Page 56 of All of Me

I didn’t bother taking my truck. I needed the air. I grinned at the far paddock they rented as I walked past. It had the outline of six horses in there and one small donkey, and I couldn’t help the chuckle. Everything seemed dark so I assumed they were asleep as it was well after midnight, but I still knocked and tried the kitchen door. Locked. They must be in bed, so I slowly walked around the back of the house to double-check everything was secure, then started to walk away just as a light came on downstairs, then quickly shut off again. Frowning, I walked back around to the kitchen door and knocked again. “Moira, it’s me. We had a bit of excitement, and I wanted to check you were okay.”

I heard the door unlock and it opened slightly, revealing Moira clutching her robe. I smiled. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.” I hesitated and took in her pale face. Shit, she’d been awake, and it had frightened her. “Everything’s okay,” I soothed. “We’ve stepped up the security. No one’s getting in.”

She swallowed and didn’t say anything. “Moira?” I took a step to try and go inside. She didn’t look too good, but then someone yanked her backwards and before I even thought about it, I went for my gun.

Moira cried out and I took in the man standing behind her with a gun raised to her temple.

“Lower your weapon or grandma here gets her funeral a little earlier than she might have wanted.”

The voice came from someone else, so there were two, and another guy appeared from behind the first one and aimed a semi-automatic at me.Shit.If I tried to duck, Moira would likely die. And then I heard the click behind me and knew I was out of options, and lowered my gun, only to be pushed forward into the house and have my Glock taken. Moira sucked in a sob, and we were both pushed forward into the living room. Albert was sitting on one of the chairs, and I sucked in a breath at the unhealthy gray pallor of his skin, but then my attention was taken by a grunt of pain, and I saw Ryan on his knees, a fourth man holding a gun to his head. Sweat trickled down his temples and I didn’t need to see the damp patch on Ryan’s trousers to know he’d pissed himself. I could smell it.

Then I looked to the other large chair, knowing who I was going to see and cursing myself for dismissing it earlier. Of course, Ryan wouldn’t be running around with a team of trained guys with semi-automatics.

The man was in his eighties, at a guess, his black short hair liberally mixed with gray. He wore a meticulous suit, and shiny brown leather shoes. He tipped his head up to look at me, his steely brown eyes taking me in.

“Mister Starr,” he almost purred. “Or may I call you Ringo?”

I looked at Carlos Garcia, leader of the Los Reyes del Silencio drug cartel, then back to Ryan. “You stupid prick,” I snarled. “What the fuck did you do?”

Chapter Twenty

Shae

I couldn’t stay still. Grandad would have said I had too many thoughts in my head, then handed me a piece of wood to smooth. Shown me how to bring out the grain and what to shape it into. I missed him just then with a passion that surprised me.

Mom had been great, but she’d worked a lot of nights, so I spent more time with my gran as I got older, and then my mom had died just as I went to middle school. Then Gran. It wasn’t fair that my dad had gotten away with everything. He should have been the one to die, not them.

Kane had set up a small toddler bed in my room for Tammy, and she was sleeping with Maxie curled up at the bottom. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be going back to his basket any time soon,if ever.

I gave up after tossing from side to side for another hour and not getting any messages from Drake, only to shoot out of bed when I heard the apartment door open. I was in shorts and a tee,so I let myself out of the bedroom to see Diesel had come in and it looked like he was alone.

He glanced up. “Tammy?”

“Asleep.” I followed him into the kitchen and nodded when he lifted an empty coffee cup to me.

“Ringo shouldn’t be long. He wanted to check on Moira and Albert one last time before he left.”

“He’s definitely coming here?” Then I flushed under Diesel’s steady gaze because I’d sounded so eager.

“Yep, he said he was coming to grovel.” He made the coffee while I stood and squirmed, but then he brought both mugs to the table and sat down, so I slid into the other chair. “He’s never going to be easy, you know.”

I scoffed. “And I am?” I might still have a fucked-up heart, and I was also responsible for a three-year-old sister.

“He’s a stubborn ass, but then, so are most people I seem to know.”

I arched an eyebrow pointedly, becausepot meet kettle, as Gran would have said, and Diesel had the grace to look slightly sheepish. I warmed my hands on the mug. “He doesn’t seem to know what he wants.”

“Oh, he knows,” Diesel said. “He just thinks he isn’t allowed to have it.”

“It’s just, I’m a lot, and now there’s Tammy.”

“A lot how?” Diesel asked.

“Well,” I waved a general hand in my direction. Diesel was silent for a minute.

“Does his overprotectiveness drive you up the wall?”

I clutched the mug tighter, then took a sip to give myself a minute. “Does it make me pathetic if I say no?” I asked, almost in a whisper. It was the ridiculous jealousy that had pissed me off, but I still shouldn’t have threatened to leave when we fought. “Solong as it is overprotectiveness and him not just being a dick,” I added.

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