“So, we’re back where we started,” Grease said, tapping on the table.
“Maybe it was just some drunk college kids—” I tried to say.
“No coincidences in this world,” Poet cut me off, his face grave. “This is all connected.”
I nodded in agreement, wishing I hadn’t said anything.
“Has anyone talked to Woody?” I asked, trying to redeem myself a little bit.
“He called his mum,” Poet answered with a sigh. “Wouldn’t say where he’s stayin,’ though. Still not answerin’ my calls.”
“Shit. I’ll try again, too.”
“We callin’ everyone in?” Dragon interrupted, looking around the table.
“Over a fuckin’ wreck? No,” Slider said.
“Jesus,” Casper murmured, running a hand down his face.
“You got something to say?” Slider asked darkly, staring at my dad.
“Nope. Nothing to say,” he replied flatly.
Slider used the table to push to his feet and walked out without another word, leaving the now completely silent room.
“Fuckin’ bullshit,” Grease mumbled as he got up and left.
The rest of us followed, stuck in our thoughts.
I hated knowing Trix was at school unprotected for the next few hours. It felt wrong, but we had to keep living our lives. There were still classes to attend and cars to fix, even though whoever had been fucking with our informants seemed to be stepping up their game.
I walked out the front door and over to the bay I was working in that day, seeing Will inside. He’d been back a few days after our scuffle in the forecourt, but I hadn’t brought that shit up and he hadn’t, either. His dad could straighten him out—wasn’t my business. It couldn’t be my business—I had bigger shit to deal with. I didn’t have time for whatever was going on with him.
I had a woman who spent her days right out in the open and there wasn’t shit I could do about it without something concrete to give to her.
Meanwhile, someone had essentially declared war, and we were the stupid fucks who had no idea who was targeting us.
* * *
“Cam!” a little voice squealed as I rolled out from underneath the Honda I was working on a couple hours later.
“Hey, baby girl,” I replied to my eleven-year-old sister, Lily, as she came to an abrupt stop less than a foot from my legs. “Why aren’t you in school?”
“Teacher in-service day.”
“Lucky.”
“I know. I’m ready for summer,” she said, looking around the garage. “Hi, Will!”
“Hey, sweetheart,” he called back quietly, messing with something in his toolbox.
“Where’s Ma?” I asked, getting to my feet as I tried to wipe the grease off my hands. If I didn’t love working on shit so much, I’d hate my job. I was too big to comfortably slide under cars, my fingernails were constantly black, and in the summer, the garage got hot as fuck because the doors stayed open and there was no air conditioning.
“She’s in talking to Dad and CeeCee. She’s dropping us off with you so she can go do some stuff with Great Gram.”
“Gram’s here?”
“Yeah, she’s in the car.”
Lily raced out in front of me as I walked toward the large door. “Wait, you’re comin’ home with me? I’m on the bike.”
“CeeCee drove!”
Shit. I checked my phone again as I made my way to Farrah’s car, where I could see Gram’s head through the front windshield. Trix still hadn’t called, but it was only a little after eleven. I’d been hoping to get her home and fucked before we had company, but it looked like that wasn’t happening.
“Hey, gorgeous,” I called through the open passenger window, making Gram turn toward me and smile.
“Cameron,” she called cheerfully. “You’ve been too busy for your old Gram.”
“Never,” I promised, helping her open the door so she could get out and hug me. “I just saw you at dinner.”
“That was two weeks ago,” she scoffed, pinching my side.
“Looks like I’ve got the girls tonight, but I’ll see what Trix and I are doin’ tomorrow. Maybe come and take you to breakfast.”
She made a noise of disgust in her throat. “I’ll make you breakfast. What do you want?”
“I want you to not make breakfast so you can relax.”
She didn’t say anything, but gave me a look over her glasses.
“Fine, I’ll come for breakfast,” I said in defeat.
“Good boy.”
“Help! There’s a giant trying to abscond with my grandmother,” Farrah called out behind me as I set Gram back in her seat. “Oh, wait. I think I know him.”
