“Did you kill him?” Frank asked.
I nodded sharply. “Yes, sir.”
He stood from the couch and took purposeful steps in my direction. When he reached me, he pulled me in for a hug and lightly slapped my back several times. “Thank you for saving my girl,” he said, and I could hear the emotion in his voice.
“I’d do anything for her, sir,” I told him honestly.
“Just so you know, when you want permission, you’ve got it,” Frank said quietly and stepped back.
I couldn’t hold back my grin. “Thank you, sir.”
“So, what happens now?” Claire asked.
“I actually need to go the clubhouse and talk to Copper and the club’s lawyer. I haven’t been charged with a crime and shouldn’t be, but he wants her to know what’s going on in case any problems arise,” I explained.
“Because he was a police officer,” Frank said knowingly.
I nodded. “And because of my history with Ian,” I said quietly.
“But that doesn’t—”
“I know,” I interrupted and jerked my chin toward the stairs where Riley and Braxton were doing a poor job of trying to hide while eavesdropping.
“Riley,” Claire scolded. “What did Nana tell you about being a busybody?”
“You said no one likes a Nosy Nelly,” Riley pouted.
“And what else?”
“And that getting Braxton to listen for me is still being a Nosy Nelly.”
“Well, at least you do listen when you’re supposed to,” Claire huffed. “Go to your room until we call you to come downstairs. You, too, Braxton.”
I covered my mouth to try and stifle my laugh. Riley was a clever child, and she was going to be a handful when she got older.
“Thanks, Mom,” Avery said and wiped the tears from her face.
“Oh, honey. Are you okay? And I don’t mean your face. I mean in here,” Claire said and tapped Avery’s chest.
“I don’t know,” she sniffed. “I couldn’t believe all the things he was saying to me. He told Ian I was having an affair with another officer. He said that’s the reason Ian left me. He wanted to split us up so he could be with me. Then, he said such awful things about Kellan and the kids. He tried to kill my children, Mom! They loved him. They even called him Uncle Mark, and he tried to kill them! How could he do that?”
Claire shook her head. “Something must’ve been wrong with him. Something he was able to keep hidden from everyone. But you can’t dwell on that. The fact is you may never know why he did the things he did, and you can’t go back and undo them. But you can take comfort in the knowledge that he’s gone and can’t hurt your family anymore.”
“He can if Kellan gets in trouble for shooting him,” Avery countered.
“That’s not going to happen,” I reassured her. “But I do need to get to the clubhouse to make absolutely certain it doesn’t. When I’m finished, I’ll come back to pick you up and we can go see Sienna.”
* * *
When I walkedinto the clubhouse, Layla was in the common room. She looked up and pointed to Church. I lifted my chin in thanks. I pushed through the door and said, “Happy Fucking New Year,” to Copper and Bronze before I dropped into an empty chair.
“You okay, brother?” Copper asked.
I shrugged. “Yeah. Not my first kill, probably won’t be my last.” When Copper blinked at me several times with a blank expression on his face, it occurred to me that I should’ve chosen my words more carefully. “I wasn’t talking about Ian. I killed the guy who attacked Keegan.”
Copper nodded. “I know. I was just seeing what else you would say if I made you uncomfortable.”
“Really, Prez?” I asked, somewhat pissed off by his tactics.
