Unwritten Rules (Filthy Florida Alphas 3)

“Do I have an idea of where to start looking?” he asks.

I take a breath and then let him have it—let them all have it.

“Garcias.”

Silence fills the room. Each one needs time to digest it. This is not good news, nor is it simple. My men aren’t afraid of shit, but a smart man would be wary about this entire thing—and my men are smart.

“They put a fucking contract out on you?” Ride yells, slamming his fist down on the solid oak table. It shakes under the impact, but doesn’t give way.

“No,” I answer, rubbing the side of my neck.

“On Dawg? Fuck, that man deserves some peace,” String complains.

“It’s not on Dawg,” Ghost answers and his eyes are trained on me. He reads me better than any man in here, but then he would—at least about this.

“Yeah. It doesn’t involve Dawg, though I’ll be talking to him about bringing in the family for lockdown.”

“Then who the fuck is it on? Has one of us pissed in their food bowl?” Ride questions.

“It’s on Toi,” Ghost answers before me.

Hearing it said out loud, even though I’ve been going over and over it in my mind makes my gut feel raw. I’ve got to end this before anyone gets their hands on Toi. I can’t lose her. I can’t let them get their hands on her either. I don’t think they’d kill her, but they’d destroy her in so many other ways that she would wish she was dead. I’ve had visions of that in my head since this morning. I just can’t figure out what the fuck they want her for. How in the hell did she even get on their radar this heavy? There has to be an answer, I’m just not finding it.

“We go on lockdown tonight. Topper and Moth are in charge of bringing in supplies. Bring in your family and get shit done quickly. You know the drill, it’s not our first rodeo. Just get it done.”

“Does Toi know?” Ghost asks.

“No, she heard bits and pieces. I don’t think she understood. If she puts it together she’ll think it’s on me.”

“Is that wise?”

“No fucking idea. I just know I don’t want my woman scared—or worse…”

“You think she’ll turn herself in to protect you,” Ride answers.

“I don’t know,” I answer, but in my gut I know the truth.

“She killed her own damn father for Marcum. She wouldn’t even blink to save any of us, if she knew we were at risk because of her. That’s the kind of woman she is,” Ghost answers.

He sees Toi too. I really want to fucking hate that man, but I can’t. I’m even starting to like him more than I did before.

I’m still not giving Toi up to him though.50Toi“Can you explain why I’m being moved into the basement?” I ask Marcum. Topper has been at my door all day. Babs finally agreed to distract him long enough for me to slip out, and I’ve been waiting in Marcum’s room ever since. Which means I’ve been sitting in his room for over two hours. I thought about looking for him anywhere else. I knew that if I did that, I’d be sent back to my room and guarded even heavier.

“How’d you get out of your room? I had Topper guarding you,” Marcum growls, slamming his door.

“That’s another thing I’m not happy about. Why am I being guarded all of a sudden?”

“When you find your voice, you don’t hesitate to use it, do you, Dragonfly?” he asks, rubbing the side of his neck.

“I’ve been saving it up. So? Are you going to tell me?”

“We’re all being moved into the basement, not just you,” he says finally, taking his club cut off and putting it on a table.

“Oh. Is this about the conversation with Hound this morning?”

“You’re going to explain how you know them,” he says, not confirming my suspicions, but not denying them either.

“You’re going to eventually answer me too,” I respond, and he smiles a little. I don’t know why him smiling should make me happy, but it does.

He pulls his shirt off, and it must be said that Marcum is completely sexy. He is covered in ink, most of it dark and black, but it looks good on him. There’s this tree on his chest. It’s inked over his heart and that one tattoo always grabs my attention. The roots are dipped in red ink and it looks like it is growing out of his heart. On the tree are branches everywhere and each one has leaves. Harley and Desi’s names are on one branch and the names of all of his children are there, right down to Max. There’s a new tree intertwining with it and the leaves are green and Tess’s name is there, along with his grandkids. It’s beautiful and it says so much about the man. And what it says is in direct contrast to everything I’ve ever heard or known about him. Hell, it’s in contrast to everything I know about any man.