Page 19 of Falcon

“Yup, being notorious helps.” Mina chuckled, and donned her glasses and baseball cap again. She’d removed them to film.

Natalie was stunned stupid when we racked up seven thousand dollars’ worth of damage between us. She kept apologising for not having enough large bags, and in the end, we stole some empty boxes to put the haul in.

“Calam, we need a couple of prospects with SUVs,” I announced, calling him.

“Making a statement, are you?” he asked, chuckling.

“Yup.” I wasn’t going to ask how Calamity already knew. He was my husband; nothing surprised me.

“Have fun,” he said and cut the call.

Fuck, I loved my man.

Falcon

I wiped my brow as I paused my jog. Three miles every morning or night. It didn’t matter which, as long as I ran. Today was warm, and I was working up a sweat. Although early evening, the sun remained bright and high in the sky, not helping matters at all. I was drinking from my water bottle and getting ready to continue when I heard shouting. I looked around and finally spotted seven kids near the riverbank.

Prepared to ignore them, thinking they were playing, I caught a frightened squeal, which made me glance again. The boys surrounded a smaller one, and one shoved him hard, making him fall. That I would not accept. One on one, fine, seven on one? Hell no. I jogged towards them, and the victim was kicked while on the ground. Two of the bigger assholes picked him up and dragged him into the water while he yelled and tried to get free.

The names and insults they were shouting were awful, and I bet the poor boy had to be devastated. He was sobbing as I approached.

“That’s fuckin’ enough!” I roared, and the bullies jumped. They peered over their shoulder and fled—not before pushing the victim into the river. Little bastards.

Quickly, I ran down the bank where the kid was splashing around and hauled him out. He was crying so much that I was unsure what to do.

“Are you hurt?”

He shook his head and, keeping it down, began trudging away. The liar. He was limping.

“Hey, stop! You’re injured. What hurts?”

“My leg, Jed kicked it really hard. My ankle twisted when I fell.”

“Sit down and let me check,” I said.

“No. I gotta get home.”

“Kid—what’s your name? I’m Falcon.”

“Jayes Beauregard, sir.”

“Call me Falcon. Jayes, I need to examine your injury. Is that okay?” Jayes nodded, keeping his head down. I was trying to figure out how old he was, and it was confusing. I had younger siblings. Nokomis and Nashoba were now ten, while Keme was nine, Lakota six, and Aponi five. After Aponi, Mom had threatened to give Dad a vasectomy herself, and Dad wisely took himself off to the doctor.

Mom had loudly stated her name wasn’t Sinclair, which made everyone wince, while Jett had paled. He was infamous amongst us and the allies for constantly knocking his old lady up. Even when Jett had had the snip, he’d still managed it. Sin had nearly cut his throat.

Funnily enough, I had younger aunts and uncles—Eagle and Kite were also ten, Halona eight, and Kai was a mouthy six-year-old. I found it hysterical that I was older than Dad’s siblings, as did Nova. Dad didn’t give a shit and just treated them like he did my brothers and sisters.

“Okay, bud, that’s bad, and you can’t walk on it.” I winced at the swelling and bruising appearing. Christ, he’d definitely wrenched it.

“It’s fine, I’ve had worse,” Jayes stated, attempting to get up.

What the fuck? What kid throws out a comment like that while trying to stand? There were tears in Jayes’s eyes even as he struggled.

“Sit your ass down. Do you know a phone number for your parents?”

Jayes shook his head, and now there was trepidation in his expression. What the hell was going on? Shit, my gut was telling me something was seriously off.

“Who were those boys?” I demanded.