48. Chapter 48
Chapter 48
VIVIAN
J ude and Roman take off for some R&R a few days after he gets out of the hospital. He told me that he had been planning to go away with just Roman this summer, and he moved it up thinking it would probably be easier for him to rest if he wasn’t around the businesses.
“I’m going to miss you,” Roman says, giving me a fierce squeeze.
“I’ll miss you too, bud, but you are going to have so much fun with your dad,” I remind him, and he nods.
“Will you FaceTime me sometimes, though?” he asks.
I laugh. “Yes, I promise.” And then I turn and say goodbye to Mr. Falco, who also takes me into a fierce hug. “Get some good rest,” I tell him.
“Thank you, Vivian,” he says. He releases me and I move to turn, but he puts a hand on my arm, stopping me. I turn back. “He’s going to love you fiercely, Vivian. It’s a lot, but it’s the only speed he runs.”
I nod at him and kiss his cheek, then make room for Slade and Declan to say their own goodbyes. And then, in the dusk, they are off.
“I have to go and handle something tonight,” Declan says to me once we go back in the house.
“Okay,” I say. “Is it at one of the restaurants?”
“Close by,” he says vaguely, and my stomach clenches. “But you can set the alarm system, and Axel set up the cameras this afternoon, so if they are tripped we can see them.”
After the last break-in, Axel went balls to the wall as Declan put it, outfitting the tenement building and his father’s house in the latest and greatest devices. He even rewired some of them together to enhance their features and get them to do some things other than those recommended by the manufacturer.
“What are you going to do, Declan?” I ask point-blank. I don’t like the way he just tried to brush me off.
His face is shuttered down as he meets my gaze, and I know he is going to lie to me before he does. “Just some routine checks with my brothers,” he says.
“Declan—” I start, ready to confront him on the matter, but a honking interrupts us.
Declan comes to me and crushes his mouth to mine, squeezing me in his arms. I feel more bulk under his shirt before he releases, and I realize he is wearing a vest of some sort.
“I love you,” he tells me and then he is gone.
And I am left here wondering where he is going with a bulletproof vest under his clothes.