chapter 8

MOLLY

My body was aching and stiff when I let myself into my apartment later that night. My head was pounding. I dropped the bag of clothes I had with me on the table, heading straight for some wine.

God.

My dad. My bowling alley.

My staff.

Even Jess.

My life was a total conundrum, but one thing at a time, and right now, I needed my painkillers and oh crap. I had to nix the wine. Water would have to do, and after, I headed for the bathroom.

My clothes were stripped off, and I stepped under the shower.

God. Warmth. Ashton’s place had been warm. I wasn’t physically cold, but emotionally cold? Oh yes. So much yes. And just thinking about him, I felt a wave of panic sweep my body. But no. I couldn’t indulge in that. I needed to think clearly, needed to get through the next few weeks.

I remembered my time at Ashton’s place.

As soon as Jess and Trace had left, I’d whirled on him. “What did you do to Jess?” Because she was hurting, and Ashton had done something to make her hurt even more. I could feel it, sense it.

He had frowned at me, studying me before he tilted his head to the side. “What did you say to her? I’m assuming you played along in order to save Easter Lanes?”

Right. Easter Lanes. One battle at a time here. I lifted my head up, squared my shoulders. “I want to know what you meant that my father didn’t have the right to sell Easter Lanes to me.”

I thought I’d been prepared. It was Shorty Easter, after all.

I had endured him all my life and I was still standing, but I’d been wrong.

Nothing could’ve prepared me for what Ashton Walden told me. “Your father sold Easter Lanes to my family. My grandfather. It’s something he used to bargain for his life at one point. I don’t know what he said or how he convinced you, but he didn’t sell the bowling alley to you. It’s in one of my family’s company’s names, and it hasn’t changed since you were sixteen.”

I felt struck in the face. “Sixteen?”

“You’d already been in foster care for a number of years by then.”

God. A deep ache took root inside of me, but it was the same one that was always there whenever my dad got involved with my life. I called it the Shorty Ache. It was there in place of where my soul should’ve been. He took that from me. “I gave him money for the bowling alley.”

“He gave you paperwork?”

The words hurt to speak, but I said them. “We met in a back room at an office. There was a person there. I signed. He signed. It all looked legit. I never questioned it.”

“How much did you pay?”

I didn’t want to tell him. He had no idea it’d been everything for me. I had nothing.

“I paid him thirty grand.” I swallowed over a knot in my throat. I didn’t tell Ashton, but I’d almost felt bad for my dad that day, like I had been the one actually conning him.

I should’ve known. No one out-conned Shorty Easter.

“What do you need from me?”

“I need to use you to do something.”

“With the police?”

He hadn’t answered. He only stared at me.

He wouldn’t tell me anything more, but I didn’t have a good feeling about any of this.

Buzzzzzzzzzzz!

Crap. Hearing the doorbell now, I got out of the shower and headed to the door.

I already knew who that was, and after letting them up, I had a robe on when Pialto and Sophie both swept through the doorway.

They stopped and turned as one to me, and both threw their arms around me.

“Oh my god!” Pialto exclaimed before sounding off on a Spanish rant. I wasn’t even trying to catch up with him. I just let him go as I recognized a few words: “madre,” “dios,” and “por favor.”

Sophie was shaking as she brushed her frizzy hair away from her face. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

Pialto stepped back, but Sophie moved in, framed my face with her hands, and searched my eyes as if she could read me from there.

Seeing them again, feeling them, that’s when the tears started.

I felt them rolling down and tried to rally myself. I did, but with everything going on—my dad, the robber, Ashton—all of it was flooding me now, and I teetered.

My knees shook.

“Madre, she’s going down.” Pialto grabbed my arms as Sophie lurched for a chair.

I was lowered down, but I kept moving, sliding off the chair until I curled up in a ball. God. I’d been trying to be strong, but I was done for the night. I had nothing more in me.

“Oh, baby.” Pialto moved, pulling my head to rest over his folded knees.

“Who’s—” I started to lift my head because—Easter Lanes. Once Ashton told me that he had someone watching over it, I hadn’t worried about it, and now I was horrified because that should’ve been the first thing I thought of after I left his place. “Easter Lanes.”

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Pialto pushed my head back down, his hand smoothing over my hair. “There’s big scary men watching it.”

“Wha—”

“He’s joking. Your cousin said he got a call and he’s covering for you. Ben and Taj are helping him run it tonight.”

