"Yeah, I can. I just can't mouth off and shit." She leaned in and kissed me soft as Grandma cleared her throat.

  "You can stay here more often, you know." Grandma glanced from Lena to me.

  "I like that idea much better." I brushed Lena's hair back as my heart beat far too fast. "I'm so pissed I could break something in half."

  "Well, let it go as best you can. I want you here with me, not lost in a rage. Besides, you were a dick this morning. I deserve one hell of an apology."

  "Lena. Language. Good grief." Grandma got up, and I chuckled at her calling my girl out.

  "Right. What do you want?" I asked, not willing to let her feel anything but love from me from there on out.

  'Your dick' she mouthed and smiled.

  "All yours, baby." I pulled her close and pressed my lips to the side of her neck. "Tell Grandma we're going to go tell stories in the bedroom."

  "I'm right here. I can hear you both." Her voice was shrill and dramatic.

  We both laughed as I stood up and pulled Lena with me. "Well good, then you'll know not to bother us unless you want the shock of your life."

  "Oh honey, please." Grandma shrugged. "I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Just be careful with my baby, and take your storytelling elsewhere."

  I touched Lena's face. "Wanna go to the garage and chill?"

  "Yeah. Anywhere, as long as it's with you."

  Grandma's mumbling followed us out the door. "Kids these days... complete hoodlums."

  She had no idea.

  Chapter 19

  Two Weeks Later

  Selene

  Lucky and I had planned a day date where we would just spend the day doing what we loved most -- each other. My bandages were off and my face finally healed. Much to my shock and surprise, my father had apologized a few days later, telling me that he didn't remember hitting me at all. He was all doped up on drugs.

  “I’m so sorry, Butterfly,” he said. “You know I love you. I wasn’t in my right mind.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “It’s over.”

  “I’ll buy you anything you want.”

  “You think money is going to make up for it?”

  Blood money, I wanted to say.

  He looked at me apologetically. “I’ll buy you some diamonds. Yes, my baby needs a diamond necklace around her pretty neck.”

  It didn't change anything. Nothing would. Too much had stacked up. I'd played it all off as no big deal, which I think surprised him. I was going to dive into the loving daughter roll as best I could to have him completely convinced and wrapped tightly around my finger. It was the only way to make sure that within a year or two the DEA would have all the information they needed to bring him down. I met with the FBI and told them everything I knew. They signed a statement saying Lucky and I wouldn’t have any charges pressed against us. That meant any crimes we were associated with would be forgiven, and we both had a clean slate. We worked out a deal that made everyone happy. With my family put away behind bars, I hoped this town would be safe once again.

  I kept pondering my decision. It wasn’t an easy one, I tell you that. Turning against my family seemed cold and heartless. But how could I let them hurt anymore innocent people’s lives? And the heinous crimes they committed… they simply had to be stopped. Lucky was with the good guys and I was stuck with the bad guys.

  Not only that, but I wanted to get my life back. I was tired of living in fear. Lucky and I could move to another city, or even settle down with the Stone Wolves, if that's what he wanted. Until then, we would live day by day, trying to play as if things were perfectly fine, which to some degree they were.

  I rode my bike to the old lake a few miles out of town. It was the same place we've stripped and had a good time getting to know each other on several occasions. I couldn't help but chuckle as I parked my bike and locked it up. The memory of Lucky scrambling after me butt-ass naked as I stole his clothes and ran was ever-present on my mind.

  He walked toward me as a smile lifted his handsome face. "There's my girl."

  "Hi, baby." I got up from my squatted position by the bike and walked toward him, sliding into his strong arms and lifting to my toes to kiss him a few times.

  "How you doing?" He used a Brooklyn accent, wagging his eyebrows as I laughed softly.

  "Much better now."

  The sun was high in the sky, and it was just before lunch. The weather was chilly, but combined with the beautiful scene around us, I was filled with serenity.

  "I brought some sandwiches from town. You hungry?" He nodded toward the picnic table and took my hand.

