Chapter Thirty-Four
Savages and Lions
Ziggy
It was crazy, I knew on some level she’d betrayed me, but her heart was in the right place. I never thought I’d give a fuck about a thing like that. I guess if a woman was going to bring you to your knees, it was better to be done over your children’s safety than say– I don’t know cheating or turning state’s evidence on a man.
I decided it wasn’t anything I couldn’t forgive her for. I waited until she drifted off on the sofa with me and held her with one arm, while text messaging Henny and Cane.
That was all it took.
The house started to come to life around sunrise. Henny and Griz showed up first. Talon and Capone trickled in one after another shortly thereafter.
The kitchen was tense as Talon sipped his coffee and Griz swigged from a beer bottle.
“Dude– we gotta work on your breakfast routine,” Henny rumbled.
“Breakfast my ass. That’s hair o’ the dog that bit me. Why else would I be drinking this shit hot? Why do you keep hot beer?” he whined, looking across the table at me.
I shrugged and rubbed the sleep from my eye. “Guess I didn’t get around to putting more in the fridge last time I drank. I’m pretty sure I passed out in the yard as it were. The state I was in, I’m just thankful I didn’t tuck the beer in next to Ro and put myself in the icebox.”
Henny gave a throaty laugh that ended abruptly when the door opened without warning. Cane looked dead at me and gave a subtle nod.
“Thank fuck, get in here.” I took the first easy breath I’d drawn since I found out who hurt her.
“You want a beer?” Griz asked, raising his bottle like the question needed interpreting.
“Fuck no, I don’t want no damn beer. It ain’t even the ass crack o’ dawn yet and you’re–”
“It’s medicinal,” Griz stressed, causing all of us to laugh.
My phone lit up and danced around on top of the table with its aggressive vibrating.
“There it is,” Henny sang, as we all stared down at the name on the screen.
Sean Morgan, it read.
I swiped it to green and hit the speakerphone option.
“Yeah,” I injected as much grump into my voice as I could to make up for lack of sleepiness in my tone.
“Wyatt? Wyatt, wake the fuck up. Where is Roisin?”
“Hm?” I stressed the sound.
“Wyatt, my brother Rory was just killed.”
I sucked air through my teeth, and rubbed my eyes again like he was there to witness the performance.
“What? What are you talking about? Which one is— the guy from the hospital?”
“Yes. My brother was at the hospital with me.”
“What’s going on?” Ro asked, having wandered out almost on cue.
“It’s Sean–” I held the phone out so she could see that it was on speaker. “He said something has happened. I don’t know. What did you say happened to your brother?”
“He was killed this morning.” Sean’s voice was ebbing with emotion.
There were a multitude of voices around him in the background, but none were loud enough to make out any of the conversation.
“Huh,” I finally huffed. “You imagine it was retaliation for that thing you did with the Deuces?” I played ignorant.
Sean’s silence made me smile.
“You did it already, didn’t you?” I pressed, unable to keep the smile from widening.
Griz worked his mouth with his hand, his shoulders subtly shaking with restrained laughter.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Sean clipped, and somehow, I sensed that he was aware of just how transparent his gig had become.
He hung up, and Griz laughed. He swatted Cane’s upper arm and asked, “You reckon if I tattoo a wolf on my throat, they’ll call me Fenrir in the streets?”
I groaned while Henny and Griz cackled.
“His name was Rory, dumbass. You know, like roar– Lion?” I stared blankly at Griz. It was hard not to be endeared by his ignorance as much as one found themselves annoyed by it at times.
“Fine.” He spat, a glint taking his eyes before he conceded with a grin, “They can just woof at me then.”
“Yeah, I’ll woof at you, big boy. Come ‘ere.” Cane sprang toward him, catching Griz in a headlock.
“God help us all,” I groaned, watching them playfully go at it before the rooster had even crowed.
Griz threw a jab that caught Cane in the ribs, and he let go with an appreciative groan.
“I hope you fought better than that in the joint,” Henny teased.
“Sometimes he did,” Capone added to the roast.
“Fuck all you bastards,” Cane laughed, “I’m gonna go down to the Deuces’ neighborhood and see what’s up with Sauce already.”
“Appreciate you.” I saluted him with my chin.
When he turned to go, I called after him, “Hey, Cane.”
He paused in the doorway and looked back at me.
“I mean it, thanks.” He was the best assassin we’d ever had, and I wanted him to know, I didn’t blame him for losing Sauce.
“You bet, Zig,” he returned, as he shot out the door.
“Alright, which one of you assholes are buying breakfast?” Henny looked between Griz and Talon.
Talon flubbed his lips, “Don’t look at me. Thats what the fuckin’ prospects are for, ain’t it?”
“You guys go on, I’m gonna enjoy the morning with my wife.”
Griz was putting the cables on Capone before they were out the door, reminding him that gratuity was twenty percent or better these days.
“It isn’t over,” Ro quietly warned.
“No,” I calmly agreed, taking her hand in mine.
I drew her to my lap and kissed the side of her head when she surrendered her weight to me, “I imagine we’ll be alright for a while, though. Just you and me, and the babies.”
I placed my hand on her stomach, and she rested her hand on mine and smiled softly.
“I can live with that.” I sighed.
She tried to muffle a giggle, and I instantly dropped my chin to look down at her.
“What?”
“Thought you weren’t no Romeo?”
I smirked and smoothed the hair from her brow. “You’re going to make me admit it aren’t you? Alright then. I’ve discovered a thing or two after more than forty years on this Earth.”
“Discovered what?” She laughed, the smile meeting her pretty eyes.
“A little rose with thorns goes a long way in turning a savage like me into a Romeo.”