“Ha, ha,” I replied, grabbing her as soon as she came close enough so I could spin her around in a circle. “Hey, Ma.”
“Feels like we haven’t seen you forever,” she said, giving me a squeeze before pushing away so I’d drop her to the ground.
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she cut me off with a shake of her head.
“I get it, kiddo. How are things with Trix?”
“Good.” I felt a goofy smile take over my face. I could keep any and all expression off my face when I wanted and I kept my emotions to myself around the brothers, but I’d never been able to hide from Farrah.
“Rad,” she said softly, reaching up to rub my bicep for a moment. “Seems like just yesterday, I was wiping your ass…”
I choked on my own spit. “You never wiped my ass.”
“Oh, right. That was Cecilia. Should’ve remembered—different parts and all.”
“Speaking of…”
“Yeah, can you take them? Gram and I want to hit some garage sales this afternoon. She wants a recliner for her room.”
I glanced back at Gram, who was searching quietly for something in her purse. She was getting so fucking old. So slow. I hated it.
“Yeah, but why can’t CeeCee and Lily come over later?”
“Your sister is being a pain in the ass and I can’t trust her to do what she says she’s gonna do. So, no staying home alone at the moment.”
“Christ.”
“Pretty much.”
“Whoop her ass.”
“She’s seventeen. Too old to spank, too young to punch in the throat,” Mom said ruefully as CeeCee and Casper came walking out of the clubhouse, Lily trailing behind them.
Then my eyes registered the look on Casper’s face and the tiny shorts Cecilia had on.
“What the fuck is she wearin’?” I hissed, my eyes shooting to Farrah’s.
“Have fun!” she sang, laughing as she dodged my hand and ran around the hood of her car.
“You wait for me to come kiss ya, Ladybug!” Casper yelled before Farrah could climb into the car.
“I’m not waiting all day!” she yelled back as Casper stopped to hug the girls goodbye.
“You’ll wait.” He pointed at her, but kept his eyes on Lily as she hugged his waist.
How I’d ended up in that family, I had no idea. I was just thankful for it.
“I’m gonna head out,” I called to Casper as he made his way over to Farrah. “CeeCee and Lily! Let’s go.”
* * *
A few hours later, I was sitting on the couch enjoying a beer before the apartment was overrun. The girls were in Trix’s bedroom doing makeup or face masks or some other mysterious girl shit, and for a few minutes, I had a little quiet time to myself.
I deserved it after the hour I’d spent following them around the grocery store. How a quick trip for groceries turned into twenty-minutes on the makeup aisle, I would never understand. None of them needed the shit, anyway.
“Hey, baby,” Trix said quietly, waddling over to me and dropping into my lap.
“Nice toes.”
“Thanks.” She held up her feet and wiggled her green and yellow painted toes. “Lily thought the green and yellow would give me some good luck for my finals next week.”
“You excited to be done?” I
asked, rubbing my palm up and down her smooth legs. She’d changed and was wearing a pair of cut off sweatpants that she must have stolen from Leo, because they were tight as hell around her ass and loose at the waist. Easy access—not that I’d be getting any.
“Yeah.” She sighed and dropped her feet, leaning her head against my chest. “Worried too, though. I need to find a job.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“I can take care of you.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew they were the wrong thing to say, even if I’d meant them. I didn’t want her to worry about finding a job—I had plenty of money I’d socked away for a rainy day—but Trix’s body stiffened in offense.
“I can take care of myself,” she snapped.
As she tried to push off my chest, I gripped her tighter.
“You don’t have to—” My words were cut off by a knock at the front door.
I shifted her to the couch next to me and went to answer the door, checking the peephole and barely catching myself before cursing.
“You’re early,” I said flatly as Leo pushed past me into the apartment.
“Tommy, Mick and Rose are right behind me,” he mumbled, carrying a paper grocery bag into the kitchen.
I didn’t even get the door closed before I saw Grease and Callie’s youngest, Rose, running down the breezeway.
