Page 74 of Our Little Dove

“I can talk to Molly and see if she knows anything else,” Alex offers, wiping away the last traces of tears from her cheeks. “Remember, you owe us for helping you and our time won’t be cheap,” I say as I lean forward in the seat, watching her every move.

She regards me with a weary smile before picking at her fingernails nervously.

Kieran clears his throat, his expression softening slightly. “The more we know, the better chance we have of figuring out what’s really going on.”

As we sit there in the waiting area of our studio, a sense of determination washes over me. We have our own demons to battle, but helping Alex uncover the truth about her cousin’s involvement with Hush could help us too.

We can watch her even closer than we have been since she let us walk and we might get her out of our systems for good.

Kieran and I need to get her out of our heads and our lives. We shouldn’t care about her, and yet, here we are back in her orbit of chaos. She will be the end of us but why do I like having her close? Our destructive little Dove.

“Let’s get to the bottom of this,” I say firmly, locking eyes with both Kieran and Alex. She catches us both off guard as she leaps from her seat and throws her arms around both our shoulders in a hug. “Thank you,” she whispers next to our ears before she straightens and clears her throat.

“Oh, don’t thank us yet, little Dove,” I say as she steps back and her already weak smile falters before she speaks again.

“I need to get going. I left Molly at my house, and I’m supposed to pick up some pizza,” she says nervously as she starts walking toward the door.

“Hmm, what do you think, Kai? Pizza seems like a good place to start making up for what she owes us,” I tease, and she freezes with her hand on the door. Kieran chuckles, “I could eat.”

“What, you want me to buy you a pizza?” she asks in confusion.

“Oh… No, Dove. We can all have pizza at your place. I think it’s time we meet Molly, and we can go over all the information together,” I say with a grin as I get up from the leather chair and face her.

Alex’s eyes widen at my suggestion. “You can’t be serious,” she says and when I only offer her a smile that screams: ‘deadly’, she quickly masks her hesitation with a forced smile of her own. “Sure,” she says, trying to appear nonchalant as she leads the way out of the studio.

We pile into her car and the tension is deliciously thick. I take the back while Kieran settles into the passenger seat before wetake off. Alex fidgets with the stereo, trying to fill the silence as we drive through the city streets.

‘Flatline by Left on Red’ starts playing and I smile, realizing that there is so much we don’t know about our Dove. Kieran watches her like a hawk, and I glance at the window we smashed the night we took her.

She fixed it. It looks brand new as if nothing has happened. I wonder what she told the repairman. Did she say it was a bird, someone threw a rock, or did she mention my Darlin’ and his crowbar?

Ah, it’s fun to think about…

She doesn’t speak to us the whole drive except when asking what toppings we wanted when she stopped to get the food.

This is going to be one very interesting night.

We arrive at Alex’s house and as soon as I glimpse at her house, anxiety rises in my stomach. Flashes of memories run through my mind as I try to keep my breathing under control but my body and mind seem to be warring as I force myself out of the car.

Fintan inhales loudly and he flexes his hands into fists a few times as he blows out the shaky breath. He is just as uncomfortable as I am to be here.

Alex leads us inside where we find Molly sitting on the couch, scrolling on her phone. “Ah, about time. I’m starving,” she says without looking up as we enter. When Fintan closes the door behind us, Molly glances over, her eyes widening in surprise at the sight of Fintan and me flanking Alex.

Confusion draws her brows together and I can practically see the alarm bells going off in her head as she hops off the couch. “Hey. Um, who is this?” Molly asks as she walks toward Alex with a questioning look on her face.

“This is Fintan and Kieran,” Alex introduces us in a small voice as we take the boxes of pizza to the dining area just off the kitchen and place them on the table.

Molly nods politely, eyeing us warily. “Niceto meet you,” she says, clearly unsure of what to make of our unexpectedvisit. “Are these the guys who kidnapped you?!” she whisper-yells to Alex and I snort a laugh as I help Fintan look for plates and set them out for the four of us.

Alex looks at us over her shoulder while Molly’s eyes haven’t left us since we got here. “We’re here to talk about your ex-boyfriend,” I cut straight to the chase, watching for any flicker of fear in Molly’s expression.

“Well, that, and we’re here for the pizza,” Fintan chimes in amusement as he opens one of the boxes and inhales the delicious scent of the food.

Her eyes narrow and tears form in the corners before she schools her features into a mask of indifference. “Why? How do you know Joel?” she asks guardedly, choking back emotion.

“We don’t—yet. If he’s involved with Hush, we’d like to know how,” Fintan says, his voice steady but his gaze is piercing as he looks at her.

Molly hesitates for a moment before letting out a shaky breath. “I—I don’t know anything,” she stammers in a choked tone before turning to Alex who is just watching us make ourselves at home in her kitchen with a deadly look on her face. “You told them? What the hell is going on here? I am so fucking confused, Lexi.”

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