Alec's Dream

by Riley Edwards

  “Why? Why should I care? He doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t care about you, or about yelling at you or hurting you. He only cares about talking bad about you to Rory so she’ll be on his side. But you know what? He doesn’t care about her either. He doesn’t want us, he just wants to screw with you.”

  “Caleb—”

  “What, Mom? It’s true. I’m not a kid. I know what he’s doing. I know him. I remember. I know he told you that he’d take us away from you just so you have nothing. I heard it. He didn’t say he was going to take us because he loved us—he just wanted you to have nothing.”

  My heart shattered. Doug had said that. I just had no idea Caleb had heard. There were so many thoughts racing through my head I couldn’t keep them straight. I didn’t know what to address first.

  “Sweetheart, I know you don’t believe this, but your dad does love you.”

  “No, he doesn’t. And if you believe that, it’s time you woke up.”

  Damn. I wanted to believe it. I wanted to be able to reassure my children their father really did love them and do it honestly. But I didn’t actually think Doug loved them. Caleb had been a burden to him and my precious Rory was simply a pawn to keep me in line.

  That was Doug—heartless.

  I made the decision to share even though I wasn’t sure it was the right thing, but I needed Caleb to understand I heard him and I had his back on this.

  “On Friday I contacted my attorney. We’re going to petition the court so your dad only has supervised visitation and no more overnights. Will that work for you? A few hours twice a month with a court-ordered person with you. That way maybe your dad can try to repair his relationship with you and Rory. I agree with you and I don’t want you going back over there until I know it is safe and you want to.”

  “If Rory has to go over there then I’m going. I won’t leave him alone with her.”

  Best big brother ever!

  “I’m talking about you and Rory.”

  “Then yes. I’m happy with that.”

  “Okay. Your grilled cheese is ready. You got anything else you wanna talk about?”

  “No.”

  “All right. I hope you know you can tell me anything.”

  “I liked Alec coming over yesterday. It was cool of him to show me how to do the windows. That way, next year I can do them so you don’t have to.”

  I seriously had the best kid.

  “That was cool of him.”

  I handed Caleb his plate and ambled into the living room where Rory was eating her lunch in front of the TV. Normally that was a no-no but it was Sunday and there was a show on she’d been dying to watch. At that moment I was grateful I’d given in and allowed it. That way, Caleb could have his say without his sister hearing.

  I tagged my cell off the counter and strolled back into my bedroom. Then I did something I never thought I’d do.

  I called Alec.

  “Hey, babe. I’m pulling down your street now. Everything okay?”

  “Um. You’re coming here?”

  “Yeah. What’s wrong?”

  “Why are you coming here?”

  “Macy. Why’d you call? You sound freaked.”

  I was freaked for a variety of reasons, one being Alec had been my first thought after Caleb told me Josh had threatened to kill Doug. Another being Alec was on his way to my house—this would be the third day in a row.

  “I’ll tell you when you get here.”

  “I’m pulling up.”

  Alec disconnected and I leashed my need to run to the door to see him.

  “Mom!” Rory shouted. “Alec’s here and he has Jocelyn.”

  My daughter’s happiness made me smile. It had nothing to do with a handsome man or his adorable daughter coming over. Nope. Not one bit.

  It took Alec five minutes after he’d walked in before he could get me alone. Rory needed to tell him some new random fact she’d learned. Caleb wanted to tell Alec that he’d found a toolbox in the garage and wanted to show it to him before he left. Jocelyn needed hugs and cuddles before Rory got out the stuffed animals and the girls got down to the very important task of playing zoo.

  Now we were alone. I wasn’t all that sure about taking Alec back to my room but we needed privacy and my house was small. With Caleb sitting at the dining room table, the kitchen was too close and the girls were in the living room. So my only options were my room or the back patio, and truthfully, it was too cold to stand outside. What could I say? I was a cold-weather wimp even if I’d grown up in Maryland and should’ve been used to the freezing temperatures.

  It was then I dumped everything Caleb told me on him. And I mean everything, even the parts about him not wanting to see his dad. What Caleb had heard before we moved out.

