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His words cut through me, and I let out a growl. “I could have helped.” Pulling out of the parking lot, I worried my bottom lip. My brothers had never left me out of the loop. We fought, but we always respected each other enough to work together, no matter what.
Gabriel sighed. “We made a promise to get away from the illegal shit we’ve been wading through. If you get involved, we’ll be right back where we started. Let me handle this, Jude.”
As I raced down the highway, my anger grew. I’d always worried about my place in the business once we were no longer dealing in drugs and weapons. My skill set wasn’t required for a legal business. I operated in the dark. There was no gray area.
“So you don’t need me anymore?”
“Fuck, Jude. That’s not true. Of course we’ll always need you.”
Only I wasn’t so sure anymore. “Don’t keep me in the dark about important shit like this. If it impacts my family, I want to know about it.”
“I didn’t mean to leave you out. There’s just a lot going on at the moment. And I didn’t want you to worry in case there was nothing to worry about.”
Releasing the air that had been trapped inside my lungs, I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “I understand why you did it. Doesn’t mean I’m okay with it.”
“I’m sorry.”
And just like that we were okay again. “Let’s go to Allegra’s for a drink tonight.”
“I’ll call Liam. Meet at eight?”
“Sounds good.”
We hung up, and I couldn’t help but feel that things were about to change.
7
ARIEL
“That’s Jenny.She’s getting a divorce. Caught her husband with his secretary. So cliché.”
Jude’s lips brushed against my ear, and I shivered at the contact. He was leaning into me, telling me about the woman currently discussing the upcoming bake sale. Mostly she was reading off a list of things we weren’t allowed to bring.
Sitting at a PTA meeting at seven at night was akin to having my nails ripped off. Slowly. One by one. But somehow, having Jude there made it more bearable.
Since I hadn’t planned on showing up—let alone bringing anything—I wasn’t paying attention. And when Jude started giving me everyone’s life story as soon as they talked, I’d found myself much more interested in what he had to say.
I’d so far avoided getting involved in any school activities. But when Beth cornered me in the hallway earlier, I’d been tired, and my defenses were down. And she made it sound like such a small thing that I’d agreed to attend to get rid of her.
When Jude had shown up on my door at half past six to take me to school—somehow he’d been to every meeting even though he didn’t have a child—I’d had no excuse not to go. Lenny was playing on his phone at the back of the gym with two other kids whose parents couldn’t organize a sitter either.
Not that Lenny still needed a sitter. But I wouldn’t leave him anywhere by himself. Especially not now that there was a chance he’d be taken away from me.
Jenny cleared her throat, pointedly staring at me. She was reed thin with a platinum blonde bob. And she cared way more than was healthy about the bake sale.
“Everyone clear on what they need to bring?” When nobody said anything and a few people nodded, she seemed satisfied, handing a stack of papers to the people sitting next to her. “Can you take one, then pass it on?”
Once we all had a piece of paper, she continued with her instructions. “This is your registration form. Details on what you’re bringing can be filled in at the bottom. Make sure you tick all the boxes or the form won’t be accepted.”
“This is worse than sitting through an exam.”
I muttered my complaint under my breath, but somehow Jude still heard me. Leaning in again, he said, “She also has insomnia, so a lot of time on her hands. And if she says she’ll make you fill out the form again if you mess it up, she means it.”
If he didn’t stop brushing up against me soon, I’d be on the floor in a needy puddle.
“I have no doubts.”
The next person to speak was Chantal. She’d treated me with contempt from the moment I’d met her. But since I avoided all school events, I rarely ran into her.
