Page 30 of Deadly Little Hearts

My father wants revenge.He wants his Brotherhood back, but slashing tires would be below him.If he didn’t want us to attend the meeting, he’d be the type to shoot first, not slash tires.

“The list of people that it could be is a mile long,” Gage says.

“From those who support Dominic to Dominic himself, and of course the fucking hood rats we’re trying to fucking help right now.”

“But would they be stupid enough to do it?”Lucas asks as we pull to a stop in front of town hall, and he jumps out of the back seat.

Gage and I follow him.The parking lot is packed with a mixture of cars, some shiny and some old bombs, and it’s not hard to see that the majority are from our side of the tracks.Samson, Zeke, and a couple of other Brotherhood members are standing in front of the hall, waiting for us.

I move in to step beside Lucas and Gage and spot Freya walking toward us from across the parking lot.My stomach drops and my shoulders tense.Her face is full of emotion and she’s looking down at her feet, a million miles away.

Without warning, a thunderous boom cuts through the stillness.What the fuck?

The scent of burning wood fills the air as the town hall is consumed by flames.Freya disappears, and in the chaos, I’m flung backward, crashing onto the hard ground, pain shooting through my back.My ears ring so loud before everything goes up in smoke.

Chapter 16

Freya

Anhourearlier

My foot connects with a rock, and it skitters over the road, bouncing along until it stops.People walk around me, but my thoughts are a million miles away from here.Images fill my mind of the needles and drugs covering our table and my mother staring at them like they were a lottery ticket.A way out for her.

I was there to stop her this time, but what if next time I’m not?What if she tries again later tonight?I tried to get her to come with me to the meeting, but instead, after I’d taken the drugs and flushed them, she said she wanted to sleep it off, and I sat with her till her eyes closed.

Sobriety is up to her.I can’t make that decision for her.

If she chooses them again, I’m done.I can’t go back there.With Alec gone, it’s too much to watch my mother drain everything away again.She’s been clean for two weeks now, which is the longest stint she’s had since I can remember.I’d hoped she’d keep going, but now I’m not so sure.

The restaurant we were at the other night for the meeting comes into view; one of the workers is pulling chairs out to the front patio.I peer through the window and freeze.My heart beats faster, my stomach drops, and I want to flee, to run, but I can’t.

Lucas is sitting at the bar with a glass in his hand ...and what the fuck?Mia’s leaning in closer and closer.Her hand rests on his thigh, and my hands begin to shake.Red-hot anger courses through my body.What the ever-loving fuck?She’d better remove her hand, or I’m going to lose my shit.

Though Lucas may hate me right now, he’s still mine.Touch what’s mine and you die.I’ve never really understood that popular trope until this moment.Watching Mia touch, laugh, and flirt with someone who’s mine?I want to kill her, to storm into the restaurant and slam her face down on the bar.Laugh as blood spills from her broken nose.

I don’t understand her.She was supposedly in love with my brother, and the second he died, she moved on to Dominic.Now that he’s God knows where, she’s all over Lucas?Fuck.

I take a couple of steps back and look around before picking up a large rock from the curb.My chest rises and falls to the beat of my heart as my fingers close around the rock.I move toward the window, watching as Mia pushes off her chair and leans in closer to Lucas, as though she’s about to kiss him.My hand continues to shake, and without another thought, I take a step back and launch the rock straight at the window.It shatters into a thousand little pieces, just like my heart, and the broken glass falls to my feet.

Lucas jumps up, shoving Mia away; she falls on her ass and cries, but he ignores her.He grabs his gun, aiming it toward the window, straight at my heart.His stormy brown eyes clash with mine, and I glare at him with so much anger and heartbreak.His face twists from shock to understanding, yet he doesn’t lower his gun, and I don’t want him to.Anything to prolong this connection between us.

He moves through the restaurant in long, powerful strides until he’s right in front of me, his shoes crunching against the shards of glass.I move forward, closer to him, and he shoves his gun into the front of his pants.

“I’m not wasting a bullet on you,” he says.He reaches out, and I don’t move a muscle.He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and a shiver runs down my neck.Memories flood my mind of how good we are together—how he tastes, of how soft his lips are, moving against mine.Fuck.

No, I can’t.Fuck.

How could he think about kissing someone else?

“You move on quickly,” I say, raising an eyebrow just as Mia walks over, her high heels crunching in the glass.

She wraps an arm around his chest and leans into his ear, whispering something I can’t hear.My own ears ring loudly, piercing my soul.I take a step backward, and Mia pulls back.She looks over at me, the corner of her mouth lifting.

“He’s mine.Back off,” I growl, and Mia opens, then closes her mouth.

“I know,” she replies, but her expression is still smug.What’s she doing, then?

My hands clench against my legs before I shove them into the pockets of my shorts.I’m done.I want to punch that smug look off her face, but then she’ll have won.

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