“His role was to spend time out in the communities or that house,” Justice shudders.
“Twins, can you-”
“Already on it. We’re pulling all information on Goodsons in the state between the ages of 55 and 75. If we can’t find anything we’ll bump it up the chain to Chewy,” Jay says earnestly.
It’s funny, they come across as aloof hackers for hire, but I’ve been watching their reactions since they stepped into Church and it would seem these fuckers are as affected as we are by what is going on around us.
Dex taps the table twice with his fist then walks back to the head of the table, flopping down in his seat, his fingers laced casually over his stomach. He frowns hard for a moment, then his gaze catches mine before traveling around the room.
“Matrix twins, find as much as you can and track Hitchens’ movements for the past month. I want to know how he crossed paths with this Goodson shithead. Expand your search to Texas, Hitchens started his fuckery there.” He leans his head back, then rolls it to the side to mumble something to Sniper who tips his head toward us and mumbles back. Nodding Prez sits upright. “We have two targets on our backs. The Eden’s Keep assholes and Hitchens. We’re going to have to prioritize who we hit first and I propose it’s Hitchens. Eden’s Keep only just came on the scene. The way they executed that guy in Bellefont has them well organized and calm. Hitchens on the other hand is volatile. Wesaw it all over Joe’s face when she came here. He’s got buyers on his back and we have what he wants. He’s not going to wait too much longer.”
“He’s the dangerous one because he’s unpredictable,” Loyal whispers.
“Exactly right, Loyal,” Dex says.
Loyal’s cheeks flame red as she realizes she spoke out loud. She groans and buries her head in my chest and I can’t help but chuckle.
“So, what’s the plan?” Chef asks what we’re all thinking.
“We find him before he finds us.”
Loyal
Justice and I leave Church to let the DRMC work on whatever it is they’re planning. In the Eden’s Keep days I’d be twisted up in knots both entering that room and leaving it. Nothing good ever came from being in there. Now though, there are eight men who I trust with my life. Even more, I trust them with the lives of the people we have here.
“What do you think Goodson wants?” Justice murmurs, stepping up next to me at the mouth of the hall.
I shake my head. I thought I was free of Goodson, free to evolve into a new version of me, one who isn’t afraid of everything and everyone. Instead, his brother is out there threatening to crush what we have built. Anger bubbles in my gut, hot and quick and I have to ball my fists to stop my hands from shaking.
“Whatever it is, we’ve got this,” I tell Justice. I feel it in my bones that with the Keep Chapter at our backs, we can handle anything.
Justice turns to me, his blue eyes so like mine bore into my gaze and I know he’s feeling the same thing I am. “We’ll never be prey to Eden’s Keep ever again.”
“Never again.”
Justice’s lips curl up at the edges and I follow his gaze as he watches Joe laugh at the twins from her place on the couch. Joe glances up and smiles shyly at Justice before she catches my gaze.
“There she is!” Joe says with a grin pointing my way.
“What’s for dinner, Momma?” Bree asks while she runs in my direction, stopping just short of where I stand, dancing in place.
The word “momma” steals my breath and I stand frozen for a moment, looking into two sets of blue eyes.
“Is it OK to call you that?” Addy asks, looking concerned. “We thought cos you and Vex are pretending to be our parents we could call you momma. Not mommy, because we um, we have, um had -”
“It’s OK baby, more than OK. As long as you two want to call me that then I would be honored.” I pull them both into my arms, and press kisses to their sweaty little heads.
Loosening my grip a little I lean back to look at them, plastering a smile on my face to hide the emotions swirling inside me, “So, what did you want to eat?”
“Oh, oh, can we have lasagne? I wouldkillfor some cheesy goodness right about now,” Joe says excitedly from her position on the couch, her little dog on the floor with Greer, Izzy and Nell.
Looking around the room my brows pinch in. “Where’s Jason?”
Damian shakes his head, “Ain’t seen him since we come back, said he was headin’ home. Hands were dirty after visiting the garage and showin’ Flack what he could do with an engine.”
“That was hours ago,” Justice frowns.
Damian looks at the clock on the wall, eyes narrowing, “Yeah, two and a half hours. Ain’t like him to leave Izzy that long.” His eyes dart to the young teen with Greer. He hauls his big body off the floor where he’s lying. “It’ll be fine, cher, I’ll handle it.”
