by Dean, Ali
“Cruz!” someone shouted, and just in time. A ball was in the air and coming straight for me. On instinct, I dove for it, knocking Spike on defense out of the way with my shoulder. My forehead connected with the ball, sending it sideways, right to the corner of the goal.
We were finishing up practice with a short scrimmage, and here I was thinking about Hazel. I held out a hand to help Spike up and he took it.
Coach yelled over to me from the sideline. “Easy there, Donovan. That shoulder check would’ve been called. You wouldn’t have needed to knock him down if you’d been in better position. Keep your focus.” Then he turned to blow his whistle, getting everyone else’s attention. “That’s a wrap. Get some cross training in tomorrow – a run and lifting – and I’ll see you on the field at 3:30 sharp after school Monday.”
Spike grumbled next to me. “You’re just lucky the scouts aren’t around anymore and you’re already a shoo-in at Harvard.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? I scored, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, and it wouldn’t have counted since you took me out dirty on the way.”
“Whatever.” We were walking off the field and Moody came up on my other side.
“Heard about the condoms, man. Nice work.” Moody gave me a rough shoulder pat.
I stopped walking and they stopped a moment later.
Anger burned in my chest, and I wasn’t sure why. No, I knew why, but it wasn’t fair. They hadn’t dissed Hazel, and while I wanted to tell them what happened between me and her wasn’t their business, that wasn’t exactly true. Yeah, the bedroom or, in our case, bathroom, moments were private, but all four of these guys were in deep with us. What Hazel meant to me and who she was to all of us was their business. I just hated the flippant way he’d commented on it. There was nothing flippant about me and Hazel, especially when it could involve condoms.
Moody threw his arms up in defense, probably because my nostrils were flaring and my fists were clenching.
“Man, I’m not saying that in like a, ‘hey you got laid let’s high-five about it’ way…” He started to explain himself and those words had me taking two steps forward until I was right in front of him.
Spike coughed beside us to cover a laugh.
“You sure you want to keep talking?” I challenged.
“I was saying it to say – nice work getting Drew Ross’s nod of approval and I’m glad you two made up after what went down with Kai last night.” He held my gaze and I was reminded why Peter Moody was one of my boys. He laid it out and he wasn’t scared to do it. That had been true from the beginning, even before he’d grown a foot in height and put a little muscle on his scrawny frame.
“Thanks,” I muttered, and then we were walking again.
I looked over to the girls’ field, and found that Hazel was already on her way over here. It made me smile, of course it did. Now that she knew what was up, she wasn’t running from us. I knew she’d made the decision before the Malones got to her, but I hated they’d played any role in scaring her. They hadn’t just scared her either, they’d hurt her. And there we went again -- my blood was boiling with the need to hurt them back.
The twins reached Hazel first, and my eyes continued searching the girls’ field. Louise Janik was hustling to the parking lot. I hadn’t seen her since we’d gotten the information from her on Thursday night. Hazel had said she didn’t want to get back at Louise, and I wanted to let her make the decision. I didn’t think Louise was a threat anymore, but it didn’t sit right letting her go on like nothing had happened. Sure she’d eventually told us where Hazel was, once we’d hammered it into her head that Hazel wasn’t safe, but at the end of the day, she’d known enough to understand that her decision to bring Hazel to the Malones was a huge betrayal.
Moody placed a hand on my shoulder again, and this time it wasn’t playful. He shook me a little and stopped us from moving to Hazel.
“Man, I know there’s a lot of unfinished business out there, but we got to move forward with the plan first. Keep it in check, Cruz, don’t get distracted.”
I nodded. He was right.
We regrouped with the others, and my arms immediately reached for my girl. It soothed the fire burning in my chest, especially when she tilted her head up for a kiss on the corner of my mouth.
I felt our guys watching us, along with everyone on the fields and in the parking lot who could see us. I pulled Hazel tighter to my body.
“Showers here, then we’re heading to my grandpa’s house,” I told her.
