Some Way

by Tiffany Jade

  I hit the ground as the sobs rack through me.

  "Livi, please," Dean falls in front of me, he reaches for my chin and forces me to look at him. "I wasn't asking you to relive it. I was asking if you remembered that we were going to have all weekend."

  I catch my breath the best I can. "All weekend for what?"

  "To figure out how we are going to stop all this shit." Dean says the words as he drops his hand from my face.

  "You're not going to kill Gray and Dax?" hiccups take me over as I try to breath instead of cry.

  "Uh, hell no," he grins at me as he sits back on his heels. "I actually am hoping that with your help, I'll be able to get them on my side."

  "Dean, I have been thrown so many curve balls in the past few weeks, please just let me know what the hell is going on." I wipe the remnants of my tears on the sleeves of the hoodie and join Dean in sitting.

  "Can you imagine what life would be like for us all if the ones in charge were Viktor, Gio, and Sera-fucking-fina?" Dean's eyes widen in kind of mock but kind of not horror.

  I shudder.

  "Exactly. It's going to take all of us to make sure that doesn't happen." Dean sticks out his hand with a small smile. "Are you in?"

  Chapter 25

  "Mom says if we blow up her penthouse during this party that she is putting us up for adoption." Dax slides his phone into his pocket and smirks as he slams the door and puts on his seatbelt. I start up the truck.

  "We are 26. I think she's stuck with us at this point." I program the address she had given us to her newly acquired penthouse at Beverly West. "And for the 12.1 mil she paid for the place, she would have been smart to get damn good insurance before letting us use it for a bachelor party." Dax's eyes sparkle at the thought. God knew what he had in store for tonight but I knew he had busted his ass putting it together so last minute.

  As we pull into the hell that is L.A. afternoon traffic, Dax reaches over to turn the music up with a smile on his face. With everything we had been through in the past couple of days I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me feel a little better. I relax a little as B.I.G. and Dax start rapping about big B-U-T-Ts. The rest of my life may be a shit show but thank God for this dumbass twin of mine.

  By some miracle we make it to the penthouse without getting stuck anywhere for too long. As we pull up to the valet a giant grin spreads across Dax’s face. Oh yeah this fucker has something waiting for me. As if reading my mind he turns to me.

  “Now remember, the plane will be waiting for us at eight a.m., and the last time we were late I swear to God he looked for turbulence. So don’t have too much fun.” He hops out and heads for the door without waiting for me.

  Well this ought to be really interesting. The valet opens my door with a smile too big for his face. “Welcome Mr. Demonte! And congratulations on your upcoming nuptials!”

  “Thank you,” I answer as nicely as I can as I hand him my keys and a hundred dollar bill. It’s not his fault I’m marrying a female Lucifer.

  “Kind of you sir!” He happily pockets his tip and jumps into the truck. I turn to the door and see why Dax went in ahead of me. He’s now waiting at the entrance with a group of at least ten girls, wearing, well just enough to not be illegal outside.

  He makes a motion and five of the girls head for me.

  “My fiancé is going to murder me,” Nate's voice behind me makes me grin. I turn to see him and Luca pull up where my truck had been. “Or she’s going to murder you.”

  The girls wrap themselves around me as another valet appears to take the keys from Nate.

  Random hands run over me as I smile. “Blame Dax bro, I am an innocent victim of anything that happens tonight.”

  Luca actually laughs as he claps a hand on my shoulder, one of the few places he can get to me. I don’t know how much Dax paid these girls but Jesus they were handsy.

  “Let’s go fuckers, I know it’s hard to believe but there’s even more good shit upstairs,” as Dax yells out towards us, the bass from music starting can be felt under our feet. Looking up we can all see the lights start flashing from the top floors.

  “Yep I’m gonna die,” Nate shakes his head as we all head for the door. “This better be worth it.”

  The girls leave my side as the doors open wide. They rush ahead to grab the elevators for us.

  “You can call off the strippers Dax,” I motion toward them as D shows up at my side. He laughs as we get in the elevator and they attach themselves to me again.

