Page 41 of Iron Hearts

I better move my ass. The boys. I’d promised them snuggle time on the couch and a watch of their favorite movie,How to Train Your Dragon.

I got out of the Jeep and gathered up my stuff, taking it in with me. I found Mom on the couch with three little blanket-covered lumps around her.

“Still feeling bad?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Aden called mournfully.

“We jumped the gun and already watchedHow to Train Your Dragon,” Mom told me.

“Well, that’s alright,” I said. “I was late. I’m sorry. Let me go put this stuff down, rinse off really quick, and I’ll come out and join you guys, okay?”

“Okay,” the boys chorused and my mom nodded, but I could tell by the look in her blue eyes, which were so like my own – she was worried.

I tried to give her a reassuring smile and went around to duck into my room. I sighed, set things down, put my phone on the charger, and stuck the postcard in the edge of my mirror to keep it displayed.

I showered, redressed in comfortable pajamas, and joined my mother and brothers in the living room, cozy on the couch and watching Disney until it was late enough and all three boys were sleeping to the point we had to carry them to bed.

When their light was out, and Mom and I were in the kitchen about to go for our own beds, the tension reached its peak. She broke first, asking, “So, what’d Rob say he was going to do about it?”

“Well, I got Charlie fired,” I said with a sigh. “The bar’s liquor license has been suspended for a month, and we’re scrambling to get the liquor and beer off the shelves and put away. We’re switching gears to food and soft drinks, focusing on putting live talent on the stage and hoping we can weather the storm. Rob is hiring more security and buckling down on the rules like never before. I decided to wait it out, and if I even get a whiff of things going sideways, I’m out. For good this time.”

My mom looked at me, and her expression was torn.

“On one hand, I want to be somadat you for being so pigheaded. I swear to God, you’re just like your father that way, and it was one of hisleastendearing qualities sometimes,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears. “On the other hand, I’msoproud of you… and I honestly don’t know what to say.”

Of all the things she could have said,thatwasn’t on the list of shit I’d expected.

“You blaze your own trail, that’s for sure, baby girl.”

The waterworks really started then, not just from her but from me, too. I went around the kitchen island and hugged my mom tight, and we stood there and cried together. Definitely wasn’t the first time and probably wouldn’t be the last time, either – but it’d been a while since I’d cried for something that, to me, was agoodreason.

I mean,oh, my God!

“I worry about you,” she said.

“I know, Ma,” I said, sniffing when we finally broke apart.

“Just keep being careful. I’d die if anything happened to you, too.”

“I promise,” I told her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She nodded, and we both sort of drifted to our respective rooms. I dropped onto the edge of my bed and looked across to my mirror with its mermaid postcard tucked in its frame.

I got up, went to it, and flipped it over, bringing up my phone from where it was charging to punch in the number and make a new contact.

I took my phone back to bed with me, snuggled under the covers, and texted out with shaking fingers…I could use a friend…

It was late, and I didn’t expect a response, but I got one anyway, and in just a few seconds.

Talk to me.I’m right here.

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

Striker…

I was at home, on the couch, with a cold beer perched on my knee, my boots off, and the television on. I hadn’t bothered with turning on a light, so it was just me and some mindless action flick on the boob tube casting the room in a blue flickering glow.

Made me think of her. Made me think of holding her while the television in her room played.

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