I pull Leo back just in time before she pulls the trigger, blowing Jerry’s brains all over the wall behind him. He slumps in the seat, surprised, dead eyes looking up at her.
She swings the gun toward Joe, and his guards tighten ranks around him, blocking him from view. “Is this how it’s going to be, Joe?”
He pushes past his guards, sliding unaffected eyes over Jerry. “You did me a favor.”
“That’s your brother,” Leo says incredulously. I look back at him, and he’s staring at Jerry, his face pale.Please don’t fucking puke.I know he saw his brother kill that guard at the house, but he wasn’t as close as he is now. He was almost sprayed with blood and brains.
“He’s been trouble for years.” He waves his hand like he is nothing more than a stray dog. “You won’t have any more trouble from me, Ms. Poletti.”
She holsters her gun. “This is your last fucking warning. You won’t get another one.” She jerks her head for us to follow her out. Gage and Ryder put the gas cans in the hatch before climbing into the car.
“Are you okay?” Les asks Leo when we’re headed back to the house.
“Yeah,” he answers, but he still looks like he’s going to hurl. If he does in Ryder’s car, he will die before the first drop hits the floorboard.
She slides her hand into his. “It’s okay not to be okay.”
Gage chuckles. “For real. My first dead body, I couldn’t stop puking.”
“Your first one?” Ryder lifts his eyes to the rearview mirror to see Gage. “Try the first ten.”
“That’s bullshit!” Gage says, sitting up in the seat.
“No, it’s not,” Les laughs. “You gagged every time anyone mentioned dead bodies.”
I turn around in the seat. “You had to clean out the backseat of Luca’s car more than once.”
“Whatever,” Gage grumps, pouting, crossing his arms over his chest.
Les runs her hand down Leo’s face. “That’s better,” she says, noting his color coming back.
“I’ve never seen this before,” Leo says, embarrassed.
Ryder shrugs. “We all have our firsts, and it’s never easy.”
Leo frowns at the back of Ryder’s head, probably confused that he’s not tearing him down. It could be because Les is in the car, or Ryder is actually trying.
Leo handled that pretty well, considering it was his second time seeing someone’s brains being blown out, and the one that blew their brains out is the girl he loves.
Chapter 21
Alessa
There’s a reason I made Leo go with us today. I needed to know how he would react to who we really are. He was told, I’m sure, but nothing like seeing it firsthand hammers it home. It was a gamble. But if he wants to run, he needed to do it now before I got into it deeper with him. But the truth is, I’m already all the way in.
When we got back to the house, he disappeared, and I gave him space, letting him make up his mind. He could return to his brothers anytime since I told him he was free and gave him a room upstairs, but he chose to stay here.
“Quit worrying,” Gage says from my office door.
“You saw his face,” I say miserably. I shut my laptop because it’s not like I’m getting any work done, anyway. I gave all the information that I had to Holden so he can track down Moretto’s supplier, and Gerald’s working on figuring out who Lucas and Landon’s foster parents are, so now it’s a waiting game.
Gage sits in the chair in front of the desk. “It was his first one seeing you take someone out, Pretty girl. Leo is stronger than we give him credit for.”
I tilt my head to the side. “What’s going on with you two?” I askbecause I haven’t heard anything else about their almost kiss the other morning.
Gage shrugs. “Nothing.” I raise an eyebrow, and he sighs. “I don’t want to push him. He wants it; he just hasn’t accepted it yet.”
I smile. “Thank you for not pushing him.”
