Both Roman and Kor are looking towards her house, as if they could see through drywall and wood panels into the home beside us.
“Maybe your golden boy is next, Ro.”
Chapter 22
Eve
The smell of freshly cooked breakfast has me sliding out of bed sooner than I’d like to. A quick look in the mirror before I go downstairs shows me that my eyes are still swollen from last night’s crying fest that let loose after Wyld met his ‘goal’ of making me scream louder than a fucking banshee.
He never explained his newfound need for personal achievements.
Walking into my dining room, I find Abel showing Wylder all of his new badges he earned while on his camping trip, the light in his eyes shining brightly as he explains each one of them.
Wyld pours way too much syrup on his waffles as he nods along, asking Abel all the right questions as my son launches into a story about his troop leader with a mouth full of bacon.
It’s all so…domestic.
I like it.
But it can’t last. It’s going to allcome crashing down as soon as the three men from next door decide to grace me with their presence.
As soon as Kortez wraps his arms around me, now covered in tattoos and scarred in ways they weren’t before I lost him…
As soon as Atlas shoots me a look full of filthy promises and blood-soaked rebellion…
As soon as Roman calls me his Little Moth, like I’m something to be treasured instead of stepped on…
The domestic scene in front of me will come to a halt.
Like it or not, I have my own blood-soaked rebellion I need to consider. I have my own scars I need to get vengeance for. I have my own revenge to treasure.
Will they hate me for what I’ve done? For what I still plan to do?
I must make a noise loud enough to announce my presence because both Wylder and Abel turn around mid-conversation to look at me standing in the doorway.
“Mom! Look at all these new badges!” Abel jumps up from his chair and runs over to me, opening his hand to show me a mirage of badges in all different shapes and colors.
“That’s amazing, Bel! You’re going to have to tell me what all of those are for.”
He smiles a crooked little smile and takes my hand, pulling me over to the seat next to him at the table. “So, the big one is for completing a scout camping trip. Doing that was alotharder than I thought. Did you know that there are almost three hundred different types of squirrels?”
I suck in a dramatic breath and turn to him as I reach for a fork, “No way!”
He nods enthusiastically before continuing. “Yesway! Not all of them are in America, though. Trooper Alex said that there’s squirrels on almost every continent.”
“Trooper Alex knows a lot about squirrels, huh?” I shoot Wylder a look to see him already smiling at me, his fork forgotten on his plate as he watches me and Abel.
My son nods again, spitting out more squirrel facts as I dive into my breakfast. I reach over and give Wyld an appreciative squeeze of his hand while Abel continues on with his squirrel conversation, his new badges laid out on the table beside him.
After a few minutes, Wyld stands and begins to clear the plates from the table. “Hey, Bel, why don’t you help me with these real quick and then you can go practice that knot tying you learned? You want to get real fast so you can win that competition.”
Abel looks around the table with a scrunched-up nose, “Do Ihaveto do the dishes?”
I roll my eyes and shove my last bite of waffle into my mouth, “Go on, I’ll help Wylder.”
He gives me a quick hug before running over to where his bags lay by the door and rummaging through them until he finds a few pieces of rope. “Thanks, mom!”
Wylder chuckles, shaking his head as he carries the dishes into the kitchen. “Kid is enthusiastic, that’s for sure.”