  Everything.

  The more I talked, the angrier Alec got, until his eyes blazed and he teetered on the fire-breathing part. That was coming though, I could feel it.

  “Serious as fuck, babe, just when I think I have a lock on how big of a dick your ex is, I’m proved wrong.”

  My lips twitched and no matter how hard I tried to pinch them together I couldn’t stop the grin. There was nothing funny about our conversation but Alec looked totally perplexed. It was cute. That was something I never thought I’d say about the man. He was not cute—he was hot. Big, brawny, and tough, that was Alec. But right now with a look of total bewilderment on his face, he was cute.

  Alec took in my face, his gaze dropped to my lips and his eyes turned soft. God, I loved it when he looked at me that way. Just him staring at my mouth reminded me of the two best kisses I’d ever had, both of which he’d given me.

  “Babe.” Alec took a step closer but said no more. His hand cupped my jaw and he was tilting my face up, leaning forward, when suddenly he stopped.

  I didn’t get a chance to ask him what was wrong. Gunfire pierced the silence and more followed.

  Alec took off like a shot, and with the singular thought to get to my kids, I followed. I hit the mouth of the hall and saw Alec’s big body thrown over Rory and Jocelyn. I could barely hear both girls’ screams over the barrage of bullets sweeping across my living room, shattering glass, splintering wood, and piecing drywall.

  “Get down!” Alec shouted.

  His voice barely registered through my shock. I’d never experienced automatic gunfire this close before. Never saw the devastation firsthand.

  I caught sight of Caleb in the kitchen. He was on his knees, elbows to the floor, hands cupping his ears. Without thinking, I ran—full-out uncaring bullets whizzed by me. The sound so deafening, my ears rang. I got to the kitchen, fell to my knees, and pain from the hard tile floor made me wince. I covered Caleb the best I could while scooting us behind the island.

  And that was where we stayed for what seemed like forever.

  Finally, the sound stopped but I still didn’t move. I clutched my boy so tight I didn’t think I’d ever get my arms to release him.

  What just happened?

  Seriously? What in the actual fuck just happened?

  “Caleb, baby?” I whispered.

  Or maybe I yelled. I couldn’t tell over the high-pitched ringing in my ears.

  My son didn’t answer, but seconds later his body started trembling. Not a little, a whole lot. He quaked under me so hard, he shook my body with it.

  “Up!” Alec barked. Not waiting for me to answer, his hand curled around my bicep and pulled me to my feet. “Where are your keys?”

  “Car.”

  “You get Rory.”

  Without argument, I scooped up Rory as Alec bent down, Jocelyn still in his arms, and picked Caleb up.

  “Wrap your arms around me, bud.”

  Alec shuffled Joss, making room for my son’s not-so-small body to wrap around his front and without delay Alec quickly moved us through the kitchen toward the side door leading to the garage. He opened the door, gave me a gentle shove, and the first thing I noticed was the sunlight streaming through holes in my garage doo
r.

  “Hurry, babe.”

  Then suddenly I wasn’t staring at the bullet holes I was moving to my car. Alec opened the back door. I got in and situated Rory on my lap. Alec placed Caleb on the seat, and with a quick shuffle, Rory’s bottom was next to me and I held a screaming Jocelyn in my arms.

  Alec closed us in and jogged around to the front of the car and into the driver’s seat.

  “I want all of you to get down as low as you can,” he instructed and turned the ignition.

  “Seat belts,” I ordered. “Shh, baby. I got you.”

  Jocelyn ignored my shushing and continued to cry. I glanced at Rory and Caleb who were both pale, and by my guess, in shock. But they managed to get their belts buckled.

  The garage door went up, my arm went around my kids as best I could, and I pushed us all forward, the kid’s heads resting on their knees while I cradled Jocelyn.

  “Everything’s gonna be okay,” I whispered.

  Rory whimpered.

  Caleb grunted.

  Jocelyn sobbed.

  The affirmation sounded ridiculous even to my own ears and I wasn’t sure I believed it either. Not a damn thing was okay and I didn’t think it ever would be again—not as long as Josh roamed the streets and Doug was in our lives.

