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I wonder if that occurred before or after his arrest? Distancing herself as far from her son’s charges as possible.
She was intent on making sure nobody would make the connection between the two.
Her determination to win custody of Harper now makes even more sense; she genuinely thought her son was Harper’s father, as we all did until we discovered otherwise in a turn of events none of us ever saw coming.
The car slows as we approach from a few houses down, and before I know what’s happening, Jace has opened the car door and thrown himself out, barely keeping upright as he runs toward the house. “Shit!” Finn spits out. “Goddamn motherfucker!” He slams his hand onto the steering wheel in anger.
My heart rate picks up when Jace disappears through the overgrown garden.
“Please.” I whimper. I’m not even sure what I’m begging for at the point.
For Jace’s safety, for Lucas’s well-being, for it all to end.
Once and for all.
COLE
Adrenaline surges through me as Finn slams on the brakes and pulls two handguns from beneath his seat. “She good with one?” he asks me, cocking an eyebrow.
“She is.” Tia leans forward, snatching the gun from Finn and making him chuckle. He doesn’t need to know she barely knows how to use one. Lucas has recently been giving her lessons. Another secret we keep from Jace, knowing he’d throw a fit if he thought she was around weapons.
“Owen, how far out are you?” Finn asks into the car’s intercom system.
“At least twenty-five minutes.”
Finn nods as if Owen can see him.
“You left a fucking shitshow back at the club. Luca is on the warpath,” he grumbles.
“Oops.” Finn winks at me, then ends the call. “You ready?” He glances over his shoulder toward Tia, and my eyes follows his.
She trembles as she stares out of the window toward the garden where Jace has disappeared, and her hand fumbles withthe gun. I can’t help but wonder if this is a good idea, taking her with us, back to where all her demons lie in wait.
As if hearing my thoughts, her head snaps toward me and she lifts her chin and straightens her shoulders. “I got this.” Confidence oozes from her, and not for the first time since meeting her, my chest fills with pride. She’s a force to be reckoned with, a true survivor, and with us by her side, I know we can conquer anything.
“Let’s do this.” I nod with determination.
We open our car doors in unintentional unison. Finn’s eyes narrow as he takes in the quiet street. While Tia bounces on the balls of her feet, glancing at me for direction, I can’t help but reach out and drag her toward me, kissing the top of her head and inhaling her coconut scent in a move originally made to give her strength but me being the one to find it empowering.
Finn pulls out his toothpick, pointing it toward a run-down house that looks a lot different from when Jace had me driving over here in search of Tia years ago. “That the place?”
Tia clears her throat and steps back from me, disconnecting us and leaving me with a cold absence I long her to fill again.
I know it’s her way of showing us she’s strong on her own, but I want to stand with her hand in mine, being the strength for one another. “Yeah, that’s the one.”
“You want front or back?” His question startles me, and it takes me a moment to figure out the true meaning behind it.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” He drags a hand over his already messy head, then points toward the property. “The house, do you want to go in through the front door or the back door.”
I broaden my shoulders. “The front.” With the reckless way Jace flew out the car, I know he won’t have second-guessed his arrival, he’ll have gone in through the front, and with that in mind, that’s exactly where I’m headed too.
“Right. I got the back covered,” he confirms, and without a second glance, he takes off, running toward the house with me and Tia following swiftly through the gate behind him.
Finn ducks low behind an overgrown bush, then signals for us to head toward the front door while he scans the house, the gun in his hand, prepared to protect us.
Tia stays glued to my back as we rush across the front lawn and up the broken steps toward the wooden porch.
She stiffens as we approach the open door, and I don’t know whether it’s from being back here, or the fact we’re closer to the guys. I repress a shiver at the thought they could and may very well be hurt, and I wonder once again if it’s a good idea having her here with us.
