Page 53 of Forever Your Touch

“Fucker, don’t go stealing my lines.” Viktor fist bumped his twin.

“Language.” Sara wagged her finger at them all and then pointed to Mateo. At eight, he was still small, and they all assumed it was his premature birth. The kid had been born at twenty weeks and survived. He might be small, but he was a hell of a fighter.

“Your girl good?” Conner asked after winking at Sara, who rolled her eyes and walked away muttering about hot sauce.

“Hot sauce?” He glanced to Viktor for an explanation.

“She’s threating to catch me asleep and put hot sauce in my ear.” Viktor shrugged. “Not sure what that would do, but…”

Conner laughed. A full-on laugh that made both Viktor and Mason go completely still. It was such a rarity to hear him laugh.

“It will cause severe pain, and you won’t be able to hear right for weeks. It’s a hell of a good torture instrument.”

“Sí.” Mateo nodded. “Juan has done to me.”

That shut them all up. Being raised in the cartel meant the kid saw a lot, and sometimes the things out of his mouth terrified them. But when he spoke of the torture he’d endured, not realizing that was what it was, it made them all want to hunt Juan, the man responsible for raising Mateo, and murder him.

“Juan will never hurt you again,mio.” Conner squatted to look the boy in the eyes. “Remember my promise?”

“Sí.” The kid’s green eyes went hard and cold, and it made Mason swallow nervously.

“I will bring you proof next week.”

“You found him?”

“Sí.” Conner grinned, the smile full of the promise of death. The expression in his black eyes matched the one in his nephew’s perfectly.

Dear God.

“Enough of that,” Viktor said, ending that particular conversation. “Kade hears you talking about that, he’ll be pissed.”

“Promises are promises, Viktor.” Conner stood and ruffled the boy’s hair. “I’m just fulfilling a family obligation.”

They all let it drop.

“Now, about your girl…”

“She’s not my girl.” Mason cut Conner off.

“Why the hell not?”

“Uh, because she’s in love with someone else?”

“When has that ever stopped a Kincaid? Boy, didn’t we teach you anything?”

“Fucker…”

Mateo giggled, and some of the tension went out of him. That boy’s laugh was magical, considering he’d looked like a stone-cold killer moments before. Maybe he would be all right.

“Conner’s right,” Viktor said. “You need to fight for her.”

“Weren’t you the one warning me off her a few days ago?” Mason shook his head. These people and their advice were whiplash-worthy.

“That was before you told me the asshat was fishing instead of at her bedside. No respect. He needs to go. I like that girl, and I like you around her. Some of that cockiness goes away, and the real you shines through. It’s nice to see.”

“Asshole, you’re just as cocky as me, and you know it.”

“True, but it’s toned down around my family. I’m more me since I met Sara. I like me, and I’m liking you more and more around Josephine.”

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