  “Na bro, this is your last shot at freedom.” He waves his hand around, “You better enjoy every fucking moment.”

  “You act like Serafina isn’t gonna cheat on me every chance she gets, I doubt faithfulness is going to be one of our vows.” A hand grabs me at my comment, ushering a little grunt. I shove the hand away and move to the back of the elevator.

  “You say that now…” Dax sing songs, making me worry.

  We hit our floor and talking quietly is no longer an option.

  The doors open to the million dollar penthouse and instead of the modern and classy design I know my mother probably had chosen, the whole place has been converted into a club. Complete with dance floor and DJ booth.

  A smoking section in the corner catches my eye right away, will definitely be hitting up that area asap. Drinking games are set up randomly throughout the room. No beer pong. Dax notices my eyes hitting the games and nods.

  Luca and Nate head off to one of the bars situated over by the wall of windows overlooking the city—a drink sounds real fucking good so I begin to follow them.

  Liam catches my eye from across the room, he nods and grins as he rests in a chair set up in front of one of the stripper poles Dax had installed. Yeah Mom would have a fucking heart attack if she saw what he did to her living room.

  As I hit the bar Nate hands me two shots. Without questions I down them both and take the two Luca offers right after. The vodka goes down smooth and I don’t argue as they repeat the process.

  Eight shots down the three of us grab a drink to work on and we head for the smoking section. Dax meets us there and hands me one he’s already lit.

  “The finest Cali has to offer,” he coughs a bit as he exhales, making me chuckle. A couple hits and I can feel the rest of my stress leave my body. I settle onto one of the chairs and D, Nate, and Luca sit in the chairs around me.

  The Four Musketeers we used to call ourselves when we were young. We had grown up together, partied together, fought together, and killed together.

  “You good brother?” Luca asks as he skips his turn and passes it on to me. He always was the good kid. Well he was a fucking beast when someone needed dead, but when it came to fun he was boring as hell.

  “Luca dude, for once in your fucking life, quit being lame and get fucked up with us.” Dax punches Luca on the shoulder as I take too long to answer the question.

  “I don’t get fucked up D,” Luca glances over his small glass of whiskey at Dax, slightly smirking at D’s ribbing.

  “Some shit never changes,” Dax rolls his eyes as he finishes his drink and signals for one of the waitresses to bring him another.

  “I am nothing if not consistent,” Luca leans back in his chair, perfectly comfortable in his sober state.

  “A consistent pain in my ass,” Dax mutters as he waves over a few of the girls.

  “Anyway,” Luca rolls his eyes and looks back towards me. “You good?” of course he won’t fucking let it go.

  I notice a cute brunette standing next to me giggling as one of my other cousins whispers something in her ear. I grab her hand and spin her around to sit on my lap, handing her the new joint Dax just rolled as she giggles and wiggles her ass on me. As I light it, she inhales and I look up and meet Luca’s eyes, full of concern.

  “All good Luc,” the giggly one takes another hit and passes it to one of her girlfriends behind me before wrapping her arms around my neck and tracing the lines of my tattoos.

  Luca nods knowi
ng I’m bullshitting him and gets up and heads off into the room.

  “Are you Grayson or Daxon?” brunette asks me as she waves off her friend who tries to grab her.

  “Grayson.” I take a sip of my drink as she giggles again. Holy fuck, that’s going to get old quick.

  “The one getting married?” she asks as her fingers find their way into my hair.

  “At your service ma’am.”

  Without another word her lips are on mine. The alcohol and the weed in my system take over and I let her have her way.

  Maybe Dax is right, one more night of real freedom. Brunette pulls back a bit and places her hands on either side of my face, runs her thumb across my lips and tilts her head. Her little blonde girlfriend shows up next to me and places the joint to my lips, I inhale as I look between Dax and Nate who both look amused as hell, and before I can exhale blondie’s lips are on mine.

  Well one more fucking night of freedom it is.

  “I thought you were my friend!”

