Loving Jared - Nikita Slater Page 0,6

his boss. Vincent, the guy Jared would happily follow into death. The guy who had his back no matter what. They'd grown up together, part of a local biker club, the Ghosts.

The club that had betrayed them in a drug hand-off gone wrong and nearly gotten them both killed. In retaliation, Jared and Vince had taken out a good portion of the club. They'd been at war ever since, for well over a decade now.

Jared snorted. "There's no such thing as even for those guys."

Vince's eyes glowed with an unholy light. "You don't want to stop our vendetta?"

For some reason, Jared's thoughts flitted to his cute next-door neighbour. Amy shouldn't affect this decision. Hell, he was just getting acquainted with her. But, for some reason, his heart and his head were telling him that she would affect all of his future decisions.

"Gotta say," Jared drawled, "as much as I hate those guys, it's tempting to leave things alone. We’ve been after them for a long time. They're not even the same club anymore."

Vince nodded slowly. "True, man, kind of agree with you there. Especially now that I've got the wife and kids. Don't need to give those guys an excuse to come after my family."

Jared thought about Amy again, thought about her siblings and their tragic background. "Yeah, agreed. Whatever it takes to keep Jenna and the kids safe."

"So we stop? Send them a message of truce?"

Jared wanted to agree. End the constant fighting once and for all. But they weren't the only ones involved. Others had gotten hurt when the Ghosts betrayed them. "What about on Enrico? Have you talked to him about a truce?"

Enrico Garcia was the one member of the Ghosts biker club who stepped up for his little brothers. He’d warned Jared and Vince that they were going to be betrayed, and he had their backs when they decimated the club. He hadn't lost as much as his brothers, but he was just as angry as they were.

Vince nodded his agreement. "I'll talk to him, make sure he’s good with settling the matter."

Jared and Vince talked business for a while longer. Though Vince was his boss, Jared had just as much stake in the company. He worked under Vince because he had no interest in being anyone's boss. He preferred to work security, to be the muscle behind the crown. Together, they owned a good chunk of the city. Vince ran things while Jared kept everything in line. It was a good partnership, one that had served them well over the years.

Thankfully, they were talking the legitimate side of the business when Jenna breezed through the door of Vince's trailer office. She swept the room with a glance, her grin encompassing both Jared and Vince. She bent over and plopped a powdery smelling baby on Jared's lap before swinging around the side of the desk and dropping onto her husband. Vince’s arms came up to wrap protectively around the curvy redhead.

Jared ignored the two and focused on the baby. Vincent Junior was going to be the spitting image of his father. A fair trade, since Jenna's daughter, Lola, looked just like her mother. Especially now that her hair was going from strawberry blond to a fiery red.

The three of them talked for a while before Vince was called out of the office by one of his contractors who had an issue on the third floor of the apartment complex they were building. Before Jenna could follow her husband out the door and leave the site, Jared called her back.

"Was wondering if I could talk to you about something?"

She gave him a warm smile and sat on the sofa next to him. It was one of those really ugly 70’s couches, upholstered in a hideous orange flower pattern that would survive to the end of time. But the couch was functional and tough, and Vince liked having furniture in his office for visitors.

"Of course," she said cheerfully, snuggling Vince Junior where he promptly fell asleep with his face smashed between her breasts.

"It's about my neighbour," Jared told her. "Think she might be in some kind of trouble."

A frown marred Jenna's brow and her voice was concerned when she said, "What kind of trouble?"

Jared knew his boss's kindhearted wife would be interested in Amy’s story. The former health nurse had a big heart that encompassed everyone around her, including the inmates at the prison where she used to work.

"Well, she's not exactly in trouble now. It happened two