Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
ANDER
I ’d slept in. I knew that from the way the sun came through the cracks in the curtains, and the fact that Zavier’s body wasn’t behind me. He was a snuggler in his sleep, so unless he was snuggling Logan, he wasn’t in the bed.
Raven was in my arms still, but Reid was missing too.
I carefully glanced behind me, noting that Raven and I were alone.
I hissed out a breath as Raven’s arm tightened around my middle, and she woke abruptly and jerked back. At first, there was mistrust in her eyes, but then her face softened and she reached out to stroke her thumb over my cheek.
“You’re so bruised.”
I probably looked like shit.
“So are you. We need to talk,” I said quietly as I eyed her swollen lip and the bruises on her face, but she shook her head.
“No, we don’t. There’s nothing else you can say, Ander. I just need some time to wrap my head around everything.”
“You’re still my girl though, right?” I asked, her silence deafening. “Raven?—”
“Yeah, but you’ve lost privileges right now,” she answered with a sigh, sitting up and looking away from me.
If she wasn’t breaking up with me, that meant she wanted to believe me.
“It was definitely Stefano that burned down your house? You saw him?” she asked, toying with her hands on her lap.
“Stefano loves burning shit down as a message, and he’s really good at making it look like an accident. Trust me, I know it was him.”
“Were you there when it happened?”
“No. I left when I told you not to go back there. I should’ve already found us a safer house, I knew he was going to make a move,” I sighed, her eyes lifting to mine again.
“Where are you going to live now?”
“I’m not sure, Bluebird. I’ll figure it out though.”
She got up and headed to her bag, and I shamelessly stared at her as she started getting dressed for the day. I stood and walked towards her, her skin breaking out into goosebumps as I grabbed her bare waist and dropped a kiss to her shoulder.
When she didn’t protest, I trailed kisses to her neck, splaying my hands across her stomach to gently pull her back against me.
I wanted her jeans off and her thighs wrapped around my head.
“Ander,” she bit out, but she tilted her head to give me better access.
My teeth gently bit her earlobe, a groan leaving her as her whole body shuddered. I shouldn’t have touched her, but I was craving her.
She surprised me when she turned around and stood on tiptoe to kiss me, and I could tell she was trying to be gentle, but I didn’t want gentle.
I deepened the kiss and lifted her, trying hard to ignore my screaming body as I forced her to wrap her legs around me.
“I’ll hurt you,” she panicked, but I kissed her to shut her up and dropped her butt down on a set of drawers close by. “Ander, stop.”
“You won’t hurt me.”
“Stop,” she said again, my forehead dropping to her shoulder as I did what she asked. Her hands slid around me and we stayed like that for a minute or two before she spoke again. “I don’t want to sleep with you. I’m angry, even though I’m worried about you, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy to just pretend like I’m okay with everything. Can we just?—”
“Finish getting dressed,” I murmured, kissing her forehead and stepping back, shoving on my clothes from yesterday that were sitting on the chair in the corner.
“Are you mad at me?”
Her question threw me, and I turned to look at her to find that she hadn’t moved from the drawers.
“No. I’m mad at myself, and for the situation we’re all in. Never you,” I promised, grabbing her shirt and walking towards her, holding it out for her.
She took it, pulling it over her head and hopping off the drawers. “Where are the others?”
“Probably downstairs. I haven’t seen them this morning,” I shrugged, opening the door and letting her step into the hallway first. I didn’t have to worry about her safety, not here.
“Did you mean it last night? If Dante’s betraying us, you’ll turn him over?” she questioned as we descended the stairs, my heart squeezing painfully.
The thought of losing Dante tore me apart, but if he was lying to me, I’d do it.
Especially if he was putting Raven at risk.
“I swear. He’s dead to me if he’s lying.”
Her fingers entwined with mine, and my legs almost gave out from under me in relief.
“I really hope for your sake that he’s innocent,” she murmured, peering up at me as we reached the bottom of the stairs and made our way into the kitchen.
It was mayhem. The massive table was surrounded by people eating breakfast, while some stood with their coffees. Frank and Lara were eating pancakes with a pile of fruit, and Noah was slouched in his seat in his Ashburn Valley Academy uniform, the tie loose and his white shirt rumpled with the sleeves rolled up.
