She laughed. Oh, how I loved her laugh. It was like wind chimes. “Funny. But okay, you hear me out, then.”
“Sure.”
“I want you to promise me that you’ll make roots somewhere once you’re all grown up.”
“Roots? Like family?”
She nodded. “A place that makes your heart feel warm, where you smile more than you frown. Give people a chance. Who knows, maybe you’ll fall in love.” She reached over and took my hand in hers. “I want so much for you to fall in love. Build a life for yourself. That’s everything you’ve always wanted.”
“But when I leave here, I’m gonna be with you. You’re my roots, Tenny.”
She squeezed my hand and let go. “I won’t be around forever, sweet boy. And I love that you want to be my family and you are, right here.” She patted her chest where her heart was. “But these roots, they have to be yours. If it happens to be in this town, that’s great. You know you have love here.”
“Why you telling me this?”
“Because I can. Now you promise me you’ll find happiness, love, and you’ll plant roots so deep nobody will be able to tear them up. Promise me, or I won’t make my peanut butter pie.”
My eyes widened. “You play dirty.”
“I sure do.”
I stared at her. I remembered how serious she was, that this promise meant something to her. I hadn’t realized at that moment that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. It would be her first time. She’d spend the next four years fighting an uphill battle that would eventually take her from me.
“Okay, Tenny, I promise.”
“That’s my boy. Now…peanut-butter pie.”
I hadn’t kept that promise to Tenny. I’d actively run, kept running. Roots weren’t something I’d wanted. I hadn’t wanted to feel the loss I had when she’d left me. And yet, I was starting to plant them with Gideon.Oh, Gideon…shit.Was I going to die and never fulfill my promise to her?
She’d hunt me down in heaven and re-kill me. I hoped I would survive.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Gideon
The door flew open,and a bullet whizzed by my head. I ducked, giving Danny the opportunity to shoot the big guy right between the eyes. Another man winged Alex’s arm but was immediately taken out by Toni.
My eyes darted around the room, and I noticed two things: Lorcan wasn’t here, and there was a man hanging from a hook, covered in blood. His face was hamburger, and he looked dead.
“Penn!” I stopped a few inches from his body. He had a knife sticking out of his stomach; he was a mess. “I need help here.”
“Fucking hell,” Danny muttered.
It took four of us to lower him, and as much as I hated laying him on the floor, I had no choice.
“We need to get him to the hospital.” Alex checked his pulse. “Gid, it’s super weak. He’s losing blood.”
“Where the fuck is Lorcan?” Toni was beating the shit out of someone, trying to find out where that piece of shit had gone, but my focus was on Penn.
“Get the car, Alex. The rest of us, carry Penn out. Don’t jostle him too much, and do not remove that knife.”
“What about the people on the boat? We got some live ones.”
I turned to Toni. “Get whatever info you can; then burn and sink it.”
“Even the staff and the ladies?”
I glared at him. “Everyone. They knew what was happening, so they can spend eternity in Hell thinking about it.”
