Page 175 of Like Grim Death: Part One
I try to push the vivid conversation from my mind, the one we had the last time I met privately with Elijah, only days ago. Rain smiles up at me, his chubby little fingers latched around mine as he kicks his feet. He’s in a white shirt with a black bow tie attached to it and pale purple pants, no socks, so his bare blocky feet are flying everywhere as I grin at him.
Car doors are opening and closing in my driveway while I stand on the porch, the sun blocked by heavy gray clouds in the sky. The scent of charred flesh and melted metal hangs thick in the air.
Brooklin’s white Jeep is right in front of the steps, but her car is empty. Behind her, Mav’s Audi is too.
Ezra and Cain are out here in Cain’s Camaro, his fingers tight around the wheel as he stares straight ahead, waiting for everyone else. He apologized for not being there last night after Ezra filled him and Atlas in on what went down. Curiously, he didn’t say where he was and neither did Atlas. The latter is driving over in his Range. He could have ridden with Cain, but he said he wanted his own vehicle.
Rain makes a cooing sound and I dip my head down as milk drips from his mouth. I press my lips to his forehead, closing my eyes as I savor the warmth of him. The way I feel a flood of love holding him in my arms.
I would kill for you. I know your mother would do the same.
I sway a little with him, his grip tightening around my finger, then I hear the double doors open behind me, feeling a gust of cold air as they do, coming from inside the house.
I straighten, opening my eyes and curling Rain closer to my chest as I take in Maverick, filling up the doorway. He’s dressed all in black. In one hand, a black duffel bag swings from his fingers. His eyes are bleary and red, like he’s fucking high, but maybe he just didn’t sleep well last night. I don’t think any of us did.
“You sure you wanna bring him? I heard Brooklin say she’d watch him. Could be better if we separate, find one of the safe houses to put them in.” His voice breaks on his sister’s name, but he doesn’t stumble over it as he nods toward his nephew, in my arms.
“I’m not leaving him here.” Samson’s and Julie’s bodies haven’t left my mind for a second, and now I’ve got three other corpses inside my head too. I never told Sid about Julie and so I couldn’t tell her about Finn, but now all of my brothers know thanks to Ezra’s question last night and my insistence we head to Liber this morning.
Mav nods once, his baby blue eyes cutting to mine. “Ella is going to ride with them. Sid and Brooklin, I mean. I’ll ride with you and Mini Malikov. We’ll flank the girls’ car.”
I arch a brow, surprised Ella would want to share a ride with Sid, but maybe Mav is trying to force their closeness. “Sid will want Rain with her.” Even as I say it, I know it’s not a good idea. She’ll be stressed the entire drive. Wanting to feed him, to make sure he’s breathing, staring in the mirror on the back of the seat so she can see him.
Mav cocks his head, letting me think this through. Then he says, “If he needs to eat, I’ll feed him.” He lifts the duffel bag I thought might have weapons or drugs or fuck-knows-what in it and adds, “Bottles in here.” A grin pulls at the corner of his mouth.
Despite his threat to me last night, for this one second, things feel okay between us.
I snort, shaking my head and kissing my son as he stares up at me with enormous blue eyes, just like mine. “All right.”
“How long will we be there?” he asks, the amusement gone from his voice. There’s something in his question that makes me think he knows I’m hiding shit from him, as if last night in his words it wasn’t obvious enough.
It’s not like we haven’t had multi-night parties at Liber before, but this is different. The building will serve as a fortress now, not a frat house.
I keep my gaze on my son. His smooth skin, cute nose that reminds me of my wife’s, his squishiness. I want to protect him from the fucking world. I want to move far away from here sometimes, never let my uncles get another look at him.
But that would mean leaving my brothers, and I know they’ll always have my back. Besides, there is no place in the world I would be beyond the 6’s or RC’s reach. Even this is temporary, until Boaz calms down after he discovers what I’ve done.
“A couple of nights.” I think of Finn and wonder if I’ll find out where he is now. And when I do, what then? Do I adopt him? But Sid doesn’t even know Julie is dead, and she’s barely hanging in there as it is, adjusting to the life of a parent. She’s struggling. We both are.
I don’t know what to do.
Before I can say anything else though, someone else slips through the doorway and I look up, watching as Mav moves over for Brooklin.
There’s a tension between them, I can feel it in the air. It’s evident too in the way Brook takes two steps to the right, putting distance between herself and her brother, but she also shoots me a scathing look, so maybe she’s just in a bitchy mood.
She’s wearing black leather pants, a white crop top, her bleached blonde hair pushed back with pink clips. They look like opposites in their clothes, Maverick like a felon and her an off-duty model. But their hair, their bone structure, their eyes and lean frames… they’re the same. And they hold grudges in a similar manner too.
For a moment, they stare at one another, a Valentino bag in Brooklin’s manicured hand, gum in her mouth and sunglasses pushed up over her head.
Mav’s jaw clenches and she just chomps on her gum.
Then Maverick says, “You gonna be okay with her?” I know he means Ella and I’m sure his sister does too.
Brooklin scoffs, a small sound. “I can handle your toy.”
“Yo, Brooklin, come with us!” Ezra’s voice booms from Cain’s car, happiness in his words, tempering the anger rising from Mav at Brooklin’s snark.
She shakes her head, the only indication she gives that she hears Ez, but she doesn’t look away from Maverick.