“Is Lily here?” she asked excitedly.
“Yup. Doin’ her nails, I think,” I answered with a smile. I couldn’t help it. Rose was born only six months after Lily, but she seemed so much younger—probably because she didn’t have an older sister like Cecilia corrupting her.
Her little arms wrapped around my waist, squeezing tightly for only a second before she was tearing off through the entryway.
“Boys,” I greeted as Tommy and Mick followed slowly behind their sister.
Tommy was only a couple months younger than CeeCee, which made Mick, eh, fourteen? Yeah, I think there was three years between them—not that you’d notice by looking at them. Tommy was leaner, built like Casper, but Mick was built like Grease, so even with the age difference, he was bigger than his older brother.
“Your brother comin’?” I asked as they met me at the door.
“Nah, Will’s at the club.”
“Figured,” I replied with a nod. All the kids were here, but at twenty and with a prison record, Will was an adult. Leo was only two years younger, but he hadn’t graduated high school yet. He was still stuck in that in-between stage where he acted like hot shit around the younger kids, but still wanted to have a movie night at his big sister’s house.
Where Leo still watched the club members with a sense of awe, Will was trying his damnedest to fit in with them.
“Well, come on in,” I said, taking a step out of the doorway so they could push past me.
“Hey, Trix,” Mick called out shyly.
Oh, hell. With two words, I knew the kid had one hell of a crush on my girl.
I closed and locked the front door with a grimace. It was going to be a long fucking night.
Chapter 8
Trix
“The new Transformers,” I called with a flourish as six teenagers and pre-teens fought for the best spots to sit in my tiny living room. “Has anyone seen it yet?”
“I saw it in the theater,” Leo said nonchalantly as he sat down on the couch.
“Yeah, with Beth Miller,” Thomas said, chuckling. “Bet you didn’t see much of it.”
My eyes widened as Cecilia, who was getting ready to drop down beside Leo, abruptly moved to the floor next to her sister.
“Shut the fuck up, Tommy,” Leo hissed as Tommy dropped down in the spot Cecilia gave up. He glanced quickly over at CeeCee, whose jaw was tight as she acted like she wasn’t listening to their conversation.
“Jesus,” Cam mumbled, meeting my eyes.
“So, no one then,” I said uncomfortably. Shit, I did not want to know anything about my baby brother and his conquests.
It was times like those, when I knew that Leo was doing shit with girls, or getting drunk, or making decisions about the club, that I wished my twin brother had lived. We’d been born early, and though I’d survived with no problems as I’d grown, Draco hadn’t been strong enough. Even though I didn’t remember him, obviously, sometimes I got this weird ache in my chest, like a part of me was missing. I thought that was probably the universe’s way of reminding me that at one point, I’d been half of a whole. And the other half? Well, he’d protected me, even in the womb, because when we were born, I was significantly larger than he was.
Draco would know how to talk to Leo. He’d know the right things to say and Leo would listen to him, because Draco was a brother and I was a sister and those two roles were very different.
“Bea?” Cam called softly, catching my attention. “You okay?”
I plastered a smile on my face and nodded, turning to put the disc into my Xbox. As soon as it was all set up, I stepped over the two little giggling girls and swept my hand down the back of Cecilia’s head as I passed her before coming to an abrupt stop.
There wasn’t anywhere for me to sit. The little assholes had taken up every available seat and every inch of the floor in my living room.
Cam chuckled at my disgruntled expression. “Come here, Bea.”
He pulled me into his lap sideways and reached out to shove at Tommy’s shoulder until the poor kid was practically sitting in Leo’s lap.
“Hey!” Tommy grunted.
“Scoot over or sit on the floor,” Cam replied gruffly, shutting him up.
“Be nice,” I whispered, leaning into Cam as the movie previews lit up my TV.
“That was nice. If I wasn’t bein’ nice, I woulda kicked ’em all out hours ago,” he whispered against my neck, making me chuckle. “You’re good with them.”
