The Woman from the Past (Grassi Framily)

It was fucking useless to think about all this shit. I needed to be focusing on the plan.

Because what mattered most was getting Cammie and her brothers out.

Which was what we were going to do the next evening.

Cammie was nervous. I could tell each time I talked to her about it. Her voice got tight and she got quieter than usual.

Like she was worried something might happen to her or her brothers in the process.

That was why I’d chosen Sunday.

It was her brothers’ night off. They would likely be home, or out at the bars, with random chicks. Nowhere near Colin’s house, which meant there was almost no chance that something bad could happen to them.

So her plan was simple.

She would have dinner with Colin.

Then she would go upstairs, lock her doors behind her, and take herself and her phone into the bathtub.

When I called, she would know it was all over, and that she could come out, and we would get her the hell out of there.

Once I got her back to the hotel and safe, my brothers and I would go out to finish the job, and clean up if any cleaning up was necessary.

Then, finally we would contact her brothers and get them over to the hotel as well, so the three of them could figure out what was next for them as a family… and individually.

This was an off day.

We weren’t even going to see Cammie because we were taking a trip back to Navesink Bank to get some guns and ammo since we’d each only brought personal guns, not ones we would use for a bigger job.

I was irrationally hesitant to leave town. The only time I’d headed out since arriving was for Valley’s birthday.

It made no sense to be worried about being gone for a couple of hours. I even planned to be back in time to call her after dinner and before bed.

I could have pulled the boss card on the job and sent just Nino and August back, but the fact that I wanted to do that, was exactly the reason I needed to go.

Whether Cammie and I were actually going to become a couple or not, I needed to be able to fucking leave her for a few hours. My job would necessitate me leaving for days or even a week at a time.

It was going to be a short trip.

Drop in, grab the shit we needed, and get back on the road.

Well, I was going to get back on the road. My brothers might decide to hang back for the night.

That was the plan, at least.

The problem was August’s big fucking mouth.

He told our sister we were going to be in town, and Valley told our mom, and shit spiraled from there until, suddenly, there was a late-night lasagne potluck.

There was no way to get out of it.

You simply didn’t want to fuck with the women of our family. Especially after one of them made you a lasagne with spicy sausage instead of ground beef because they know you liked it.

I was kind of pissed with myself that I was going begrudgingly.

I loved my family. I liked spending time with them. And worries about work had never kept me from enjoying a family get-together.

It wasn’t just work, a little voice reminded me as I stopped home to shower and change before heading over.