33. Xander
Xander
“Fuck,” I swore, running a hand over my scalp when I came out of the house a few minutes later. I’d heard Andrie leaving, and as much as I hated letting her go, I knew we were both better off cooling our tempers before I tried talking to her again.
Matteo’s stony expression, paired with the men’s somber glances and Gretchen’s sympathetic look, told me the entire backyard had heard our discussion.
“I’m sorry,” Matteo said quickly. “I shouldn’t have brought that up now, and I certainly should have phrased it better. I just wanted to see where your head was at. I didn’t mean to—”
I cut him off with a wave, my anger turning to weariness. “I was planning on telling her anyway. And I have a feeling it wouldn’t matter how I tried to present it. She’d go to mad before settling on happy. I’d just feel better about giving her space if I knew she was safe.”
“That’s some good news I can give you.” Matteo turned his attention back to the steaks while he filled me in about the police finding Hardy.
“You think he committed suicide?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Andrie is typically the one I’d ask. But if I had to guess, I would believe so. Hardy comes from a line of men who’ve served and served well. The fact that he was about to be exposed as a traitor, with nowhere to run, makes me think he might have thought this was his only option.”
Because I agreed with him, I didn’t comment. Instead, I zeroed in on Vik, who stood at the edge of the yard with the dog next to him. Excusing myself, I headed over to him, knowing Andrie and I weren’t the only two hurting right now.
“It’s going to be alright,” I said when I stopped beside him, scratching the dog behind his ears. “She’s beyond mad right now and hurt. But she’s too logical not to understand why we all did what we did once she calms down. Besides, she cares about us both too much not to forgive us.”
“I hated the way she looked through me when she left,” he admitted softly. “As if she couldn’t bear to see me after she realized I hadn’t told her.”
For the first time, I really understood the full situation Vik had been in.
I might have hated lying to Andrie, but I’d been the one that had agreed to it.
Vik hadn’t had a say at all, and was forced to follow the orders he’d been given.
He’d truly been placed between a rock and a hard place, lying to the woman he considered a sister to protect the brother of his heart.
“I never should have agreed to it,” I said suddenly.
“I was just so relieved when I heard you both were safe and prepared to do anything in order to ensure you stayed that way. I don’t think the powers that be really believed we’d still love each other—not after only having been together those few weeks.
If I’d pushed when I got here, I might have been able to change their minds on how we went about this entire mess. ”
Vik shook his head slowly. “Maybe. Hell, probably. But you had no way of knowing that. It’s not like you’ve ever met Thoth in person.
I’m not sure how much he even knew about y’alls feelings, and he was likely more concerned with Andrie recognizing you.
After all, if you couldn’t fool her, there’s no way your cover would hold.
There’s a distinct possibility you could cross your father at some point or, even more likely, some of the people Irina forced you to traffic.
You’d be surprised to hear how much some of them remember. ”
I winced because having to participate in that world—knowing the life I was sentencing those people to—was something I struggled to reconcile.
I knew I didn’t have a choice, but it didn’t make me feel better to know that I’d had a hand in shoving people into a life of hell.
No matter how much information I had been able to pass onto Lessia over the years in hopes of saving them and shutting the entire operation down, it would in no way ever make up for what I’d been forced to do.
Fortunately, I'd been mostly been on the outskirts of the operations my mother dictated for years.
After Vik and Andrie, she'd lost most of her power over me, and seemed to know pushing me too hard would result in me turning on her, especially as the years drug on, wearing on my soul.
Though I'd still been present for much of her operations, most of my work had consisted of intimidation—keeping everyone in her network in line—and securing the area around any transfer locations.
Wisp, Shade, and Savage came back in through the house. “What the hell?” I muttered to Vik, but Savage put a hand up before I could ask.
“Andrie kicked our asses to the curb. Doesn’t want any one of us on her property or watching her.
She said with Hardy no longer a threat, we weren’t needed.
She did promise to stay home, though. We called Juniper a few minutes ago to let us know if there’s any movement around her house.
