“This is my fault,” Ever said, closing his eyes. “None of this would have happened if I wasn’t with you. Maybe I should—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” Arsen said, voice hard enough to bring Ever’s gaze to his, tears pooling in his eyes. “You’re not going anywhere.Anywhere,” he said again.
Ever sniffled, tears rolling down his cheeks. Levi put his arm around him. “You don’t have to yell at him.”
Arsen blanched. “What? Who is yelling? I’m not yelling.” He looked at Ever. “I’m not yelling. I’m not mad. Well, I’m not mad at you. But I do need to kill someone…soon. Or I won’t be held responsible for what I do next.”
“Damn, firestarter. I didn’t know you had it in you,” Avi teased.
Jericho gave Ever a soft smile. The one he seemed to save just for him and small children. “We’re long past letting you go, little one,” he said. “This isn’t on you. We should have known they weren’t going to let it go after we took out that cop. They were just biding their time. Waiting for us to let our guard down.”
Nico sighed. “It’s very much an eye for an eye in our neighborhood.”
“Yeah, but enough is enough.”
All eyes swung to Atticus who was dressed the most casual Ever had ever seen him, wearing black joggers and a threadbare too-tight t-shirt that read JHH Grad Night. Ever didn’t know what that meant, but it made it hard to ignore the way Atticus’s muscles bulged from beneath the sleeves. Ever hadn’t ever noticed how fit he was before.
“Freckles…” Jericho said.
Atticus shook his head, his expression full of the same barely-contained anger as Arsen’s. Ever had never seen Atticus or Jericho mad. They both always seemed happy and level-headed.
But Atticus was vehement. “No. I get that you’re all about caution, but this is too far. They went after our kids,” he said, sweeping a hand over the group. “You told me when we got married that they were my responsibility, too. I don’t like people messing with what’s mine. Neither do you. Why aren’t you angrier? They were perfectly fine burning down the business your father built. They tried to kill Arsen and Ever. What if they hadn’t woken up in time?”
Ever flushed, hoping Arsen didn’t feel the need to announce how they had very much not been asleep when the fire started. Though, they had been distracted. If Ever hadn’t seduced Arsen on the sofa, who knows what might have happened.
“Is it just me or is Freckles kind of hot when he’s being all psychotic?” Nico stage-whispered.
A few others made an affirmative noise that earned a glare from Jericho before he said, “I know but—”
“No,” Asa said. “I can’t believe these words are coming out of my mouth, but I agree with Atticus. They’re throwing down the gauntlet. They are trying to intimidate us.”
“There is no us,” Jericho said. “This is our problem.”
Atticus scoffed. “Nice try. You don’t get to tell me I inherited your kids, but you get to disavow my asshole brothers. For better or worse, baby.”
Avi snickered. “Baby?”
“We want to play too,” Asa said. “Put us in, coach. We know how to send a strong…message to the right people.”
“What does that mean?” Ever asked dully, eyes burning.
“It means we need a show of force,” Felix said. “They think they can intimidate us, so we need to hit back harder. Felix locked eyes with his husband. “Way harder.”
Avi nodded. “I get you’re all about an eye for an eye, Jericho, but the Mulvaneys…we have our own philosophy.”
“And what’s that?” Seven asked, amused.
Avi smirked. “You take an eye, we’re gonna take your whole fucking head.”
Cree’s eyes went wide, but then he shrugged. “Yeah, I respect it.”
“They’re right. We have to make a spectacle,” Zane said. They all looked at him, seemingly surprised. “What? These groups only respect violence. Look at how the cartels handle things. Their kills are always over-the-top, horror movie level brutal. To send a message. Don’t fuck with us. We need to make sure the 4Loco crew knows that messing with Jericho will fuck up their whole world.”
Felix looked at Zane fondly. “I love you.”
Zane beamed.
Ever didn’t quite understand the dynamic with those two and the twins, but he was grateful for the help. Even though he still thought it would be better—safer—if he just left.
