Page 110 of Break Out

I smiled. “I’m having dinner with him, my parents, and Steel tomorrow night.”

She choked. “Did you say Steel’s gonna be there too? Does he have a death wish?”

“Mom said she’d keep an open mind,” I said, spreading another layer of sauce onto the lasagna.

Alexandra laughed. “Yeah, open to ways she can take him out.”

I shook my head. “This isn’t helping, you know.”

“I’m sorry. It’ll be fine, just make sure everyone leaves their guns at the door.”

“Alexandra.”

“That’s the last joke, I promise. But you better call me Friday. I want to hear how this goes. I’d call Bobby, but he’ll give me like two-word answers, and I need more than that.”

I wanted to change the subject to Rafferty so bad, it wasn’t funny, but I couldn’t do that without running my mouth about the Devil Lancers. Instead, I said, “Well, you call me on Friday. I never know when you’ll be out and about, Miss Social Butterfly.”

“Far from it, but I’ll check in. Later, Simone.”

I hit the button to end the call and finished layering the lasagna.

The door opened and Steel came inside. “Hey, Steel.”

He sauntered to me. “Hey, yourself. Is that lasagna?”

I smiled. “Yep.”

“I fucking love lasagna. I hope yours is good.”

I tilted my head. “I like to think so. Mom’s mom was Italian, and I make the sauce from scratch.”

His eyes widened. “Well, shit. If I hadn’t already told you I loved you, I’d tell you now.”

My head shook while I tore off a piece of aluminum foil and wrapped the pan. “You definitely know how to make a girl feel special.”

He wrapped his arms around me. “Oh, I’m gonna make you feel special all right. Let’s hit the bedroom, this can wait.”

My jaw dropped open. “No, it bakes for an hour and a half. Once I put it in the oven, I’ll have that much time to be with you.”

His hands traveled down to my ass and gave me a squeeze. “You better, Jade.”

Thursday afternoon, Dad drove his GMC Acadia and picked me up at the apartment. He didn’t come inside because it was closing in on four o’clock and he wanted to beat the worst of the early rush hour traffic on Blanding Boulevard.

“You and the baby are okay?” he asked after I buckled my seat belt.

Reflexively, I rubbed my belly. “As far as I know, but I go to the doctor next week.”

He nodded. “That’s good to hear.”

Once we were on I-295 he turned down the volume on the radio. “I’m not gonna harp on this, but I wanted more of the civilian life for you.”

I turned and took in his profile. His goatee had more gray. “Why? That’s what I don’t understand. You and Mom love the life and the brotherhood.”

His lips twisted for a moment. “Sure, but there are things that come with the life – extra police attention, and even if you dodge that there’s plenty of other judgmental assholes out there.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Who cares? Fuck ‘em. They aren’t living my life, I am.”

He chuckled and blew out a sigh. “Jacqueline was right. You are my daughter, but saying that doesn’t change how hard it can be looking over your shoulder all the time.”

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