  "Yeah. Sounds great. I slept in this morning. It was a long night last night. My father kept having chest pains." I shrugged and smiled. "Is all of this for me?"

  A single rose sat on the center of the picnic table covered by a pretty white tablecloth. The food was on bright yellow plastic plates and a bottle of wine sat between the two meals with matching wineglasses waiting to be filled.

  "Of course it is. I wish it was a fancy dinner, but I'm thinking this fits us a little bit better. No?" He smiled and moved to sit across from me.

  "Who scored you the liquor?" I couldn't help but ask. We were approaching twenty, although most days I felt like I was eighty.

  "Blade. He knows about us."

  "Yeah, you told me." I reached across the table and took his hand, intertwining my fingers with his. "This is beautiful."

  "Good." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a locket. "I got this for you. I want you to wear it for me. It's a token of my love. It's going to get rough over the next year having to hide us, but I need you to know that forever waits just beyond this short stint. You can walk this walk with me, right?"

  Tears burned my eyes and I nodded, reaching for the beautiful little figure eight. "Is this an eternity symbol?"

  "It is, beautiful." He got up and walked around, helping me put it on and leaning down to kiss the side of my neck from the base of it to my ear. "I love you."

  "I love you too." I turned my head and brushed my fingers through the hair at the back of his head as I explored his mouth.

  "Mmmm... I'm going to make you skip lunch and give me what I brought you out here to get." He nipped at my lips and moved back around the table.

  "Give you what you came to get?" I lifted my eyebrow.

  "Yep."

  "You have no soul. Teasing me with sex when we've got this lovely lunch to share." I shook my head.

  "Sorry, girlie. You knew what you were getting into before you said yes to me." He picked up his sandwich and took a deep bite. "You love me just like I am."

  "This is true." I followed suit and took a bite of my sandwich, taking my time to enjoy it while we talked a little about the Stone Wolves. Seemed that they were going to be starting a new initiative with the cops to help control the crime a little more in the town.

  "So are you having to patrol the neighborhoods or what?" I finished half my sandwich and pushed the rest over to Lucky. He took it and finished it for me within two bites.

  My phone buzzed on the table next to me, but I ignored it.

  "Yeah, but they want us to try and talk with some of the younger kids about drugs and getting in with the wrong crowds." He shrugged. "It's weird. It's like they want us to dangle the hope of being a Stone Wolf in front of the kids."

  "I think it's great." I got up and stretched my arms toward the sky. "You want to lie by the lake and talk or go for a walk, or what?"

  He smiled nefariously. "You know what I wanna do."

  "I could probably guess." I rolled my eyes and reached for my phone as it buzzed again. "Who the fuck is this that won't stop calling?"

  "Selene." Mateo's voice was tight and filled with some emotion I couldn't pin point. Either way, it stopped me dead in my tracks.

  "What's wrong?"

  "It's your dad. He's in the ER. Heart attack. They’re rushing him into emergency. I'm not sure he's going to make it, Lena."

  "I'm coming." I dropped the call and slipped my phone in my back pocket as my heart raced. I hated my father, but that didn't mean some part of me wasn't going to react to him being in trouble or near death.

  Lucky moved from the table and pulled me against him. "What's the matter? What's going on?"

  "My father's had a heart attack. I gotta go." I lifted to my toes and kissed him twice before turning and jogging away.

  "Call me later, Lena. Be careful!"

  I waved in the air absently, but my mind had already moved a million miles from the serenity of the lake. Riding to the hospital seemed to take forever, and a million emotions ran through me as I tried to get to my dad, mostly how much I hated him, but wishing death on him wasn't going to happen.

  He deserved to pay for all he'd done, but death wasn't the answer.

  I pulled up to the ER, locked my bike down, and walked in, letting my eyes scan the room. My cousins were gathered at the far end. All of them looked rather pale, and I couldn't help but feel the heaviness of their emotions pushing down on me.

