Chapter 21
Hardin paced the backyard, wearing a strip of brown into the overgrown green and yellow grass while Kaleb and I sat on the top step of the stoop outside the back door.
“He isn’t going to show,” Hardin grumbled. “This is a fucking mistake. We?—”
“He’ll be here,” Kaleb piped up, cutting Hardin off. “He told Vixen he would come.”
Hardinmuttered something to himself under his breath that I didn’t quite catch, but had Kaleb rolling his eyes.
Ichecked the messages between Aodhán and I again, sensing more than seeing Kaleb reading them over my shoulder. It wasn’t like I was hiding them. I wasn’t ever hiding them. There was nothing to hide. Not anymore.
Becca
I need to talk to you.
Aodhán
I heard Kaleb lives. You’re welcome.
Becca
Can you meet me?
Aodhán
Name the place.
Becca
Hardin and Kaleb’s place.
They’ll be here, too.
Aodhán
You told them about me?
Becca
I did.
We just want to talk.
Becca
Aodhán?
It’s important.
Becca
Your father came to my apartment yesterday.
He’dtried to call me after the last message, but I didn’t answer. I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the phone. I wasn’t ready to hear his voice yet. AndI didn’t want to do this over the phone. Andnot with Hardin and Kaleb hovering no more than three feet away while we had the text conversation.
Aodhán
Did he hurt you?
Becca
Hardin and Kaleb’s place, midnight tomorrow. See for yourself.
Aodhán
I’ll be there.
Ididn’t make him any promises.
Ididn’t tell him Hardin and Kaleb wouldn’t attempt to hurt him or take him captive.
Forall I knew, Aodhán might take one step into the yard and Hardin would shoot him dead before a single word left his mouth. The way he looked right now, I wouldn’t put it past him.
ButKaleb was right. He would come. I couldn’t say exactly how I knew, just that I did.
“How much longer?”
Thetime on my screen read 11:55pm. I clenched my teeth.
“Five minutes,” Kaleb answered for me, but as he spoke, the vines covering the wood fence lining the property shivered. The wood creaked as pale hands clamped over the top and a dark shape climbed over to drop with a muted thud on the grass.
Aodhánunfurled to his full height slowly as Kaleb jumped to his feet and drew his weapon. Hardin and Kaleb held their aim on a seemingly unarmed Aodhán.
“Uh.” He raised his hands, his white teeth and brilliant green eyes catching the moonlight as he took in the brothers. “Good to see you both again. Kaleb, you’re looking better than the last time I saw you. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“You fucking shot me.”
“I did. ThoughI think it’s worth pointing out that you are not, in fact, dead, so there’s that. Where is Rebecca?”
Ashe asked the question, I rose to my feet and his calculating eyes slid to where I was half concealed in the shadows under the back stoop of the house.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d show,” I admitted, stepping down into the dim glow from the solar lights in the yard. I staggered down the last step and caught myself on the railing, using it to support my weight. It’d been a few days since the hospital, but it still hurt to put my full weight on the injured leg.
Icould walk all right, but I didn’t think I would be running any time soon.
Aodhánlips parted in mute horror as he took me in.
“Wow. That bad?”
Hemoved to step toward me, but Kaleb and Hardin blocked his path, the latter with his teeth bared and a don’t fucking test me look in his eyes.
Amuscle in Aodhán’s jaw flexed as he lifted his gaze back to mine through the gap between my guys. “My father did this to you?”
Hefixated on the cut on my cheek. The butterfly closures were gone now, but it was still an angry red line, healing slow. His eyes widened as he squinted to find the bruises on my collar. They’d started a dull shade of barely there yellow but now they were an angrier color. Hues of blues and purples and sickly green.
“He did.”
Iswallowed, fighting to keep my composure as I added, “And he…”
Ichoked before I could get the last words out.
Hekilled my friend.
…and Kate wouldn’t even speak to me. I wasn’t welcome at the apartment or at work anymore, and I didn’t even blame them. I wouldn’t want to be near me, either. EverywhereI went, pain and death seemed to follow.
Itwas better if Kate hated me. Easier.
Iwiped a tear from my eye and tried again, my insides twisting as I spoke. “He killed Toby.”