His eyes moved to Raven like she’d screamed at him, then they slid to me and widened.
“What the fuck happened to you?” he blurted out, taking in the damage to my face.
Everyone seemed to go silent and looked over at us, but I chuckled and tried to shrug without wincing.
“This is what happens when you don’t go to school to make a good life for yourself. People want to beat on you.”
Skeeter’s posture relaxed at my words, and he checked the time on his phone with a sigh. “Noah, you’re going to be late. If you’re old enough for coffee, you’re old enough to drink it on the go.”
“I’m not a kid, you know?” Noah huffed with embarrassment, his eyes flicking back to Raven. She wasn’t paying him any attention as she let go of my hand and walked towards the guys, taking a coffee from Reid.
“Adults have jobs in this house,” Skeeter grunted, getting to his feet. “I have somewhere to be. D, Holloway, and Ty, you’re with me.”
Diesel and Caden stood without a word, but Tyler grumbled as he downed the rest of his coffee, apparently not a morning person.
I went to walk past them to find my own coffee, and Skeeter moved in front of me, speaking in a low voice. “Thanks.”
I knew he didn’t want Noah knowing he’d been the one smacking me around, so I simply nodded and walked around him to Raven and the guys, where Zavier had a coffee waiting for me.
He handed it over and gave me a look, silently asking if I was okay. Personally, I felt like I’d been hit by a truck, but I gave him a smile that I hoped said I was fine, before taking a mouthful of my coffee.
“Time for school,” Rory warned from her place at the table, motioning to Slash. “You can take him on your way to meet Hendricks.”
“He pushed the meeting back. He’s visiting Ry and Tempest this morning,” Slash replied, and Reid jiggled his keys.
“Want me to take him? I need to go on a run for smokes.”
“Can I go too?” Frank asked, seeming to remember his sister at the last second as he glanced at her, and his shoulders dropped. “Never mind.”
Rory studied Frank for a moment before nodding. “I think Raven can help me keep an eye on Lara. Right, Raven?” When Raven agreed, Rory shrugged. “We’ve got her. If you want to go with Reid and Noah, you can. If you wanted Gregory to come hang out today, you could bring him back with you. It’s a nice day, you could hang out in the pool or watch movies.”
“He can come over today?” Frank asked with surprise, scrambling to his feet and flying out of the room, most likely to find his shoes.
“Take someone with you,” Marco said firmly, scrolling on his phone. “And keep a gun in your car.”
“Already have one,” Reid stated, motioning to Zavier. “Lopez can come with me. We’ll drop off Noah, grab cigarettes, then head to the Heights for Greg. Need anything while we’re out?”
“Take Logan, not the mafia bait,” Marco grunted. “Can you go inside Greg’s house to check on his siblings?”
“Will do.”
“I’ll get you a bag of diapers and baby food. Leave it there,” he ordered as he stood and left the room, returning with a large bag of things.
Raven said goodbye to Logan and Reid as they left with the kids, and I glanced between her and Zavier.
“So, what’s the plan today?”
“I’m watching Lara,” Raven said with a frown as if I’d forgotten.
“All day?”
“Just for a few hours,” Rory answered for her, doing something on her phone before looking up at me. “I have a job for you.”
“No offense, but I’m not one of your bitchboys,” I said before sipping my coffee, earning an unamused look in return.
“You’ll be whatever I say you are today, don’t you think?”
My jaw clenched as I bit back my snarky remark, knowing my life was in her hands right now. I had to play along with her bullshit to keep the peace and to prove to Raven that I wasn’t a traitor.
“What do you need?”
“We’ll talk after breakfast,” she said vaguely, abruptly ending the conversation as she turned her attention to Lara to start cleaning the syrup from her fingers and face.
Raven helped her, and Zavier moved to stand beside me.
“What do you think she wants?” he asked quietly, making me shrug as I pulled a cigarette out and motioned in the direction of the back door.
“No idea. C’mon, I need a smoke and for this coffee to kick in.”
Raven
Everyone seemed to vanish from the kitchen, leaving me to help Rory with Lara. I took Lara to the kitchen sink and washed her sticky fingers properly, while Rory cleared the table.
“I have a house for you,” Rory said out of the blue, my head snapping in her direction.
“What?”
