Rebirth (RAW Family 3)

“Yes, I do.”

“And you never told me.”

“No, I didn’t.” It seemed we all had some secrets.

He kept his voice light. “You ever plan on using that gun on me?”

“Occasionally.” Damned if there hadn’t been a few times I thought about it.

His eyes grinned, and mine smirked right back at him.

In response to my deception, all he uttered was a soft sounding, “Solid.”

Fuck. I loved this man.

And when Zep spoke, his words were directed to Luna and Luna alone. “You’re coming with me.”

Luna’s brow knitted. “No way,” was her reply, but it sounded like she said, “You’re insane.”

Zep looked her up and down like she was a snack of epic proportions and he was famished. His lip twitched. “I want you on my team, Lulu.”

Lulu?

Wait. They knew each other?

All of a sudden, it dawned on me. It all made sense. Zep knew Twitch was in Cuba. How? Because he probably suggested it. And now that I looked deeper at how Zep was watching Luna, I saw more than I wanted to.

Zep was into her.

Luna blinked at him. “So does everyone else,” she responded, chuckling without sounding at all amused.

Thiago, sick of his sisters’ apparent suitors, snapped, “My sisters stay with me, Falco. Both of them.” He ended on, “We aren’t here for you.” And damned if it sounded like a threat.

But then again, anything coming out of the mouth of Thiago Vega sounded like a threat.

“How we gonna run this?” asked Happy, leaning against the wall.

Molly chimed in with, “I’m sleeping in A.J.’s room until further notice.” She peered over at Luna and Fernanda. “You guys take my bed.”

They nodded in agreement.

“Thiago, you take the sofa,” Twitch suggested.

“It’s not a pull out,” I said, my eyes drifting over his monstrous form then adding an apologetic, “Sorry.”

“Everyone else—” Twitch shrugged lightly. “—I don’t know. Go home, I guess.”

It was the first time I’d ever heard Twitch sound unsure of himself, and it scared the ever-loving shit out of me.

When everyone made their leave and we were alone in bed, we held each other tightly, closely, and I don’t remember falling asleep, only waking up.

And when I finally did wake, it was alone to a cold bed.

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

Twitch

“What are you doing out here?” she asked quietly.

Contemplating doing some stupid ass shit to keep you safe.

“Nothin’.”

But she knew me, this woman. She knew me well enough to know when I got inside my head it was a dangerous thing.

And her whispered words told me just how well she knew the person I was. “Stop it.” When she took the few steps over and knelt beside me, I lifted my tired gaze to her, and those big blue eyes I loved shone with concern. She sat back on her heels and held a hand out to touch me but stilled part way, balling her outstretched hand into a fist. She didn’t speak a while but when she did the words were firm. “Whatever you’re thinking... just stop.”

How could I?

It consumed my mind. Consumed my thoughts. Consumed me whole.

We weren’t dealing with just anyone here. I’d taught Ling, and I’d taught her well. This wasn’t going to end until one of us was in a casket, and she now had nothing to live for.

I was fucking with a person who had nothing left to lose.

That made her a dicey adversary.

“I’ve talked Ling off of a lot of ledges before.” I looked back out into the yard. “Maybe I can talk her off this one too.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t actually believe that.

Neither did Lexi.

And when she looked at me the way she was now, worried and tense, I felt the need to be real with her, even though I probably shouldn’t have. But I meant it when I said I didn’t want secrets between us. “She doesn’t have a weakness, baby.”

No hesitation. “Sure she does. We all do.”

“She’s more snake than person, Lex.” My posture stiff, I added an irritated, “Full of a poison that I put there. Ling is a monster of my own creation. She’s barely human, and I nurtured the animalistic side of her. I fed it and watched it grow and did that shit happily because, at the time, I could use that part of her. And what happens as a result of that—” I blew out a breath. “—is my own fault.”

My woman laid it out, no holds barred. “I know you’re worried. I’m worried too. But you don’t need to because I’ll protect you.” The words were whisper soft.