  Elec moved out of the group and wrapped me in a hug, though I didn't want one.

  "Lena. He's got a thirty percent chance, so if you pray, you might wanna do it." He brushed the back of my head.

  "When can we see him?" I pulled from him and glanced down the hall where doctors were running in and out of the room.

  "Soon." Mateo moved up beside me, putting his mitt-like hand on my shoulder.

  Everyone was there but one person. "Where's Dante?"

  "He's in the next county over. New opportunity he was checking out for your dad." Elec crossed his arms over his chest.

  "What happened?" I let my gaze move between the two of them.

  "He got some information this morning that he wasn't willing to share with any of us. Where we don't think it was the main cause of the heart attack, whatever it was pushed him over the edge." Elec nodded toward Mateo. "Remember him coming into the dining hall all pissed and shit?"

  "Yeah. He was pretty upset, but he didn't spill. He stopped at the door and looked at all of us, but just before he could get a word out, he grabbed his chest and hit the ground. All fucking hell broke loose." Mateo wiped at his eyes.

  The hard emotion of the group was a little surprising, but I guessed, unlike me, these guys worshiped my dad. I found an empty chair and slumped down in it, not quite sure how I felt about everything. I was suddenly so tired.

  It seemed like forever before a middle-aged woman in a white coat came out of the far end of the room and stopped in front of us. "Anyone blood-related to Rafael Delgado?"

  Everyone stood up, but I moved to the front of the group. "I'm his daughter."

  "I'm Dr. Bennet. He's been in surgery for the last two hours, and he's stable, but the next twenty-four hours are going to be critical. We're moving him to ICU. One of you can stay with him overnight. Is that you?" She glanced around at the others, as if making sure someone else didn't want to make the sacrifice.

  "Yes. I want to see him."

  "Okay. Follow me." She turned to go, but I turned toward my cousins.

  "Go home. I'll call later with an update. I promise."

  Elec nodded. "If you want me to take a shift, just let me know."

  "Alright." I turned and followed after the doctor as my chest tightened painfully. I felt like a six-year old little girl all over again. I was scared and wished like hell Lucky could have been there with me. It would never happen where we could support each other in the midst of our families, but it didn't mean I didn't wish for that to be the case.

  She stopped outside of one of the rooms and turned around. "His heart was in bad shape, and it still is. I would tell you to have him watch his stress level, but I've heard a bit about your family since he got in here. I assume stress is just part of the deal."

  "Yes, ma'am it is." I moved into the room with her, my breath catching as a saw him. The color was completely gone from his face and the number of tubes coming from him left me gasping for air. I turned and pressed my hands to my face as I let out a cry.

  "It's alright. It's a little much, I understand." The doctor touched my shoulder and squeezed it before walking from the room.

  It took me a few minutes to pull myself together. Finally, I was able to turn and walked up to stand beside the bed. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I prayed that he would wake up a different man, a changed man, the man that raised me, that loved my mother years ago.

  "What happened, Daddy?" I whispered and reached out, brushing his hair back from his head as I choked on sob after sob. “I wish I had the right words, just know I care.”

  I couldn't change the projection of what Dane, Lucky and I were planning, but I surely hoped my dad would force us to by changing completely.

  “I love you, Daddy. I just don’t love the things you do,” I said. “I just want you to be a better person. I want you to be the hero of the town… not the monster. And I’ve come to realize that I don’t want to become like you. I think reality hit me hard when I realized what you truly were…a cold-hearted murderer. I wanted to be in this club so bad, more than anything. I passed your tests and you let me in. But at what cost? You’re like the devil who stole my soul. I think was naïve to who you really were. And now my eyes are wide open. You sent me into the hands of your enemies. What kind of dad does that? You’re supposed to be protecting me. Not sending me to my death! I still can’t understand what would possess you to risk my life over a test. And I was forced to kill people. How can I live with that on my conscience? So that’s why I hate you. But damn it! I love you too. You’re my dad. And everything you put me through, I still fucking love you. And I have no idea why.”

