Page 39 of Filthy Liar

“So youdidshit your pants?” I asked, trying to fight my smile and failing.

“Don’t tell anyone,” he whisper-yelled, my eyes moving to Ander as he approached.

He looked fine, just like Cruz said he was, but I felt better seeing him with my own eyes.

“I handled it,” he said as if I wasn’t aware, taking my chin between his thumb and finger to tilt my face up for a kiss.

“It was hot too. Zavier’s got to watch out, or I’m leaving him for Lavaro,” Logan joked, batting his lashes at Ander. “My hero.”

“You’re not my type,” Ander scoffed.

“Whatisyour type?”

“Raven. That’s it,” he grunted, taking my hand and leading me towards the house. “We should be safe tonight. They’ll regroup and come up with another plan. I’m expecting fire.”

“Why fire?” I asked with a groan, unlocking the door to let us all in.

“I told you it’s basically his calling card. When Stefano’s pissed, he burns shit. He was mad at me, so he burned my house. The question is, what will he burn if he’s pissed about today?”

I glanced at Logan and Zavier, trying to come up with something. Neither of them had anything, but Logan had his car.

“Maybe the Plymouth?” I suggested.

“Possibly. I’m wondering if we should put better security outside to keep an eye on the cars just in case.”

“Does this mean we shouldn’t go to the track tonight?” Reid asked, double checking the door was locked once we were all inside.

It sounded like a bad idea to go, but Ander shrugged. “I doubt they’ll come after Zav again tonight. It might take Stefano a day or two to even realize his men are dead. That gives us time.”

“Or they show up and gun us all down,” Logan muttered, and Ander rolled his eyes.

“You guys are used to dealing with street rats, not mafia. Stefano is calculated, he won’t be expecting his men to report back until late tonight or tomorrow as he probably sent them on the job without knowing when they’d run into you. Unless they called to confirm they’d seen you, Stefano doesn’t know shit. His money talks, but it’s a lot of fucking around and hush money if he does something public. It would take a lot for him to lose his cool and make a move like that.”

“I’m not trusting your logic. Sorry, man,” Reid stated, motioning to me. “Would you bet Raven’s life on it?”

When Ander hesitated, I knew the answer. Just because Stefano didn’t usually make a bold public move, didn’t mean he wouldn’t.

“I’m going to go and shower. Zav, you’re with me,” I said firmly, wanting to look him over properly. The guys grumbled about it not being fair, but Zavier happily ignored them and followed me towards the bathroom.

He silently stripped off so I could inspect the damage better, knowing exactly why I’d told him to come with me.

“I won’t lie and say it wasn’t a bad situation. If we’d crashed at the speed we were going, we’d probably be dead,” he finally stated when I didn’t speak.

“How fast were you fucking going?”

“The limit. The speed isn’t the problem. It’s the sudden stop that could’ve been,” he joked, wincing as I smacked his stomach with the back of my hand. “Sorry. If we’d hit a tree or something, it would’ve been bad. It was either hit the car in front, or pull off into the field. Thankfully, the land has recently been sold, so they’re only just putting a new fence in. We found a gap.”

“We can’t live like this, Zav,” I sighed, stepping closer so I could rest my forehead on his chest.

“We won’t have to for long. Ander and Rory will figure it out, and then things will go back to normal. It’s hard to form a plan when we can’t find the fucker though. I was talking to Stone about it today, and he said they can’t find their main base or anything. They have good tech and hackers of their own, so they’re hiding more easily than anyone else could.”

“Why haven’t they come after me again? I’m always expecting them to.”

He winced, cupping my cheek. “You’re one of the only things he could use against the rest of us, that’s why. I don’t think they’d gun you down, but they’d be likely to take you and hurt you to make us fall into line. He knows Ander’s here and that he’s siding with me, which is why he’s getting annoyed. Family loyalty is everything to the mafia, and Ander’s only loyal to us.”

“That’s because we’re his family,” I said firmly, a smirk spreading across his face.

“I wish I could record this conversation and send it to the Raven from a few months ago. She’d hate to know you fell for Lavaro.”

---