He grins. “I know.” He sets his gloves aside. “I’m going to make up for the lost time in one night. She’s not going to like me by the end of it.”
Ryke mutters, “I don’t even want to know what that fucking means.”
I point at Connor. “Kinky. Hardcore.”
Connor leans against the treadmill with a larger grin. “You forgot infallible genius.”
I open my mouth to play into his arrogance, like I usually do, but my cell rings on the floor. I quickly pick it up, already seeing the caller ID: LILY.
Ryke shoots to his feet, and Connor is by my side in seconds. My brother won’t admit it aloud, but half the reason he’s working out until exhaustion is because Daisy’s sleeping outside. Without him. The first time in a while. He’s worried about her.
I put the phone to my ear.
“Lo,” Lily whispers, so softly that I can barely hear. “Lo, are you there?” Her voice edges on alarm.
My muscles constrict. “Why are you whispering?” Maybe there’s a bobcat outside or some kind of animal. I scratch the back of my neck and take a deep breath, forcing myself not to jump to conclusions.
“We’re on a mission…” she trails off. “We need backup. STAT. Over and out.”
What. The. Fuck.
I hear Rose’s voice. “Not out,” she hisses. “You didn’t even give him our location.”
“Lo, you still there?”
“Yeah—”
Ryke tries to grab the phone, to put it on speaker. I shove him back and press the button, just in time for Lily’s reply.
“We need a getaway ride. We’re at the neighbor’s house. The big stone one. You can’t miss it. There’s…um…”
“Toilet paper,” Daisy finishes in a whisper.
“Okay. Bye,” Lily says and hangs up.
Ryke sets his hands on his head. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. All of them?”
I walk past my brother to grab the baby monitor. “She was whispering. They must be hiding behind a tree or a bush.” I hand the monitor to Ryke. “You stay here.”
“No fucking way,” he curses, his muscles just as tight as mine. “If they get caught—”
“They’re not getting caught,” Connor says calmly, trying to ease the tension in the room. But if these people press charges, the girls could be booked for vandalism.
“You fucking stay here then,” Ryke retorts.
“I’m not staying back,” Connor says firmly. “Rose will be the first one arrested—”
“You just fucking said they weren’t going to get caught.”
Yeah, Connor was trying to convince Ryke to stay behind with our kids. None of us wants to wait here.
“We’ll bring the babies,” I say.
Ryke’s face darkens. “No, I’ll fucking meet you two—”
“Hey!” I shout at him. He is pacing. “She’s fine. It’s not Paris.”
Ryke is physically shaking.
“It’s not Paris,” I repeat, my eyes burning. I taste that night. The screaming. The paranoia. The uncertainty. The riot flares up in my mind. We just have to forget about it. Not imagine anything like it happening again. I place my hand on his shoulder. “Come help me get Maximoff into the car seat.”
Stiffly, he nods, his nose flaring as he tries to expel his emotions
Connor is already headed upstairs. It takes us five minutes to situate Jane and Moffy into Rose’s Escalade, and that’s at our quickest pace. The babies only stir when we buckle them in, falling back asleep when Connor pulls out of the driveway.
“By the time we fucking get there, they’ll either be caught or on their way home,” Ryke complains from the passenger side.
“Can you shut up?” I snap. “You’re going to wake the babies.” I sit beside Moffy’s car seat.
Ryke pinches his eyes. I get it. The last time Daisy came into contact with these guys, they scared her pretty badly.
Lily can’t even run. She just had our kid, so I’m worried she’s in pain or really anxious.
I don’t even blame them for hitting up the house tonight. I’ve had to convince myself more than once not to do anything in retribution. I’m honestly just surprised they snapped before Ryke, Connor, or me.
It takes one minute before we spot the house. Toilet paper drapes from nearly every tree limb, even the mail box and bushes hidden beneath layers. If I wasn’t worried, I think I might be proud.