  “I am!” Dean bends over the foosball table as he laughs so hard his eyes start to water. “But as your friend, it is my duty to tell you, you suck at this!” I roll my eyes at him as he continues his dramatic show of laughing at me.

  “Livi, I swear to God I have never seen someone make the ball fly off the table and across the room, like what the fuck?!” Dean wipes a tear as he starts looking around for where the little ball had flown off to.

  “We couldn’t have just done a puzzle or something?” I walk away from the table and over to the little couch in the game room we had spent the past few hours in. I grab my beer off the side table and send him a pouty face before I take a drink.

  He finds the ball and makes another show of picking it up and walking the ten feet back to the table and dropping it down before he heads over to join me. He throws himself down and kicks his feet up on the coffee table, before grabbing his own beer.

  His hand lands on my knee and I let it rest there, after the long talk we had had in the room earlier, it was much easier to pretend we were in a relationship for his father’s cameras. He squeezes so that I look up at him.

  “Feeling better?” he asks.

  “Well I was before you started making fun of me!” I push his shoulder playfully and we both start laughing.

  “Whatever, you’re just mad that I beat you after all that shit you were talking.” He finishes off his beer and sets it down. His eyes are a little hooded, showing that he’s got a nice little buzz just like me. We both needed it after what had been happening.

  “If it had been football, I would have kicked your ass,” I shrug as he bursts out laughing again.

  “FOOTBALL!? You’re gonna beat me at football with your tiny ass?! Livi did you forget I’m a six foot two professional criminal?” He stands up and puffs out his chest, now it’s my turn to laugh.

  “Being smaller is an advantage sometimes!” he picks me up and throws me on his back as I try to assert some form of being tough.

  Mission failed.

  I crack up as he heads out the door with me.

  “You know even with everything that has happened, it’s hard to think of you as like a legitimate criminal.”

  “That’s why I’m so good at it.” He looks over his shoulder at me and winks.

  I roll my eyes.

  “And try to remember Livi, I did kind of drug you to get you here. And you’re surrounded by that,” he nods his head over to an open door where another pile of guns is laid out on a table being cleaned.

  “Trust me I know,” a shiver runs through me and my arms naturally tighten around his neck. “It just doesn’t seem to fit you though.” He stays silent as he takes us to our room. I start to think I made him mad so I stay quiet too.

  As we get to our door, I start squirming to get down but he holds onto my wrists with one hand and opens the door with the other. We enter and he quickly shuts and locks the door behind us before letting me slide down. I start to head for the bedroom but he grabs my arm and makes me stop.

  “It doesn’t fit me Livi, and I’m nothing like my father. I’m going to get you out of this, I promise.” I turn to face him as he speaks. A slight slur to his voice.

  Call me foolish, but I can’t help but believe him. I nod and give him a small smile. “I know Dean.”

  He nods his head and lets go of me.

  “Goodnight Livi,” he starts to head for the couch that he had been sleeping on. I look towards the room and I don’t know if it’s the alcohol or the fact that I’m really fucking scared but now I grab onto him.

  “Will you uh,” I pause and look up at him, he smiles. “Will you come lay down with me, I don’t want to be alone right now.” He nods his head and takes my hand without saying anything.

  We enter the room and he turns his back so I can put my pajamas on. When he hears me getting under the covers he joins me and we both lay on our backs staring at the ceiling.

  “We can pull this off right?” I ask, our plan for the wedding was riding on so many things we had no control of, but it was the only shot we had at saving Grayson and Daxon. And me.

  “Of course Livi,” Dean turns to look right at me, “We’ve got this!” He smiles again and opens his arms, motioning for me to scoot closer. Needing the comfort I crawl into his arms, he hugs me tight before relaxing and just holding me. Feeling safe I start to doze, pretending I don’t hear him whisper, “I hope.”

  Chapter 26

  Glancing around I notice that the girls Grayson had walked off with no more than five minutes ago were back in the middle of the dance floor.

  There's no way.

