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"Angel, what's..." I started, only to be cut off by Cash's call across the room.
"Reese, sweetheart, what the hell are you doing here?"
Cash knew Reese?
My eyes went between them as Cash made his way over.
How did Reese know Cash?
"Everything okay?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned for her, like there was some kind of connection there. "Did you break down in that shitmobile again?" he asked as he got close.
"Ah, no," she said, shaking her head a little jerkily, looking at me from the side of her eye.
"Alright, what is this?" I asked, waving between them.
"What's what?" Cash asked, looking at me like I was losing my mind. "Gina lives next door to me."
"Gina?" I asked, the name meaning nothing.
"Reese's mom," Cash supplied, looking at me with drawn-together brows. "What's going on, Ree? Why are you at the compound?"
"I, ah," she started, biting into her bottom lip as she shifted her feet.
"She's here for me," I supplied, putting a hand across her hips, not knowing exactly why she was so freaked, but knowing I wanted to put an end to it as I pulled her closer.
"Oh, no fucking shit," Cash said, eyes big, lips parted, looking between us for a minute. "Coffeeshop girl? You're the coffeeshop girl he's been mooning over for fucking months now?" he asked, shaking his head like it didn't make sense. "And... you're the one he took to the city over the weekend. Gina said you were at Bookjam."
"I took her to Bookjam," I supplied, still not able to put together what was going on there, what heaviness was in the air between Reese and Cash, and, by extension, me as well.
"Ree, sweetie, this is..." he said, leaning back, and grabbing Laz's arm, dragging him forward, "Lazarus. Laz, this is Reese. Laz is going to get you a drink so I can have just a couple words with Cy."
Then, before she could even fully agree to that, Cash was grabbing my shoulder painfully, and forcing me outside with him.
"The fuck is up your ass, Cash?" I asked as the door slammed.
"Do you have any fucking idea what you are doing?" he hissed, voice a mix of angry and worried, a combination you didn't often find the vice prez, a generally laid-back guy, having in his tone.
"She wanted to be in all the aspects of my life, man. Didn't think it'd be an issue bringing her around. Everyone else brings their girls around eventually.
"Jesus Christ," he growled, running a hand up the shaved side of his head. "I'm going to go ahead and assume you don't know her family. I mean, you don't know Gina, so you don't know the rest."
"I know she has aunts, a grandma, a sister, and -"
"And two brothers," he supplied, shaking his head, looking almost... resigned?
"Yeah."
"You haven't met them."
"No."
"Know their names?"
Shit. See this is where I was going to sound like a fucking asshole. I knew a woman for months, had been on a vacation with her, and didn't know the names of her family members?
"No."
He reached up, rubbing a hand across his mouth. "Alright. Guess this is my place then. Their names are Paine and Enzo."
"Okay..." I trailed off, feeling a tug of familiarity, but unable to place it.
"Not striking a chord?"
"Not particularly."
"So, you know Third Street?"
"Everyone knows Third Street."
"Yeah, well, Reese's brothers both took turns fucking running Third Street."
Jesus.
Christ.
No wonder she didn't tell me much about them.
If she had brothers that ran a fucking street gang, it wasn't exactly something you advertised. Especially an H-dealing, prostituting street gang.
But if her brothers had led one of the organizations around town...
"Think it's starting to sink in," Cash noticed with a nod as I reached up to run a hand down my beard. "Paine was only in his mid-twenties when he took over. And this whole goddamn town knew they weren't to put a finger on his sisters. For fuck's sake, we have all taken turns getting and keeping Kenzi out of terrible situations. And I know Reign, myself, Wolf, and Repo have all taken turns jumping Reese's car, changing tires, or any untold number of vehicle catastrophes she has had. I mean, we'd have stopped regardless. Woman alone on the side of the road at night and all. But Paine and Enzo would have strung us up and gutted us if they got word that we drove by."
Shit.
Okay.
I was getting the picture.
No wonder she was keeping her family from me.
Or maybe it was more like she was keeping me from her family.
"You said running," I observed, grasping at straws. "Past tense."
"Paine got out a while back. He runs the tattoo shop that half the guys go to," he told me, and then the name was starting to make more sense. I had heard it on several occasions when one of the guys asked if some new ink was done at Paine's or Hunter Mallick's place.
