“Exactly. Which is why you need to take back Tribe leadership.” He started to protest, but I shushed him. “Look, after today’s fun and games, pretty much everyone who matters knows you’re Pietro—even the FBI. So it’s not a security risk anymore. Plus, Marcus hates being a figurehead. For his sake, you should either let him really be the Tribe head or take over yourself. But you and Marcus both will be happier if you just take over.”
He regarded me with a slight smile. “You think so?”
“I know so. Marcus wants to go to law school. He’d be more benefit to the Tribe as a kickass lawyer.”
“You’re right.”
“Damn, dude. That’s the second ‘you’re right’ in one day. You need to pace yourself.” I grinned. “But while I’m on a roll, you also need to tell Jane the truth about who you really are.” I leaned forward as much as my harness would allow. “I saw you stalking her the other day. I was at the pond, and I saw you watching her house. I know you still love her, so you should do something about it.”
“This time you’re not right,” he said with a laugh, then held up a hand when I opened my mouth to tell him he was full of shit. “I wasn’t stalking her that day. She knew I was there.” His smile widened at my perplexed expression. “Jane has known the truth since not long after I became Pierce. But since it would look bad for a respected Congresswoman to be seen in a relationship with a younger man so soon after her fiancé’s death, we’ve been keeping the relationship secret. The day you saw me at the pond, I was waiting for her visitor to leave. When it looked like he was going to be there a while, Jane called to let me know.”
“That’s so awesome,” I said with a happy sigh.
“Glad you approve. We figure we can start dating openly this fall.”
“Well, in the meantime, your secret is safe with me.”
“I know it is, Angel.”
• • •
By the time we made it back to the Tribe lab, Portia was moving around under her own power. She greeted Dr. Nikas with a heart-melting hug and kiss, then the two of them headed toward his private quarters. I silently cheered them on, so happy for both of them, but extra-especially so for Dr. Nikas.
I then checked on Bear and Nick—who was already up and around. I gave Nick an enthusiastic greeting that raised his heart rate nicely, then returned to the media room and helped my dad pack up the play box.
“Bear is heading back to town soon, now that he and Nick are in the clear,” I told him. “He’ll give you a ride, if you want.”
“Sure do, cuz I got me an appointment at four this afternoon.”
“Appointment for what?”
His eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Gettin’ me a physical exam. The whole works. And it turns out Gina works at the Y, and she said she’d be like a personal trainer to me for a bit so I can learn how to exercise right and not hurt my back and maybe make it better.”
“Gina. Your girlfriend?”
My dad doubled over in laughter and slapped his knee. “Me and Gina? Nah. She ain’t much more’n your age. Bartended a coupla years down at Kaster’s where I do clean up, but ended up in a mess last month when her boyfriend left her and her kid. She also works the front desk at the Y and cleans houses. We hammered out a deal where she’d clean our place in trade for me watching little Carter while she cleaned other houses. Trying to make ends meet, y’know? Working three jobs.”
“You’re babysitting?” I grinned. “You rock! And she does a kickass job on the house.” I looked him over. “And if she can get you to exercise and go to the doctor, she has my blessing.”
“That was you, Angelkins, that got me seein’ about my health and all.”
“Then I’m damn glad I came down on you about it.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You keep on listening to me, and we’ll be all right.”
• • •
After Bear and my dad left, I hung out with Nick in the media room and filled him in on everything that happened, then we just kind of cuddled and relaxed and watched movies and did a whole lot of nothing, which was wonderful, zero-stress time.
My dad texted halfway through The Fifth Element.
A picture was attached of a small piece of paper that read “Everything’s cool with BB. Thanks for the help. B.U.”
B.U. was Billy Upton. I smile
d and texted a reply. And apparently he’d smoothed things over with Big Bubba, judging by the note. That was a load off my mind.
Later in the afternoon, Dr. Nikas examined Nick and pronounced him fully recovered, which meant that Nick could accompany me for the release of the gators.
That evening, with the help of Philip and several other Tribe security, I cajoled and encouraged the gators to climb into rolling cage-crates. Once we finally got them loaded in a box truck, we headed for the swamp boat launch we’d used for our gator hunt mission. Weird that it was only a few days ago. It seemed forever.