“Yeah, Bodhi just told me the plan. Will there be food there? I’m starving.”
“Gramps’s got a spread, he knows we won’t get shit done until we’re fed.”
We started moving to the school to hit the locker rooms. “Who else will be there?” Hazel asked.
“Just us, Gramps, and your dad.”
“Uh, I didn’t get a chance to tell you, Cruz,” Bodhi said. “But Ruby’s going to be there too.”
I felt Hazel stiffen under the arm I had around her.
“All right. Only for the beginning though, then she needs to leave.”
“What about your dad?” Hazel asked.
We’d reached the doors to the school and I nodded for the others to go ahead. Honestly, I didn’t even want to send Hazel to the locker room without us. Maybe we could bring her to the guys’ and kick the other dudes out.
Hazel was looking at me now, waiting for an answer. Of everything I’d told Hazel last night, this part was the hardest. She stood there patiently, and finally prompted me, her voice gentle, “Your dad?”
“He’s got Alzheimer’s,” I forced out, and continued on a rush before emotion could take over. “They diagnosed him with early onset two years after Mom died. He told me two weeks before high school. He told me everything that day.”
Hazel’s eyes were wide, stricken. “And now? How is he doing?”
I closed my eyes. Thinking about it hurt. I’d explain more, but I just couldn’t get any more words out, not now, not when Hazel was looking at me like she was. I opened my eyes. Hers were filled with compassion, and I could barely choke out the words. “Let’s just say, it’s a good thing he told me when he did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had enough time to prepare.”
I turned then to go inside and I felt her at my heels. I’d send one of her cousins into the girls’ locker room to check on her. Hazel saw right through me and I couldn’t break down. Not now. Maybe never.
Chapter 8
Hazel
I’d forgotten all about Ruby Firestone until Cruz parked his motorcycle in front of his grandfather’s house. Mitch Donovan had a driveway that was nearly a mile long and wound through trees. I’d only been here a handful of times, and that was years ago, but I was still in awe. I spotted the blue sedan when I pulled off my helmet, and my eyes moved to Cruz.
He wasn’t paying attention to Ruby’s car. He was looking at the house with determination. I’d seen this look on him before the state championships last year. I’d been in the stands, having won the girls’ game earlier. He’d sat there with headphones, blocking everything else out. I hadn’t known then how much effort that must have taken, how much he had going on his life that had nothing to do with soccer. It made his performance on the field that night even more remarkable. Now he was pushing away thoughts of practice earlier, and, more likely, thoughts of his dad, and why Jake Donovan wouldn’t be at this meeting.
So, now wasn’t the time to ask about Ruby. She’d be here, and I’d get some answers, but there was more I wanted to know. The things I wanted to know were petty in light of everything else going on, but I couldn’t help it. Cruz clearly trusted her deeply, if she was here. And she was stunning. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’d had history.
Cruz was deep in thought, but he hadn’t forgotten about me. He reached a hand back, his eyes still ahead, and I took it. Together, we went up the steps and opened the front door.
The house was quiet, but Cruz knew exactly
where to go. He took us to a dining room, where there was a lunch buffet that had my mouth watering. “I thought you said it was just us, my dad, and some girl?” I murmured to Cruz.
“It is.”
Cruz didn’t hesitate to dig in and load his plate and I took his lead. The rest of the guys filed in behind us a moment later, and as we piled up our plates, I almost forgot where we were and why we were here.
I followed Cruz from the dining room to the kitchen, where there was another table big enough to accommodate all of us. Mitch Donovan, Dad, and Ruby were already sitting there. I’d been so fixated on Ruby’s car I hadn’t noticed Dad’s parked out front. I took him in now though, and immediately set my plate down to go over to him.
“Dad? You look like crap. Are you okay?”
He was wearing the same clothes I’d last seen him in on Friday morning, which, come to think of it, were the same clothes he’d been wearing Thursday night. Given all his clothes were nearly identical, it was possible he’d changed.
