Ignore this.
“You have an address?”
“Think I can get one. How far away are you?”
“About twenty minutes from the shop.”
Which meant no matter where in the city Nix’s family lived, I was going to be closer. He didn’t say anything. We both knew this had become my duty.
Krane was brutal. Didn’t matter if I hated that fucker Nix or not.
Couldn’t sit aside and let this happen.
“Text it to me. I’m on my way.”
“Be careful, brother. Know you want to help, but don’t get in the line of fire.”
“His kids don’t deserve what he has coming to him. I will warn them. Head off anything that might be coming their way. Until Nix can get there to get them out or this blows over.”
I ended the call and hopped back onto my bike, and when I hit the highway, I hit it at a way too high rate of speed for the load I was carrying. Darting around cars. Cutting lanes.
I didn’t care. I had to get there.
Stand in if someone came for his family. Doubted he really gave a shit.
But I did.
I fucking did.
Guilt clotted my throat.
What I’d put Maddie through.
The worry.
The fear.
Dragging them into a life that they didn’t deserve.
This was a motherfucking bad life.
I only stopped to get the address when it came through.
Was barely breathing by the time I made it down into the city streets. Stop-light after stop-light. I was almost there when my phone started going manic again.
There was no ignoring it.
This feeling that consumed.
Vile and distorted.
Gripping me everywhere. I took a turn into a neighborhood that was nicer than what I expected, eased off to the curb, and pressed my phone to my ear when I saw it was Braxton.
He was shouting before I even got it there. “Nix went to Krane. Said it was you. Said he had proof that it was you. You need to get home.”
I didn’t even respond before I was flying down the street.
Taking every turn too fast.
Too reckless.
Too careless.
But that was what I’d always been.
Careless. Thinking I could keep two separate lives. Protect my family and please my piece of shit stepfather.
I turned the last corner onto our street.
And that was the moment every lie that I’d ever told caught up to me.Thirty-FourMiaAgitated voices flooded my room, drawing my attention from my book. One second later, something banged against the wall before I was startled upright to the sound of glass shattering on the floor.
My pulse spiked, and I scrambled to get off the bed to find out what was happening.
The door flew open before I had the chance to go out.
Penny was there, shaking in the doorway. Worry written on her face.
“Penny. Sweetheart . . . what’s going on? Are you okay?” I rushed, my attention darting everywhere. Trying to find out what was happening.
She struggled for an explanation. “I . . . I don’t know. Leif got here and I asked him if he wanted to go for pizza and then Dad called and then Leif ran out. He seemed really, really upset, Mom. And Dad was saying really mean things and then he just hung up.”
Unease billowed.
Leif had to have heard Nixon on Penny’s call.
Shit.
Moisture welled in her eyes, and apprehension blew up like a balloon inside of me. I hadn’t been looking forward to talking with Nixon about Leif, or vice versa, really.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s okay.” I peered over her shoulder. “Do you know where Leif went?”
Her lips pressed thin. “I don’t know. He wouldn’t talk to me. But I’m worried about him. When I looked at him, I got this feeling . . .”
My knowing child shivered and touched her stomach that I knew was twisted in knots.
Empathy and compassion and warmth.
I ran my fingers down her cheek. “Take a deep breath. It’s going to be okay. Your brother is with Auntie Tamar in the main house. Why don’t you go in there with them? I’ll go talk to Leif. I’m sure everything is fine.”
Her nod was shaky, and I dropped a kiss to the top of her head and followed her out into the hall. She went to the left, and I went to the right, my steps quickened as I rushed for the door.
Trying not to panic.
But with every step, the air shifted.
This feeling taking me over.
The energy he’d left behind thick and ugly and distressed.
I pushed the door open to stagnant, muggy heat, and I tried to talk myself down from the ledge. Convince myself not to freak out as I crossed the yard to the guest house.
It wasn’t like I’d had some delusion that Leif and Nixon were going to be friends. Or even civil. Their personalities had already promised they were going to clash.
But this was the last way I’d wanted them to meet.
I bounded the two steps to the small porch, not even knocking before I tossed open the door.