Chapter 8
CASSANDRA
“When are you due?” Genevieve asked as she popped the top off a plastic container filled with chocolate chip cookies.
“March eleventh.”
Leo’s eyes shot to mine. He hadn’t asked my due date. Now he had it.
I suspected he’d learned more about my pregnancy in the past fifteen minutes than he had since conception. His kitchen was full of people and everyone was curious about me. Question after question, comparison after comparison, I’d never been around this many pregnant women.
Genevieve smiled. “I’m due in May.”
“We’re both due in March too.” Scarlett smiled at Presley, both of whom had bellies about the size of mine. “Crazy how that worked out.”
“I think it’s perfect.” Bryce tore off the lid to a tray of veggies and ranch dip. “This is going to satisfy my baby cravings so I don’t get any ideas of quitting my birth control.”
“There will be no such ideas.” Dash came walking into the room with a three-year-old Zeke hanging over his shoulder. Or maybe that was Xander?
Introductions had been done in a rush, and the boys looked so similar that I might have mixed them up. Not to mention they were both miniature versions of Dash with their dark hair and mischievous smiles.
“Zeke, where’s your brother?” Bryce asked.
Zeke. That one was Zeke.
He looked up and squirmed until Dash put him down. “Downstairs.”
“Is there anything fragile down there?” Bryce asked Leo.
He shook his head. “Nah. Nothing they can ruin.”
“Stay out of trouble,” Bryce warned her son. “Or I’m kicking you outside.”
Zeke nodded and sidled up to Genevieve’s side. “Can I have a cookie?”
“No,” Genevieve and Bryce answered in unison at the same time Dash said, “Sure.”
The only word Zeke heard was his father’s, of course, and he snatched two cookies and disappeared before his mother and aunt could stop him.
“Sorry.” Dash shrugged and grabbed a cookie of his own, winking at Genevieve before throwing a hand around his wife’s shoulders and hauling her into his side.
Dash, of course, I’d known of because, like Emmett and Leo, he had a reputation around town.
Presley was easy to pick out because she was Scarlett’s twin.
I was still struggling to wrap my head around the fact that Shaw Valance—the Shaw Valance, who I’d seen in countless movies—was sitting at Leo’s dining room table, drinking a beer.
He was the only guy who hadn’t rolled in on a Harley today. Dash, Emmett and Isaiah had all ridden their bikes while the women had come in a succession of SUVs. Scarlett had ridden with Presley and Shaw because Luke had gotten called into the station.
With them had come enough food to last a week. I hadn’t needed to go to the store after all. And no one had been shy about admitting the reason they were all here. Me.
Leo had told Emmett that I’d moved in today and word had traveled quickly. This impromptu gathering was likely to size me up.
“Incoming, V,” Isaiah called into the kitchen from where he was sitting with Shaw and Emmett at the table.
Amelia had a bright smile on her little face as she crawled toward her mother’s legs. The little girl had enthralled me from the moment Isaiah had carried her into the house. Maybe because she was the only girl and the boys were so wild that it was hard to pin them down.
Genevieve swept her up from the floor and kissed her cheek, then snatched a carrot out of the tray for her daughter.
“How old is she?” I asked.
“She’ll be one next month,” Genevieve answered as her daughter launched herself toward Dash.
He popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth, then took his niece and blew a raspberry on her neck, making her giggle. Handsome men with little kids were mesmerizing.
My gaze moved to Leo.
He was visibly ignoring Dash and Amelia, totally focused on sipping his beer from where he stood against the counter in the corner of the kitchen. Did he not like kids? Because he was going to need to get over that. By March eleventh.
Dash stole another cookie, then took Amelia into the dining room. The moment they were out of sight, Leo relaxed and took in the activity in the kitchen. Everyone seemed to know their way around. Everyone but me. To them, this was probably a normal Saturday get-together with friends.
No, not friends. Family.
This was his family. And he would have left them behind because he’d been scared to bump into me in town.
“Hey,” Scarlett whispered, inching closer to where I stood against the counter.
The kitchen was U-shaped with a pass-through to the living room on one end and the dining room. We’d all crammed into this space and I’d hung at the far end of the counter.
“Hey.” I smiled.
“This is probably overwhelming.”
“A bit,” I admitted. These were likely all of the faces I would have seen at her barbeque months ago.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s good to see you.”
“You too. I’m glad you’re back. How was school?”
“School was . . . hard. In a good way. I’m glad I was able to finish and earn my degree. Having that achievement under my belt has made moving home feel less like a failure and more like the next chapter.”