But judging by the scruff on his face, the state of his disheveled hair, and the smell of him, he’d been wearing the same thing going on forty-eight hours.
“I’m okay, sweetie. It’s you I’m worried about. I haven’t seen you since Friday morning. Cruz and the guys are looking out for you, right?”
“Yeah Dad, I’m good.”
It was true, actually. I was finally seeing the world we were in for what it was, and instead of terrifying me, it calmed me. Fine, it terrified me too, but the puzzle pieces of my life were starting to fit together again, and that gave me a sense of security I hadn’t experienced in years.
“You know what’s going on now? Why we’re here?” Dad asked. Dark purple circles were under his eyes. It was disturbing to see, but it wasn’t the first time. I wondered if in the past his all-nighters had been on behalf of Malone work or if it’d been for this – for Braven, the Donovans, and to get out from under the Malone Mafia.
While I spoke with my dad, voices were rising on the other end of the table.
“She was at the Lake last night?” Cruz was practically shouting at Bodhi, in his face. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
“You know why,” Bodhi answered with a glare of his own. “We got distracted by a new problem.”
Cruz ignored the dig and asked, “Did anyone see her?” Then he turned to Ruby. “Did anyone see you?”
She shook her heard no. “I don’t think so. I never even got out of the car. Once I saw it wasn’t just you guys like I’d been told it would be, I was going to turn around anyway. Then Bodhi saw me and told me to meet here today instead.”
I swallowed at the panicked expression on Cruz’s face. I didn’t know why it was there, but I figured it could only be for the person they were talking about, Ruby. He cared about her, that much was clear.
My heart was already about to pound out of my chest when Cruz moved around the guys to get to Ruby. She was standing now and he placed two hands on her shoulders.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Cruz, it’s good. I’m good.”
“You’re safe?”
She nodded and answered, “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t, would I?”
“Not unless they want to get you after this.”
“And that’s why I don’t stay to hear more than I need to. Just in case,” she told him.
I’d had it.
“Can someone tell me what is going on here?” My voice was nearly shaking I was so upset. “I thought you’d told me everything, or all the big stuff, but I have no idea who this girl is or what you’re talking about.”
Okay fine, I’d met her once briefly, but I preferred calling her “this girl.” I pointed at said girl and kept my eyes on my cousins, who looked just as upset as Cruz seemed to be. As I felt. I couldn’t look at Cruz. It was only his hands on her shoulders but knowing he might have been “practicing” with this very girl the same things he gave me in the bathroom last night, it made me want to break something. I bit my lip, recognizing that what I felt might only have been an ounce of what Cruz felt last night seeing me with Kai on the dock.
There was a storm brewing inside of me and it needed to get out. Somehow.
“You met Ruby at Patriot Taphouse. She was performing, remember?” Cruz said, but I didn’t look his way.
“Ruby’s dating Neil Malone,” Emmett said.
“Fake dating,” Bodhi bit back.
My shoulders dropped as the fire in me died right out. What was left was a crawling sensation. Much like I’d had that night at Bruno’s bar, when I knew something bigger than my feelings was at play.
I was finally able to look to Cruz and Ruby. His hands had dropped from her shoulders and she appeared to be holding her breath. Then I noted her eyes were on Bodhi, and mine followed.
His jaw was clenched tight and he was gripping the edge of the table so hard his knuckles were white.
Emmett was rubbing the back of his neck, eyebrows pinched with something darker than mere worry.
Cruz came around Ruby and took the chair beside me, pulling me down next to him. “Ruby’s been giving us info on the Malones through Neil. They’ve been together for years. Flynn Malone was the head of all the operations we told you about, with Seamus, his son, next in line. Neil’s a junior at Harvard on the hockey team, but he’s still involved in Malone business. His role the past two years has been handling the drug side of things.”
I tried to keep up. “The drug side of things, meaning, the business they have that’s caught up with Braven. They still receive shipments from Braven for their lab?”
Cruz nodded. “After what happened to Mom, we’ve been pretending to fall in line.”
“Until Flynn,” I clarified.
