Page 102 of Linger

Seconds passed before Jentry nodded, and then one of the rockstars moved across the room to sit at our table. “So, you guys are like Batman?”

“What the fuck?” I muttered as Jentry laughed this soft, rasping sound. “Why do people keep asking that?”

“You’re masked vigilantes,” the rockstar defended as if it were obvious.

“Bandanas aren’t masks,” I said pointedly.

Maverick looked at me, eyebrows drawn close. “Who else asked that?” When I tossed a hand in Jentry’s direction, Maverick nodded, then looked at the rockstar just as Dare cut in.

“Don’t mistake any of our good deeds for goodness. We live a certain way to balance out the darkness we bleed into the world. Just because we don’t like our sins doesn’t change who we are.”

“You’re wrong,” Jentry said, then sat back in his chair. A sigh easing from him as he checked Kieran and Jessica’s sleeping toddler in his arms. “The first time I saw Jess and Kieran together, I thought—” A huff left him, his head shaking slightly at the memory. “Well, I thought he was just another guy who was trying to buy her for the night. But when she introduced us to him later, I thought, ‘this terrifying bastard is going to be what finally destroys her.’”

His head slanted and jaw wavered, his eyes filling with tears. “And I was wrong,” he went on, voice thick and shaky. “Kieran—all of you—gave me Jess back. Y’all gave me years with her I never thought I’d have. She’s right.” A strangled sound caught in his throat, and for a moment, he just sat there. Staring blankly ahead before he amended, “She was right. Despite the world you’re caught up in or were born into, y’all are good people.”

Aurora’s glassy stare shifted to me, an apology swirling there before she looked away when Jentry gestured to the windows behind me and said, “And anyone would do what y’all did last night. You defended your family against an outright attack.”

“Last night,” Dare said gravely. Pointedly. “But the next time lives are taken, it won’t be in defense. Again...don’t mistake our good deeds for goodness. Because at the end of the day, my blood demands I take care of things, no matter the fallout. Yours tells you to do what’s right.”

A small nod was Jentry’s only response.

“Were all of you born into this?” one of the other rockstars asked, then hurried to add, “Felt like there was more of you every time we came through on tour and when we moved back.”

“Just us,” Dare said, indicating Lily and himself. “Libby. Kieran. Sutton and Alexis over there,” he added, nodding to where the two sat off in the furthest corner with Conor, head buried under his arms. “And now all of our kids.”

“You knew what they were bringing you into?” the same rockstar asked, looking directly at Einstein, concern burning deep.

“Still my wife, Lincoln,” Maverick ground out.

“Knew her long before you showed up in town,” Lincoln challenged, never taking his eyes off my sister-in-law.

Just as Maverick sat forward, lips parted to reply, Einstein meaningfully said, “I’ve known probably about as long as Maxon’s known that Libby was really a mafia princess. And I didn’t give them a choice in letting me in. I told Dare I was joining.”

Lincoln considered her words for a moment before retreating with a reluctant nod.

“I’m leaving.”

We all turned at the claim to see Kieran standing there, looking unhinged and so damn calm, it was unsettling.

“I’m not coming back until all ties to Keane Street have been erased from this earth,” he went on, voice low and sounding like broken glass over gravel.

“Kieran—”

“I’m leaving,” Kieran repeated, stopping Dare, but Dare just sighed and gave Jentry a pointed look.

“You’re free to take back that good people speech you just made.”

Jentry didn’t respond, and the rest of the room fell into silence when Lily stood and made her way over to Kieran. Head tipped back to meet him straight on because that girl had never feared him a day in her life.

“This isn’t you, and this isn’t Nightshade,” she whispered as if we all couldn’t hear her. “You’re hurting—I know. I see it, Kieran. But if you go like this, your kids will lose both their parents.”

For the longest time, he just stared at her. Green eyes a destructive sort of wild that had every instinct screaming at me to grab Lily and pull her away. But then he spoke through clenched teeth. “Everyone—”

“No,” Lily said over him, already knowing what he was going to say. “It feels like that. Aric...Beck...Jess. But you have your kids and Conor. You have us. And we can’t let you do this.”

“You’ve never been able to stop me.”

Her head bobbed slowly. “And as much as I want to, I know I still can’t. But they’re expecting and waiting for your retaliation, and you aren’t thinking clearly. This is a suicide mission, Kieran. Do not orphan your kids.”

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