“Congratulations.” She clinked her glass of water to mine. “What’s next?”
“Work for a bit. Save up some money. I’m going to do some freelance transcriptionist work. I actually got a lead on it from one of my professors.”
Authors dictated their books and then a transcriptionist, me, took the audio files and transcribed them. The pay was decent and the hours flexible.
“Leo said you were going to school,” I said. When we’d been in the Warriors’ basement, she’d told me that she wanted to go to school.
“Just online.” She shrugged. “I want to get my degree in interior design.”
“Good for you. I love what you’ve done here.”
“Thanks.” She laughed. “It was fun, and Leo was so gracious about it.”
Down the room, he was still in the same place, watching the room but not really participating in any one conversation.
That was, until Presley walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his middle.
“What is this for?” he asked, settling one of his arms around her shoulders.
“I’m not mad at you today.”
He chuckled and dropped a kiss to her short blond hair. Something about their embrace bothered me. Not that I thought they were any more than friends. Maybe it was because I doubted he’d ever be so easy with me. So open.
“She’s been pissed off at him for months,” Scarlett said.
I tore my eyes away from Leo and Presley. “He told me.”
“Leo’s a good man. How he’s been acting, well . . . she’s disappointed in him.”
Presley had moved up the list of people I wanted to know better. I appreciated her loyalty, though I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve it.
The doorbell rang and Scarlett straightened but she didn’t go to answer it alone. She waited, following behind Leo, as he strode through the house. When they came back, Luke was with her, their hands locked.
“Hey, guys.” He raised his free hand to greet the group.
“Want a beer?” Bryce asked, already going to the fridge.
“Please.” He nodded, bringing Scarlett’s knuckles to his lips. “Sorry that took so long.”
“It’s fine.” She waved it away. Being the chief of police’s wife probably meant she dealt with a lot of strange weekend and evening calls.
“Hi, Cass.” Luke grinned at me. “Welcome back to town.”
“Thanks. It’s good to be home.”
There was nothing but truth in my statement. Home. Clifton Forge. There wasn’t a place on earth where I wanted to have my daughter born but here. Even if this temporary roommate situation didn’t work out with Leo, even if he ultimately decided to walk away, this town would always be home.
“Should we eat or talk business first?” Dash asked, coming back into the kitchen, Amelia still in his arms.
Business. What business?
Leo shoved off the counter and came to my side. “Business. Let’s sit at the table.”
He nodded for me to follow him and when we walked into the room, Emmett, Shaw and Isaiah vacated their seats to let the women sit.
Leo stood behind me, his hands resting on the back of my chair as everyone looked at Dash to start the conversation. He handed Amelia to Isaiah, then took his place behind Bryce’s chair.
“We’re glad to have you here, Cass,” he said.
“Why do I feel like there’s a but coming?”
“No but.” Bryce shook her head. “There’s an and.”
“And”—Dash put a hand on his wife’s shoulder—“now that you’re back, we want to make sure you’re safe.”
My stomach dropped. This was not something I wanted to discuss.
Today or ever. It had been six months since Leo’s warning the last time I’d been in Clifton Forge.
Wasn’t this over? “The Warriors, you mean. Agent Brown called me a few months ago and said they were all in jail. She told me not to worry.”
“Most are in custody,” Luke answered. “The major players at least. Tucker Talbot’s trial is underway. Same with some of his lieutenants. But . . .”
“There it is,” I muttered.
Luke gave me a sad smile. “While the leaders are in custody, some of the Warriors have been released on bond. They’re expected to stay in Ashton.”
“But they might not,” I finished for Luke. “I did nothing to them. They kidnapped me.” And I’d done my best to forget it.
“You didn’t do anything.” Leo shifted, coming out from behind my chair to stand at my side so I could see his face. “We did.”
The Tin Kings.
“So you’re telling me I’m in danger. Still.”
“Yeah. They might retaliate and try to take their revenge.” There was genuine worry in Leo’s eyes and the concern made my heart sink.
Had coming home been a mistake after all? I didn’t want to move away from my parents, not now. But if that was what it would take to secure my daughter’s safety, I would. “Should I leave again?”
“Let’s explain the situation. Then you can decide.” He was supposed to say no. Maybe we hadn’t made as much progress as I’d hoped.
“All right.” I nodded and waited.
“It’s complicated,” Emmett said. “We have a lot of history with the Warriors and it’s likely they blame us for their incarceration.”
“Or me,” Scarlett said.