We were at the clubhouse.Theo was with Legs, letting her spoil him while he got snuggles from Hero, and I was in the sacred room used for church. The girls wanted to wrangle their way in, but they were shot down, much to Nevaeh’s annoyance. Though she threatened to withhold sex from him for a week for being mean, Havoc’s smirk was one filled with the knowledge that she wouldn’t last a day.
I didn’t get involved. I knew they’d dig the truth out of me, eventually. I hoped to keep it a secret because the fewer people who knew the truth, the better, but I figured it would be impossible with this lot.
I stare around the room as it fills up. We don’t have a full house, which I think might be Havoc’s doing. Toot and Mac are here, along with Circus, Capone, Kruger, G, Midas, and Havoc. If this had been brought to church, it would have been a full house. As it stands, Havoc has yet to decide if it is a Ravens’ matter.
I bite my lip as everyone takes their seats, refusing the water Kruger offers me.
“You need a pain pill.”
“Not until I’m done here. It makes me fuzzy.”
He sighs but gives in, moving in close so that our legs are pressed together.
“It feels like I’ve been called into the principal’s office,” I murmur.
“You have. Though if anyone is doing the spanking, it will be me.”
“Alright, I called you guys here because you’re either closest with Delphi or you might have found yourself dragged in for other reasons.” Havoc glares at me, though it doesn’t have any anger in it, more morbid curiosity. “Kruger told us what you told the police.”
I nod.
“He thinks there’s more to it.”
“Because he’s a smart man. I promised I’d tell him, though I didn’t realize it would become a clubhouse show-and-tell.”
“We’re trying to protect you,” Toot points out.
“And I’m trying to protect you right back. Look, before I start, can I ask if my shop is okay? Did anyone find a bomb?”
Havoc leans back and shakes his head. “I had Powers and his dog go over it all. Nothing.”
I let out a relieved sigh. “I hoped it was a hoax. I just wanted to be sure.”
“Well, now you know. Tell us what really happened, Delphi.”
I run my finger over a scratch in the wood of the table. “To explain, I have to go back to the beginning.”
“The morning of the shooting?” Mac frowns.
“The day I first met Theo in the apartment above The Book Nook. The day he pulled a gun on me.”
Silence wraps around the room before Kruger explodes out of his chair. “He did what?” he bellows.
I yank his arm. “Calm down, or I’ll just stop talking now.”
He growls but eventually sits back in his seat beside mine.
“He was terrified, beaten to shit, and had no reason to trust me, but I talked him down.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want it to be the only thing you saw when it came to him. He was so much more than a boy with a gun.”
Kruger grips his hair but says nothing. He knows I’m right. He only took a chance on Theo in the first place because of me. If he thought for a second Theo was a danger to me, he’d have killed him himself. Boy or not.
“Carry on,” Havoc prompts.
I look from Kruger to him. “Greer told me the day I opened The Book Nook that Diane had signed herself into rehab and that a judge would likely rule in her favor if she completed it. She said it wasn’t written in stone, but she wanted to warn me just in case.”
