Page 89 of Dirty Secrets
“Should I be more worried then?”
“My money’s on Lopez being the target. He’s fucked over a lot of people. For all we know, the fucking Demons have been resurrected for a third time and it’s his family after him,” she scoffed, leaning back in her chair to watch me. “Do you know if he has any family left?”
“The only family I know about are the ones you guys killed. If Zavier has anyone out there, he would’ve been more likely to tell you than me.”
“Don’t be jealous,” she teased, her eyes flicking behind me just as arms draped around my shoulders.
“Raven has nothing to be jealous of. You come second to her, no offense,” Zavier chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “I don’t have any secret family members hidden, no. Maybe we should get Cruz to look into the dead ones though to make sure none left skeletons in their closets.”
“Your luck, there’s random kids everywhere that he never knew about. Who knows if your brother or cousin managed to knock someone up on the side, let alone your father,” Beckett snorted, and I cringed at the thought.
“What happens if there are some of his family still alive?”
“Then he needs to take over the Demons so he has the upper hand,” she answered like it was no big deal, and Zavier huffed.
“I already told you I’m not going to take over a fucking gang. My father ran that crew with an iron fist, so the last thing I need is to take it over. I’d only be seen as weak and end up overthrown anyway since I’d never run it like he did.”
“You guys discussed this?” I asked slowly, not sure how I felt about it. Why hadn’t he mentioned to the rest of us that Beckett was pushing him to lead a fucking crew?
As if sensing my thoughts, Zavier sat in a chair beside me and put his hand on my thigh. “I wasn’t even going to humor the idea of it. I didn’t tell you because it would’ve freaked you out over nothing. Besides, between the Reapers taking out mygrandfather and the Demons over twenty years ago, and then the crews all banding together to take them out again when my father took over leading them on his vengeance mission, surely they’d be too embarrassed to try and make a comeback a third time.”
“I don’t know about that. They’re pretty fucking stupid,” Beckett muttered, but I frowned.
“Wouldn’t it be smart to claim the Demon’s crew then? So no one can rise up and use its name?”
“I don’t think you understand what that would mean for us, Rae,” Zavier replied, but Beckett cut him off before he could continue.
“I don’t see the problem. You’d run them alongside the rest of us, so you know you’d have more protection. You can bring in the Thieves when you need to and you’d be safe from ghosts of your past coming back to take over.”
“Or the ghosts from my past could try to take it back from me and use those I love against me,” Zavier said sharply, his hand tightening on my thigh. “The Demons are dead, and they need to stay that way. If they come back, we kill them again. Simple.”
“What’s thisweyou speak of?” she chuckled, getting to her feet. “I really think you should consider the option, Zav. The Heights doesn’t have a crew claiming territory, so it wouldn’t take much to set it up here.”
“You know better than anyone that when you have power, people try to take it from you. I don’t want that kind of target on me or my family. Drop it, Donovan,” he snapped, and she grinned as she put her hands out in front of her in surrender.
“Chill. I was just saying. I don’t see what the problem is.”
“Raven would fucking leave me. That’s the problem,” he replied, surprising me.
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“Running a crew means getting tied up in crime. You’d really be peachy if I took over the Demons and started running drugs or guns? Tying myself in with other crews and possible wars? This isn’t like how the Heights has groups of teenagers thinking they're tough. This is a literal gang, Raven. You’d be a target all the time because those I love would be my biggest weakness to the enemy. Our home would be a target, you wouldn’t feel safe here, and I know you want kids one day. I know what it’s like being a kid in that world, and it fucking sucks. I’d never want that for our kids.”
“Our kids?” I echoed, and Beckett rolled her eyes as she started walking away.
“You guys obviously need to have a conversation, and as much as I feel it could be amusing, I’ll give you some privacy.”
She went outside to join the others, and Zavier continued to eye me, his voice softening. “Yes, our kids. Yours, mine, and Logan’s. We’ll have a family to think about one day, and I don’t want a target on their heads. You can’t avoid war in that world, someone will always come after the money and power. You think the shit I’ve been involved with in the past was bad? It would be ten times worse if I was leading a crew. I don’t want my name attached to the Demons anymore than it already is. That crew died with my father, and it needs to stay that way. My only priority is you, understand?”
I nodded, a little baffled by the entire conversation. “You really don’t want to do it?”
“No, I don’t. I ran from the Demons for years, Rae. I don’t want to be tied to them. All I want is the white picket fence and a family with you,” he said sincerely, taking my hand and lifting it to his mouth to kiss my knuckles. “One day, I’ll buy us a nice house out of the Heights and you won’t want for anything.”
I smiled, hoping it looked convincing. The thought of leaving this house made me feel physically sick. Every memory of mybrother was here, and despite all the bad memories, I couldn’t leave the good ones behind.
What if his spirit was trapped in here or something?
“Zav—” I started, but was cut off as the front door slammed open and Reid appeared in the kitchen doorway, running his eyes over Zavier and letting out a breath.