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All for me and Cass.
And their brother.
I reached over the table and took Cassie’s hand. “You okay to talk?”
Cassie looked around the great room, taking in the brothers, all gathered there for her, and I knew she saw something she’d never had. Support. Care. Family.
She’d had me and my girls, but this was different.
These were men willing to step up to the plate to make sure that she was protected and safe. Men who’d throw down and bleed for both of us. And because of the way knowing that hit me, I saw when the knowing hit her. When a new confidence slid over her features. When the light of knowing these tough motherfuckers were at her back, would handle her with kid gloves, but slit throats for her, hit her eyes.
She squeezed my hand and took a breath. When she let it out, it shuddered, and I knew that whatever she was about to say would be bad.
It was worse.
But she turned to Gate and without wavering, she spoke, “He told mom he was taken off the street, and he was. He didn’t know Spider or his guys. But he knew the Freemont boy. He knew exactly who he was.”
I let go of Cassie’s hand and sat back in my chair, stunned.
“How do you know he knew him?” Gate asked.
“You know how dad talks to himself when he works?” Cassie glanced my way.
“Yeah, babe,” I said, and I felt Talon’s hand hit my back and slide up to my neck. He squeezed, and my shoulders relaxed, at least a little.
Cass flipped her eyes back toward Gate, “I could tell by the way he talked to the kid while he worked on him. Dad knew his name, and it sounded like he knew the kid’s dad too.”
“What did he say about him?” Talon spoke for the first time since we’d sat down.
“He was scared,” Cassie admitted with a sigh. She looked at me again, and her voice went low, “Mom, those people were scary. And dad acted like he knew the score. You know?”
Gate gestured toward Rooster and Stash.
I’d been so consumed with having Cassie back in front of me safe and whole that I hadn’t even noticed when they walked in.
“Get everything you can. There’s a connection somewhere,” Gate instructed.
The brothers mumbled agreement, grabbed plates and coffee, and headed back to their techno-geek hideout, Stash already sipping.
Brick spoke up, “Anything else, Cass? Doesn’t matter how small you think it is.”
And then I saw it.
The look on Cassie’s face that meant she was deciding whether to tell the truth or not.
I’d raised my girl to be honest, but some things a woman didn’t want to talk about in a room full of men.
“I see the look, Cass. Don’t lie to me. But you don’t have to talk in front of the guys if you don’t want to,” I said, starting to rise.
She reached for my arm, and I sat back down.
“It’s not about me, mom. It’s about dad,” she admitted, chewing her lip.
I collapsed with a sigh, thanking God it wasn’t what I’d been afraid of, and then I realized what she’d said.
“What do you mean, about dad?” I asked.
Her eyes went wide, “Mom….”
