“I’m sorry,” he says, shaking his head. “I panicked.”
I snort.
I know all about panicking.
I lower my voice, hissing, “I shot your brother, for God’s sake.”
His eyes get huge. “Wait, what?”
“Are you saying you haven’t heard about that?”
“I hadn’t,” he says earnestly. “Wait, which brother? Pat or Mal?”
“Patrick.”
“Huh. Well, it must not have been too bad, because he hasn’t even mentioned it, and he’s a notorious complainer. But don’t feel bad. I’m sure he deserved it for something.”
I scoff.
“Your instincts were clearly spot on the other night,” he says calmly. “But I assure you, you’re safe here.”
“You’re really related to the mob?”
Cormac’s face twists into a frown. “My family does have ties to organized crime, but my brothers and I have cleaned up our act significantly since taking over for our fathers. Mafia families operate much differently than they did fifty years ago. We’re not bad people. You don’t have anything to fear from us.” He takes a step forward, pulling me in for an awkward hug. “I’m so relieved that you’re both safe.”
Jesus.
His earthy, rainy scent hits my nose, and I give in to the urge to melt into his chest. Maybe that makes me weak, but my designation doesn’t do well with stress. I’m overwhelmed, and he’s as close to a friendly face as I’m going to get right now.
I have literally no one.
Even my mom isn’t an option. Not that I know for sure she would turn me away, but I don’t want to lead my trouble to her door.
The people from Hope House sent her a postcard for me when I first left the MC, but they had someone mail it from the West Coast so no one could trace the postmark back to me. It told her that I loved her, and I was okay. But the truth is, she might still be angry with me for getting tangled up with Blade in the first place. There’s honestly no telling how she would react, and it’s not worth the risk.
Hell, she could rat me out.
I really have no idea.
I haven’t had anyone I could count on in so long…
My mind spins as I try to recall the last time that I truly felt safe. It was probably when I was pregnant and staying with Steve and Miles.
Our relationship was that of a deep friendship, but they asked me to stay multiple times. They were excited about meeting Lucky, and they helped me through his birth and the entire postpartum period. Leaving them was the second hardestthing I’ve ever done. They held me together when I was close to giving up, and I’ll forever be grateful for that.
If I thought they could have grown to love me, I would have stayed, but I knew their hearts belonged to their omega who passed away. They also have kids a few years younger than me, and I didn’t want to cause a strain on their relationship with their children.
I haven’t talked to them in years, but I hope they found some older widowed omega. Someone who could accept not being the great love of their lives because she also lost her partner. I think they would be happy if they found a scenario similar to that, and they deserve good things.
Being with them was the last time I was truly able to relax, but it feels good being wrapped up in Cormac’s arms with his rainy scent flooding my nose.
That’s a fallacy, though, isn’t it?
I’ve seen what organized crime does to anyone in its orbit—they get chewed up and spat out. The MC brothers were loyal to a fault to each other, and everyone else was disposable.
Except Patrick, Malachy, and Cormac came to my rescue when I didn’t even know them.
Yeah, as a favor to Lacey and the guy she’s with.
