Page 111 of Awakened by Sin

“What?”

“The next time you do some wild shit, they know they’ll have to deal with me as well. I put you under my wing.”

“You put me on the map, jack off!”

“You wouldn’t be on the map if you hadn’t decided to shoot Maddog. I took the killing shot, but everyone who was there knows you would have kept shooting until he keeled over. Did you work through whatever shit was going on with you last night? It has to do with Vinny, right?”

She stomped her foot. “Stop trying to play my fucked-up therapist! You don’t know me!”

He chuckled. “I do know you. It’s like looking in a mirror. You, Luci, and I are cut from the same cloth. I don’t need to analyze you because I already get it.”

“You don’t get shit.”

“Right. Where are you?” he asked suddenly.

“In a Petco parking lot. Why?”

“You’re alone?” His voice was suddenly sharp.

“No, I have my guards.”

“Stop fucking around and get to your safe place. Once Gavin got involved, the Black Vipers went to ground. Stay low and if you have to go out, don’t leave without them. Got it?”

“If you hadn’t taken me, I wouldn’t need guards,” she sassed back.

The line went dead. She cursed and turned to see Frederick and Mickey standing closer than they had been a minute ago. She glared as she pushed between them and got in the car. Mickey said nothing as he drove. Her foot tapped against the floorboard in irritation. If Angel hadn’t taken her last night, she would still be encased in her impenetrable wall of denial, a much-needed buffer that kept the guilt at bay so she could function. Now, it was in her lungs. With every breath she took, pain swirled around in her chest like fine shards of glass, leaving razor thin cuts on her insides.

Mickey pulled up to a house painted in baby blue and white with big bay windows and rose bushes in front. She stepped out of the car as the front door opened, and Mom and Marv appeared. She waited with her hand on the door, bracing herself for a lecture or disapproving look from Marv.

“I thought something happened to you,” he said as he gave her a hug.

The smell of Old Spice and the burly feel of him went to her head like whiskey.Oh, Dad, I miss you so much, she thought and willed back the tears. Dad wasn’t here, but Marv was doing a damn good job of stepping up. He roused good memories that made her want to burrow against him and hang on tight.

“I brought donuts,” she said as he pulled away. She made a big show of reaching into the car to grab them.

Marv’s eyes widened. “You’d be a hit at the mechanic shop.”

“Really? I can deliver—”

He laughed and swung an arm over her shoulders. “No, that’s okay. Come inside.”

“Wait, let me get Vinny.”

He released her and watched as she hefted the urn. He didn’t comment as he led the way into the house. The house had high beam ceilings, wood floors, and a big fireplace. Everything was open, airy, and filled with personal touches that said it had been well lived in. She got a glimpse of a well-kept backyard with thriving plants.

“This is it,” Marv said. “It’s simple but—”

“It’s perfect,” she said quietly as she clutched Vinny to her chest.

“I think so,” Marv said with his hands in pockets.

A young, exotic woman walked out of the hallway wearing jeans and a shirt two sizes too big for her. She had the perfect mix of both parents—creamy white skin from her father and slanted hazel eyes and pin straight black hair from her Asian mother.

“This is my daughter, Maddie. She’s a freshman in college. Maddie, this is Carmen, Isabel’s daughter,” Marv said.

“Hi,” Maddie said faintly.

“Hi,” Carmen said and hefted Vinny awkwardly on her hip.

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