cady, is for somebody to get justice for my mama. No matter how twisted that justice might be.”

“It’ll happen. It’s just not straightforward, that’s all.”

“Joel thinks that’s why my dad’s come to Denmark. Because he wants justice too, for Mama.”

“Understandable.”

“I guess.” I put the sandwich down, I’ve kind of lost my appetite. “Anyway, enough about all of that. We’ve got a shop to open tomorrow.” And we’re not having a bells-and-whistles opening event or anything like that, we’re just going to get up in the morning, throw open our doors, and see what happens. This business belongs to the Viking Bandits, despite Skip dressing it up as mine and Cady’s. As Joel kept telling me earlier, I’m not na?ve. I know how all of this works now, this is nothing more than something to keep me occupied, and I’m okay with that. I needed it. I’m grateful for it. I’m not a fan of hanging around the club house, I’d rather be here.

“We sure have, kiddo.” Cady gets up and comes over to me, smiling. “We should celebrate.”

“Any excuse, huh?” I grin at her as I slide down from the counter.

“What do you fancy doing?”

“Shopping, and an early dinner, maybe?”

“Sounds good to me.” She leans back against the counter, crossing her arms and glancing around our new, super-cute little store. “We did this, Ana.”

“Yeah.” I smile. “We did.”

She looks at me and reaches for my hand, this kind woman who came out of nowhere and made me feel like I finally had someone who understood me. Could be there for me. And I still don’t know whether she did all of that because she wanted to, or because Skip asked her to, but I’m not going to overthink it anymore. She’s made my time here a little more bearable, and that matters.

“Do you still want to leave?” she asks, a question that takes me completely by surprise, because, in all honesty, leaving here hasn’t been something I’ve even thought about in a while.

“I don’t know,” I reply, that’s all I can come up with. “I’m never going to stop missing my old life, never going to stop missing Mama; Lars and Lea, I don’t think I’ll ever give up on trying to find them, and then, if I manage to do that, if I manage to find them…” I shrug, and I don’t finish that sentence. Cady squeezes my hand, and for the briefest of seconds I wonder if she asked that question because she was curious, or whether someone else was. Skip, maybe. Could he be asking Cady to test the water, so to speak? See how serious I am about staying here? Or moving on…? And then I remember I wasn’t supposed to be overthinking this anymore, followed by a realization that that isn’t going to be as easy as I thought it was.

“Come on,” Cady says, letting go of my hand. “Let’s go spend some money.”

I grab my jacket and follow her out of the door. I have a new life now. One I didn’t ask for, want or like, at first. But I can feel it slowly sucking me in. I don’t want to go anywhere, yet. Because, all of a sudden, I have business I need to finish here first.

Joel

“He’s playing us off against each other, Skip. It’s obvious.”

“Yeah, I get it. He’s coming for us, he wants Ana, but he isn’t getting shit.”

“Has Rik got anything else on him? Anything at all?”

“Not much. Seems like Renard is a man who can cover his tracks pretty well. A man who knows how to keep a low profile. Rik can’t find anything else on him other than his remarkable rise from someone who owed the Balke family big time to suddenly running the show. That’s it, that’s all we know.”

“What about his past? We know he wasn’t always involved in the criminal world, but was he really just Mister Average before he fucked everything up?”

“Seems that way. As far as we know he really was just an ordinary businessman who took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in trouble.”

“So, what do we do? We can’t just sit here and wait for shit to hit the fan.”

“No, we can’t.” Skip gets up and goes over to the window, looks outside, keeping his back to me. “By siding with the Hawks he’s obviously lulling them into a false sense of security.” He turns around and leans back against the window-ledge. “I mean, I don’t know what the fuck he’s told them, I’m guessing they have no clue who he really is, but he’ll bring them down, too. He wants us gone, all of us, that’s how we have to play this. It all makes sense now. It’s anyone’s guess who he’s coming for first, though.” Skip sighs and turns back to look out of the window. “He could also be paving the way for the Balke family to move in on our territory. And that’s a fucking problem.”

That’s a big fucking problem.

“Do we really need Ana to keep seeing him? I mean, if we have him sussed… Skip, it’s not a good idea. Putting her in that situation, it’s making me fucking uncomfortable.”

“Is she willing to do it?”

