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CHAPTERTHREE
Zero
Halloween Morning…
Lilly’s brother Alex has to be one of my least favorite people. I can endure anything for a couple of minutes, though. Worst-case scenario—we’re at his house for a couple of hours. No, worst-case would be I punch him in the mouth in front of Lilly and Chance. My love for my family pulses around me like a living, breathing shadow of hostility, always prepared to protect them at any cost.
Focus on the positive.Alex is good to my son. Chance loves his Uncle Alex. According to Lilly, Alex has stopped pestering her about being married to a thug—me. His opinion doesn’t bother me one bit. Iama thug. One who will murder to protect his family. Alex can’t be bothered to open his mouth to stick up for his sister around their parents. My interest in his opinion rests somewhere around zero percent.
I swallow all those thoughts down for Chance’s sake. He’s too little for ugly family history lessons. Today’s supposed to be about fun.
“He knows we’re on the way, right?” I ask, glancing over at Lilly.
She tucks her phone in her purse. “He said any time after ten but I just sent him a text to let him know we’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Good.” Last thing I want to do is wake the grouchy asshole up.
“Thank you for this.” Lilly rests her hand on my thigh. “I know it’s the last thing you feel like doing.”
I can think of a few other activities that rate lower than this—digging a grave, cleaning dog vomit out of the carpet, and dissolving a body in acid all come to mind. That probably won’t give Lilly the warm fuzzies, though. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, I rest the other over hers. “Too bad we didn’t bring Grace, so Alex could get the full effect of their costumes.”
“Grace? Where?” Chance asks from the back seat.
One-track mind my son has.
“We’ll see her at Uncle Wrath’s place a little later, buddy,” I tell him.
In the rearview, I catch his lips pinching into a pout as he stares out the window.
Lilly turns in her seat. “You want to show Uncle Alex your costume, right?”
“Yes!” Chance is all smiles now.
Yup, there’s that twinge in my chest again. Reminding me that I’ll do anything to make my kid happy.
Even hang out with Alex for a few hours.
Lilly
“Do you remember what to say?” I ask Chance as we approach the front door of my brother’s house.
Chance squints up at me. “Click o’ tweet.”
“Trick or treat,” I say slowly.
Behind us, Z chuckles.
Instead of knocking, Chance throws his bright green pumpkin-shaped bucket against the door.
“Easy, buddy.” Z pulls the bucket away from the door while I give it a more proper knock.
Chance shoots both of us a toothy little grin.
The door opens and Alex flashes a tight smile at me. Ignoring Z completely, he leans down and scoops Chance into his arms. “Happy Halloween, little man.”
“Rawr!”
“Come in, come in.” Alex steps aside and motions us forward. He closes the door behind us, then wraps me in a quick embrace. A flowery scent clings to his sweater, tickling my nose.
