Page 80 of Filthy Liar

“Since you seem healthy enough to flirt and have a bromance,” Rory started dryly, giving me an amused look. “I need to go and check on Noah. Mikey’s got your keys, so we’ll return the car when it’s fixed.”

“Shouldn’t he be sitting down? Didn’t he get shot?”

“No rest for the wicked, Lopez. You should know that,” she said seriously, saying goodbye and heading in the direction of the office, looking back at Raven. “Cops should have some information for me soon. I’ll let you know the second I find out anything.”

Raven nodded, leaning into me as if making sure I was still there, then Rory was gone.

“You can’t seriously want this?” Raven mumbled into my chest, and I knew exactly what she was talking about.

“Crew life isn’t just about getting shot at, and to be honest, this isn’t crew problems, this is mafia problems. Chances are high they would’ve chased me today regardless if I had Noah or not. I was probably the target the entire time,” I reminded her, glancing around looking for Ander.

Why hadn’t he come too?

“He’s helping them identify the bodies outside,” Reid said, answering my silent question. “I can’t even nap without one of you assholes going out and almost getting killed.”

“Wasn’t my intention,” I huffed. “How did you know it was safe to even come here?”

“We didn’t,” Reid shrugged, his eyes dropping to Raven, who was still snuggling into me. “And half of Cruz’s cameras aren’t working. Logan asked Drake about it and he said a lot are offline.”

“Antonio’s making moves then,” I grumbled, motioning to the door. “Let’s go. Sorry for freaking you guys out.”

“It’s not your fault, dude,” Logan promised as we started walking out, Raven dropping her hand into mine firmly. I could tell she was upset, but she was trying so hard to calm herself.

It sounded selfish, but maybe there was a chance that she’d be okay with me joining the crew? She was obviously working through her trauma, and it wasn’t like being part of a crew meant constant gunfire.

Ander raised his chin in silent question to ask if I was okay, and I nodded, letting him finish his conversation with Mikey and some of the guys while we grabbed my phone from Logan’s car then climbed into the Challenger and waited for him.

Logan sat in the driver’s seat, letting me sit in the back with Raven and Reid. Both of them still looked like shit, but at least neither had the shakes anymore.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

RAVEN

“Raven?” Rory repeated, snapping me out of my day dreaming.

“Huh?” I asked, glancing between her and Jade at her kitchen table where we’d been sitting to discuss some Heights stuff. It was Thursday, two days after Zavier and Noah had gotten attacked, and as much as I’d slept through most of those couple of days, I was still exhausted.

Between the fire and finding out the bodies were definitely my father, Reid’s mom, and some random guy I’d never heard of before, my brain kept shutting down.

Emotional crashes sucked.

She gave me an amused smile, tilting her head slightly. “I asked if you wanted a coffee? You look like you’re about to fall asleep. If you needed more time, you should’ve said so. We would’ve been fine today.”

“You needed me earlier with the kids,” I protested, sitting up a little straighter.

“Jade could’ve handled them, or I could’ve told Beckett to come and wrangle them since she owes me for bailing her out of that mess the other morning. As you can tell, the kids are quite capable of occupying themselves when the babies go for their nap.”

She wasn’t wrong. Frank and Gregory had taken the kids into the theater room to watch a movie, and we hadn’t heard a peep out of them since.

“Trust me, I want to be here. If I spend another day in that house with nothing to do, I might scream,” I replied, understanding on her face.

“You know you can hang out here without working, right?”

“I know. I like working. It’s good to check in with the kids too. Has Greg been around a lot?” I asked as she stood, moving towards her fancy coffee machine to apparently make me a coffee.

“He has.”

“Have you managed to find his mom yet? She works a lot, but she always comes home,” I explained, and I didn’t miss the small wince on her face. “She’s gone, isn’t she?”

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