Page 91 of Tango

“No, no,” I shook my head, “I’m on birth control.” As much as I loved kids, I certainly wasn’t ready for them yet. “You see me take it every morning. They’re in that little round silver thing.”

“Good to know,” he said, deadpan.

“Ty Beckett,” I stuck my fork out at him, “what the hell does that mean?”

“It means I want everything with you, Ivy.” He cut his pancakes then glanced over at me. “A marriage, a family, a life. Raising kids with you is something I’m excited about. Not today, not tomorrow, but know I want that.”

“I want that, too,” I admitted. I realized I really did want all that and then some.

“Good,” he popped a bite of pancake into his mouth, “because I want lots of babies with you.”

“You say that now.” Mia sighed so deeply it made the entire table break out in laughter.

I turned back to my breakfast, and as I chewed, I caught sight of Paul, who held out a hand to my uncle. They shook, then Paul leaned in and whispered something that made my uncle’s eyes widen. He glared at Paul, who had a big smirk on his face. It changed to a full-out laugh as he turned on his heel and walked off with a bounce in his step.

What the hell was that?

Paul

“Are you sure you’re okay with this, Logan?” I tapped my phone against my knee as I glanced in my side mirror. Cole’s eyes went to the rear-view mirror then his side mirror. We both kept an eye on the road behind us. Funny how we never lost old habits.

“We wouldn’t be going if I wasn’t sure,” he muttered, but I knew his head was elsewhere. We’d heard chatter that morning that Talya’s family had made a move to expand into Castillo’s territory. There was also increased talk of retaliation against Blackstone. “Text Keith and let him know we’re here.”

“Roger that.” I did what he asked and couldn’t help but smile as we pulled into the drive to Camp Green. I forgot how much I loved this place. “It’s strange, you know,” I said my thoughts out loud as he parked. “I knew what I was giving up by leaving you guys. I knew what it meant to go undercover, and I think I did it well for a lot of years. But now,” I opened the door to the Escalade and looked at Cole, “but if you asked me now, I’d never do it. It’s not worth what I gave up.” I waved a hand around. “I missed too much, even all this.” We began to walk.

“Hey,” Cole stopped, and I swung around to face him, “in case it doesn’t get said in the future, I want to make sure it does.”

“What?” I watched as his face tightened and the lines around his eyes deepened.

“It rocked Shadows when we thought you died. Losing a brother was something they warned us about, but that could never really prepare anyone for such a loss. You were mourned by every one of us, every damn day at the house. We dealt with it by including you in every one of our decisions when we went out that door. The fact that you were out there fighting right along with us is still something I can’t bend my mind around. But I know I will, in time.

“But you,” he rested a hand on my shoulder, “you gave up everything to be our brother on the other side, and I just can’t thank you enough for that. I know my grandfather brought you to us for that very reason.” He looked down briefly, then his expression changed as he glared at me. “That being said, so help me Lucifer, if you leave our family like that again, and I’m not in the know, I’ll hunt you down and feed you to the Cartels myself.” A cold chill ran through me but dissolved as his face broke into a smile.

“I appreciate the chat,” I chuckled, “even if it took a bit of a dark turn there at the end.”

“Yeah, well, don’t leave us again and there’ll be no dark needed.”

“Nice to know you still have that scary as shit vibe going.” We started walking toward the front doors. “I thought maybe Savi’d beat that out of you.”

“Nah,” he grinned, “she secretly loves it, and with all the kids, I still need it.” He paused in his step and nodded at a pretty female just ahead of us. She chatted with Keith.

“Who’s that?”

“That would be Liza.” He let out a quiet chuckle, which piqued my curiosity. We watched as she covered her mouth as she laughed. It was subtle, but I knew there was something there.

“So?” I turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“She’s great, she’s single, and I know there’s a vibe there with Keith. She also knows what’s happened with him.”

“She knows?”

“Yeah, because I told her.” His chin went up at that as if in defense. “Keith deserves more, when he’s ready, anyway, and Liza just might be the one who can put a smile on his face. Besides he’d never tell her.”

“Jesus, Savi really has softened you up.” I dodged as I expected him to throw a punch, but he did the exact opposite.

“It’s the least I can do, for not being able to fix the situation,” he confessed. I suddenly realized he carried the blame for Lexi’s death on his shoulders.

My eyes went wide. “You know Lexi’s death wasn’t your fault. Truth is, Cole, if this is anyone’s weight to bear, it’s mine.”

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