Frowning, I glanced at my dad. It was suddenly very quiet.
Cruz’s grandfather must have left to refill his plate while we were talking because he returned now and broke the silence.
He let out a long sigh. “How many times do I have to tell you? Eat before talking. Nothing good comes from empty bellies.” He shook his head as he moved into the chair on the other side of my dad.
As he sat, he smiled at me. “Hi there, Hazel. So happy you’re with us.” Then he moved his eyes to the guys on the other side of the table. “I strategically place the food on a table you have to pass before reaching this one. So you’ll see it, get plates, and eat, before getting into it. Now, I heard raised voices and then silence. That can’t be good. Everyone shut up and eat.”
No one argued. We put our heads down and ate. I didn’t dare say a word even as my mind spun with questions about Ruby and Neil, about all that had been building up to Flynn’s death, and what had happened since. Mostly, I wanted to know what was next.
Once everyone had cleared their plates and Spike and Bodhi had gotten seconds, Mitch finally allowed us to speak by saying, “All right, let’s start with Ruby’s report.”
Ruby put her fork down and slid back in her chair. I noticed she hadn’t eaten much and had been picking at her food.
“I haven’t seen him much since the drug bust last Saturday night. Neil’s been dealing with cleaning that up. Even skipped some classes, so your goal at distraction worked.”
“But he was at Patriot Taphouse Monday night,” Bodhi said.
“Yeah, and when I told you that, I didn’t think you guys were going to go there to fight them,” she said like an accusation. “One of you broke his nose, by the way.”
Emmett snorted. “He’s fine.”
“I heard about that fight,” Mitch said. “Was that also part of our distraction plan?” he asked, eyebrows raised, one side of his lip tilted upward. “I don’t recall discussing that at our last meeting.”
“That was simply necessary,” Cruz stated, deadpan. “And after Thursday night, my only regret is that we kept it to fists.”
I sucked in a breath.
“It was pretty tame,” Spike added, as if he thought Mitch needed reassurance. “No one ended up
in the hospital.” He paused, tilted his head. “At least not that I know of.”
Ruby huffed out a sigh. “Anyway, between the drug bust and the fight, I haven’t heard anything about Jeremy, Seamus or Flynn since what you all told me last week. I didn’t even know your house was broken into.” She glanced at Dad, then me. Her face softened when our eyes connected. “Since the guys suck at giving you background, I’ll tell you this much. I’ve been with Neil since Mayflower Academy, so a long time. I won’t give you the details, but for over a year I’ve been helping these guys. I’m on your side.”
I appreciated her sincerity, and also her little dig at all the guys in the room, Mitch and my dad included. They did really suck at giving background, that was an understatement. However, I had to fight not to cringe at her words “I won’t give you the details right now…” I was getting really sick of hearing that. Even now that I’d seen the spark between her and Bodhi, I couldn’t let go of the lingering question about any history between her and my boyfriend. What prompted her relationship with my guys in the first place?
She was still talking though and I leaned forward. “Neil doesn’t talk to me about all the businesses or include me in any kind of discussions, but I hear enough and see enough to be helpful to you all. Neil knows I know he does something at a lab that’s not entirely kosher, but that’s about it.”
I cleared my throat. “What about Thursday night? Not last week, when they broke into our house, but two days ago. Did he say anything about that?”
My pulse quickened as I waited for her answer. The idea that this had been discussed outside of the people who already knew made me sick. That it could have been planned by people above Branden and Sean made me close to vomiting up my lunch.
Her eyes softened even more at this, and her voice as well. “Your cousins told me, and I am so so sorry.” I nodded, respecting her for looking me in the eye and saying that, when it wasn’t comfortable for anyone. She could have just answered the question. And she got to that next. “But no, all I got was a comment from him later that night. He was supposed to come by my apartment but he cancelled. He said he had to deal with his idiot younger brother and cousin. I asked what that meant and all he said was that they were ‘dumbasses.’” She used air quotes and then pursed her lips in distaste.