  And if he got done with two girls that fast I had to find him and let him know he was never going to live it down.

  "DAX!" Luca's voice booms through the room effectively grabbing my attention. I quickly find him by the front door. The look on his face has me setting my drink down and jumping over furniture to get to him.

  "What's wrong?" I gasp for a full breath as I reach him.

  "It's Grayson." He ushers me out of the door and to the waiting elevator. "He's downstairs. He convinced a valet to give him his truck keys and he's trying to leave," Luca pushes the button to go to the lobby floor as my stomach turns.

  "He has drank and smoked enough to knock out a horse." I feel like the elevator is moving in slow motion as the floors beep by. "How the fuck did he convince anyone to let him drive?! And where the fuck is he going?"

  Luca looks at me, his usually stern face full of concern. "Well the first valet who told him no is knocked out cold, so the second one was slightly more agreeable." He pauses as the doors open and we step out. "He's going after Liviana." I freeze and Luca shakes his head. "I take it you haven't told him that she's going to be there yet?"

  "I wanted him to have one more night." I shake my own head now. My lungs fill as I take a deep, steadying breath, my buzz now gone I realize in my hope to help Grayson, I fucked up. Now he'd have to hear it, gone out of his mind.

  "LET ME FUCKING GO NATE!" Luca and I both break out in a sprint as we hear Grayson yell.

  As we hit the parking lot I can see Nate hanging on to every shred of his patience as he holds Grayson in a headlock. He catches my eye and now he's shaking his head.

  "Come get your dumbass brother before he kills himself," Nate tightens his hold on Grayson as he turns his head to me.

  "Son of a bitch why'd you get Dax?" Is that a whine? Is my brother...whining?! This is bad.

  I head over and grab Grayson's arm, signaling I've got him Nate switches his grip from headlock to other arm.

  "Where you going bro bro?" Grayson glares at me. Luca sneaks up behind us and snags the keys out of Grayson's hand.

  His fists clench and he tries to turn for Luca, but is quickly stopped by Nate and I yanking him back around. He hangs his head in defeat.

  "I had two girls ready to do anything tonight and all I could see was her face." His shoulders drop. "I walked into that room and I swear I could smell her
fucking perfume. Like, what the fuck man?" He shrugs us off and we let him go, his fight is gone.

  He walks to the curb and sits.

  "You love her," Nate joins him on the curb. "It makes you feel like a little bitch sometimes, but it's normal." Luca and I look at each other, both with eyebrows raised.

  "If he says so," Luca mouths the words at me with an eye roll and I have to turn my head to hide my grin.

  Gray grabs the joint behind his ear and lights it up. Taking a large puff before exhaling on a sigh.

  He curls in on himself like a wounded animal. The pain in his eyes is clear as he looks between the three of us sitting with him.

  "Well this is not how I fucking expected my bachelor party to go." Another laugh bubbles up. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to."

  All of us laugh now.

  "Well this shit sucks," Grayson lays back on his elbows as our laughter dies down. His eyes meet mine. "Nate tells me you have something to tell me. Something about the wedding?" I shoot a ‘I'm gonna kill you,’ look at Nate. "Oh come on, it can't really get much worse at this point bro."

  Before I can control my face I feel one of my eyebrows shoot up and Grayson's head falls back. "Of fucking course it can."

  When I wake up in the morning, Dean has already left the bed. I glance around looking for him but don't see anything. Then a loud crash comes from the closet.

  "Son of a bitch!" He sucks in a breath, the kind of sound you make when you drop something on your toe. I get up and move to the door, leaning against it, I cover my mouth to hide my laugh as I see him bounce around holding onto his right foot. A tower of shoe boxes scattered around the floor.

  "And the big bad professional criminal, taken down by a pile of shoes worth more than my apartment building." He jumps and turns towards me, dropping his foot and standing straight.

  "You have discovered my kryptonite," he bows his head solemnly. "Now I can only beg you not to use it against me." I pick up a fancy loafer and slowly walk towards him tossing it between my hands.