Page 81 of Myla: The Hawthornes

“Put your dog on a leash, Billy,” Gray cut him off. “He gets off, and who knows what happens? Could get hit by a car, runnin’ free like that.”

“Kitz is an important part of my organization.”

My hands curled into fists under the table and my teeth ground together, but I didn’t say anything.

“Kitz is a liability, and you know it,” Gray replied.

“Well, agree to disagree.”

“Do I need to take care of this for you?” Gray asked softly.

Billy looked away first. “No, you do not,” he replied stiffly.

“Put him on a fuckin’ leash, Billy.”

“Consider it done.”

“He doesn’t come near a single person in the Kelly family.”

“I thought the dead man was Lewis?” Billy asked dismissively.

It took every bit of willpower I had to keep my seat.

“The woman he kidnapped is a Kelly,” Gray snapped.

“Fine,” Billy said, waving his hand like he was brushing something off the table. “The Kelly family is off-limits.”

“Every single one of them.”

“Every single one,” Billy agreed.

“They’re under our protection, Billy,” Gray said softly. “If he gets anywhere near them, he’s a dead man. My boy Wanker here will take care of that.”

Billy looked at me. I smiled.

“But if that happens—” Gray tapped the table softly with his knuckles to bring the man’s attention back to him. “You’re a dead man, too, Billy.”

“Understood,” Billy replied stiffly.

“That’s good,” Gray said, his expression changing completely. He stretched his arms above his head like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Glad we had this talk.”

After leaving a twenty on the table for the waitress’s inconvenience, I followed Gray back out of the restaurant. I could feel the weight of Billy’s eyes on us until we’d rounded the building.

“You think he’ll take care of it?” I asked as we reached our bikes.

“I think he’s a pussy,” Gray said grimly. “I’m just hopin’ that Kitz doesn’t realize it.”

“Is that the head guy? Smith?”

Gray let out a rough chuckle. “Nah, man. Billy’s just a cog in the wheel—a more important cog than Kitz, his boss, actually—but still just a cog.”

“Great.”

I kept my eyes open as we rode back to the house but my mind wandered. Myla was probably still on the road home. I wondered how pissed she was. I hadn’t exactly been nice about making her leave, but I wasn’t sure how else to make her go. The meeting with Billy had already been set up, and we had no idea how Kitz would react when we sent the warning. I didn’t want Myla anywhere near us when he found out.

It was hard enough keeping my family safe. Aoife and Aisling understood what exactly we were dealing with, but the others had no clue. Ronan insisted on going back to his apartment on his own. Saoirse kept walking out to Aunt Ashley’s RV without telling anyone where she was going. Sean was a two-year-old menace who was used to having the run of the house, which meant that we’d have twenty-second panic attacks, afraid that he’d gone into the backyard alone or something when he’d just run up to his bedroom to get a stuffed animal.

I was running on empty. There was no other way to put it. I was pushing through, and I’d keep pushing through until they were safe at the property, but Jesus, I was worn thin. I wantednothing more than to crawl into Myla’s bed and sleep for a week. I never slept as good as when she was beside me.

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