“A house. I have one that you can stay in,” she repeated, quirking an eyebrow. “It’s small, but it’s got a roof and hot water. We can find you a bigger one later.”
“How much is rent?”
“No rent. Just look after the place.”
“I’m not living in a house for free,” I said uncomfortably, grabbing the hand towel to dry Lara’s hands.
I could feel Rory’s eyes on me, and when I looked over at her again, she sighed. “Fifty bucks a week rent. Utilities included.”
“But—”
“You need a house, and I have one that I bought in cash, Raven. I don’t need your money, but if you insist on paying, that’s my offer. Take the time to save some money, and maybe you could even buy your own car or go back to school.”
My nose scrunched. “I don’t want to go back to school. I didn't want to do it when it was mandatory.”
She huffed out an amused chuckle, plucking Lara from my arms and bouncing her a little. “You don’t have a dream job or something? C’mon, if you could do anything and there was nothing to stop you, what would you want to do with your life? Humor me.”
I frowned, thinking about it for a moment before replying. “I like working with kids. If I could do anything without limitations, I think I’d like to be a teacher. I wish I’d had good teachers at school, so I know what kind of help kids would need since I struggled.”
“What age group?”
“I know I like working with younger kids, but part of me thinks older kids might need my help more. Everyone wants to help cute kids, but teenagers get left behind a lot.”
She smiled, nodding her head slightly. “I think you’d be really good at teaching high school. Do you have a subject you prefer?”
“I like to paint, but only with spray paint. I’m terrible at math, and my spelling and punctuation isn’t the best,” I grumbled, but she just shrugged.
“You could improve your education and do whatever you want. The arts would be good for you, but if you intend on doing that, you’ll probably have to work in the academies. A lot of the public education around here doesn’t have the funding for subjects like that.”
That made me scoff. “If you think somewhere like Crestford or Ashburn Valley Academy would let me in, you’re delusional. They’d take one look at me and?—”
“They won’t let you in with that attitude,” she hummed, resting Lara on her hip. “If you want it, fight for it. Now, if you want to make a difference in places like the Heights, I think focusing on something like English or math is a good idea. Those subjects need more attention in places like that.”
“I can’t afford to go to college, Rory. Even if I could, I struggled with school. I’d probably fuck it up,” I said quietly.
“You’re not the type to quit because things get hard. Do me a favor? Think about it. There’s more for you out there than just getting by. For now, pay the cheap rent, save your money, and start looking for what you want out of life, okay? All of you. We’ll talk about the house more when the guys get back, I just wanted to see how you’d feel about it first,” she answered, turning and carrying Lara upstairs to the nursery, most likely to put her in pancake-free clothes.
I slipped outside for some fresh air, finding Ander and Zavier smoking. Zavier handed me a cigarette and tucked me under his arm, leaning against the patio railing as I looked out across the backyard.
The pool was enticing, and I wondered if Rory would mind us swimming here sometime. I hadn’t gone swimming since the Heights pool closed down and turned into the Pit.
“Rory’s going to rent us a house,” I said absently, unsure how I felt about it. It would give us a home again until we got ours back, but the low rent made me uncomfortable. “And she thinks I should go back to school.”
“Do you want to go back to school? What would you study?” Ander asked curiously, resting his forearm on the railing and watching my face, but Zavier answered the other part of my conversation.
“She’s letting us rent a house? Where? How much?”
“At first, she said for nothing, but I told her we won’t sponge off her. So, fifty bucks a week rent with utilities included. She said it’s not big, but we don’t need big, right? We can buy a few mattresses and sleep on the floor in one room?”
“Sounds good to me. As long as we’re all together,” Zavier shrugged, frowning at Ander. “What was that face for? You don’t want to stay together?”
I glanced over at Ander, finding a guilty look on his face.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” I demanded, taking a drag of my cigarette and blowing it at him.
“Can we talk about this later?” he muttered, but I shook my head and pulled away from Zavier, turning my body to face Ander.
“No. We’re talking about it right now. Why don’t you want to stay with us?”
“I asked Rory if she had a spare house for you guys,” he admitted. “I offered to pay, but she didn’t want my money. She said she’d do it for free because she sees you as one of her kids, but the only rule was that I’m not allowed to live there or know where it is. I agreed.”
“Why the fuck would you agree to that?” I hissed.
