Catching Teardrops (MAC Security 5)

“No.” Ty shakes his head, standing up. “Evan has too much going on at the moment with Lexi, and Kitty is too close to him.”

Kay heaves a breath as Ty comes to a stop in front of her. “I don’t like lying to her.”

“I know, sweetheart. But it’s only until we figure out what Dean’s up to.”

Kay nods, placing her head on Ty’s chest and when he wraps his arms around her, I look away, my mind immediately on Lily. I’ve battled back and forth on whether to at least tell Ty what’s going on—the brief version anyway—but I can’t. However much he likes to protect his family, he protects the innocent and underage too, and if he was to know what happened to Lily and her only being seventeen, there’s no way he wouldn’t send Charlie on the case.

I get it from his point of view—a seventeen-year-old girl being raped and abused by her own father—but what good will it do for Lily for everyone to know? She’d be looked at with pity in people’s eyes and that’s the last thing she wants. She’s a person, just like you and me, and deserves to be treated like one and not just a victim. I’ve seen the strength she holds inside her.

My mouth opens as they pull apart, ready to at least tell him I have more than going undercover at the bar and Dean on my mind, but when Evan pushes the door open, his eyes wide and his face pale, I know now isn’t the right time to say or do anything. I’ll keep it locked away in the same place I store all of my memories of my childhood.

“We’re nearly ready,” he says, spinning around and leaving.

“Everyone will be here soon,” Kay says, pulling away from Ty and looking over at me. “You okay?”

“Me?” I frown. “Yeah.”

She opens her mouth to say something but Ty cuts her off, saying, “Why don’t you make sure everyone has a drink when they turn up. I need to discuss a case with Luke.”

She hesitates but finally turns around and heads back into the main part of the warehouse.

“She worries,” Ty explains.

“Yeah, well… she shouldn’t.”

The room fills with palpable tension as Ty sits back down and I can feel he wants to say something too. “Say it,” I growl out, my eyes narrowed on him.

“I know I’ve said this before, but can you handle what’s happening? If it’s too much, we—”

“Are you fuckin’ kiddin’ me?” I stand up, my hands clenched tightly, the taut string holding everything together snapping. “Of course I can fuckin’

handle it. Could I handle watching half my team being blown up over there? Could I handle watching my mom go through what she had to daily? Could I handle having to drag half of a member of my unit to safety only realizing he lost his legs and was dead after I got him to relative safety?” I take a deep breath. “I could handle that so I’m damn sure I can handle being undercover in some run-down fuckin’ bar and finding out who in the hell Dean actually is.”

“Okay,” Ty says, his hands up in the air in surrender as my breaths turn to gasps and I start pacing. The images running through my mind won’t stop, the smell of the dry, hot air in my nostrils, the feel of blood on my palms making me wipe my hands on my jeans over and over again.

My head is fucked but I need to push it all back, not let it show, and when the door knocks and Charlie appears, I push past him, storming into the main part of the warehouse and to my usual seat, waiting for everyone else to sit down too.

The place is packed and it makes it all the more relevant to keep my calm, to not let any of my anger show.

Taking a breath, I mentally push everything back into the boxes I keep them in, locking them up tight and pulling the mask back over my face.

I close my eyes, getting ahold of myself and opening them back up, looking around and seeing the whole team here as well as Seb, West, Evan’s parents, Livvy, and Charlie and his team.

We’re all here for one reason: to bring down the fucker who framed Lexi. To show him you don’t mess with our family and get away with it.

Charlie steps forward and I focus on him.

“Her uncle was the DA. He didn’t have grounds to try her as an adult, but from what we can gather, he had all of the judges in his pocket. This guy is dirty… dirtier than dirt.”

I look over at Evan, knowing this doesn’t bode well for him and Lexi. It’s all gone to shit for them, but at least he has us at his back. That’s more than Lily has right now.

“So we need to get her off on the original charge: that’s the best way to do this,” Evan’s pop says from behind him.

“How do we do that?” Evan’s dad asks.

“We expose him,” Ty answers, standing up. “That way any case he dealt with gets brought into question.” He widens his stance. “And as soon as that happens, we jump on it and bring Lexi’s case forward.” He stares at Evan for a beat. “Have everything ready to go.”

Pop nods his head at him and Evan pulls his laptop open, his fingers flying over the keys.