Page 62 of Eagle

Mandy didn’t appear to be afraid of Mac. Shorter than him by several inches, she managed to give off the impression that she was looking down on him. “I need to see him, Mac. It’s important.” She held her ground.

“Nothing’s that important! He’s done with you, bitch!” Mac reminded her, crossing his arms. I got the feeling that he was trying his damnedest not to put his hands on her in anger. “We all know what you tried to do to him. Now get the fuck out before I forget you’re a woman and toss you out on your ass!”

“I doubt Eagle will appreciate you tossing out the mother of his child,” Mandy announced in a snooty tone.” She crossed her arms like a haughty bitch and waited for her bomb to elicit a reaction.

Eagle had a baby with this woman? Did he know? It grew uncomfortably quiet for a minute, the calm before the storm. I studied Mac, looking for any signs that he was going to explode, prepared to jump up and stop him if he made a violent move toward Mandy. He clearly hated her.

“I don’t believe you!” Mac snarled finally.

One delicate brow arched high on her forehead. “Where do you think I’ve been all these months? I had a difficult pregnancy and was bed ridden for most of it. But in the end, I delivered a healthy baby boy.”

She sounded so gleefully smug that it made me sick. When most people announced that they’d had a baby it was a joyful occasion, but something in the way she spoke and looked conveyed that Mandy was taking evil delight in delivering news that she knew would not be welcome.

“Get the fuck out!” Mac snarled, taking her by the arm. “I’ll give Eagle the news, and if he wants to see you he’ll find you.” He opened the door and ushered her outside.

She huffed and puffed but had little chance against Mac’s strength as he closed and locked the door behind her. He turned back toward me. “I don’t believe a fucking word that woman says, and Eagle won’t either.”

My laugh was forced. “He’ll kind of have to if she has a baby.” I didn’t want to think about the possibility of it.

“If there is a baby, I can guarantee you it’s not his,” Mac said with strong conviction. “Eagle hates that bitch. And the timeline doesn’t work out.”

I shook my head, disagreeing with him. Why couldn’t it be Eagle’s baby? Mac couldn’t guarantee anything. How did he know that Eagle and Mandy hadn’t hooked up after their initial breakup? It wouldn’t have been the first time a woman got pregnant to trap a man.

I bit my bottom lip as my eyes stung with the onslaught of approaching tears. I pinched the bridge of my nose, angry at myself.

“There’s no baby, Leona. You can count on that. Mandy is nothing but a lying, conniving bitch, and she’ll try anything to get Eagle back. She’s obsessed, honey. She’s dangerous. She can’t seem to get it in her thick head that he’s done with her.”

I nodded. “It doesn’t really matter. It’s not like we’re a couple and he cheated on me. All this happened before me.” All of this was true, but what I didn’t know was what would happen if Mandy’s baby really was Eagle’s. It was possible that he might feel obligated to take her back, and I would certainly expect him to do right by his son.

The best thing I could do to avoid getting hurt was distance myself from Eagle until whatever was going to happen happened. I knew this would be easier said than done, because I already cared for the man. I didn’t know where he stood, but I knew we had chemistry. I knew that we couldn’t keep our hands off one another. I glanced up at Mac, reading the concern on his face and offering him a smile I didn’t really feel.

“Shouldn’t you go back to work?”

He snorted as amusement filled his eyes. “Funny, I’m your boss and you’re telling me to go back to work.”

I laughed when I realized that he was right. “Well, I have work to do.” I gestured towards the mess against the wall. “I’m going to tackle some of that today.”

“You’re doing a good job, honey. You need anything, you let me know.”

“Good to know,” I said, already churning with ideas for when the office was cleared out.

He went over to the coffee station and grabbed a cup of coffee before he left the office, leaving me alone in my chair. I took the opportunity to think about Eagle, Mandy, and the prospect that Eagle might have a son. Why would any woman make up such a lie? What could she gain from it? She'd have to know that at some point the truth would be revealed. Was she really that desperate for Eagle?

Was Mandy as dangerous as Mac had said?

All I knew was that I wanted Eagle, too.

But what did Eagle want?

Chapter 26

Eagle

I was pissed! As soon as I’d gotten Mac’s text telling me that Leo was in the office, I jumped on my bike and headed straight there. After what had gone down with the Maniacs, she should have known better than to take off and not tell anyone where she was going. I’d searched for her but had had nothing to go on. Even Ron hadn’t known where she’d gone.

Then there was Lawrence. I had a feeling that the little fucker was going to cause trouble, especially after Ron had lured him to the house so we could interrogate him. It had taken some convincing and a few broken fingers before he gave up the Maniacs’ location. He’d also given up his contact for the dogs, someone named Mitch who we’d have to deal with later. We’d let Lawrence go with a firm warning that if we had to deal with him again, he would lose more than the use of his fingers.

I had a feeling that the reason the Maniacs had shown up on the road when they had was because the little prick had warned them that we were on our way to rescue our women. But we’d had the upper hand when we’d gone back to finish them off at the chicken house. They’d been licking their wounds and hadn’t expected us. The confrontation had been over swiftly and had gone according to plan. Now we had to figure out what, if anything, we were going to do about the rest of the Maniacs who were in New York. We couldn’t afford to give them the opportunity to retaliate against us.

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