“It is,” Ghost said without looking away from Keys. “I need you to come to Mount Grove.”
A pause. “Why? What happened? Where’s Scissors and Sissy? Is it Ranger? Becks? Is?—”
“Everyone is fine,” Ghost interrupted. He did not lead with dramatics. Instead, he blatantly stated, “We have Rose, Poison.”
The silence on the other end of the line lasted exactly four seconds.
When Poison spoke again, her voice was different, like she’d just swallowed something without chewing it fully. “You found her? Where is she? Is she okay?”
“Yes,” Ghost declared. “She’s perfectly healthy, but you need to know, she’s been here for weeks. I only found out myself last night. She and Keys are involved. He’s claimed her, Poison. And there’s more. She’s not alone. She’s got a son, a four-year-old named Oscar.”
Another silence. Longer. Keys felt like the walls of the room were closing in, and he tugged on the collar of his shirt in an effort to breathe.
“I’m on my way,” Poison declared. “And Keys, I fucking know you’re listening. Say your prayers, kid. You’re going to fucking need them.” The line went dead.
Ghost picked up his phone and pocketed it. He looked around the table one final time. “Unless anyone has anything else to say, I think we’re done here.”
CHAPTER 15
Eight hours was a fucking long time to wait for something Rose had been dreading for years. The moment Keys told her Ghost had called Poison, the countdown had started. She knew where theNon Craswas, and knew exactly how long it would take Poison to arrive.
By mid-afternoon, the light through the clubhouse windows had darkened like the universe sensed the approaching storm. Oscar graduated from the play area to Keys’ lap, where he was conducting an elaborate diplomatic summit between Baxter and a new stegosaurus that seemed to involve a territory dispute. Keys, ever patient, was trying to help Oscar form an uneasy peace treaty between the warring dinosaurs.
Rose watched them with devastating love and aching trepidation. She kept getting up to pace before sitting back down for a solid five seconds before getting up to pace again. The VDMC continued to hang around, venturing in and out of the clubhouse at leisure, though she did notice that none of the club kids were brought around.
Feeling like she had an uncontrollable itch that she could not shake, Rose didn’t know if it was better or worse that she knewPoison was coming. She’d have felt blindsided if Keys had not told her, but holy hell, the wait was torture. Keys kept offering for them to go do something, even to take Oscar to the park, but she declined it all. Nothing was going to settle her nerves at this point.
At half past four, the sound of motorcycles filled the parking lot.
Rose froze mid-stride. Around the room, conversations ceased. Scissors straightened from her position at the bar where she was talking to Jigsaw, Scooby, and Poker. For a single second, Rose thought about running. Out the back door, and justaway. But Keys was right, she’d been running too long. Maybe loving Keys wasn’t the catalyst that brought her into the light. Maybe confronting her past, her sister, was what would draw her from the shadows.
Rising from the couch, Keys handed her Oscar before wrapping his arms around both of them. Rose leaned into the comfort of his touch as the glass double doors burst open.
It honestly was a wonder they did not break.
Poison stormed through them like she was waging war against the building itself. Dyed red hair, leather cut, blue eyes doing a rapid sweep of the room until they landed on Keys. Maybe it was the way her breath caught in the afternoon sunlight, but Rose could have sworn her big sister just breathed smoke out of her nose.
The moment Poison took a step in Keys’ direction, he moved to position himself between Rose and Poison. Fear gripped Rose as she realized her sister’s intention, as well as Keys’ instinct. Clutching Oscar tighter in her arms, Rose stepped out from behind Keys’ lean frame.
“Poison, stop!”
Their eyes met.
For exactly one moment, Poison went completely still. And Rose saw it then, underneath the fury, underneath the weeks ofgrief and searching, and the particular damage of being lied to by everyone she trusted, she saw her sister. The sister who’d been more cop than family, an authoritarian figure Rose had felt shunned by for nineteen years.
Through the hurt and the pain, Rose saw something deeper, something she hadn’t expected—guilt.
Then Poison’s eyes landed on Keys again, and the moment was over.
* * *
Poison’s fistwas already raised when Keys shouted, “Wait!” in such volume that it actually halted her. Knowing he didn’t have much time, he quickly took his glasses off and handed them to Rose before taking a giant step to his left. “Okay, continue.”
Keys had known this was coming since the moment Ghost made the call to Poison in Church. He’d spent the intervening hours thinking about little else while eating lunch with Rose and Oscar, then holding Oscar through the dino diplomatic summit, and the seemingly never-ending afternoon of his brothers looking at him like he was a dead man walking. If he’d been alone, Keys had no doubt they would have practiced their eulogies they meant to say at his funeral in front of him. Thankfully, they had enough tact not to in front of Rose and Oscar.
Rose was such a nervous wreck that it honestly helped calm him because hehadto be calm for her. No doubt she was thinking of running, and if he even hinted that he was right behind her, she’d be out the door without delay.
Ghost was right, though. He’d started this fight, and it was his responsibility to see it through—even if that meant facing averypissed off Poison.
