Ruthless

Chapter 42

Family and friends are everything

June 22

Saturday afternoon

The powerin my swing sent that ball straight out of Foley to win the game. Grand slam, baby. My family, Donovan, Kristin, and some of my cousins cheered as I made the round, and my mother and two of my brothers touched home plate.

My other cousins were on the losing side, but they only shouted with good-natured jeering.

Donovan slapped me on the butt as soon I stepped onto home plate. “Good job, Steele.”

I laughed. “Despite the fact you’re on the losing team? Just like the Skanks,” I added with a wink. “Oops, I meant the Yanks.”

He gave me a harder pat on the butt.

Warmth centered in my chest as I looked at my family. Including Mama and Daddy we made a team of nine—with the exception of my brother, who’d had to ship out again not long after that dinner with the whole family together.

My parents, who were in their early sixties, were wicked good at softball. Mama could catch a pop-up fly and hit a line drive with the best of them. Daddy was home run king.

Donovan and I walked to where Kristin was sitting with her back to a tree. She looked melancholy, but happy to be with us.

I looked at Kristin. “It’s been about seven weeks now.” It seemed like the days had gone by fast since the end of her ordeal, but I imagined they hadn’t passed quickly enough for her.

“She’s a long way from being healed,” Donovan said with a sigh. “But she’s tough.”

I’d warned my brothers off from flirting with her. She was skittish around men and probably would be for a very long time. So they treated her like one of our many cousins, aunts, and uncles who were at the park for our annual beginning-of-summer baseball game.

Yesterday had been the first day of summer and, with the heat and humidity, I could really feel it.

Sunshine warmed my skin, and I ran my fingers over my diamond belly button piercing and dragon tat. I’d taken to wearing crop tops when I wasn’t on duty so that my tattoo showed.

It felt good to look at it. Only fond memories came when I did—somehow that dragon tat, that gesture from a friend, washed away every bit of what had been done to me.

Mama handed out corned beef and cheese sandwiches while my aunts gave out whatever they’d brought. Donovan’s thigh brushed mine as he sat between me and Kristin. Since he’d found her, he didn’t seem to let her too far out of sight.

“So, you’re staying for a while?” I asked, before biting into my sandwich. Yum.

He finished chewing his bite and glanced at his sister before looking back at me. “I’m taking Oxford up on her offer and staying with RED.”

Okay, so I felt absurdly pleased.

“Are you going to live with Kristin?”

“Just a little while longer, until she’s better, and not scared to be alone.” He crossed his legs at his ankles. “There’s a brownstone not too far from her place that I’m looking into buying. I’d like to move her in and let her have one of the floors so that we’ll be close, but she’ll still have her own place.”

“A whole brownstone?” I widened my eyes. “Not just an apartment in one?”

He shrugged.

“Damn, you have to have a little money tucked away somewhere,” I said. “Any of the Big Men hanging around Boston?”

“Doubt it.” Donovan took a swig from a bottle of lemonade. “Those guys have been freelancing forever. Not sure any one of them would like any kind of tether.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Do you think you’ll feel tethered?”

He took another bite of his sandwich and seemed to consider my words for a moment as he chewed. He swallowed. “Not the way RED operates. Oxford doesn’t manage with a leash.”

“True.” Thoughts of what I’d done three months ago came to mind and I gave a rueful smile. “Unless you beat the crap out of your ex-boyfriend’s truck.”

Donovan snorted then laughed. “That won’t be a problem for me.”

At the realization of what he meant I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

“Still paying the car company Gary owes for the damage to their merchandise?” Donovan asked.

I jerked my thumb toward one of my cousins. “Lucky for me Dean owns a body shop and did the repairs for cheap. Nothing like having a big, loving family. The car company resold that piece of crap, and I’m down to owing them just a few hundred more.”

He nodded and looked at his sister, who was talking with one of my female cousins. He turned back to me. “Even though Kristin’s the only family I have, I wouldn’t change a thing.” His expression darkened. “Except the last few months. If I could take them back—I’d do anything.”

I sighed. “It doesn’t make up for a damned thing that Kristin went through, but at least Cabot’s personal slave auctions are history.”

“There are more scumbags out there for us to find and take down.” Donovan wiped his hands on a paper napkin before reaching for another plastic-wrapped sandwich. “Your mother makes a mean corned beef.”

‘“You should try her shepherd’s pie.” I glanced at my mother. “Nummy.”

“We have the next operation kicking into gear,” Donovan said, drawing my attention back to him. “The man behind everything needs to be stopped. Anders Hagstedt.”

I nodded and stared into the distance. Someone even worse than Cabot, hard to believe.

Donovan tugged strands of my hair. “Are you up for keeping me around, Steele?”

“Ha.” I smiled and rubbed my Chinese dragon tattoo. “We’ll just see if you’re up to it.”

“Oh, I am.” His mouth had that quirky little smile. “I’ve already requisitioned fireproof gear to work with my fire-breathing dragon of a partner.”