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“I guess. But I’m going to push for more,” I said. “She deserves better.”
“Keep her in the loop,” Milo told me in all seriousness. “She’s tough, my baby sister. Tougher than I could have ever imagined. Trust that.”
I would.
“Okay, clothes, coffee, and carnage. I really need to hurt something. Her piece of shit father will have to do for the moment.”
It took me a few minutes to grab some clothes when I got upstairs. I avoided Little Bit’s bedroom more to let her and Freddie sleep if they’d managed to get back there than because I didn’t want to see her.
When she got up later in the morning, I would apologize, and by then, I’d have a game plan too. I followed the sound of the voices downstairs to the kitchen, where Liam worked as a barista. I was fine with plain black coffee, but there was some comfort in these drinks.
Rome was at the table, a cup of coffee steaming next to him as he sketched. Someone had found a handful of mismatched chairs to replace the ones Milo had destroyed. I dragged one out and then frowned as I caught sight of what Rome was sketching.
“You want coffee, Doc?” Liam asked, but I only half-nodded.
“Yeah—Rome, why are you sketching him?” Because that was a face I would never forget. The last place I expected to see it was here.
“Sketching who?” Vaughn leaned over to look at the image. “Who is that?”
“Julius King,” Rome said. “I’m sketching a picture for us.”
“Seriously?” Kellan joined us then Jasper crowded in. Liam glanced at the sketch and nodded.
“That’s him. The jaw is a little more angular. Harsher. But that could just be my opinion of him.”
“What’s wrong, Doc?” Milo asked as he walked in. He’d thrown himself through a shower. I cut a look at him. His whole expression blanked as he caught his first look atJulius King. “Why the fuck are you drawing him?”
The tension in his voice cut through the room. Liam shot Milo a look. “That’s the king.”
The king.
The son of a bitch who’d put a contract out on Milo.
Who’d recruited Liam to hunt the Vandals.
To be his inside man.
The king, who’d wanted a piece of Little Bit. Wanted her to work for him…
“Don’t care what he’s calling himself now, but that’s Jeff Hardigan,” I said into the silence as their confused looks focused on me and then jerked to Milo.
Milo’s expression betrayed no emotion. “My father.”
CHAPTER38
EMERSYN
Our father.
Milo’s face had been cast in stone since Freddie and I found them all gathered in the kitchen. Their conversation had broken off the moment I came in. Tension collected in the room, swelling with all the things they weren’t saying.
Worry for Mickey flooded me, but he opened his arms as soon as I turned to him. I wrapped around him as I slid into his lap. The soft rasp of his cheek against my hair made me sigh. “I’m sorry, Little Bit,” he murmured against my ear, and I hugged him tighter. Only when I pulled back did he study my throat.
I’d seen the faint marks in the bathroom. They weren’t that bad, truthfully. The ice had helped to fade some of it, but he hadn’t crushed anything. “I’m okay,” I assured.
His eyes darkened and I rested my forehead on his. I needed him to believe me. I wasn’t sure how to help him right now, but we would figure this out.
“I’m sorry, Little Bit.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “I’m going to work on it. I promise.”
