Page 57 of Wild Devil
And doesn’t regret one damn thing.
When we head inside the cabin, Kane and Lyra are once again seated at the kitchen table. She throws her head back and laughs at something he must have said before we came in.
“And I thought I had it rough with one puking toddler to chase around. How on earth did you do it with twins?”
“Easy.” Kane chuckles and sips from a chipped mug, filled with what looks to be coffee. “By the grace of God,” he says. “Doing another tour in the army would be ten times easier, but I wouldn’t trade them for the whole world.”
“And you said they both live with your ex?” Lyra asks, but for once, her voice lacks the condescending tone I’m used to her using when it comes to me. “How old are they now?”
“Ten,” Kane says. “But I still see them as crazy little runts running around with full diapers.”
“I’ll drink to that! I feel the same way about my own son.” Lyra sips from her mug, still smiling, and for a second, I wonder if Silas and Heywood’s grand plan was to have her body snatched with some less-uptight clone.
“Nice to see you two have been bonding,” I say from the doorway.
Lyra scowls, instantly proving she’s the same sister I know and love.
“I’m going to stay here and keep these three company,” Kane says. “Damien and the others aren’t far. You’ll meet there to discuss the finer points of the plan.”
I can feel Frey’s eyes burning a hole through the back of my neck. “It’ll be just Sam and Lyra staying here,” I clarify. “Frey’s coming with me.”
Kane raises an eyebrow, but if he objects to her presence, he has enough tact not to say so out loud. “It’s your crusade, man,” he says with a nod. “We’re just along for the ride.”
“Along for the ride while sitting in the driver’s seat,” I point out, pulling out a chair. “We should go over the plan in detail.”
Kane nods and reaches into his pocket for a cell phone. How in the hell he manages to get service all the way out here? I’ll never know. Still, he places it on the table and pulls up a grainy photo of a map of Westpoint City. “Damien sent this over. He marked where the speech will be and?—”
“I think this is my cue to excuse myself,” Lyra says, heading for the door to the porch. Judging from the way she pats the pocket of her jeans, she has a pack of cigarettes in there, ready to be chain-smoked.
As she leaves, I beckon Frey closer. “You still want to be included?”
Her eyes flash with determination. “Yes.”
We go over the finer details of our supposed grand plan, until Sam wakes up from his nap and emerges from the bedroom.
“Why?” he demands when I tell him that I’ll be heading back to the city. “Why can’t I come too?”
“Because I need you here to protect your Auntie Lyra.”
He takes in that request with a solemn nod. “Okay, but when you come back, you, me, and Ms. Lady, we’ll go play in the lake, right?”
“You, me, and Frey will go walk by the lake,” I say, ruffling his hair.
When we leave, I feel a pang in my chest that I don’t expect. It lingers as Frey and I pile into the truck and worsens as I pull out of the driveway. By this time tomorrow, we will either be living out Sam’s fantasy, or…
He’ll be down one less parent. Hell, he’s young enough that he might not even process the difference right away. Maybe that’s for the best. I’m not oblivious to my absence in his life. Lyra has been more of a father to him than I’ve been lately, but that doesn’t mean I’m not ready to rectify that.
I am. I want to be in his life fully without worrying that my past mistakes will catch up to me and take me away from him again. I want to be there for my son one hundred percent of the time.
I will be that for him, God as my witness.
And it wouldn’t hurt to have a calm, beautiful woman by my side.
“I know you’re worried,” Frey says as if she can read my mind. She leans into me, hooking her delicate fingers around my own. “I am, too.”
“Me, worried?” I scoff, but when I glance out of the corner of my eye, I can tell she’s not buying the act. Then it hits me that if I want this to work, I can’t rely on bravado alone. Honesty must come into the equation at some point.
“Frankly, I’m wondering what it will take for me to convince you to go back and stay at the cabin. It’s too dangerous. I told you what your father has in store. You can bet that even having you within the city won’t change his mind.”