“I’d never put her in danger. Just because you have your ass chapped over Natasha and Declan doesn’t mean you can shit on my character and integrity like you didn’t help instill those things in me yourself. It’s funny actually, you being pissed at our whole family over a woman, but you lied to us all about the existence of two. Pot meet fucking kettle.” And because I can be a disrespectful fuck sometimes, I really drive my point home by spitting at his feet.
Jakob’s face turns red with rage, but before he can go any further than that, Lee moves cautiously around me. She placesher hand on my forearm. “It’s fine, Quill. I’ll text you, okay?” Lifting up onto her toes, she presses her lips to mine. I’m shocked, so I can only imagine how taken aback her brother is. Lee just drew her line in the sand and made sure she was standing directly on top of it. She isn’t taking either side, but she’s making sure he knows she wants to get to know me more all the same. I cup the side of her face with one hand while I kiss her back with fervor, then all too quickly she pulls away.
My hand gently strokes her face as I smile down at her, our eyes locked. “I’ll text you as soon as I get home, baby. Lock the door behind you, okay?”
“Okay, you’ll text me?” Her smile is almost as gentle as my touch. Taking another moment to memorize everything about her, I move my hand so she can drop back down to the balls of her feet.
“I’ll text you.” I nod at her. “Goodnight, Lelonie.”
“Goodnight, MacQuillian.” She gives me a small smile before turning to her brother and robbing me from her angelic face.
“You’re annoying. I don’t need a bodyguard, and I can make my way inside by myself, Jakob.” She pushes her finger into his chest.
He ushers her inside before loudly answering as the door shuts so he knows I hear him, “Yeah, well I thought you could bring yourself home without picking up trash too; alas, here we are.”
Honestly, fuck him. He’s such a little bitch. Jakob’s so fucking pissed about Declan that he’s pretty much written all of us off. It’s so stupid, because he and Declan were attached at the hip most of their lives. But one woman changed it all, andthey’re both too stubborn to reach out to each other. Pulling my phone out, I navigate to my text screen with Kieran.
Kie: Dude, where are you?
Mac: I’ll be home later. I’m good. Don’t wait up.
Kie: Got it. I’m taking my wife home.
Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I turn and head towards Z13. I need a drink or ten to slow my brain down from the spiraling through all the possibilities of what could be going on with Lee. She said not to worry about it, and she’s okay. At the same time, she doesn’t seem like the type of person to tell me if it was something I should worry about. It’s all too much right now, and I need that burn to calm down my thoughts.
12
Chapter Twelve
Lee
I’ve been lying on my couch for about three hours waiting to hear from Mac. Jake’s gone to Kneipe to take care of some incident that happened. He told me what it was, but I wasn’t paying attention. Annie got stuck in bad traffic on the highway, so she turned around and is coming tomorrow. I just want to be alone anyway. What am I even doing? Waiting for Mac Byrne to text me? How is this my life?
When we were younger, Mac and I used to do everything together. We were best friends, attached at the hip. Little life buddies is what our moms called us. People used to say boys and girls couldn’t be friends. Of course not; when you’re between five and seven, the opposite sex has cooties. We never cared about that, though. The little boy with the same birthday as me, who had too long hair and pretty eyes, was the one I wanted to do everything with.
That was until I was taken. I changed tenfold over the next five years. How could I not when I lived a life that makes most people’s worst nightmares look like child’s play? I was first assaulted the day I was taken. I was stripped of everything, from my clothes to my dignity to my innocence, hell, even my name. I was too hard to break, so not long after I was taken, they called on some help to make sure I was good and broken. They made sure I had the most violent clients. The ones who liked the mind games along with raping and beating me, and the ones who liked to inject me with shit that made me more agreeable.
Most of that time I’ve mentally blocked out. My psychologist says it’s how my brain decided to protect me. I disassociated and survived for most of my life. It took two rats from my family’s organization, and I went from a mafia princess to a prisoner of a sex ring in a day. Those men still work for Theo. It’s one of the main reasons I’ll never go back to him. The fact that one of their accomplices came from Mac’s family is the reason I can never tell him who I really am, even if he already knows.
The accomplice no longer works for the Byrne men. I don’t know what happened to him, though. He was gone by the time my family took me in. My parents didn’t know who I was at first. It wasn’t until I visited their home for the first time and had an entire meltdown because of how close it was to the school I used to go to that we put the pieces together.
My Papa has worked around Theo Rossi for a long time, so naturally he called him and told him his suspicions. I’m not privy to the conversations that took place back then. That’ll forever be between my Papa and Theo. What I do know is that my adoption went through less than twenty-four hourslater, and the paperwork was signed by Theo himself. They have a deal in place. My parents keep me protected from that life, and he leaves me alone. I know he gets updates about me occasionally from my Papa, and I assume that’s a part of their deal too.
My parents and siblings never blinked twice about me coming into their family. It’s like I was meant to be here all along. They were understanding when I would only talk to my Mama and Annie. My Papa and older brothers were patient when it took me almost a year to get comfortable around them. Jake and Dieter were eighteen and sixteen with the patience and kindness of a saint. It’s why they’re so fiercely protective now. They saw the broken girl heal and then flourish in her new family.
Then I got sick, and my family’s lives flipped upside down. It took a while to figure out what I had; I guess that’s the downside of your brain protecting itself. You forget important details, like being stuck with dirty needles on and off for five years. By the time we figured out that I had Hepatitis C and treated it, I no longer just had Hep-C. As it turns out, prolonged exposure to untreated Hepatitis C leads to a whole alphabet of diagnosis. So that’s how I ended up with a dozen pills that I have to take twice a day and treatment three times a week. Hooray for me.
My phone rings, startling me out of my thoughts. Mac’s name takes up my screen, or more accurately, his nickname. He told me tonight that he likes when I call him Quill, which made my heart do a little flip. I called him that when we were younger too. Everyone else called him Mac, but his Ma never did. That was her Quill. He used to say the only people allowed to call him that were his mom and his wife, and seeingas I would be his wife, I was allowed to. That isn’t lost on me as I reflect back to him insisting I use it tonight.
Swiping to answer before it goes to voicemail, I immediately notice the noise of the city in the background. It’s late. What’s he still doing in the city?
“Hello?”
“Lee.” My name isn’t more than an exhale on his lips.
“What are you doing in the city still?”
“I went to Z13 after I dropped you off.” Z13 is a club in Irish territory. My first thought is, why would he go there? But then I remember it’s the weekend, and people who aren’t immunocompromised do things like that on the weekend. I took a big risk just going to Primetime tonight.
