Page 75 of Surviving Midnight
I watch Tate carefully as she talks to Theo.
I’m not suspicious of her per se, it’s clear she escaped a bad situation and turned to the only person she has left, but I am concerned about what happened to her and what that means for us now. Judging by the way she won’t hardly make eye contact with anyone, the way she’s only allowed Theo to touch her, wouldn’t even shake our hands, I have a feeling this Valetti guy would fit right in with the Cobras and that makes my goddamn skin crawl.
One psychotic group of weapon wielding sex traffickers is more than enough on my plate, thanks.
The girls disappear into our bedroom, and I immediately turn to my brothers. “What’s your take?”
“PTSD. Abuse,” Jackal whispers. “Years of it and a wide variety.”
I nod and look at Spider. He’s been eerily quiet ever since we were at the airport, not that he’s a barrel of laughs or Chatty Cathy all the time, but something about Theo and the way she stood up for him really left an impression and he’s started to come out of his shell a little since spending more time with her. Just not tonight.
Time that I’m totally ok with and generally involved in, by the way.
Spider is a bit of an enigma, much like Blondie. Super fucking smart, beyond genius level with some things, but he’s awkward and uncomfortable in his skin. He’s extremely guarded, and has been known to disappear for weeks at a time. Spider is lethal as fuck and just as stealthy, but he also suffers from an intense and unwarranted case of self-loathing even Jackal doesn’t understand. He has secrets, hell we all have secrets, but I have a feeling Spider’s secrets are dangerous, not to anyone but himself.
When he lets you in though, you’re fucking in, and lucky for us, Spider has let in only the Executive Committee and now my girl, and I promise he is a dude you want in your life.
“Pretty sure the Valettis are a mob family that runs the show in New York,” Spider says while looking out the sliding door. “Going to look into them when I get home, see what we could be up against.”
“You think this Gino guy will come for Tate?” Jackal takes his feet off the coffee table, then drops his elbows to his knees. “Think he’ll track her down and take her back?”
I nod slowly, watching Spider’s hands ball into fists. “I do. If he’s had her for fourteen years, he’ll hunt her down. Especially since she had his kid.”
“You got a plan for where they’re gonna stay?” My best friend flicks his eyes to mine. “You don’t have the room here and with the clubhouse being fucked—“
“They can stay with me,” Spider grunts, still looking out into the night sky.
My brow lifts as I continue picking apart one of my closest friends. The set of his jaw, the slight shake in his hands. The way Spider seems wound so tight he might snap and I’m not entirely sure what brought all this on.
We all have a soft spot for these types of situations. Jackal and Spider’s grandpa was a mean son of a bitch that beat their grandma until their dads intervened, the bastard having some sick fuckinginterestsno one knew about until it was too late, and I can’t help but see myself in James, a scared little boy who clings to his mother because she’s the only one who will protect him, but I can tell this is eating at Spider. Eating at him in a deeper way than it would eat at anyone in the EC even though they have all bared witness to some kind of abuse at one point in their lives.
I won’t ask though, not now.
“You sure about that?” Jackal looks at his cousin, his eyes wide. “Having a couple extra people with...” He clears his throat, his eyes darting to me briefly. “In your house might complicate things, don’t you think?”
Jesus.
That was fucking loaded.
There were implications there that definitely lead me to believe Spider has more secrets, more demons, than I originally thought. Whatever they are though, Tate and James will be safe as hell with Spider. That old farmhouse is basically an impenetrable fortress with a security system that rivals the Pentagon. Spider installed it all himself and was in the process of doing the new clubhouse when we were attacked, otherwise that hailstorm never would have hit. So, between that and the fact that Spider doesn’t let anyone but Jackal go to his place, I actually agree that Tate and James will be safest there.
“It’ll be fine,” he grunts. “Things are always complicated and adding two more people won’t change that. Until I finish security on everyone’s civilian homes it’s the best place for them to be.”
“Especially when we don’t really know anything about the Valettis yet.” I kill my beer, my gaze bouncing between my brothers.
They’re usually on the same page, usually fluid and in sync—something that comes from being raised more like brothers than cousins—but right now the tension between them is palpable.
Many mysteries have been presented tonight, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get to the bottom of at least one or two.
* * *
A few hours later,once Jackal and Spider are gone and Tate is sleeping soundly with James, I settle onto the air mattress with Blondie and curl myself around her with a sigh.
“Thank you,” she says as she rolls to face me. “Thank you for everything you’ve done, everything you continue to do for me.”
I kiss her pale pink lips, then push a few strands of white gold from her eyes. “Don’t need to thank me, honey. I’d do anything for you.”
“I know.” Theo smiles into her next kiss. “But it means more than I can explain with words that you didn’t question my actions, just jumped in and helped me bring my sister home. I’ve never had anyone be there for me the way you are, not even Summer. I’m so grateful for you, Zak Wyatt, so fucking thankful to have you in my life and call you mine.”
