Page 68 of Blackout-

Pushing off the table, Blackie stands and turns to us. Keeping his face expressionless, he shakes the hair away from his eyes and bites the inside of his cheek.

“In the car,” he replies. Clenching and unclenching his fists, his eyes lock with mine. “Get your stuff together, we’re going home.”

“Praise Jesus,” Nico exclaims. “No offense but this place is the pits.”

“You looked pretty comfortable to me,” Blackie sneers, pinning him with a glare. “You always fall asleep on the job?”

“Blackie,” I start, standing from the couch. He doesn’t give me a chance to get another word out as he walks away. Reaching the door, he pauses and glances over his shoulder at me.

“Anthony’s got someplace to be, so let’s make this quick, yeah?”

He doesn’t wait for me to answer and walks out of the cabin, closing the door behind him.

“What just happened?” Nico questions, stretching his arms over his head. Not really sure myself, I shake my head in response. Deciding I’ll deal with it once we’re home, I leave Nico in the living room and go pack my bag. Once I have everything, I step out of the bedroom and Nico takes the bag from my hand.

“Let’s get out of here,” he says as he leads me towards the door.

Outside, Blackie leans against Anthony’s SUV with a blank expression. Lifting his eyes to me, he opens the back door and tips his chin, urging me to slide in. I stop in front of him and touch my hand to his cheek.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” he mutters, taking a step backward. My hand falls from his cheek to his chest and that’s when I notice his vice president patch is missing from his kutte. His eyes follow mine and he closes his hand around my wrist.

“We’ll talk about it when we get home,” he says.

Before I can question him any further, Nico steps beside me and goes to slide into the back seat. Blackie reaches around me and grabs him by the back of his kutte.

“Sit in the front,” he growls.

“Are you sure? I’m used to riding bitch, it’s kind of my thing. You know, part of the job description and all—”

“Sit the fuck in the front, Nico, before I shove your ass in the fucking trunk.”

Widening his eyes, Nico obliges and moves around us to climb into the truck beside Bianci. Blackie grabs my hand and ushers me into the car before sliding in next to me.

“Blackie,” I whisper once he shuts the door.

“I’m not in the mood, Lace.”

Well…

Okay, then.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Blackie

On the wayback to the cabin, I rehearsed everything I planned on telling Lacey, deciding to lead with how I dropped the gun. After that, I’d go on to tell her about the charges the DA was planning on bringing against me and how I handed in my patch, prepared to turn myself in and fight the case. Once I was finished exposing myself as the fool and sharing my guilt with her, I’d regretfully break the news regarding Jack’s decision. Knowing how tight Lacey and her father were, it was safe to assume she’d be devastated and in her fragile state of mind I feared her reaction. Therefore, I figured it would be best to wait until we got home before I sprung any of this on her. What I hadn’t anticipated was finding her and Nico sleeping on the fucking couch with that godforsaken movie playing in front of them. At the sight of them, anger rolled through me in waves. If I had my fucking gun, I probably would’ve shot the little shit right in the dick. Instead, I tore my eyes away from them and focused on the movie they were watching and cursed that fucking Cooper guy from here to kingdom come.

It didn’t help matters any that the scene playing on the screen was of some twerp telling Cooper’s character how much he fucked up his woman’s life. I plopped my ass on the coffee table and as painful as it was to watch, I couldn’t look away. It was like a car crash and as soon as the character took one final look at the woman he loved, I predicted how the movie would end. Not because it was a cliché but rather because the acting was that good. I could tell you what the character felt and thought because they were all things I’ve felt and thought myself and when he stumbled out of his truck and made his way to the garage, I bowed my head. If I was a guy who wore hats, I probably would’ve tipped mine in appreciation to the fictional character for being so fucking selfless. For having the guts to do what I never could.

I don’t know what made me finally lose interest. I think it was watching the surviving characters mourn him. The way his wife fell apart was just too much. For a brief second, I pictured Lacey sitting there crying, wishing there was something she could’ve done. Something different she might’ve tried. I had no doubt she would react the same, but like Cooper’s character I was also able to see the silver lining. The world would keep moving without him and as time went on, she’d somehow heal. Free from the chains that bound her to the man who clipped her wings, she would no longer live to clean up his mess. She could live the life she was born to and soar.

There was one difference between Cooper’s onscreen wife and mine though, Lacey was pregnant and for that reason, and that reason only, I forced the suicidal thoughts out of my head. Pulling myself together, I turned when she called my name and even though I tried to fight it, I couldn’t help but look at her and Nico on that couch and wonder if she was better off with someone like him. Someone her own age without a shitload of fucking problems. Someone her old man didn’t need to fucking save.

As quickly as the thought entered my mind, it fled the moment my eyes landed on Nico. Oblivious to the world, he stretched his body and yawned. A guy like him wouldn’t know the first thing about keeping Lacey happy. He wouldn’t know how to love her right or have the patience to ride the highs and lows of her illness and he sure as hell wouldn’t know how to fuck her properly. Keeping all that in mind, I still decided to harbor resentment for the little asshole who spent the greater part of the day drooling on my wife’s shoulder while I prepared a fucking monologue on how to tell her Jack was going to prison.

With Nico tucked in the front seat playing DJ beside Bianci, I took Lacey’s hand and traced my thumb over her wedding bands. She scooted closer to me and wrapped her arm around my middle. I expected her to press me on my foul mood, but she surprised me with comfortable silence and soon she was asleep on my shoulder—where she fucking belonged. I must’ve dosed off myself because the next thing I knew, Bianci was shaking me, ordering me to get the fuck out of his car.

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