Page 76 of When Sinners Fear
I get out and follow her, seriously taking in the grounds for the first time, and scan the family waiting for me in the lounge area. They’re in the middle of laughing about something. Lexi’s leaning on the counter with Kai, and Abel’s rubbing his knuckles into Shaw’s head. They’re all smiling and joking about Reed’s death – celebrating it. Dante’s absence stings in the middle of that. It’s not right. I even miss Wren in some way, like she’s part of this despite her not wanting to be. I can’t think about Peyton and her place here because she has no place here. If she did, I’d have picked her the fuck up and made her part of this.
“You okay?” Mariana asks.
Kai looks over the second she asks and moves to bring me a drink. “He’s fine.” I’m not, and he knows it. “The maids are talking about the chicken?” he says to Mariana. “I don’t know what the hell they’re saying.” She rolls her eyes and huffs, walking off to another room. Kai looks at me. “Get drinking.” I nod at that and lift the bottle. Maybe that’ll work. “So, how is she?”
“Who?”
“Your girl.” My eyes narrow, and I drink from my bottle. “You don’t need to answer me, Knox, just, you know, you can if you want. I’m here.”
I smirk and look back out into the room. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My gaze takes me to choosing to get my biannual hug from Abel. He’s good at those, and regardless of tension between us on occasion, he knows how to head a family in ways that I never could. He breathes us all in a way that I don’t want to keep on top of. He’s in our heads. Relatively inspiring considering he spent so much time away from us all.
His hand goes to my neck, forehead to mine. “You’re back.”
“Yeah.”
“How was the space?”
“Thought provoking.”
He chuckles and walks us out to the pool, dark eyes scanning everything, and sits at the main table. “Ready for that talk now? We need to work a plan. I need Dante back where he should be.”
“Why?”
He looks at Kai inside. “Twice the muscle, twice the power.”
“We’ve got enough power, and don’t even start talking about New York because Logan’s given us an offer of friendship. We’re taking it.”
“You’re right, we are. I spoke to him while you were away.”
“About what?”
“I accepted his terms.”
“Terms? He told us to stay away from him.”
He holds up his hand in the air and snatches a baseball out of it.
Shaw comes over and joins us, mitt on and bat in his grip. “Yeah, but girls aren’t Logan's thing, and his streets are flooded with undisciplined pimps and whores running riot. It needs cleaning up.” I watch Shaw’s lips moving, unsure what they’re trying to tell me.
“How do you know this?”
“I told him,” Abel says, getting up. “I needed to know if he could manage what I’d ask for. He’ll need to man the hell up for what’s coming.”
“Fuck you,” Shaw replies. They both smile and back away from each other. “Anyway, Logan’s willing to discuss an alliance. Under his rule, obviously.”
I look straight back at Abel. He smirks and tosses the ball at Shaw. “You’d defer? But you’re always ready to go to war with him.”
“When he called me when you were caged up, I needed an offer to get you back. This was it.”
“You bargained for me?”
“He wasn’t helping without something in return. This is the only thing he wanted, and the only thing he’d accept.”
Kai comes out into the gardens, and I watch him and Shaw toss a ball back and forth. “Why didn’t you tell me this that night I asked for his number?”
“I wasn’t sure how much I could trust the information then, and you were all screwed up about a woman. You needed time and I needed to know Logan was gonna come through on his end. He did. Reed’s dead and he’s dead because of Logan’s help. Looks like he’s worth trusting. For a while at least.” He sighs and looks up at the house, at Lexi specifically. “All I want is a protective barrier around us and no threats coming. Supplying into New York would be useful. With him onside, this is the way we get it in there. We clean up his territory, and he invites us in. Us, plus him, and there’s nothing in our way. We don’t have enough generals without Dante on board, though. Get up. You're at bat.”
I look back at the house, as he stands, and watch Lexi and Mariana talking. “That’s their job. It’s Wren that needs bringing on board, not Dante. No amount of me or you or Shaw is making that happen.”