“I didn’t know, man. I didn’t know,” he whines.
“Let us handle this, Mac,” Smoke says as he comes up and claps me on the shoulder.
Only when someone grabs onto the rat do I take a step back and lower my gun. I watch as Tank and Bear pat Dirk down for weapons. My stomach rolls as I watch them pull out a taser and several sets of zip tie handcuffs.
They were going to take my family.
“We will deal with this,” Tank tells me.
I nod and watch as the two of them manhandle Dirk out of the house.
“You okay?” Smoke asks.
“Not even a little.”
“What happened?” he asks as he crosses his arms.
“Jane woke up because she heard a noise. She realized what was happening and got the kids out of the house. They went overto mine. I woke up because I heard something. I had my gun pointed at her, man,” I tell him as the situation hits me.
I could have shot her.
I could have hurt her or one of the kids.
“Hey, none of that. We all know you would never hurt any of them. I bet you dropped your gun as soon as you realized it was her, right?”
“I did, but what if it reminded her of before? What if she thinks I’m like him?”
“Brother, that woman knows you are the exact opposite of what she left. You don’t need to worry,” Gunner tells me, reminding me that Smoke and I aren’t alone.
He’s not wrong, though. I’ve worked my ass off to prove to them that I’m not like who they left. They know I would never hurt them, or I hope they do. I hope tonight didn’t demolish everything I’ve been working toward.
“What else?” Tank asks.
I fill them in on the rest. How, when I got here, I realized that there were two guys inside, and how one got away.
“Go home and hold your family close. We will deal with the trash, okay?” Smoke tells me.
“Yeah, okay. Let me grab my phone.”
They wait for me to grab it, and we walk out of the house together. While they walk to their bikes, I head to my back door and let myself in before locking it again. With heavy steps, I approach my bedroom door and pray that everything is okay on the other side.
Here we go.
I reach for the handle and find that it’s locked.
“Mac?” she says from the other side.
“It’s me,a mhuirnín.”
I hear her get up and walk to the door. When it swings open, she sighs with relief. As she steps back, something silver flashes,and my eyes drop. My girl has got a knife. I’m so fucking proud of her, but she needs a damn gun. That knife requires her to get close. I know she can’t have a gun out with the kids there, but a bedside safe would work.
“Mind setting that down?” I ask her.
She looks down at her hand, almost as if she forgot she was holding it. I have to stop myself from laughing when she drops it like it’s a hot potato, the knife clattering against the floor.
“Come here,” I tell her as I set my gun and phone down on the dresser and open my arms.
Jane rushes into my arms, and I stumble back as I wrap mine around her.