Aodhánrecoiled from the words as if I’d slapped him.
Itseemed Daddy was keeping secrets from him. If it’d been nearly three days and Aodhán hadn’t heard a whisper of it, it could only be because Séamas was holding the information back.
Washe worried what his precious son might do if he found out?
Orwas it something else? Was he biding his time for the perfect moment to expose Aodhán as a traitor and make a spectacle of his punishment?
Iwouldn’t put it past him. I knew his type.
“I…” Aodhán trailed off and I watched his Adam’s apple bob as he took in the barely restrained urge to break out into fresh sobs likely written all over my face. But crying wouldn’t bring him back. There was only vengeance for his death and I intended to exact it on his behalf. “I’m so sorry, mo mhuirnín, I didn’t know.”
Icould tell he was wondering why that was.
Whichmeant Séamas hadn’t let on yet that he knew his son had betrayed him.
Ididn’t like it. Any of it.
Itcouldn’t mean anything good. ForAodhán or for any of us.
“Well, now you do,” Kaleb said as he lowered his weapon. “Your psycho killer Daddy needs to be put down.”
Aodhándidn’t speak to defend his father. He said nothing. But as he took in my wounds again, I could see something in him shift. A hardness stole over his features and his gaze narrowed as he laid it on Kaleb and Hardin.
He’dmade a choice.
Ijust hoped he made the right one, because if he didn’t, Hardin would end him here and now and I wouldn’t say a word to stop him.
…even if the idea of having to watch him die made something tear in my chest. Made my fingernails bite hard into my palms.
Hetipped his head to one side, considering, his eyes going distant as if he were listening to someone else speak even though the only sound in the yard was the soft rustle of the vines on the fence.
“Okay,” he said, finally.
“Okay?” Hardin pressed? “Okaywhat?”
“I’ll help you.”
Thebreath I’d been holding stuttered from my lips.
“What do you need?”
“Ideally for him not to be alive,” Kaleb put bluntly, shrugging as if he was asking Aodhán to order a pizza instead of commit murder against a blood relative.
Aodhánshook his head. “I…I can’t. Even if I could, he won’t see me. That last time he and I were in the same airspace was out in the canyons. I’ve requested an audience twice but he’s otherwise occupied.”
“Occupied doing what? Slaughtering babies?” Kaleb asked, getting impatient.
Aodhándidn’t take the bait, simply pursing his lips. “Honestly? I don’t know. I think he’s angry with me for not aiming true that night. I’ve been sidelined until further notice.”
“Fuck,” Hardin hissed.
“What good are you, then?”
Aodhándidn’t like what Kaleb was implying and he rolled around his reply before offering it to me. “Other than my father’s timely demise, is there something else I can do?”
“We need information,” I said. “And time.”
“Time? For what?”
Iwasn’t stupid enough to tell him Damien and the ThornValley chapter of Saints along with the Crows were mobilizing to come help us. Kaleb and Hardin didn’t offer him the information, either. For all we knew, there was a chance he could go running back to Séamas with anything he learned here.
Somehow, I knew in my bones he wouldn’t, but my brain begged to differ. It whispered that I could trust no one. Not entirely. Not ever. No matter how badly I wanted to.
“Just time,” I reaffirmed. “Can you give us that?”
“I can try,” he offered, looking over his shoulder to the fence, the way he’d come. “I should go. There are a few things I might be able to do to slow them down but I’ll need to move now if it’s going to work.”
“If you tell us what you’re planning, maybe we could help you,” Kaleb stepped forward, but Aodhán stepped back.
“No. You’d never get close enough. ButI can.”
Heturned to leave, but something pulled in my gut like a hook. “Wait,” I all but shouted, reigning in the pitch of my voice. “You can’t go back to them.”
Aodhánfroze.
“YourDad didn’t ambush me for intel on the Saints,” I admitted. “He wanted information…about you.”
Heturned around slowly, and I watched as the color drained from his face. “What kind of information?”
“Hawk,” Hardin warned, and I knew he wasn’t exactly cool with me sharing any more information with Aodhán that I absolutely needed to, but he needed to know this. How could he help us if he didn’t?
“He knows you’re been trying to protect me. He’s putting two and two together about Gilligan’sFinch. And?—”
“And?” Aodhán gritted out, as if he were shocked there was more.
