“No. Peace…to live.” I raised my hand to cup his cheek. “Make war.” As I stared into my husband’s eyes, I could feel the black veil settling between us. It swallowed me whole until I heard my sister’s voice replaying the past in my ear.
“I can’t believe you said that.”Madalyn.“He’s a criminal.”
I lay on her bed, flipping through the pages of a magazine as she got ready for some function or another.
“Why can’t you take anything seriously?” She stepped in front of me. “He called you, Lizzie, and Gerry says he keeps calling the office asking about you.” She pivoted, the skirt of her black dress twirling out, but it was the pearls at her neck that caught my attention. “Gerry. I don’t really like them, but he says all the wives have a strand.” She scrunched her nose. “They feel like a choker around my neck, but I don’t want to disappoint him.”
My hand came up to touch my neck, but it was bare. I never wanted to feel a collar when all I yearned for was freedom.
The veil slowly lifted.
“What are you going to say?” Thunder asked. The muscle under his eye twitched. I leaned my forehead against his chest, and his arm wrapped around my back.
“Not…sure. I have…to poke…first hole.”
“It’ll be all right.” He lifted my chin, our eyes finding each other. I wasn’t sure who moved first, but our lips crashed against one another.
“You need to warn the children in the room when you’re going to do shit like that,” Pretty said, chewing on a chip.
“You’re hiding from Wreck, so what does that say about you?” Grizz chimed in.
Pretty ignored the dig, focusing on Meredith. “I know where you can get fake piercings.” He smirked, dodging Grizz’s hand as it swung out to smack him. “Hey, bitch. Baby on board.” JR swung his little fist, not knowing what was going on. “Besides, this is a family meeting.” Pretty drew out the words. “I’m family.”
We ignored them. Thunder shifted, pulling his phone out of his back pocket before handing it to me. “Are you sure about this?” There was no point in rehashing the inevitable. I opened his call log, clicking the number, but I didn’t let it connect yet.
My eyes found Thunder’s again. “You know I’m with you,” he said. I nodded, shifting on the couch to watch Grace and Sabre.
“Thunder’s right. I won’t let you sacrifice for this family when it’s my responsibility.” Sabre’s eyes narrowed at me as he leaned forward, wrapping an arm underneath his knee.
“I want…to live. Won’t come…to that.”
Sabre nodded, and I moved on to Meredith and Grizz.
“I’m right there with them, Aunt E.” Grizz leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees as Meredith patted his back.
I couldn’t say anything for fear that the words would stick in my throat.
“Wreck knows something. I’m too pretty for the front line, but I’ll crack that nut.” Pretty was serious, but as I watched him, he let his face soften, smirking.
I closed my eyes, hitting the green button on the phone, but when it connected, I needed a minute. I hadn’t thought this through.
“Mi amor.” I heard the term of endearment, and I said the first thing that came to mind.
“I’m not interested. Stop hounding me.” It was the same thing I’d said to him when I’d finally accepted his call one night after my mother had pressured me to answer the phone.
Laughter spilled down the line. Deeper. Older than it had been all those years ago.
“Does this mean you’re going to let me take you out to dinner?” He’d said the same thing, and something about those words had made me weak. I’d caved, starting this whole lurid history. “Those words worked before, so I know they’ll work again.”
They no longer had the same effect.
“Not this time.” I quickly scanned the room again, looking at my family. The brown eyes, so similar to my sister’s. The men who would never let them hurt. My husband—the man I loved with everything I had. “My son found me. I don’t need you.” I quickly hung up, collapsing against Thunder.
Grace shifted to the edge of the couch. She reached for Sabre’s shoulder, but he wrapped an arm around her leg. There was a time and place for her care, but now wasn’t it. I needed my husband.
“Too bad we’re not playing poker,” Pretty said. “That just upped the ante.”
Chapter 22
