15. Lafe #2
“And what did you think she was going to do? What’s her name? Where did she come from? What did she do in her past life? Can she be trusted? You see where I’m going with this?” Andre raised both of his eyebrows, his tone condescending.
“Fucking bastard,” I gritted out. I fucked up. He didn’t have to rub it in.
“I’ll have one of my contacts run a background check.” Parker set his shot glass on the coffee table. He wasn’t much of a drinker. Never did drugs. He hated to feel impaired in any way, always said he needed to keep a sharp mind.
I couldn’t comprehend that because all I wanted to do was numb everything. That was the only way I was able to keep going every day.
“Actually, I think my U.S. contacts would be a better fit for this particular job. Name?” Andre turned back to me.
“Amorette.”
“Amorette…” He trailed off, and I wanted to pelt my glass at his forehead. The bastard wouldn’t let me forget that I couldn’t stand the sight of him most days.
“I. Don’t. Know.”
“I’ll get the name from her.” Grey grinned, and I almost fell out of the chair. Maybe he’d started drinking before I got here, although the sloppy signs of inebriation were absent.
“What you missed, Lafe, is that Grey has quite the crush on Little Love.”
“What the hell is little love ?” Andre asked Parker as he pulled out his phone.
“It’s the literal translation of her name. It’s French.” He rolled his eyes like we should all be able to decipher names from other languages. I only knew Spanish and English, and he knew that.
Then it hit me. Unable to hold it in, I bent over, rolling with laughter. The endorphins giving me a better high than any I’d had in years. Before long, my breath tapered off into a wheeze. Eventually, I sat up and scrubbed my eyes.
All of my brothers were waiting, mostly impatiently, for me to stop.
“Care to share?” Parker grinned.
“That woman is not little love . More like a little killer. Little psycho. Little righteous with a savior complex.” They hadn’t shared how they caught her, but she wouldn’t have changed that much in a few days.
Parker continued to grin, and even Grey seemed to share my sentiments by the dark delight in his eyes. Andre just didn’t have time for any of our shit. Ever.
I glanced toward the guest room. That side of the house was quiet.
If I knew her at all, she probably had her ear pressed against the crack at the bottom of the door.
Grey was a modern minimalist with few furniture pieces to muffle the sound.
I was sure she heard us just fine. It was a blessing that she didn’t speak Spanish.
“Grey, get her last name. After we run her background, we’ll see what we can do with her.” Andre was firm, like his word was the law. He must not believe she’d take either of the two other options. Although, I should probably be thankful he wasn’t forcing me to kill her to keep our secrets.
“I brought her here. I should be the one to watch her.” She was my responsibility.
And if she stayed, I wanted to peel back the layers and understand why she valued her life so little.
Her lack of fear both intrigued and angered me.
But Andre, or my other brothers for that matter, would never hear that from my lips.
“You also fucked it up,” Andre pointed out.
Shame burned through me at the unemotional way he called me out.
“I had to leave. Otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened.
She’s my problem, I need to make this right.
” I shook my head, determined to make a stand against him.
No, I shouldn’t have brought her here, I shouldn’t have interfered at all, but I had.
And now I needed to make sure this didn’t backfire on any of us.
Parker sighed. “We already determined Grey has a thing for her. He’ll watch her closer than any of us would. We also have jobs to do. Grey’s a freeloader unless there’s a fight he has to oversee.”
Grudgingly, I nodded. He was right, Grey did have the most time on his hands where he could keep her close. There was also less chance she’d find his work distasteful.
I could only imagine the uptight judgment she’d have tagging along with either Parker or me. Andre was a wild card, even though he seemed like he’d rather wash his hands of her than babysit.
“I think by bringing her here, Lafe, you’ve made her our problem.
” The bitterness wafted from Andre as he used the heel of his palm to swipe over his brow.
Then he stood. “I have something I need to take care of.” He pointed at Grey.
“You get one chance. She runs or causes any problems, I’ll deal with her my way. ”
As much distance as there was between us, which was his fault, I turned to him. “Andre, you can’t kill an innocent woman. That’s not who you are. It’s definitely not who I am.”
He gave one sharp shake of his head, his lips pursed tight.
“No one is innocent. And you’re wrong. To protect my family, that’s exactly who I am.
” No goodbyes or anything. Andre only stayed in my presence as long as he needed to.
I wanted to know if he was the same way with Grey or Parker, but I was too proud to ask.
It wasn’t like our fight was a secret anyway.
When it was the three of us left, I turned to Grey and asked the question Andre would have mocked me for. “What happened? How did you find her, and how did she get out?”
With complete seriousness, a typical expression for him, Grey said, “She ran straight into my arms.”
Parker lost it, but I continued to stare. I didn’t want jokes; I wanted the truth. He sighed, then gave me the account of what happened, and I kicked my ass even harder. If I’d been back hours earlier, I could have prevented all of this.
Blanca was supposed to go last night. She waited until today, when I was already en-route, to return.
Parker’s eyes glittered, and he told us how he ran into Andre and that particular greeting.
Each word had my head dropping in defeat.
There could have been a chance for her to change her mind and want to stay here before.
I’d left her in luxury compared to the kennels Randy used to train the girls.
She’d had food, a bed, hot water. And time to contemplate the desperation of her choices.
No matter how bad her life was, she had too much fire to end it. I believed that.
But now? With Andre attacking her with a gun and tossing her into a room to lock her away? She’d probably spit in our faces and take her chance with escaping.
“Now that your curiosity has been satisfied, I’m kicking you out. I promised Andre I’d watch her, and I promised her I’d teach her to fight properly. Time for you all to find somewhere else to be.” Grey rose from the couch and nodded toward the door.
“Aw, Grey. I’d like to visit with our little love.” Parker snickered but headed toward the door. He stopped at the guest room and knocked. “I’ll be seeing you soon. Don’t cause any trouble for Grey. He’s the psycho of the bunch,” he called, then left.
I hesitated as I passed the door. I wanted to see her, but I shouldn’t. Killer probably didn’t want to see me, either.
My steps became heavier as I shuffled past. Even with Parker’s warning, she had no idea how Grey really was. I just hoped she didn’t try to stab him in his sleep.
With the right triggers, Grey really was psycho.