I relaxed a little. That was my usual Saturday crew. My cousin wasn’t really my cousin. He was from one of my foster homes. Glen. I never worried about my kitchen staff. They always showed up. I was blessed in many ways.

I nodded a little and pushed up so I was sitting. “Thanks, you guys.”

Sophie grabbed a blanket from the couch behind her, handing it over to me.

I spread it over my legs, but stretched it to cover Pialto, who turned so he was mirroring me, sitting with his legs crossed. Sophie, too, and the blanket covered her legs as well. The three of us, still on the floor, half huddling together.

“So.” Pialto was staring at me, his big dark eyes not blinking and wide.

Sophie moved closer. “What happened?”

I frowned, wiping a tear away. “What happened with you guys?”

They shared a look before Pialto shrugged. “We got checked over at the hospital, got the clear to head home, so we did.”

“Did the cops talk to you?”

They shared another look.

“Some cops were there before we went to the hospital, and we gave them our statement, but that was it. Two detectives came in just as your ambulance was leaving, and when they found out you were in there, they took off. They didn’t stay or come back,” Sophie said.

“Did you guys go home after the hospital?”

“We went back to Easter Lanes. The cops were cleared out, so we started cleaning up, and then we went home. When we came to work today, two big guys were at the counter talking to Glen. Your cousin’s the one who told us we could go home, but we didn’t want to. We were worried about you.”

“How’d you know I was back?”

Sophie grinned, ducking her head a little. “I asked your neighbor Mrs. Tulip to let us know. As soon as you got back, she was blowing up our phones. Said you got out of a big black SUV and looked tired. She also said if you want, she can make some Vietnamese noodles and bring them over.”

Oh. That warmed me. My neighbor was nosy, but I liked her. I didn’t worry about my place knowing she was always on the lookout.

“Spill, girl. What happened on your end?”

Now I had to make a decision. Should I tell them about Ashton? That’d mean bringing them in on Mafia business, but then again, they were my employees, and most times we acted like we were family. So . . .

“Ashton Walden kidnapped me.”

Both sucked in their breaths, their eyes bulging out, and they leaned back almost as one person.

“No way.” Pialto.

“Oh good Lord.” Sophie.

“Wait. How? Like, for real? How are you here then?” Pialto was looking around.

“Yes, for real. He took me from the hospital, and then no because, well, I can’t get into it, but there’s things he wants from me and . . . I can’t tell you guys. Not yet, anyway. But we came to an understanding, and now I’m here.”

Sophie’s eyes went cold. “He wants things from you? Like what things?” She gave me a once-over.

“No! Not that.” Or I didn’t think so, but when he’d touched me, the literal tingle that went through my whole body—gah. Stop it. He was dangerous and an asshole. He was Mafia, for fuck’s sake. And cruel. And mean. And my body was weak. Weak, that was. Weak and pathetic. “Not that, but other stuff. My dad. Stuff like that.”

“Wait. Wait. We know your dad is involved with that family, and you’re friends with Jess Montell, and we all know who she’s involved with, but—” Pialto stopped talking, instead starting to gape at me.

I know.

It was a lot.

Maybe I shouldn’t have included them, but if I were working somewhere and it had Mafia ties in a whole new way than I’d originally thought—I’d want to know. I swallowed over a lump. “So.” I moved closer, huddling farther down. “I’d understand if you guys don’t want—”

“Oh my god!”

“Are you serious?!”

“Who do you think we are?!”

“For the love of Mrs. Tulip!”

They both exploded, talking at the same time, but I just started blinking back more tears. I couldn’t hold back my smile. My family. That’s who they were.

Pialto pressed his hand on my leg, leaning in and making sure I was looking right into his eyes when he said, “We’re not going anywhere.”

I got all choked up. “Thank you, guys.”

Pialto was blinking back some tears, patting my leg again. “No problem, Honey Bunny Molly. You know we’re here for you.”

I turned my hand under his, linking our fingers, and I squeezed his hand.

Sophie was blowing snot bubbles, but she placed her hand on top of ours. “I love you guys.”

Okay. We were all for one and one for all. The solidarity pact was established, but then we fell into silence.

Sophie asked, “So. What do we do now?”

I shook my head. “I have absolutely no idea.”

Pialto sighed. “This would be a really great time for you to discover that you have a superhero power.”

Agreed.