Page 74 of Veiled Vengeance

She nods her head once, keeping her composure. “Thank you.” She turns on her heel and sits with her son.

Rio moves to occupy Spencer’s vacated seat. “It’s not completely over. We still have one more thing we need to finish.”

“I know.”

CHAPTER 32

SPENCER

The plane bounces twice on the runway as the pilot lowers us onto the tarmac. Zane’s hand squeezes the life out of mine as a bead of sweat drips down the side of his face.

I try to comfort him. “We’re okay. We landed safely. No turbulence or anything.”

He doesn’t respond or even look at me. He just nods and stares wide-eyed at the seat in front of him.

Rio leans over mine and Zane’s seats. “He’ll be fine, Mama. Zane just doesn’t believe that people should fly.”

“It’s unnatural,” Zane defends himself.

“If anyone should be terrified, it’s me,” Asher chimes in from beside Rio. “These seats were not designed for people of my size.”

I snort a small laugh, and Asher shoots me a playful glare.

I’ve been doing that a lot the last few days—laughing. My men—my devils—have always made me smile, but now there’s a new light to the memories we make.

We gather our few things as the flight attendant welcomes us to George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The humidity hits us the moment the cabin door opens, and I can practically hear theentire plane groan. The heat of the day doesn’t disappear when the sun goes down and that fact is true tonight as well.

Zane is the first one off the plane and through the Jetway. Rio grabs my hand with Asher behind us as we trail behind Zane.

Rio shakes his head and sighs. “As much as I love you, we’re never moving here.”

Chuckling, I bump him with my shoulder. “Don’t worry. I think I’m a New Yorker at heart.”

“You say ‘y’all’ a lot for a New Yorker,” Asher comments under his breath.

“Hey!” I snap back.

We trek with high spirits all the way to arrivals, even with the looming cloud of our agenda today.

Once there, Zane whistles to a man with a sign that reads, “Dickface Kingston.” He’s about as tall as Zane, with groomed hair that’s shorter on the sides and longer on top. When he spots Zane, a smile brightens his face. They hug and exchange pleasantries.

Zane keeps one arm around the man and turns to us. “Griff, you remember Rio and Asher.”

“Of course.” His response is one that makes me feel like there are stories to tell.

Zane gestures to me. “And this is our girlfriend, Spencer.”

Griffin side-eyes Zane playfully. He steps forward with his hand outstretched to me, but when I move to shake his hand, Griffin is yanked back.

“Nice try. Hands to yourself,” Zane warns.

Griffin chuckles like a goofy teen. “Can’t blame a man for trying.” He holds his hands up as if surrendering to Zane’s threat.

“Did you get what we asked for?” Asher inquires.

“Yeah, and I had to call in a lot of favors to make it happen, too,” Griffin complains comically. “You know that I’m not anarms dealer or a car dealership, right? And the drive here took a few hours. Just because I live in Texas doesn’t mean I zip from one side to another.”

Zane doesn’t address Griffin’s ribbing. “Where’s Knox?”

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