  Alec slammed down on the accelerator and the car jerked back, taking us out of my garage. Next thing I knew, he skidded to a halt and we shot forward.

  I didn’t bother asking where we were going. I didn’t care, as long as it was someplace safe and away from my house. I didn’t even care that he’d left my garage wide open and my house unlocked. Not that it mattered. My front window was shattered and all my living room furniture was ruined—shot to shit.

  Shot to shit!

  Oh my god.

  Now was not the time for me to have a nervous breakdown so I settled in on coming up with ways to kill Doug. That was after I tortured him, of course.

  “Shots fired at Macy’s.” I heard Alec’s deep rumbly voice announce. “We’re en route to my house. Jonny can meet us there but no uniforms. The kids are freaked-out enough. Send someone to Macy’s to secure the premises.”

  No uniforms. His daughter had just been caught in a hail of gunfire and he was thinking about my kids. Well, he was thinking about Jocelyn, but Rory and Caleb were part of that.

  Alec had paused for a moment and when he spoke again, shivers ran down my spine. “I’m fucking done with this, Nixon. You better warn Jonny. We played it his way and now my woman and her kids have the added trauma of a goddamn drive-by. Their home is in ruins. And I’ll repeat, they’re freaking out. Wanna know how I know? Because two of the three kids in the back seat are shocked into silence. This shit ends. Today. Now. It’s done for them. Put that out far and wide, brother—they are mine. Anyone even looks in Macy’s direction will answer to me.”

  Alec was wrong about something—there were three people in the back of the car stunned into silence. Something good, something I’d never felt before started to bloom, something I’d been fighting. But right then, in the back seat of my car with Alec driving like a bat out of hell, taking us farther away from a place I never wanted to go back to, I knew I’d lost the battle.

  I’d lost my will to fight. But somehow, I think I just found something better.

  Way better.

  Alec.

  “Shh. Mama’s got you.” I tightened my arm around all three kids and I did this knowing that Alec would take care of the rest.

  22

  Alec paced. Then he paced some more. But nothing would calm the fury in his gut.

  Motherfucking Malone.

  He was a dead man walking. Unless Jonny pulled out a miracle and somehow locked Malone up before Alec went hunting—Malone was dust.

  Fuck, his chest burned with possibilities—they’d gotten lucky. So fucking lucky he was holding back the fire that wanted to explode. If Rory had been standing, she would’ve been hit. If his girl had been motoring around, she would’ve been hit. If Caleb had been sitting at the kitchen table, he would’ve been hit.

  It was only by the grace of God that Rory and Joss were both on their bellies playing with stuffed animals—if not—fuck, he couldn’t even think about the if not without his gut churning.

  Macy hadn’t said a word when Alec had ushered them into the house. And Caleb was fucking killing him—the boy had clung to him as he guided the trembling kid up the stairs and into his bedroom. Once Macy got settled on Alec’s big king-sized bed, Rory folded into her side and Alec helped Caleb snuggle into the other. He’d tried to take Joss with him to leave the three of them, but Jocelyn threw a tantrum and Macy happily had told Alec to leave her. So he did and the four of them had been in a heap in the middle of the bed when he walked out.

  Jonny’s visit was imminent and he’d yet to leash his anger.

  Alec’s phone rang. He pulled it out, checked the caller ID, and answered, “Nixon.”

  “Christ, brother, I’m at Macy’s.” Nixon paused and Alec could visualize his friend’s frown as he took in the state of Macy’s home. “Already called Rob Keene. He and his crew are on their way here now. He’s bringing supplies to board up the front window.”

  That was good.

  “Also got crime scene investigators here. Don’t think I need to tell you this, but there’s about two hundred nine mil shell casings littering the street—looks like he didn’t even get out of the car.”

  No, Nix didn’t need to inform Alec about the number of casings, he’d lived it. Alec had covered two little girls amidst the burst of gunfire, praying to God Almighty that Caleb was safe hiding somewhere. Then his heart had stopped when he saw Macy fucking standing in the hall, not listening to him telling her to get down. And when she ran through the volley, bullets zipping past her, he wasn’t sure if he was impressed by her bravery and need to protect her child, or if he was pissed beyond reason she’d been so stupid. Even now, just thinking about it infuriated him. She could’ve been killed.

