Chapter 15 Rachel #2
When I exit the bathroom, Rosco makes an appreciative sound as his eyes roam over me from head to toes and back again. He steps toward me, but voices coming from the living room draw our attention. “Let’s head into the living room, angel. It sounds like my brothers have arrived.”
We head down the hall and Rosco stops at the guest room.
“Come on guys, I’ll show you more about the game system after we brief Bo and Luke on what’s happened.
” The boys obediently pause the game they’re playing and follow us into the living room where it seems the whole Robertson family has gathered.
Feeling overwhelmed, I pause at the end of the hall.
Do I want the boys to hear what we’re about to discuss?
I’ve tried to shelter them, but they need to know what we are up against so they can help protect themselves.
They’re almost adults, legally. As much as I want to, I can’t watch over them the rest of their lives.
Tension is thick when I step into the room. Marley, Bo, and Shelby are sitting on the couch. Luke is parked in his chair next to Marley. All eyes land on us with worried expressions on their faces. Marley and Shelby are holding their tiny babies close.
I study the men’s faces, but can’t get a feel for what they’re thinking. Are they concerned or pissed? Will they send us packing once I tell my story? Concern for my brothers and me hits me hard. I have no idea what the future holds for us or how I’m going to get us away from the mob again.
Marley and Shelby feel like the sisters I never had, but I’m their employee, not their family.
They haven’t known me all that long, and they have infants to be concerned about.
When I reveal just how much danger I’ve put them all in, by just being in their lives, I’m sure they’ll want to run me out of town. Losing all of them will be devastating.
“Rosco,” Luke greets as we enter the room. “Enos said Rachel and the boys are in some trouble?” Marley hurries over to me still clutching her newborn son and interrupting the conversation.
“Oh, Rachel! Are you all right?” Marley asks, wrapping one arm around my neck. I shake my head in shock at her words. I’d thought she’d be upset that I’ve lied, by omission, to them.
“I’m okay,” I answer, returning her hug, then peering down at the bundle in her arms. “I’m so sorry.” I look up to meet the gaze of Luke, Bo, and Shelby. “I should’ve been honest with you all from the beginning. I never intended to put you in harm’s way.”
“Rachel,” Marley says softly. “There’s nothing to apologize for. I do wish you had trusted us with your secret, though. We could have helped you.”
“I know,” I whisper, too overcome to speak clearly. “In my defense, I never planned to stay long enough for it to be an issue, but you welcomed us in and made us feel safe…” Tears well up in my eyes, and I blink rapidly to keep them at bay.
“Let’s all have a seat,” Rosco says while wrapping an arm around my waist. Marley looks down at the intimate gesture but doesn’t comment. “We need to get everyone up to speed and know what we’re up against.”
He pulls me into his side, and he urges me forward. Marley returns to her seat on the end of the sofa next to Shelby, and Luke is parked in his chair next to her. Rosco gently guides me to a large recliner. My brothers drop onto the loveseat across from us.
Before I can take a seat, Rosco scoops me off my feet. A yelp of surprise leaves me when my feet leave the floor. He sits down in the recliner, positioning me on his lap. I wiggle trying to get up.
“Settle angel,” Rosco murmurs in my ear, tightening his hold on me. “Remember what I told you at the park?” I’m not sure anyone else heard him, but my face heats from the intimate position we’re in with everyone watching. It gets hotter when I feel his hard length under me.
My eyes close, and I take some deep breaths as I prepare to disclose all our family secrets to our closest friends. Suddenly Enos and Kelvin burst through the front door. Kelvin is toting a large case in each hand with another messenger bag thrown over a shoulder.
“Matthew, Jason, and Dalton are on watch,” Enos announces.
He steps into the dining area and returns with a couple of chairs.
He places them across from the sofa. We are basically sitting in a square with the sofa and dining chairs making up opposite sides, while the love seat with my brothers on it and the recliner Rosco and I are in make up the other two sides with the mahogany coffee table in the middle.
“Bring us up to speed, Kelvin,” Luke demands, taking control of the room.
I release some of the tension in my body, knowing I get at least a short reprieve before I have to talk about my stepfather.
Kelvin pulls the coffee table toward him.
He has set his cases on the floor, and he begins to pull laptops, file folders, and other equipment out of them.
He opens the laptops, turning them on before placing them on the coffee table in front of him.
“It seems the people who hired us for the luncheon today aren’t who they seem on the surface,” Kelvin begins, typing quickly on one of the laptops.
“Lawrence Winthrop is from Chicago. There, he was a low-level member of the Italian mafia, but in recent years, after coming to Virginia Beach, he’s made a name for himself.
“He is ruthless in dealing with anyone who crosses him, which isn’t out of character for someone in the mob, but Larry here has a reputation for being overly creative in his methods of punishment.
” Kelvin glances over at my brothers. “I won’t get into details, but let’s just say it’s a whole new level of evil,” Kelvin informs the room.
“How did a low-level mobster move from one city to another and move up the ranks at the same time?” Bo asks. I’m wondering the same thing.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Kelvin answers, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him. After a couple minutes, he says, “Rachel, I think you should see this.”
Kelvin’s tone gives me an ominous feeling. He spins the laptop around. On the screen is a grainy photograph of my stepfather and Lawrence Winthrop. Despite the poor quality, their resemblance is uncanny. The men are standing side by side in basketball uniforms.
“That’s my stepfather and Mr. Winthrop,” I tell him. “Though they are so much younger in this picture.” Kelvin nods and flips his laptop back around to type more.
“Lawrence Winthrop is your stepfather’s estranged brother,” Kelvin says. How in the hell did I manage to end up at the home of my stepfather’s brother hundreds of miles and six years later? I have the worst luck; that’s how!
This is all too much. Looking around the room, I observe Marley is now in Luke’s lap.
She is often sitting in his lap. One day, she’d joked he needed to get a side car for his wheelchair.
He hadn’t agreed. He’d said he wanted her in his lap where he could hold her.
It was the sweetest damn thing I’d ever heard.
A pang of jealousy had gone through me, then and now.
I want a love like that someday. My eyes drift to Rosco’s profile.
Rosco and I aren’t in a relationship, much less in love but sitting in his lap brings me a measure of comfort.
Something I’m in desperate need of right now.
It’s not the time to be overthinking things and ruin the time we have together.
I’m going to enjoy this for as long as I can.