We, uh, figured it would be best to let her have some time to cool down. ”
His unhappy expression told me the men felt just as uncomfortable being placed in the middle of our fight, and they possibly felt as guilty as Vik was feeling.
“It’s all right,” Vik reassured them. “We all know once she calms down and thinks things over, she’ll get over it.
Mostly.” He shot me a glance, telling me I’d better make sure everything got smoothed over.
“Let’s give her a few hours, and then, y’all can take Rev back to my place.
She might be able to kick y’all off her property, but she’s not going to keep me out of my own damn house, and he can keep close to her until they get this shit sorted. ”
A trickle of unease ran down my spine at the idea of her being alone, even if Hardy was no longer a threat. “Juniper’s got eyes on the place?” I asked, more to reassure myself than anything.
Shade nodded. “None of us wanted security cameras inside our own homes, but she’s got the perimeter of all our homes and businesses wired.
She's watching the cameras on her and Vik's properties. Come on.” He clasped his hand on my shoulder affectionately, spotting Matteo pull the last steak off the grill. “Let’s eat. We’ll even be gentlemen and let you bring the leftovers to Andrie.
Maybe some cake will sweeten her temper. ”
The men seemed to drag the meal out, every second slower than the one before it.
When everyone was finally finished with their plates, I practically shot up, more than ready to leave, but Gretchen insisted on wrapping up dinner for Andrie.
Unable to find a way to pass without being rude, I tried to appear appreciative despite hating the delay.
Finally, I jumped into Shade’s SUV, not about to ride bitch with Vic on his bike.
“I really need to get something besides my motorcycle,” I grumbled, looking at the speedometer.
While Shade was driving much faster than Andrie, he was still well below where I would have been had I been behind the wheel.
“I can’t afford to get pulled over tonight of all nights. The last thing we need is the police to detain us to go through my vehicle due to a traffic violation. And you can bet, after not finding anything at the clubhouse, they’re assuming we all have our illegal shit in our cars.”
Seeing his point, I tried to settle back against the seat, only to start drumming my fingers against my thigh.
Shade raised an eyebrow but was smart enough not to comment.
He shook his head, then reached for the radio, turning it down so it was only background noise.
The heavy metal pounding through the speakers was completely different than Andrie’s preferred classical composers and much more familiar.
It also echoed my mood. I hated that Andrie was angry but, more importantly, that she was upset.
I’d seen the sheen of tears in her eyes, the heartbreak at my lie.
She hadn’t so much as looked in Vik’s direction when she’d stepped outside, something I knew cut him to the core.
I’d known she would be angry and a little hurt.
But I hadn’t counted on the pain. Alex and I hadn’t fought during our brief time together, but I’d expected her to yell or throw things—her temper, the few times I’d seen a glimpse of it, had always been red hot.
But Andrie wasn’t the same person she’d once been.
And she’d just realized she’d been betrayed by the people she trusted and loved most.
“She’s going to forgive you, man.” Shade said after a few minutes of silence. “She’s loved you for ten fucking years and waited for you for almost all of it. She’s not going to kick you to the curb now that y’all can actually live out your happily-ever-after together.”
“You obviously have never dealt with a pissed off woman before. She’s as likely to shoot me as she is to absolve me.”
I cursed when I saw all the lights off in her house as we pulled down the street. Despite her warning signs, there was no way in hell I was going to go another hour before talking it out.
Shade punched the accelerator, and I flew back in the seat. “What’s wrong?”
“The truck isn’t here. She promised Whisp she wasn’t going to leave the house.”
Vik came roaring up next to us as we parked, his bike screeching to a stop. Shade pulled out his phone as it rang and put it on speaker. “What is it?” Juniper said, not waiting for him to speak. “You came barreling down the street like your tail was on fire.”
“Where’s Andrie? You were supposed to tell us if she left the house.”
“Dude, she hasn’t left. There’s been absolutely no movement at the house since I pulled it up. Not so much as a stray cat through her yard.”
“The fucking truck isn’t here, Juniper! How the hell did you miss her pulling out of the driveway?”
Her voice was small and shaky. “Shade, there hasn’t been a truck in the driveway since I queued her camera feed two hours ago.”