Page 48 of Savior

He scratched at his beard. “I mean, who would your mother know that you could ask? You could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Get answers and avoid upsetting her.”

“Molly,” I exclaimed excitedly. “Little Ricky’s mom has known her since they were in high school. If anyone knows what happened, it’d be her, right?”

I stumbled back in his arms at the sound of a gunshot from outside before laughing nervously. “Still getting used to that.”

His face tightened. “I wish like hell you never had to. Dakota, I’m still not convinced this is the best idea—”

“C’mon, Big Guy,” I said, hurrying back out to the porch. “Jimmy’s waiting on us.”

We’d had this conversation already, and he’d made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t on board with Lauren’s plan. He also knew it was futile to try to stop me.

“Babe,” he pleaded from behind me. “Please.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath before turning to face him. The light was gone from his eyes, making it appear as if he was on the verge of tears.

His jaw tightened, and his nostrils flared as he admitted, “I—I thought I lost you once. I’ve worked undercover and seen so much shit go down, but when you got into the car with Jackson, I realized I’d never been so fucking scared in my life. It’s not just you anymore, Cap. We’ve got a son to think about too. If something were to happen to either of you, I wouldn’t survive it.”

My lip quivered, and I bit down on it before nodding. “I won’t let anything happen, Big Guy. I swear.”

It was a promise I hoped I’d be able to keep.

He gripped my fingers in his and brought them up to his lips before leading me back onto the porch. Little Ricky held the Glock sideways in one hand, firing round after round into the fence post.

“Like that?”

Jimmy approached him with a furrowed brow. “What the fuck was that?”

“That’s how we do it in the hood, son,” Little Ricky said proudly. “Bust a cap—”

Lauren reclined on the tailgate of Jimmy’s truck, one hand resting lightly against her baby bump, red lips twisted up in a smirk.

Even though she was nine weeks behind me, our stomachs were the same size. And since she was carrying twins, her due date was going to fall within a month of mine.

Maybe our babies would be cousins and best friends.

“Good way to end up dead, LR,” she called over to him. “Funny, I’ve never seen you shoot like that at the range. How in the hell did you earn a patch with aim like that?”

“Mi sirenita, my aim is perfect—”

“You missed every bottle up there,” she noted with a raised eyebrow. “How is that perfect?”

He shrugged with a laugh. “I was aiming for the fence.”

Jimmy pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. What time is it, Laur?”

She glanced at her watch. “Quarter to two. I’d love to stay and help, but I’ve got a check-up. Ooh, since I’m eighteen weeks now, we might even find out the sex. Weren’t you that far along when you found out, Dakota?”

“What?” I asked distractedly, still trying to figure out why Little Ricky was messing around as if the entire thing was a game to him. “Oh, the gender thing? Yeah, they’re still not entirely certain. You know, it’s such a crapshoot with ultrasounds. The only way to be one hundred percent sure is to meet the baby and check between its legs.”

“We’re having a boy,” Zane deadpanned. “Found out at eighteen weeks.”

“Okay, that was… informative,” Lauren said as her eyebrows moved toward her hairline. “Congratulations.”

“I’m coming with you,” Jimmy stated, putting the guns back into their cases.

“I don’t—” Lauren protested.

Jimmy shook his head and began boxing up the unused ammunition. “You know the rules. Buddy system. It’s safer that way.”

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