“And he knows that the two graves you dug for the Sons are empty.”
Hecrouched low, raking clawed hands through his hair before lurching back to his feet, coming to terms with the information.
“You should leave, mo mhuirnín,” he said in a dangerous tone.
“I’m staying.”
Hemuttered something in GaelicI didn’t understand.
“You don’t understand,” Aodhán was getting angry now, frustrated, and Hardin looked absolutely feral for his blood. “Whatever it is you’re planning, my father is two steps ahead of you.”
“Then help us be the ones who are a step ahead,” I snapped back. I wasn’t asking for me. I didn’t like that we were using what Séamas did to me to get under Aodhán’s skin. ButI would use it if it was a way in which I could help protect them.
Theycould use me however they needed if they just survived.
“Give us something we can use,” Kaleb pushed. “You must have some kind of information that can help.”
“You have a rat,” Aodhán told us. “I learned who he was a few days ago, just before the meet. A man called Pope.”
Ahand went to my mouth, and I watched Hardin’s gun hand falter as the information knocked him off balance.
“Bullshit,” Kaleb breathed.
“Liar,” Hardin growled, adjusting his aim, making my belly flip.
“Hardin,” I blurted before I could stop myself and his black eyes slid to me. I shook my head. Don’t shoot him. Please.
Hisjaw flexed, but he relaxed his aim.
“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger,” Aodhán said. “ApparentlyDa’s had him in hand since almost the start.”
“What did he offer him?” Kaleb asked, and I could hear the incredulity in his voice. He still didn’t fully believe Aodhán, but I did. I liked Pope, but I knew that people could change faces on you, pull the rug out from under you, before you even knew you were falling.
Aodhánshrugged. “Don’t know. Likely what he always offers the rat—amnesty for himself and his family. Immunity. People will do almost anything to protect the ones they hold most dear.”
Hisgreen eyes flicked to mine as he spoke and my jaw clenched against a warm flush heating my face.
“I should go. I’ll do what I can to slow them down and buy you the time you need. Know that unless you make a move against him, he won’t attack. Stop talking to the pigs. Stop trying to communicate with the other gangs. Do as he says and there’s a good chance he won’t strike against you.”
Kalebsighed. “You know we can’t do that.”
Aodhánnodded and turned again.
“What will he do if he thinks you betrayed him?” I asked, making him pause for the second time.
Heturned his head to the side enough that I could see the curve of a wicked smirk on his lips. “Don’t worry, mo mhuirnín. I’ll be back. Promise.”
“We aren’t really letting this fucker leave?” Hardin asked as Aodhán began climbing the vines.
Kalebheld an arm out to stop Hardin’s advance. “Let him go.”
Hardingrowled his frustration as Aodhán cleared the top of the fence and vanished into the night.
“Hardin,” I said gently, but he was beyond hearing me as he stormed right past my shoulder and into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Isank onto the bottom step, wincing as I stretched my leg out to stop the skin pulling on the stitches. Kaleb fell into the seat beside me, equally winded from standing for so long when he should still be in his fucking bed.
Saints.
“Pope,” he said, more to himself than to me as he shook his head. “I don’t want to believe it.”
“I’m sorry.”
Nodoubt Hardin was relaying that vital new piece of information to Damien right now, to prevent him from doing any more damage than he already had. He’d want to know how we found out. I wondered if Hardin would come clean about Aodhán to his dad, too. I said they could if they needed to, but they didn’t want to give Damien hope—or a reason to be even more on edge than he already was—until they knew what the outcome would be here tonight.
Kaleband I sat quietly for a minute and then he turned to me, his gunmetal gray-blue eyes finding mine in the dim light. “I can see why you like him, Vixen.”
“I don’t?—”
“Uh, uh,” he chided, giving me a pointed look. “We said no more lies.”
Iclamped my mouth shut and Kaleb surprised me by reaching over to gently curl his fingers around my nape, tugging me close to kiss me.
Isighed into the kiss, reveling in the feel of him. Alive. Still here. Mine.
“I should go talk to Hardin. Come inside?”
Hehelped me stand, coaxing me to put my weight on him despite my protests as we went inside to face the music.