“What?” laughed Dave, easily avoiding the projectile. “I’m curious.”
And Twitch’s cheek ticked. “You are a lot of things, my man, but curious is not one of them.” He pointed at him before taking a long pull of his beer. “I know what you’re doing and I don’t like it.”
Dave put his hands up in surrender, but he did it smirking.
“How many?” I spoke low.
Twitch leaned in. “Do we need to do this now?”
I pulled away from him, speaking slowly, “How many?”
His jaw steeled as he looked me in the eye and spoke through gritted teeth. “One.” Then he thought about it. “Half of one.”
What?
“Come again?” My brows arched. “Half of one? How does that work?”
Twitch looked pissed. “Look, it was a long time ago, all right?”
My arms folded across my chest. “Yeah, no. Let’s hear it.”
Throwing himself back in his chair, he groaned out loud before sitting up, and uttering, “It was A.J.’s second birthday. I went out for a drink. Things were taking way longer than I hoped, and for a fuckin’ second, I gave up and decided I wasn’t coming back, okay?” He peered into me, his eyes dark and stormy. “It was three years in and I had only done about one eighth of what I needed to do. Tracking the things I needed to be tracking was harder than anticipated, and Happy—” He looked over to his friend. “—was about all the help I had. Thank you, my brother.” He pounded at his chest with a closed fist.
Happy raised his beer to him, inclining his head.
“So.” Twitch leaned back and lifted his ankle to rest on a prone knee. “I found a woman who—” He made a face. “—I don’t even know what she looked like. She had a pussy and that was enough. And I take her round back of this dank bar, into the alley, and push her to her knees, tellin’ her to get to work.”
My heart ached at hearing this, but it was good he was being open. I wanted to know.
What he said next surprised me.
“But my cock isn’t coming to town.” My head snapped up, eyes wide, and Twitch shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s never happened before, so I tell her to back off so I can jack it.” When Julius sniggered, Twitch’s jaw tightened and he flipped him the bird. “And I’m tryin’—believe me, I’m fuckin’ tryin’. But nothing’s happening. It took me a second to realize it was not happening, so I got out of there, blue balls and all.” He looked over at me and sighed. “And that was the goddamn horrifying moment I realized I was a one-woman man.”
Oh.
Throwing a dark look to Dave, he narrowed his eyes on him. “I don’t owe you shit, but I’mma say this once, my man, so listen up.” Those soft brown eyes landed on me, and he uttered, “Fell in love with an angel at eight years old.” My heart stuttered. He went on, “Tiny little thing with big blue eyes, carrying a first aid kit half her size, dragging that shit into her neighbor’s backyard, because she saw a little boy was hurt and hiding.” His brows knitted in feeling. “An angel who tried to fix a gaping wound with a fuckin’ band-aid.”
I wasn’t sure anyone knew this story. It was probably why I saw confused expressions all along the table, except for Julius. This wasn’t a story I shared.
It was ours and ours alone. Our beginnings ran deep, like the roots of a hundred-year-old oak. The same oak I had carved his name into.
The story took a turn, when he added, “Became obsessed at sixteen. By my mid-twenties, I loathed that girl. Spent a lot of time and money looking for her. Planned to do bad things to that woman, and I found her, eventually. In my thirties, did some stupid, fucked up shit trying to find an in with that girl, and when I finally did and I was all in, she smiled at me, and all I could think was ‘oh, shit. I’m in trouble here.’” He glared at Dave. “We got a history you can’t even comprehend with your suburban happiness, you jackoff. So don’t assume you know me. Don’t even assume you know her. We’re riding out the storm I created, and we’re doin’ that privately.” His eyes remained hooded as he let out a cruel smirk. “So go ahead and underestimate me, David Allen. I fuckin’ dare you. I promise you this.” His eyes softened when they landed on me, and he spoke directly to me. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
I wanted to cry then.
This man. He was the only man who could break me, shatter my heart, and I would pick up every single broken shard and place them back into his hands.
There was only one love like this. It was a desperate, overwhelming kind of love that made a person do stupid things and act out in ways they never deemed possible. But it was ours, confusing as it was.
Not long after Tony’s bold statement, everyone was moving to take their leave, and when I followed the line of people out, a strong arm snaked around my waist, pulling me close. As I looked up into his eyes, he stared down at me with such an intense look of adoration that I almost came right there, in front of our guests.