“Yes. She is. But it’s wrong. And it’s a move that could easily backfire on us, if we’re not careful. What if she listens to him? What if he convinces her we’re fucking evil…?”

“You’re not giving her a hell of a lot of credit there, Joel.” Skip turns back around, one eyebrow raised. “But, maybe you’re right. You’re right, it’s too risky. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea.”

Because your head isn’t in the right place right now , I want to tell him.

Because you’re too distracted.

Too hell bent on getting shit done at breakneck speed so you can fuck off into the sunset, to this new life you’re determined to start living.

“Thing is, though,” Skip continues, “she could always decide for herself that she wants to see him again. And there isn’t a thing we can do to stop that from happening.”

I frown, because that kind of talk makes Skip sound weak. Like he’s giving up on her. “You think of her like a daughter, right?” I ask what I hope is a rhetorical question.

“She’s family.”

“So why would you want her anywhere near him? For Christ’s sake, you controlled her every fucking move for months after Sofia died, why are you suddenly so keen to let her have this kind of freedom?”

“ Because she’s family.” Skip’s eyes bore into mine. “I want her to trust me. And you should be the last one who’s complaining about Ana having freedom because, believe me, if I thought I could actually stop her from doing anything, she wouldn’t be anywhere near you.”

I drag a hand through my hair and turn away, sighing quietly. “This is a mess.”

“You got that right.”

And I don’t know where it came from, or how long it’s been lying dormant, but all of a sudden there’s a fight welling up inside of me that I can’t hold in anymore. “I fucking care about her, Skip. I care about what happens to her.”

“We all do.”

“It’s not the same. I want her in my life. I want her with me .”

Skip’s expression doesn’t waver. Stoic as ever. “You love her?”

I take a breath. A deep one. “I don’t know what the fuck love feels like, I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel, all I know is I will kill anyone who hurts her. Anyone who tries to take her away, anyone who threatens her, I’ll fucking end them.”

Skip’s eyes are dark, but he’s smiling now. “I never wanted her anywhere near any of you lot, but hearing you talk like that, you genuinely care for her, don’t you?”

I wasn’t sure, before. I think I’d tried to block out those feelings because they confused and scared me, but they’re refusing to lie low now. And Skip doesn’t need an answer to that question. He knows.

“Then I guess we’re taking Emil Renard down, along with the Hawks. He chose the wrong side to play with first. He’s a threat we don’t need, a threat Ana doesn’t need, so we take him down. Call a meeting for tomorrow, let’s get this shit done.”

“And then what?” I ask.

“And then I’m out of here. And you take over.”

“Replacing Presidents isn’t always that simple.”

Skip eyes me warily. “You don’t want the job?”

To be completely honest, I don’t know. I don’t. “I want the job.” But it’s easier to tell him what he wants to hear. His head isn’t the only one that’s all over the place right now. I’m not sure I’m thinking straight, either.

“Then you take over. I’m in charge here, Joel. What I say goes. Everyone respects you, they listen to you, why the fuck would I want anyone else to run this place?”

“Do you still want Ana to go with you? When you leave?”

“What I want and what’s going to happen are two very different things.” Skip sits back down at the head of the table in the chapel. “Ana’s got her own mind, she knows what she wants, all I can do is hope she’ll visit once I’m settled. She might even bring you with her, if you’re lucky.”

Skip smirks, and it’s a gesture that lightens the mood, a little.

“Do you really think she might want to see Renard off her own back? He is her dad, after all.”

“You’ve spoken to her about this more than I have, Joel. What do you think?”

“I don’t know.” I don’t know much when it comes to Ana, that’s something that’s becoming more and more obvious. “I have no idea what’s going on in her head.”

“Yeah, well, that makes two of us. Look, just keep an eye on her. If she does start seeing him, we might need to watch her even more closely. Given what we think we know now, she could be putting herself in the middle of something she really doesn’t want to get caught up in.”

I leave the chapel, a million thoughts going round in my head, and none of them are making any sense, but I’ve got to focus here. I’ve got to get my head in the game, I’m going to be running this club very soon, sooner than I’d like. And when I do take over I want this place to be stable. Free of the shit we’re currently involved in. I want Renard dealt with and out of Ana’s life, I want the Hawks put in their place: brought down by us, we need to win this war because, if we don’t, I haven’t got a fucking clue what’s going to happen…