Page 26 of Shield and Savior
Again, the men exchange glances. “I can’t look in my grandson’s eyes knowing I was the one who ended his father’s life.”
That’s sweet, sort of. My dad can be sentimental when he wants to…but… “Those were Mom’s words, weren’t they?”
“And Nonna’s,” he says and reaches for his glass on the coffee table. “Now, there’s a task you must do for us.”
Here it comes. Forge some documents, be a lookout, use my feminine wiles to distract some guard…
“We need you to go to a wedding and deliver a message.”
“Huh?”
“We stopped going to weddings after the electric slide got all changed up. We send the kids now. It’s your turn.”
OH NO. I’d rather do something illegal and morally gray. Not this. Not a fancy dress, heels, surrounded by people I don’t know. No. No.
The men smirk at each other.
My dad smiles. “Kiddo, this is yourWaterloo.” He grabs his phone, and music blares from the speaker. Everyone stops and instantly starts singing. My dad grabs my hand and starts to shake his hips. I think I might be dancing, but I’m not sure. By the chorus, the whole room is singing at the top of their lungs.
The kids stomp up the stairs to see the spontaneous Broadway number. Drew shakes his head and says, “Mom, this is so cringe.”
“Welcome to the Family, kiddo.”
ChapterThirteen
Lance
My body feels like a beehive of energy. After the most boring weekend ever, I’m finally getting a chance to see her. Fuck. Why am I excited about this? Honey Badger never made me feel this way. Weird. Well not weird in a bad way, just different from what I’m used to.
Once I drop off the other kids, and it’s just Champ in the car with me, we fall into a comfortable silence. No generic conversations and vague answers. I almost forget he’s there, but then I hear him singing along to one of Honey Badger’s first hits. Two worlds colliding.
Nessie is all smiles when I pick her up, but she punches my arm. If I was wearing a suit, I would’ve had more protection, but I’m not, so there’s nothing to cushion the tiny attack.
“How the hell do you know everyone in my family?” Her hair is down today, long and curly. Her nose is all scrunched up, and she’s wearing a melodramatic scowl. I would rather take over Alana’s ‘Fuck You’ face any day. I’ve never seen Nessie this annoyed.
“Ow!” I rub my arm. “It’s gonna be hard to protect you if I have a broken arm.” I back the car out of the parking spot and head back home. No, to her place. Not home. Shit.
“Answer the question. Do you work for them? Like all of them?”
I pinch my lips together as I try to come up with the right words. “It just sort of happened. I met Thiago about ten years ago through Alana.” Of course, we were all different people back then. “Uri’s dad needed a favor, and that’s how we met him. Duncan reached out to Alana right after she bought Mastodon because he was worried about Waverly. And your family sort of came along with the package.” I shrug. “I can’t really pinpoint a moment when it happened. It just did.”
“Do you have any idea how unnerving it is to go home, and everyone’s more excited to see your date than you?”
“Date?” Champ and I say in unison.
She instantly blushes, and I find myself dying as I wait to hear how she explains it from here.
“Um, well, bodyguard sounds so formal. I don’t know what to call you. You’re just Lance in my head.”
Just Lance. Ouch. Yep, didn’t expect it to sting as much as it did. “Oh, okay.”
She’s silent for a few minutes until we reach the street she lives on. “So Alana’s been involved since I left?”
“No, she was friends with Thiago. She only got wrapped into your family’s world after Maria was born.” It’s hard to know exactly what to say about Alana and her past. I was with her most of the time, and I still don’t have all the information to fill the plot holes.
“So, she’s more into the Cartel side?”
I shake my head as we pull into the parking garage. I scan all the entrances and exits, check for movement and if anything feels off. “Not really. She was always doing her own thing and liked hanging out with Thiago.”