Page 16 of Reed

“Is there anything else you’re leaving out?” I ask. If I didn’t know Leon for as long as I have. I would have missed that slight twitch of his brow. He might be older than me, but I spent most of my summers with him as a teenager and knew when he was keeping something to himself. “Fucking spit it out.”

Just as he is about to open his mouth, the intercom comes to life. “I have a Max here to see Leon.”

“Who the fuck is Max?” Nick asks.

“Just let him in, and I will explain,” Leon says, running his hand through his hair. I nod toward Nick, who stands up and exits the room. Tension starts filling the air, making it hard for me to breathe. Knowing that the fucking Ricci family could be behind this attack on my girl doesn’t stop me from wanting to find and kill them. Do I have the manpower to take on the mafia?Fuck no, but I will give my all to keep my girl and those boys fucking safe.

Nick returns with a man following behind him. I take in the newcomer. He is the same height as Nick, which makes him six foot two. He is lean, like a runner. The ones that people mistake for being weak because they are not stacked with muscles. I, however, never underestimate them because they are as strong as someone who looks like me. I take in his brown hair that is shaved close to his scalp, but his eyes knock the wind out of me, along with the slope of his nose and the little dip above his lips. I’ve been looking at his carbon copies all afternoon.

Standing up, I push Nick out of the way, wrap my hands around Max’s throat, and push him against the wall. He doesn’t fight me or try to get away. But his emerald green eyes narrow. “Who the fuck are you?” I hear the sound of the others standing up behind me. I feel the warmth of my men as they close in around us.

“Let him go, Reed. He isn’t the bad guy,” Leon says, sliding in beside Max. Leon wraps his hand around my wrist and tries to pull my hand away, but I tighten my hold.

“The fuck he isn’t. Who the fuck are you, and why does my girl have two little boys that look exactly like you?” I growl.

Max’s eyes widen, and I feel his throat move as he whispers, “She has kids.”

“He didn’t know, okay. Let him go, Reed,” Leon shouts. “For fuck’s sake Reed. He is her damn brother. Kid, listen to me. Sarah thought he died, but he didn’t, and he is our only ticket to bringing down the people who killed her family.”

Chapter Nine

Ali

The longer Reed is gone, the more ridiculous the idea of staying here becomes to me. Without him here, my brain reminds me of all the bad things in my past until I can’t trust my instincts. Plus, there is the fact that I’m lying to him, and once he finds out everything, there is no way he will want to be with someone like me. Someone with all the baggage I’m carrying around. He might think I’m attractive, but he will ask me to leave once he sees the darkness inside me.

There is no way we can stay here. While the boys don’t have too many toys at home, here they have nothing, and watching TV only keeps them occupied for a little while. I feel uncomfortablewalking around Reed’s house, but I have to do it to see if I can find anything the boys can play with. The first floor holds the living room, a dining room, the kitchen, a library, and a gym. Nothing for two-year-old boys to play with. With the boys on my hips, I check upstairs. I find three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, and a master bedroom. Once Jacob starts crying for Mr. Dog, his stuffed animal, I know we have to go home. Reed and I live in two different worlds. This will never work.

So I call the only person I know who will come to get us, Grandmama. I find the address to Reed’s house from a piece of mail in the office. The gate needs a code, and I don’t have it. For that reason, I tell her to call when she gets to the gate, which she does. By the time we get to her car, Jacob is a mess. We all are cold, frustrated, and exhausted. We get the boys settled in the car seats Grandmama has for them.

I lie and tell her that my Jeep wouldn’t start, and a friend from college brought me to their house, but they had to work. She lets it go even though I can tell she doesn’t believe me. Was I terrified to go back to the apartment? Yes, but what else could I do? I just had to pray that whoever trashed my car doesn’t know where I live. Grandmama helps me get the boys out, but I refuse to let her come inside. I give the boys cereal for supper, help them into their pajamas, and make them a warm cup of milk. My phone died hours ago, and I haven’t had a free second to plug it in to charge.

It takes the boys less than five minutes to fall asleep. While I want to stay in bed beside them and sleep, I can’t. I need to figure some things out. Slipping out of the room, I leave the door cracked in case one of them wakes up. Then I head out to the living room. After hours of processing what happened, Dennis is the only person who makes sense. It can’t be the guys who killed my family because they don’t know I’m alive or that I even knowwho they are. No one knows what I know, and I plan to take that secret to the grave with me.