“This all started because of me, so this was the only way I knew I could keep you guys safe. That’s all I care about.”
“I’m not staying there without you.”
“Bluebird, don’t be a brat. Accept the house so you have somewhere to live, and we can deal with the rest later,” he said calmly.
“No.”
“Raven,” he bit out, losing his patience.
“I said no, Ander. It’s all of us, or none of us. I don’t care if we live in the fucking cars, as long as we’re all together,” I threw back, giving him a shove. He gritted his teeth against the pain from the bruises, and within seconds he had his hand around my throat and yanked me against him.
“I need you to be safe or I’m going to lose my fucking mind. I can’t deal with Stefano if I’m worried about you all the time. Take the house, lay low, and leave me to handle everything else.”
“Eat shit,” I snapped, grabbing his wrist with both hands to pry him off me, and Zavier must have given him a dirty look because he surprisingly let go.
I flicked what was left of my cigarette in the ashtray on my way back into the house, finding Rory bringing Lara back down the stairs.
“Thank you for the house offer, but I have to decline,” I said firmly, her brow creasing with confusion.
“Why? You don’t want to discuss it with the others first?”
“Is Ander welcome?” I asked, and she eyed me for a second before sighing.
“No, he’s not.”
“Then I appreciate it, but no thank you. We’ll find something else.”
“He needs to go underground. If Stefano knows he’s here and is pissed about it, then it’s only going to draw more trouble your way if he’s with you,” she warned in a low voice, her eyes flicking behind me, telling me Zavier and Ander had joined us.
“Apart from the fact you’ve all forgotten that technically Zavier is the target of Stefano’s wrath, he’s after me too. If one of your guys had a target on their backs, would you make them leave?” I asked Rory, her eyes narrowing.
“No.”
“Exactly. Ander’s family to us, Rory. We’re not going to kick him to the curb just because?—”
“You give me just as many gray hairs as fucking Beckett,” she growled, handing Lara to me. “Why don’t any of you kids listen to me when I’m trying to keep you safe?”
“Infuriating when someone you love doesn’t listen, isn’t it?” Hunter said with amusement as he appeared.
“Fuck off, Rivera. Aren’t you supposed to be working or something?” Rory bit out, but Hunter shrugged.
“Marco has it handled. What’s going on here?”
“Raven won’t accept the house.”
It was obvious this had been a discussion before we’d arrived here because Hunter snorted.
“I told you she won’t. Let Lavaro stay with them. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather know where he is than not.”
She grumbled, running her fingers through her hair before looking at me again. “Fine. If the prick is staying with you, then I don’t want to see any money until the first of the month. This week’s free, understand?”
“Thank you,” Zavier blurted out, not wanting me to argue. “We appreciate it. Where is it?”
“Here in Ashburn. It’s nothing fancy, but we had a kid move out and in with her boyfriend, so it’s available. It’s only one bedroom, but the kitchen’s updated and the heating is good. The gate locks too, so the cars should be safe. I can get the Thieves to install cameras outside if you want,” she offered. “And I’ll make sure there’s another mattress since the only one there right now isn’t big enough for you all. When Logan and Reid get back, I’ll give you the keys to go check it out.”
“I take it there’s no fancy pool or hot tub?” Ander joked, and I swatted him.
“Don’t be greedy.”
“I was just asking.”
Rory rolled her eyes at us before pointing at Ander. “You, come with me. We need to talk.”
“About what?” Ander asked suspiciously, and I swore she was going to start tapping her foot impatiently.
“I said I had a job for you, remember? We’re trying to go over the map of local towns to eliminate possible hideouts. You can help with that.”
Hunter sighed, rubbing his temples. “C’mon, Hot Shot. Let them wake up properly first.”
“He—”
“He’ll still be here in a few hours,” Hunter replied dryly, shooing her.
She gave him a dirty look but walked off without another word, and Hunter winked at me.
“You’re welcome.” He took Lara from me and tickled her, making her giggle. “You guys go hang out. I’ve got Lara.”
“I’m supposed to—” He didn’t let me finish.
“I’m the boss,” he grinned. “And I think you should go for a swim or something. I’ll send the boys out when they get back. Raid the pool house if you need a bathing suit.”
An hour in the pool couldn’t hurt.