Lucky
"First my wife, and now my daughter," Kyle snarled when I filled him in on everything that had gone down inside his house on Thirteenth Street that night. "I'm going to kill him."
"That particular wheel's already in motion, man," I replied calmly, taking a drag of my cigarette. "All you need to do is sit back and stay out of it."
"Stay out of it?" he roared. "How the fuck can you even ask me that?"
"Because it's what has to happen," I countered, staring out between the front seats of the car to where Noah and Kyle were sitting. "Move now and you'll end up alerting him and fucking this up for me." Exhaling a cloud of smoke, I flicked the ash of my cigarette out the back window of the Lexus. "And quite possibly get my ass killed in the process." Rolling my shoulders to work out the horrible fucking knots in them, I added, "And I really fucking don’t want to die before he does."
"I hear what you're saying, son," Kyle said, turning in his seat to look at me. "And I appreciate everything you have done for my family – what you're still doing for my family– but she's my baby." His voice was thick with emotion when he said, "Until you have a daughter of your own, you're never going to understand the overwhelming urge a father has to commit the most heinous of crimes on the bastard who hurt her. And asking me to sit back and do nothing?" He shook his head and released a pained growl. "I don’t think I can do nothing."
Noah, who had remained silent until this moment, said, "I get it, Kyle. I had a daughter who I loved like no other. And she was taken from me. She was murdered. I understand the feeling of hopelessness, and that unquenchable thirst for revenge flushing around inside of your body right about now, man, but you need to listen to Luck. The man knows what he's doing." Shifting gears, he took a sharp corner, taking us further up the mountains. "He's the reason I’m sitting in this car with you today." He switched on the windshield wipers to the fastest setting. It was raining so heavily that I was surprised the man could see where he was going. "He's the reason my wife is at home breathing," he continued to say, not missing a beat. "The piece of shit that fathered us might be smart," Noah continued. "But Luck's smarter."
"I've got her under twenty-four-hour watch," I added, appreciating Noah's high opinion of me, but needing to stay on track. "Got someone watching your wife and the kids, too."
"And?"
"And nothing," I replied. "Not a fucking peep."
"What's he waiting for?" Kyle growled.
"Me to make the next move," I explained, knowing exactly what the bastard was waiting for. "He's playing us like a fucking chess game, Kyle." I tapped my finger to my temple. "And you win chess with your head, not your heart."
"And the would-be rapist?" he hissed, turning a deep shade of red at the mention of his daughter's attacker. "Is there any possible way that can fall back on you?"
I shrugged. "Not unless the cops want to go digging through dust."
Kyle cocked a brow in confusion.
"The body's gone, man," I explained. "And the bones are chalk." Inhaling another drag of my cigarette, I exhaled a puff of smoke and gestured towards the white circle floating in front of my face. "Cops have a better chance of catching that, man. I'm in the clear."
"No witnesses?"
"Do you think I'd be sitting here if there were witnesses?" I shot back with a smirk.
Kyle frowned. "I think there would be a higher body count if there were witnesses."
"Yeah, you're right about that," I chuckled, not bothering to deny what we all knew was the truth.
"I don’t like this," Kyle muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I fucking hate feeling like a sitting duck."
"We're not sitting ducks," I told him. "We're sleeping lions."
"And to think this is about money," he ground out through clenched teeth. "A fucking string of hotels I never goddamn wanted and even when I gave them to him, he drove them into the fucking ground."
"This ain't got shit to do with money anymore, man," I explained calmly. "This might have started out about him taking revenge on you, but that's not what's happening now."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means your father has a new obsession."
"My daughter?"
"My reaction made sure of that." I shrugged, then took another drag. "He's intrigued."
"God fucking dammit!"
"He's messing with the wrong fucking woman."
"I don’t want Lee knowing. She needs to be kept as far away from this bullshit as possible." I watched Kyle as he looked from me to Noah then back to me again. "This doesn’t touch her."
"Agreed."
Thorn stays out of it, too," Noah added. He tightened his hands on the wheel before biting out, "She needs to focus on the pregnancy. No more goddamn stress."
"All either of you have to do is nothing," I said. "Do nothing, and shit gets handled."
"You love her?" Kyle asked finally, tone resigned.
"With everything I have," I replied without a hint of hesitation. I had no problem laying it out there. My feelings for Hope Carter weren't something I had ever tried to hide. From day one, I had laid it all out there for the world and its mother to see. If anyone had a problem with that, then it was their fucking issue because I wasn’t stopping – couldn’t even if I wanted to.
"You know she's married."
I arched a brow. "I did manage to catch a glimpse of the ring."
Kyle's jaw worked. "And it doesn’t change anything for you?"
"Not a damn thing," I came right out and said. "Doesn’t matter whether she's with him, or with me. I would still take the whole damn world down to keep her safe," I explained, feeling the need to lay all my cards down for her father to see. Didn’t matter whether he approved or not. I'd already lost. "There's no limit I wouldn’t stoop to if it kept her safe." Smirking, I added, "I'd kill you if I had to."
Kyle stared hard at me for a long ass time before letting out a heavy sigh. "Good."
"Good?" I arched a brow in wry amusement. "I just told you I wouldn’t have a problem taking your life, and that's your response?"
"I needed to know the kind of man I'm trusting my daughter's life with," he shot back gruffly, steel blue eyes narrowed on mine. "And now I do." I watched a vein tick in his forehead and noted that this wasn’t an easy conversation for him. "You're the kind of man who protects what's his. The kind of man who doesn’t hesitate to eliminate a threat. I'm undecided on whether you're a ballsy son of a bitch or just plain crazy for sitting here and laying it all out there like this, but I can respect you for it– I do respect you."
Well shit…
Was that approval?
"Appreciate the vote of confidence," I told him before taking a drag off the end of my smoke then tossing the butt out the window, watching as it disappeared into the windswept rain.
"You need to quit that shit," Kyle grumbled, gesturing to the cigarette being carried away by the wind. "You'll be no fucking use to me without any lungs left."
"Noted." Rubbing my hands together, I leaned forward and said, "Now, are you both ready for some exciting news?"
Both Noah and Kyle turned their heads in my direction. "What?"
"Daddy David had a daughter," I announced, tone bright. "Congratulations, boys, you've got yourself a little sister."
"Sweet Jesus," Kyle groaned, rubbing a hand down his jaw. "They just keep jumping out from the woodwork."
"The fuck you talking about?" Noah growled, glancing from me to the road. "What daughter?"
"Who?" Kyle demanded.
"Do we know her?" Noah chimed in.
"You guys more than know her," I chuckled. "Does the name Annabelle ring any bells?"
"No fucking way!" Noah hissed. "The one with Porter's son?"
"The very one," I confirmed, unable to stop the shit-eating grin that was spreading across my face.
"The counselor?" Kyle said, gaping in shock. "Wait – hold the fuck up! Jordan has a son?"
"Unofficially," Noah replied. "Says it's not his, but he aint fooling anyone with that bullshit."
Kyle and Noah continued to rant back and forth to each other the entire drive back to South Peak Road, throwing questions and tossing out conspiracy theories, while I sat back, sparked up a smoke, and enjoyed the mayhem.