Would I love to see justice done to the guys who ripped my family away from me? Yes, but will it ever happen? No, because they aren’t the kind of people I want on my radar. I don’t want to deal with Dennis either, but he is a lot less scary out of the two. The only thing that he can do is try to take my kids away from me, but I don’t think he will. Maybe it was someone who had seen me with Reed and was jealous. Old me would run from this. I would pack our things and skip town to start over somewhere else.

I could pick up my phone, and with one call, we would be far away from this place, but I love this little town, and I don’t want my boys living a life in fear, always looking over their shoulders. I promised them the day I found out I was pregnant that I would protect them with my life, and I don’t plan on breaking that promise. So it’s time to stand tall and face whatever this is head-on.

I pull out my keys from my pocket and pick up the metal box from the small bookshelf under the only window in the living room. After unlocking it, I pull out the one big purchase I made when I turned eighteen, a Diamondback DB9. It’s small enough to hide but also powerful enough to protect us if I need it. I usually keep it locked up, and over the years, I never once thought about getting rid of it, no matter how much I needed money. I need the security it provides over anything else.

I tuck the pistol in my back pocket and head into the kitchen to make something to eat. I pull out a can of vegetable soup and dump it in a pot on the stove. After it’s bubbling away, I grab a spoon and inhale the bland, watery mixture while it’s still hot. I’d prefer a sandwich or frozen nuggets, but I always leave that for the boys. I double-check the lock on the front door, making sure it’s engaged, place a chair under the handle, and turn offthe lights. I change into my sleep shirt and crawl into bed with the pistol. When we got home, I moved the mattress so I could sit with my back pressed against the wall and face the door. I pull the boys closer to me, one on each side, and place the pistol on my lap. If someone is coming for me, I won’t be caught by surprise, and they will be dead before they lay a finger on us.

I read the book I grabbed from the library to pass the time and keep myself awake. I’m thankful the boys learned to sleep with a light on because I can’t stand the darkness tonight. I must have dozed off because I’m jerked awake when the floorboard in the hallway creaks with added weight that shouldn’t be there. Slowly, I lay the book down and pull the boys’ covers over their heads. With steady hands, I raise the pistol up, pointing it toward the door, and place my finger over the trigger. When I bought the gun, I had extensive training from a friend on how to use it properly. So, I hold it as I was taught and keep my breathing calm even though my heart is racing.

I know the hallway and the creaks by heart. When whoever is walking down gets right outside the door, the floor will sound again. That’s when I will give my warning, and if they take another step, they will meet their fucking maker.

Once I hear that creak right outside the door, I open my mouth and say calmly but loud enough that they hear me, “You picked the wrong person and the wrong apartment. Take that final step, and you will be dead before you hit the floor. I don’t care who you are or what you want; I will empty this clip into your chest before you have time to reach for a weapon.” My voice is even, steady, unwavering, and full of authority. Caleb shifts closer when he hears my voice, and I pray my boys sleep through this. Whatever happens, I will always protect them, but I don’t want them to be jarred awake by their mother killing someone. But if whoever is out there doesn’t leave, I won’t have a choice.

A chuckle comes from the darkness, but it doesn’t cause fear to race through me. Instead, in its wake, my heart rate starts to slow down and the coldness that had settled over me lifts. “Little One, I’m going to step into the light. Please don’t shoot me. I don’t want to die before I have a chance to taste all of you.” Reed’s voice floats through the night and settles in the apex of my thighs.

I don’t lower the gun, but I do say, “I won’t shoot you. For now.”

Reed slowly steps out of the darkness and into the light with his hands raised in the air. His eyes sweep the little room, and I don’t miss the way they narrow and darken at what he is seeing. It’s not messy, so he isn’t seeing piles of trash or clothes. No, his eyes are taking in the stained carpet that was once white but is now almost brown. The walls have multiple holes from the previous tenant and the mice. He then looks up to the corner of the ceiling, where there is a massive brown stain from when it rains. If you pull up the carpet or pull back the wallpaper, I’m sure you will find mold and a lot of it.

“Little One, can you please lower the gun so I can come in and finally be able to breathe?” Reed asks, focusing all his attention on me once again.

“Why can’t you breathe?” Reed doesn’t come off as someone who scares easily, but I’ve been wrong about people before. Therefore, I still don’t lower my gun. If he is having a medical episode, he better convince me quickly that me and my boys are safe. I know I’m contradicting myself but right now I have to hear it again.

“I haven’t been able to take a fucking breath since I returned home to find you and the boys gone. I really, really need to hold you right now, but I don’t want to get a bullet wound trying to get to you. I also don’t want to have to overpower you and take that gun from you. I want you to trust me enough to put it down andallow me to come in. I will say this again and continue to say it as often as you need to hear it. You. Are. Safe. With. Me.”

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