Liz untangled herself from me, reaching for my hand. She linked our fingers together, pulling me away from the activity. Each step drowned out the scene behind us until there was nothing left but darkness. “Take…me.”
“Take you where?”
“Alex.”
“Are you fucking kidding?”
We mirrored each other’s positions, standing shoulder-width apart with our hands on our hips. My wife had good intentions, and if I thought it would help, I’d drive her over to his office building myself. Going half-cocked was only going to get us killed.
Liz was the first to crack. She fell into my arms, and I held her tight against me. My T-shirt absorbed her angry screams.
“I know, pretty girl,” I whispered into her hair as I tightened my hold around her. “I know, but if I take you over there, what good will it do? You’ll give him more ammunition to use against us. You said it yourself. We need a plan.”
“I…want…him to hurt.” She rubbed her forehead against my sternum. “He…didn’t have to…do this. Grace’s.”
I scanned the lot. The firefighters had the fire under control, but the line of brothers never moved. They still stood in a semicircle, their arms crossed over their chests. Sabre still held Grace a few feet behind them, but when his eye caught mine, I waved them over.
“Liz wants to go over there.” I let it sound just as crazy as it was.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Sabre’s eyes bugged out. He let go of Grace and turned Liz to face him. “If you think I’m letting you show up at his office building with no protection, you’re delusional.”
“This is…Grace’s.” She wanted to say more, but the words wouldn’t come. Balling her hands into fists, she slammed them against the outside of her legs. “This is…personal.”
“I know.” Sabre scanned the surrounding area before he leaned in closer to Liz. “I won’t let him live that down.” She nodded, listening. “If I let you go now, there’s no doubt you’ll get hurt. I’m not willing to live with that on my conscience.” He smirked. “Besides, I’ll lose the one brother who doesn’t annoy me daily.”
It was high praise from my president, and I perked up, preening like a peacock. Grace laughed, and the sound only made me act further like a fool. If it gave her a few minutes of joy, I didn’t care if it was at my expense.
“It’s not worth it, Auntie.” Grace wiped a few remaining tears from her cheeks. “If we’re done here, let’s go back. I can’t bear to watch this anymore.”
“Text.” Liz held her hand out for my phone.
“I want to see it before you send it.” Sabre shot her a look.
I handed her my phone, watching as Liz typed out one line before showing it to Sabre. Laughing, he bent over. Liz smiled at me, holding the phone so that I could see what she’d written.
Don Fuckface
Wait for my call.
***
Elizabeth
Emily came rushing towards Grace and me as soon as we walked through the clubhouse doors. “Oh, thank God.” She gathered both of us against her. “Is it still there?”
“It’s gone. Burned,” Grace sniffled.
“I’m so sorry,” Emily said, pulling slightly away, but she didn’t let us go. “When you’re ready, we’ll help you rebuild. This time, it’ll be exactly the way you want it.”
“We will, but right now, I just want to lie in my bed. I’ll worry about all of this tomorrow.”
“Meredith should still be upstairs. She put the kids to sleep in JR’s room for the night.”
Grace said goodnight. Sabre traced her movements as she made her way towards the stairs. She pointed to the second floor, and he met her at the bottom. They held hands as they headed to their room together.
“It’s really gone?” Emily asked me in disbelief. I nodded. It was all I could do. I didn’t have the energy to hash everything out again. I could hear bits and fragments floating around the main room. Emily would get the rest of the story by the end of the night.
Zook appeared next to me. “Hey.”