“They’re easy. Give the boys soda and the girls nail polish. Boom. Everybody’s happy.”
“More than that, Sweetbea,” he argued dropping his arm from the back of the couch to rest his hand on my belly. “You’re gonna be a good mom.”
My heart thudded in my chest.
“Why do you call me that?” I asked quietly, changing the subject.
“What? Sweetbea?”
“Yeah, or Bea.”
Cam was silent for a long time, long enough for the movie to start and for Rose and Lily to pass out awkwardly, like little drunken sailors.
“My brother couldn’t say your name right,” he suddenly stated, not looking at me. “Called ya Bayatrix. Wouldn’t shorten it, either. Guess it came from that—called ya Bay, then at some point it turned into Bea.”
“Oh,” I breathed, staring at his emotionless face. “I didn’t remember that.”
“Didn’t think you would, baby,” he said, giving me a small smile before kissing my forehead. “Watch the movie, yeah?”
“Kiss me first,” I whispered.
His smile grew. “That’s my line,” he whispered back, right before his lips met mine in a soft kiss.
I woke up a couple hours later as Cam laid me gently down on the couch. The TV was turned off and the apartment was silent as I watched Cam gently pick sleeping Cecilia up like a baby, carrying her into the spare room. Leo and Mick followed him silently, carrying Lily and Rose. Unsurprisingly, Tommy was asleep on the floor. He was almost always the first of the older kids to pass out.
I waited for Cam to come get me, and I kissed his neck softly as he carried me into our room, refusing to acknowledge his need to take care of me or my desire to let him.
* * *
“Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!” Leo yelled through my bedroom door the next morning, making me groan.
“Go away,” I called back, glancing at my alarm clock. Seven a.m.
“We’re hungry!” Leo called back, knocking a rhythm on my closed door.
“You don’t stop knocking, you’re gonna be eating through a fuckin’ straw,” Cam growled, rolling over to wrap an arm a
round my waist.
The knocking stopped abruptly and I relaxed back into the bed. I really didn’t want to get up so early on a Saturday, but after a few minutes of listening to voices in my living room, I groggily sat up in bed.
“Where you goin’?” Cam asked quietly, his arm slipping down my waist to grasp my hips.
“Better get up before they tear up my house,” I answered, turning to lean down and give him a kiss. “Good morning.”
“Stay,” he ordered, tightening his arm.
“Go back to sleep,” I murmured back, kissing him again. “I’ll make breakfast and wake you up when it’s ready.”
“Make ’em eat cereal,” he argued.
I smiled at his grumpy expression and shook my head. Usually, I was the one who refused to get up, and it was a little funny being on the other side of the fence.
“I always make a big breakfast,” I explained, peeling his fingers off my hip so I could climb out of bed. I stumbled a little as my feet touched the floor. God, I hated mornings. “Eggs, bacon, hash browns—the whole enchilada.”
“Shit, Grams wanted to make us breakfast. I gotta call her.”
I reached down and pulled his phone from his jeans and tossed it onto the bed as he pushed his face into the pillow, groaning.
* * *
“I like mine fried,” Tommy said.
“Scrambled,” Rose and Lily said at the same time.
“Over-easy,” Leo mumbled, bent over his coffee cup. My baby brother hated mornings as much as I did—I guess it was a family thing.
“She’s not your fuckin’ waitress,” Cam snapped as he finally made his way into the kitchen. I’d already finished making the hash browns and sausage and was trying to figure out how to cook the eggs before everything else got cold. “Scramble ’em, Bea.”
“Movie night was way better before you started comin’,” Tommy mumbled, earning him a smack on the back of the head from Mick.
“Yeah, cause you got to walk all over her,” Cam shot back.
“They’re fine,” I cut in, laughing. “Scrambled for the littles, fried for Tommy and Mick, Over-easy for Leo and none for Cecilia. I got it.”
“Why aren’t you eating?” Cam asked Cecilia as she came up beside me to help with the rest of the food.