Page 90 of Keep Him Like Secrets

“I can hang out front in case he comes running out. And my brother will block the alley,” he said, nodding his chin toward it.

I glanced over. “He’s all of twelve.”

“He’s tough,” Cormac said, puffing up a bit.

I was sure he was, just like his big brother.

But, fuck, they were kids. They shouldn’thaveto be tough.

“Here,” I said, pushing a hundred toward him. “A bonus to… get lost,” I said, making my tone dramatic, so he thought some crazy super-secret family business might be going down, so he didn’t try to stick around to play the hero. “Go blow it on junk food or toys or some shit,” I added.

Cormac gave me a nod, then walked down the alley toward his brother, slinging an arm over the little one’s shoulders as they walked off.

I hated that I could see them in five, ten years’ time running their own crew, running the streets. But that was what lives like theirs did. Hardened you. Made you morally flexible.

I would know.

Sighing, I waited to make sure they were gone before making my way toward the club, gaze flicking up toward the camera on the front door, then quietly unlocking the door and stepping inside.

It wasn’t long before I realized that I wasn’t the only one with secrets.

Soren was hiding some dirty ones of his own.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Soren

“Shit,” I hissed as I saw the name on my phone screen.

He was the last person I wanted to think about.

Especially after seeing dread on Saff’s face as Teresa moved into the elevator with her; then the smug satisfaction on Teresa’s face as she came back a few moments later.

It didn’t take a genius to know that something had gone down there.

The last thing I needed was tension between the two women in my life.

One, because I wasn’t sure my business could function without Teresa. And two, because Saff was finally starting to keep her walls down around me.

I was getting to see the fun and silly sides of her—once walking out of the building in the morning after she’d left to find her a half-a-block away baby-talking the pigeons sitting on the back of a bench, or dancing around my kitchen to some horrible aughts pop hit, not even stopping when she saw me watching her.

I wanted more of that.

I wanted everything she had to offer.

I didn’t even care anymore about the obvious lies, the secrets she was keeping for reasons I didn’t begin to understand.

I just wanted her. Point blank, period.

Sucking in a deep breath, I swiped the screen.

“Alen,” I said, wincing at the annoyance in my own voice. “I’m surprised to hear from you.”

Since, you know, he was supposed to still be in prison.

“Clearly,” I said, forcing some lightness into my tone.

I might have been sick of him, but I also couldn’t afford to be openly hostile toward him.

---