I did keep that from her. And she never called me on it. Until now. But that wasn’t life or death.
“Totally fucking different—ahh. Motherfucker.” My jaw clamps down, my teeth nearly chomping into my tongue.
Gage wrenches my mouth open and shoves a whiskey-soaked cloth into it, effectively shutting me up while he and Liam both dig deeper, each yapping about what they’re doing, smart-ass gibes and mind-numbing details to lull me into a state of serenity. I give it a couple of minutes, but it doesn’t suffice. The din of their voices, the music, and the shower are only heightening my anxiety.
Spitting the cloth out, I snipe at both of them, “Just hurry the fuck up. This goddamn nightmare gets worse by the second. JesusChrist.” My gaze swings back to my contentious wife. “I kept that from you because it wasn’t my secret to tell. And I wasn’t willing to jeopardize your relationship with your brothers because I know how important they are to you. That was an act of love.”
“Same here,” she counters, and we stare each other down, our eyes glued to one another in an unspoken dare.
I guess I see that. Her need to protect them at all costs is an act of love. But it’s deflating because she doesn’t view us as a team, doesn’t understand that I’d do anything to keep her whole, including protecting them. Maybe that’s on me. Somehow, I’ve missed the mark, not proving that I’d go to any lengths for her. And at this point, I don’t even know what my options are. It’s all spiraling so far out of fucking control.
Not bothering to beat around the bush, I ask what Gage and I are wondering, likely a concern surfacing for Liam at this point too. “Are they going after Balzano?”
Her eyes shift, ping-ponging between the three of us, trying to get some kind of read. “What makes you ask that?”
“Don’t be vague,” I grunt, breathing through the burn. “This isn’t the time.”
She glides her hand onto my uninjured thigh with a tenderness that is perplexing, considering our conversation. “I’m not being vague. It’s just … that seems like a leap. I mean … where did the suspicion regarding them and Balzano stem from?”
Right. I’m zooming full speed ahead.
Since my breathing is shallow, Liam takes that, confirming that I wasn’t alone in my conjecture. “We don’t know for sure. But all three of the jobs we completed seem to be connected to his underhanded businesses, so that’s the only reason Axel’s presence would make sense there.”
Gage evidently filled Liam in on the Axel sighting.
If I thought Rena was pale before, I was mistaken.
All the color drains from her face as her chest heaves. “You saw Axel tonight? Fuck.”
She scrubs her hands over her face, so I’m at a loss to know where her mind is fleeing to, but it’s clear that even though she sparred with me over lying, she didn’t connect it to another sighting tonight.
While I wait for her to compose herself, I venture into another string of thoughts directed at Liam. “Did Wells turn the information about Balzano and Axel over to KORT?”
He moves to my back, mending the exit wound the bullet inflicted there. “I’m not sure. There was talk about it. Axel was adamant that he didn’t want anything to do with Balzano because it was too risky, so this doesn’t align, unless our Little Moonshine knows otherwise.” He pauses there, but Rena never grants him her full attention, so he continues, “But a lot happened after that initial discussion. Rena went missing, so all the focus was there. And then, you two”—he waves his hand between Rena and me before adding Gage into the mix—“or three, and your fuckery. I never heard any more about it.”
Rena’s swanlike neck rolls and flexes through an arduous swallow. She’s so uncomfortable. Conflicted. And that’s when it hits me. Pummels me. She was shocked when Liam said Axel’s name, but that was after I already claimed to know who she saw on the roof.
“Look at me, baby girl.” I wait until she lifts her chin, my pain taking a back seat to the urgency soaring through my veins. “Tell me who you saw on that roof.”
She glances away, her focal point that of a tile square near the door. Maybe she’s ready to bolt.
As if Gage is drawing the same conclusion, he reiterates his sentiments from the other night. “Might be time to be reborn. You aren’t giving us shit. This is a fight we’re losing and one we don’t fucking understand. Six inches is what saved your husband’s life tonight, which is too goddamn close. So, unless you start talking, we will not be letting you walk into that last challenge. We will do whatever it takes to protect you, even erasing all of us. We are a unit. One. That’s how we handle things in this family.”
“Okay,” she whispers, her chin wobbling.
“Are your brothers going after Balzano?” I repeat the question she avoided earlier, hoping she’ll see us backing her now. That it isn’t only me who will show up for her. That she’s as much a part of this family as anyone, so nothing is too great. We choose her, whatever that entails.
She nods. A wordless answer, but an answer nonetheless.
“There you go,” I coo, motioning to Gage to slide her forward so I can grab her hand. Once I clasp her tiny palm in mine, I probe a little more. “And it wasn’t Axel you saw on that roof?”
“No,” she mutters, her misty blueberry-field irises flicking to mine. “Jax.”
Jax?No way Axel would allow him to partake in a hit on Balzano or his businesses. He’d never risk his safety.What the fuck is going on?
RENA
That damn plodding drone of the shower berates me once again. The last time was when Ty had killed the wrong group of people and was preparing to marry me in a pointless ceremony. Now, it’s because the splish-splosh of the water is crooning a dirge to the end of something. I’m not sure what yet.