  The tears dripped down my face. “Is it because I remember the man you used to be? Or were you just pretending when I was around? What happened to the dad who used to take me fishing on Saturday mornings? Remember when you taught me how to fish, and we caught the biggest bass known to man? I still have that picture of us in a frame on my dresser. We both had the biggest smiles on our faces. We were so happy! I remember how you used to cook me pancakes and bacon on Sundays. And you used to make smiley faces with the bacon, and use chocolate chips for the eyes, and whipped cream for the nose. You were gone a lot, but you always spent Sunday mornings with me. I looked forward to every damn Sunday because you doted on me. You would tell me jokes and make me laugh. I remember how we used to skip rocks in the lake. My rock would never go very far, but you would just laugh and tell me what a good job I did. You told me you loved me unconditionally. And I miss those days so much, Daddy. You were my hero. I wanted to grow up and be just like you. But now…”

  I squeezed his hand and pondered.

  “What am I supposed to do?” I whispered, wiping the tears with my sleeve. “You’re a powerful crime boss. I want you to stop hurting the people in this city. Stop the drugs. And stop the violence. Why can’t you just be a normal dad? Why can’t you be that dad that took me fishing and made me pancakes with funny faces? What happened to you?” I took a trembling breath. “I love you. I do. And even though I’m angry at you…” I let out a long sob. “I’m scared to death you might not make it. I just need you to pull through this. Because it breaks my heart to see you like this. Don’t you dare die on me!”

  Dante tapped on the door and walked in. “Your old man is too stubborn to die.”

  “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Just got here, darling. I know you don’t want me to see your tears. But it doesn’t mean you’re weak.”

  He hugged me and I cried into his shoulder.

  “I can’t lose him,” I said.

  “We won’t.”

  Dante gave me all kinds of encouragement. It didn’t make sense. I saw this sweet side of him, like now. And I also saw his evil side. He could shoot and kill a man in cold blood and not blink an eye. He held my dad’s hand and gave him lots of encouragement too. It was a side of Dante I’d never seen.

  He met my gaze. “I am always just a phone call away.”

  “Thanks, Dante.”

  He then left to give me a few minutes with my dad alone.

  After standing there for half an hour, I moved over to the couch and sank down on the cushions. The nurse walked in shortly thereafter and smiled.

  "I'm going to take his vitals and draw his blood. How about you go grab a cup of coffee and stretch your legs? I'll be in here until you get back." She turned toward my father, and I got up.

  "Thank you. I think I will." I walked out of the room and checked my phone, finding several texts from Lucky. I checked the lobby of the ER and found all of my family gone, which was oddly comforting.

  I stepped outside near the front of the hospital and called my man.

  "Lena. You okay baby? What's going on?" His voice was sweet, soft, loving.

  "Yeah. He looks horrible." I pressed my fingers to my lips, hoping like hell I could keep it together. "I'm sorry. You don't want to hear all of this."

  I looked up as the sound of a motorcycle took my attention.

  He stopped right in front of me and spoke into the phone. "Of course I do. It's to do with you."

  Dropping the call, I tucked the phone in my back pocket and crawled onto the bike in front of him, facing him as I wrapped my arms around him. He pulled me in tightly and pressed his lips against the side of my neck.

  "Thank you for coming up here. I know you hate him." I pressed my face against his chest and breathed in deeply. He was my center, my peace, my future.

  "Anytime, Lena. Me hating him doesn't mean shit. I love you far more than I feel anything for him or your MC." He moved up to look me in the face as his strong fingers slid along my face. "I want every part of you, baby. The good and the bad. Give it all to me. I'm a greedy mother fucker."

  "Yeah you are, but you're mine." I pressed against him and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down for a long, hot kiss.

  The next stretch of time between that moment and the one where we ended my father's reign of terror was marked to be damn near impossible, but it didn't matter.