I snorted. She had no idea. Or, well, she probably had a little bit of an idea of my preferences, but that was one thing we didn’t discuss, thank fuck. Still, I’d been a bossy little kid, and that hadn’t exactly died down into adulthood.
After that, the topic shifted and we just spoke about everyday things for a few minutes. My niece had a dance recital coming up soon and she had put on a show for my parents in their living room today. My brother had gotten accepted into the Phd program he had wanted in. My parents were looking at booking a cruise for their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. She asked about our Thanksgiving plans, and I told her I’d let her know for sure when we got back. It would be nice to have all the families together, but it would really depend on Everett and what was going on in this case.
By the time I was caught up on all the family gossip, I was feeling much better and it was about time to go check on Brooks. “I’m gonna go, Mom. I gotta check on Brooks. But . . . thanks. I needed this.”
She made a thoughtful noise. “Of course, Mav. I love you and your men. Your dad and I are always here, whenever you need us.”
I was not about to cry while on the phone. “Thanks, Ma. I love you too. I’ll have Brooks call you when we get back,” I reminded her.
“He better. Bye, honey. Get some rest. You sound exhausted.”
Laughing, I said my goodbyes and finally disconnected. When I went to check on Brooks, I felt a lot more settled than I had earlier. Everything would be fine. It had to be.
CHAPTER 22
LUCA
4:03a.m.
I cursed silently to myself as I attempted to shield the light of my phone screen from the men in bed with me. It had been a long night, but Wes and Diego had managed to finally fall asleep a few hours ago. They deserved their rest, and I wasn’t going to fuck with that, even though I couldn’t sleep. I somehow ended up as the little spoon, not a position I was used to, but it was kind of nice. I tried my best not to jostle Wes as I slid out from under his arms. His eyes opened briefly, but he closed them almost immediately and turned to face Diego. He didn’t touch him—even asleep, Wes managed to respect Diego’s boundaries. I stayed still, sitting on the edge of the bed until they settled, and after a few minutes I was able to slip out of the room, closing the door quietly behind me,
Despite his best efforts, Skye hadn’t made it back to the apartment till nearly dawn their time. So even though Wes had dragged us out of the office and into the media room to relax and watch a movie, none of us had even attempted actual sleep till he’d been safely back at the apartment.
Brooks had mostly been knocked out on painkillers the whole time, but I had spoken to him for a few minutes. He’dsmiled loopily at us through the camera, half his face a swollen mess, and we’d all told him we loved him. Seeing him mostly whole and definitely high had helped ease our anxiety enough that eventually we’d all managed a few hours of restless sleep.
I took the long way to my office, first checking in on Matty and Everett. Since the guys had left for Cannes, Everett had been sleeping in Matty’s room. It was possible it had started before that, but that was when we’d noticed. The boys hadn’t said anything, but Wes had caught Everett sneaking out first thing in the morning the other day, and we’d realized it wasn’t the first time. Today was no exception, and when I quietly pushed in the door, I saw them in Matty’s bed—fully dressed and half out of the blankets. Matty was in full big-spoon mode, his arms wrapped protectively around the smaller man and his front pressed firmly against his back. Everett’s hands were holding Matty’s forearm, like he was keeping him exactly where he was. I closed the door and stepped away, allowing them their privacy.
Once inside my office, I booted up the coffee maker and then my computer. There was so much we had to do. I didn’t even know where to begin when it came to everything Skye had found. Reasonably, I understood I needed to give up that information to the feds, but we still didn’t know who we could trust.
I was fairly certain Lawson, my contact that had intervened after the major raid, was decent. We had shown his picture to Everett. I’d been confident that he was clean, and Everett had all but verified it when he’d confirmed he had never met the man or seen his name in any type of context.
But still . . . I wasn’t ready to take that chance. If he were dirty or it got into the wrong hands, then I’d be handing over everything that would end us.
I had to wait till the guys got back anyway. I wanted them as far the fuck away as possible before I brought the law down on that place. It would be an international disaster, since Tannerwas in France, and I didn’t want my men to get caught in the crosshairs.
I wanted them home now, but we were waiting for word that Brooks was okay to travel. The doctor was supposed to visit him again today, and we would find out if it was safe for him to fly. The doctor had reached out to me after he’d left their apartment and had informed me he was pretty sure Brooks would need surgery on his shoulder. I wanted him to be home when that happened, and I hoped they could safely get back here sooner rather than later.
Fuck, Brooks.
Watching the bat swing toward his face and being completely helpless to stop it had been one of the hardest moments of my life. It could’ve been way worse, and I was thankful that for whatever reason, Tanner had reached for a bat and not another weapon.
I tapped my fingers along my desk, forcing myself to concentrate. Brooks was safe. They all were. One of the fuckers was dead, and we might be sitting on enough information now to take down everyone. Once we figured out what was what, we might have enough to take out all of Crimson Rose, or at the very least those after Everett. Who knew, maybe there’d be that final piece of the puzzle to\hat finally let Matty live his life safely as well.
I booted up my email in hopes that starting with the easy stuff would help me settle enough to concentrate.
I deleted junk mail and sorted the rest into what needed to be reviewed and answered immediately and what could wait. My mouse froze on an email from the law offices of Howard, McGill, and Cheetum. It was the law firm representing Lewis Covington. We had been in contact on and off since Convington had been arrested and we’d been granted custody of Matty.
I clicked on it, both curious and dreading what they wanted now.
I read through it several times, the tension in my head building with each read through until the pain spread to behind my eyes and it almost hurt to look at the screen.
Lewis was out of jail and currently on house arrest and he was formally requesting a sit-down with Matty. Why? I had no fucking idea because they didn’t elaborate, only stated that he was requesting time to see him.
My first inclination was to say fuck no and delete the email and pretend it hadn’t happened. He had absolutely no right to demand a meeting with Matty. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t prove his involvement with everything. He’d still cast Matty to the side for his image. Well, that had been fucking shattered now, so he’d decided he wanted to speak to him? Fuck him and fuck that.
“What has you staring at the screen like you want to murder it?”
I jumped at the voice, so lost in my own thoughts I hadn’t even noticed Matty until he was standing in the entryway of my office. He was still in his pajamas, looking sleep rumpled.
