CHAPTER THIRTY
Kye
“DOES EVERYONE HAVE HOMEWORK, BACKPACKS, LUNCH BAGS, and water bottles?” Fallon called from the front passenger seat as I pulled up to the designated drop for the elementary school.
The high school was just next door, so Hayden could walk from here, which made it easier for parents corralling multiple children.
Gracie lifted her lunch bag from where she sat in her booster seat. “I gots mine.” She frowned. “But it’s got a little hole in the corner.”
“I’ll fix it tonight,” Hayden said quickly.
“I can help,” Fallon offered and then frowned. “I’m not the best sewer, though, so you’ll have to supervise me,” she told Hayden.
The older teen’s lips twitched. “I suggest getting a thimble so you don’t stab yourself.”
Fallon winced. “Adding it to my shopping list.”
The girls filed out of the SUV and headed toward their respective schools. I watched until they disappeared and the person behind me honked. I leaned over, scowling through the side mirror at the man in the sedan behind me. He took one look at me and paled.
Fallon patted my shoulder. “Let’s try not to make anyone poop themselves before nine a.m., all right?”
I grunted. “I just wanted to make sure the girls got safely inside. He could have a little patience.”
She rolled her lips over her teeth, trying to hide her smile. “Pretty sure he’ll think twice next time.”
“Good.” I flipped on my blinker and pulled into the flow of drop-off traffic.
Fallon laid a hand on my thigh. “They’ll be just fine. Trace has the schools on the drive-by routes, on top of the officers already stationed there throughout the day. Plus, they aren’t the ones at risk.”
I heard the strain in her voice as she spoke the last sentence, worry digging into each word. I dropped a hand from the wheel and twined our fingers. Touching her this much was reckless. Last night, I hadn’t even put up the damn pillow wall. I’d just opened my arms and let her curl into me.
It wasn’t fair or right, subjecting Fallon to the darkness that lived in me. The sort of shit I rained down on the people around me. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself.
“I’ll be just fine,” I assured her.
Fallon nodded but didn’t let go of my hand. She held it tightly as I drove through town and headed back toward our house. “Are you sure you don’t want me to just drop you off at work? I can pick you up after.”
She shook her head. “I need my car. I have to go and get a few things after work.”
“A thimble?” I asked, quirking a brow.
Her mouth curved. “Probably not a bad idea.”
I pulled up to the garage and hit a button on the remote. As the door rose, both of us slid out of my SUV. I rounded the hood and met Fallon there for a moment.
She wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her cheek to my chest. My arms curved around her, and I rested my chin atop her head. “I’m good, Sparrow. Promise.”
Her breath hitched. “I won’t be able to handle it if anything happens to you.”
My heart lurched. “It won’t.”
Fallon gripped me harder. “I’m holding you to that. Remember, if you don’t make good on your word, I will glitter bomb the hell out of you.”
I chuckled as I forced myself to release her. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now, get your ass in that SUV. Gonna follow you to work just to be safe.”
“Kye—”
“Don’t argue, Sparrow. I need this.”
Her entire expression softened. “Okay, Kyler.”
Fuck.
That name on her lips … It was only after she’d said it the first time that I’d actually liked my damn name. Mostly, I’d heard it as an uttered curse … until her. Fallon made it sound like beautiful music and a solemn vow all at once.
“Get in the SUV,” I said gruffly.
Her beautiful mouth dipped and bowed into one of those tentative smiles, but she did as I asked. I followed her to the DHS building and didn’t leave until she was behind closed doors.
“So, I’m thinking we start the program with a few exhibition matches. We get you and Mateo, maybe Jericho and me. We show the kids that this is fun—or it can be,” Evan said as he spun back and forth in Jericho’s studio chair, his excitement for his vision clear.
I couldn’t help but grin at him. “That’s smart. I think having them see the real deal will help. I can get Linc involved, too. He’s a pretty damn good fighter.”
Arden’s fiancé might be a billionaire, but he could hold his own in the ring.
Evan nodded. “I’ve seen him. He doesn’t mess around. I wish Arden could fight. It’d be good for the girls to see a woman in the ring.”
“The last thing we need is Linc losing it because his pregnant fiancée is trying to get into a training ring. But Serena will spar. She’d kick any of our asses.”
Evan laughed as he drummed his pen on his notepad. “Truth.”
The bell over the door sounded as a voice cut through the room. “Dude, what the fuck?”
I turned as Jericho strode into the studio. His expression was thunderous, and I didn’t have the first clue why. “What’s going on?”
“You don’t think I deserve a call that Joker’s fuckin’ dead?” Jericho spat.
Bear’s gray brows lifted at both the news and Jericho’s fervor. Being a hobbyist biker, he knew the clubs in the area. He also knew what we’d gotten ourselves mixed up in during our youth.
“What?” Evan whispered.
Fucking hell.
Jericho was right. I should’ve called and let him know about the new developments. “I’m sorry. I just—I had Fal. My sisters. There was a lot going on.”
Jericho’s knuckles cracked as he fisted his hands. “I need to know you’ve got my back.”
“You know I do. But Trace told me he was stopping by your place first thing this morning.”
He nodded in a jerky, staccato beat. “Sorry. I just … this is seriously fucked. Three Reapers in as many weeks?”
Bear ambled out from behind the reception desk. “What does Trace say?”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “That someone’s picking off people from the fight ring one by one.”
“Jesus,” Evan muttered, his face a little pale.
“Are Fal and the girls okay?” Jericho asked, finally reining in his anger.
“My sisters don’t know anything. And that’s how it’s going to stay if I can help it.
” My fingers twisted around the arm of my chair.
“Fal’s seriously tweaked. And we’ve got other shit to worry about.
My custody case. Making sure Renee doesn’t pull something stupid. My head is on a permanent swivel.”
“Can we do anything?” Evan asked.
I shook my head. “I wish, but we just gotta ride it out. Anson said he’ll get his hacker friend, Dex, to look into the MC. He wants to see if there’s any chance this could be a rival club out to squash something before it starts.”
“Are you nuts?” Jericho clipped. “You know the Reapers have techies on their payroll. They’ll trace him, and if they find out he’s a friend of your soon-to-be-brother-in-law’s, you are seriously screwed. We both are.”
“Dex is one of the best. He works for the goddamned FBI. The Reapers won’t know he’s been in their system.”
Jericho squeezed the back of his neck hard. “It’s a mistake. We should both be thinking about running for the goddamned hills. That’s what we should be doing.”
“You know I can’t.” There was too much at stake for me: my sisters, the Colsons, Fallon. I’d give everything for any of them. I just hoped like hell no one had to make that kind of sacrifice.