  “Malone wasn’t alone,” he told Nixon. “Unless he got his hands on a belt-fed machine gun, which you know is gonna cost some cake, buying it off the street even more. There was no pause to reload. So my guess is Malone had someone with him. A couple of Mac-10s would make more sense—they’re readily available to any douchebag with money and buying two would still be less expensive than a belt-fed.”

  “Fuck.”

  Fuck was right. Not only were they now looking for Malone and an accomplice, they knew the fuckwads had heavy firepower.

  Alec’s gaze went to the long dirt lane leading to his house and he saw the black SUV, dust and debris kicking up into a cloud behind the vehicle.

  “Gotta go. Jonny just arrived.”

  “I’ll be over shortly. The women are mobilizing and asking what Macy needs.”

  “’Preciate that, but right now—”

  “No, brother, they’ve mobilized. McKenna, Kennedy, and Silver are right now at the store filling carts with enough food to last the five of you until the apocalypse and probably beyond. They’ll be hittin’ up the drug store after that. They need to know if Macy needs something in particular.”

  Christ. There it was, that warmth hit his chest again. He’d been friends with the guys a long time, their friendship tested in ways most couldn’t imagine. Blood, sweat, and death had bound them together. McKenna, Kennedy, and Silver had seamlessly woven themselves into his brothers’ lives. They were now an integral part of their group.

  “I’ll ask her. But off the top of my head, she’ll need some basic woman shit. Rory, too. I suspect Caleb will be good using my shower shit but I got nothing that smells good and Macy always smells flowery.”

  Nix chuckled and returned. “I’ll pass that along and see you in a few.”

  Alec disconnected the call and moved to the door to let Jonny in.

  “Alec—”

  Alec held a hand up, halting whatever Jonny was going to say.

  “Macy and the kids are upstairs in my bed.” The
other man’s posture changed, going from pissed to guarded. “I get you care about her and you love your niece and nephew. What you need to get is they’re in my house, in my bed, and under my protection.”

  “Hall—”

  “Not done, Jonny.” Alec cut him off again. “I also know that as pissed as you are at your brother, he’s still your brother. I don’t have the time nor the patience to tread lightly so I’m telling you straight—today Doug Spencer ceased to exist for them. And not just Macy, those kids, too. They are done. This goes beyond him being a shitty father, way fucking past him being a dick to Macy and jacking her around. That motherfucker’s shit has leaked into their lives in a way that will never happen again. That is done for them. I’m gonna dig up so much shit on him it will bury him. Not only will he never see those kids again, he’ll be in it so fucking deep he’s never gonna breathe clean air again.”

  “Brother, I get that, but—”

  “Someone could’ve died today,” Alec roared. “Aurora or Caleb could’ve fucking died because of that twat. Do not stand here in my home, with three people you claim to love upstairs in my bed counting their lucky stars they’re all breathing, and give me a motherfucking but. Do not give me some bullshit when Macy is up there holding her babies thanking God one of them didn’t bleed out on the goddamn floor of their home. A place she has provided for them, not the dick.”

  “Fuck, Alec, if you’d give me a minute you’d know I absolutely agree with you. What I was going to say is, you’re gonna have to have a care with Rory. She’s six and what she knows about her dad is sometimes he disappears but when he comes back, he’s all about sugar with her. It’s bullshit, we all know it. Doug’s way of trying to fuck Macy over, turning her daughter against her. But all the same, he plays the loving daddy to her. And Macy’s gonna have to deal with it. She’ll be the one who you’re gonna need to convince, not me.”

  “Not after today, I won’t. If you don’t think Macy will do anything she has to, to shield those kids from any more damage, you are wrong.”

  “He’s right.” Macy’s voice was sure and strong and when Alec turned to see her walking his way. Her shoulders were back, head held high, and with a look of determination he’d never seen before on her face.