A small snuffle escaped me, and when I turned to my wife, I caught her expression and my smile waned.

She was serious.

Dead serious.

My expression stone-faced, I uttered a rough, “Think I spent six fuckin’ years away from you for you to go and risk your life for me?” I shook my head slowly. She needed to heed my hard words. “Not happening.”

I saw the exact moment she got me. Her face fell and her pretty pink lips parted slightly as she swallowed hard. The term of endearment trembled. “I love you.”

“Don’t do that.” I clicked my tongue in annoyance, my spine stiffening.

“What?”

“Don’t...” It hurt to say it. My voice quieted, “Don’t say goodbye. Not now.” A solid pause. “Not yet.”

Yes, Ling was leaving a trail of bodies behind her, but as my woman moved slowly, resting her forehead on my shoulder, her thick brown hair hanging in waves as she hugged my arm tightly as though I were already dead, I decided I wouldn’t be one of them.

***

Molly

It was stupid to say, “Don’t stress,” to somebody who was very clearly stressed, so I followed up softly with, “I won’t let anything happen to him.”

Lexi smiled tiredly as she kept her eye on the little monster eating toast at the dining table and keeping conversation with a bunch of contract killers. “I know you won’t.”

Her certainty in me lifted me to a higher power, had me leveling up.

So when it was time to head off, I took my little dude by the hand and walked him to the car with a confidence that surpassed me. We waved from the driveway and I took off down the street, peering back at him through the rearview mirror. “Hey, bud,” I started. “I know it’s a little crowded at home these days, but soon, everything will be back to normal, okay?”

A.J. examined me with wisdom beyond his years. “When the bad lady is gone?”

This child. Jesus. The intensity he exuded was completely unnatural for a boy his age, yet coming from him, it was expected.

“When the bad lady is gone,” I clarified.

We drove on, and just before we reached the school, his little voice sounded. “Molly?”

“That’s my name. Don’t wear it out.” I winked in the mirror then smiled, trying to ease the tension radiating from him.

His soft brown eyes widened, and he pointed towards the road wearing an expression of pure terror. “Look out.”

I didn’t see the black Mercedes Kompressor run the stop sign, but as I hit the brakes and spun the steering wheel to avoid the impending collision, my head throbbed and I gritted my teeth as the front end of Big Red screeched to a stop on the footpath without being hit. A cloud of smoke covered the car and the smell of burnt rubber had my nose bunching.

My heart beat out of my chest. “Oh my God,” I panted as my hands shook.

“Molly?” the little frightened voice said quietly.

Without a moment’s hesitation, I swallowed hard and pulled out my phone, hitting the panic button Happy had installed on it then undid my seatbelt and knelt on the front seat to look back at my little monster. His silent cries made my chest ache. “Are you okay, buddy?” I looked him over. He didn’t look hurt, just shaken, and when he nodded like the trooper I knew hi

m to be, my body slumped and I let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, buddy. I’m so sorry.”

From outside the car came an alarmed but feminine, “Oh, God, are you okay? I saw everything. Do you need help?”

“No.” I reached out for A.J. and he put his trembling hand in mine. I squeezed it tight, thanking God things weren’t any worse than what they were. “We’re okay.”

“Are you sure?”

Suddenly, the worry from the woman’s voice was gone and was replaced with menace, and my heart stuttered. I turned slowly, and the second I saw her, my insides shriveled.

Oh, fuck, Molly. What have you done?

Ling blinked at me through the open window and her brow lowered. “You don’t look good.”

“Back off,” I growled through gritted teeth as it hit me hard.

She was never after Twitch.

It was A.J. she wanted.

“You’re hurt,” Ling insisted as she threw open the passenger door. It all happened so quickly I had no time to react. One second, I was conscious, then next moment, I wasn’t. I fought it. God. I fought so hard, but as she continued to Taser me, I lost the battle.

And as the darkness took me, I heard her utter, “See? Not fine at all.”

***

Ling