How inappropriate.
“I’ll call you about taking A.J. for another sleepover,” Julius called out as he and Ana walked to their car. That was when a sleek black Mercedes Kompressor crept past at a snail’s pace. And when the window lowered, my gut clenched and my entire body froze over.
Oh, no.
She looked over at Julius, licking her cherry-red lips before blowing him a kiss.
Oh, shit.
But when her gaze landed on me, she widened her eyes, pulled out her hand, made the motion of a gun, and pointed it at me, calling out, “Boom, bitch!”
Fuck.
I gasped loudly, stumbling backward, completely terrified and clutching at Twitch. And when her lips formed a wide, punishing smile, I knew she could feel my fear and I hated her for celebrating it.
It all happened so quickly I wasn’t sure if I had simply imagined it.
Twitch left my side and as he bolted to the car toward the open window, and as it crawled along slowly, Ling spoke, looking Twitch up and down meaningfully. Her tone was as seductive as the snake she was. “Death looks good on you, baby.”
I heard Ana begin to hyperventilate, and Julius ushered her into the car while Happy rushed over to stand in front of me, his body shielding me from harm. Nikki and Dave simply looked on in shock.
Twitch was furious, but he didn’t show it. The thing was, I felt his fury in my heart. I felt his dread. His anger seeped into the air around us. “I knew you were crazy, but you got some balls on you, Ling Ling,” Twitch uttered in false calm. “You made a mistake coming here.” The car picked up speed. “Test me. I dare ya.” He ran after it, and as it sped away, he called out, “Got a fuckin’ target on ya head now, bitch.”
The second the car was out of sight, he spun, the veins in his neck bulging as he looked to Julius and rested his hands on his head, muttering a quietly panting, “We got us a problem.”
Yeah.
No, shit, Sherlock.
Julius nodded, his jaw tight. “Let’s go.”
Happy stepped forward and shook his head. “No way. Something stinks here.”
Yes, it did. “No.” I stepped forward, eyes wide, hands shaking. “None of you are going anywhere. Do you hear me?” I twisted to face Twitch. “You’re not going anywhere!”
Ana shoved open the passenger door and stumbled out, trying to steady her breathing. Julius looked plain worn. “It’s okay. It’s all right, baby. I’ll take care of it.”
But Ana shook her head and tried to speak. “Do— Do—” When she closed her eyes and let out a pained groan, my heart broke for her. Her trauma had increased tenfold at seeing the woman responsible for her capture and torture. She tried again, “Do you remember—” She took in a deep breath. “—what happened—” She panted noisily. “—when she separated us?” She shook her head, and cried out, “Not again!”
Julius’s bravado seemed to falter at her words. He pulled his wife close, wrapping his arms around her and rocking her as she wept.
Twitch also lost some steam. “Okay.” His brows lowered in thought. ?
??Everyone go home.” He looked from Ana to my pale face and his lips thinned as he sighed. “Tonight is not the night.”
But as everyone departed and Twitch walked me inside, holding my hand tightly in his, only one thought circled my mind.
The crazy bitch knows where I live.
Well, shit.
That can’t be good.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Twitch
It was late, and I lay beside my angel, wondering how the fuck I’d let this happen.
My entire time away was about wrapping up loose ends. I was careless in believing the one I left behind would know to stay away.
I heard about Ling.
I heard about her betrayal, about what she had done to Julius and Ana. I heard about her forceful takeover of The Dragons, the execution of her father. More recently, of the mockery she was making in the underworld.
For the first time since their beginnings, The Dragons were now recruiting half-blood Viets. It was unheard of. The Dragons were known for their traditional values, and Ling was fucking that all up.
Some people even said she was fucking her brother.
Knowing Ling, I wouldn’t put it past her. She was mental and nothing was off limits.
I knew eventually curiosity would get the better of her, but I didn’t expect it so soon. Fuck, I didn’t expect her to ever approach. The bitch made a mistake coming here tonight.
Keeping my anxiousness to myself, I kept quiet as the woman beside me turned, snuggled close, and pressed her face into the side of my neck. Without hesitance, I scooped her up and pulled her to lie on top of me, because she needed comfort and I was working on being everything she needed.