Page 66 of Marked

“He took Jett to go hang out at the office with Nelson for a bit. We figured the kid would be bored out of his skull hanging out at the hospital. After that, he was going to swing by Waverly’s.”

“Do you think she wants to move forward with the meet today?”

“I’d be surprised if she doesn’t.”

“Fuck. We’re gonna be a man down.”

If five centimeters was a mandarin orange, I really didn’t want to know what constituted ten. What I did know was when the nurse ushered us out of the room, everyone was hoping for that magic number. Koen looked every bit as lost as me, but we followed the girls back down the hallway to the waiting room anyway. Someone would surely let us know what the hell was going on.

They did. Forty-five minutes later to be exact, when wewere introduced to Ryder Anderson Clarke. Lanie and Jade circled the bed, where a tired looking Henley held the little bundle of joy. Me? I had a hard time getting any of my limbs to move or my tongue to work once Keaton said his name.

“You named your son after me?”

“It seemed appropriate, since you’re the closest I’ll come to having a brother. You and Koen both.”

Once my feet became unstuck, we moved to the foot of the bed to get a better view. Little Ryder was the picture of innocence, swaddled in a light-green blanket, fast asleep in his mother’s arms. He had ten tiny fingers that I could see and a thick head of black hair, which was an exact replica of the man at my side. The other thing I noticed was the pure adoration spilling across Lanie’s face as the baby held her finger tight in his miniature fist. She had so much love to give, it would be a shame not to share it. My heart thumped faster in my chest as my brain conjured up image after image of her holding our little one someday. When she peered up at me and winked, I knew it was a conversation we’d be having sooner rather than later.

“I get the next one, right?” Koen stepped between us, throwing his arms around our shoulders.

“The next one, what?”

“You’ll name the next kid after me?”

Keaton was spared from answering him by a knock at the door. That’s when reality came crashing back into our celebration like a seismic wave against the shore. Waverly and Duncan stood in the threshold.

“Henley, Keaton, congratulations to both of you,” she said to the happy couple.

She and Duncan spent a few minutes oohing and ahhing over baby Ryder, or as much as either one of them oohed or ahhed. For those few minutes at least, there wereno talks of clandestine meetings with the future head of a criminal organization. No car bombs and no hit men trying to take out the woman I loved. But like all good things, eventually there had to be an end.

Duncan tapped a finger against his watch. “Time to go.”

14MOBSTER SCHOOL

Lanie

The joy of seeing my best friend’s new baby was ripped away and replaced with dread. There were an infinite number of ways for our operation to go tits up; so many it wasn’t even funny. We’d made contingency plans for our contingency plans, yet it didn’t seem to lessen the knot which formed in my stomach as soon as we left the hospital. These weren’t your run-of-the-mill bad guys. The Bratva was ruthless and ten times more dangerous than anyone we’d ever gone up against. There was a real chance someone could get hurt and that knowledge made me nauseous.

“It’s going to be okay.” Noah squeezed my hand. He’d taken hold of it as soon as we climbed into the back of Duncan’s SUV and hadn’t let go.

“Don’t do that,” I snapped.

“Do what?”

“Placate me. Just because I was gushing over Ryder ten minutes ago doesn’t mean I’ve lost my edge. I’m still a badass.”

“Of course you are.”

“For fuck’s sake, don’t coddle me either.” I shifted restlessly in my seat.

“Should we detour to the office so you two can go a couple rounds in the ring?” Duncan piped up from the driver’s seat.

“No,” Noah said at the same time I muttered, “Maybe.”

“It’s normal for your emotions to ping-pong all over the place, especially given we have no idea the kind of shitstorm you could be walking into.” Duncan flipped on the blinker to exit the highway. “But get it all out now. Once you walk into that restaurant, you’ve got a role to play and being a bitch isn’t it.”

Ouch. Direct hit.

“Watch it,” Noah growled.

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