Diggs snorted around a mouthful of pretzels. “Speak for yourself. I’m here for the food.”
Dare gave him a look, and Diggs immediately headed out the door—pretzel bag still in hand.
With a sharp look at Einstein, Dare continued, “If you want to abandon your responsibilities and escape life, then find new jobs. If you want to continue pretending the rest of the world isn’t there, then let Maverick know so he doesn’t keep waiting for a girl who loses her goddamn mind when a few rock stars come back to town.” He gestured toward her, his face twisted in disappointment. “I knew you. I trusted you. But this person you’re turning into since Johnny died? Fuck, Einstein, I’m thinking even you wouldn’t trust the stranger you’ve become.”
“Dare.”
Einstein flinched at my harsh tone, but Dare simply eyed the guys now sitting up, staring at him in stunned confusion, before setting his glare on Maxon. “You haven’t been here a week, and my family’s already falling apart. And you wonder why I don’t want you with my sister.”
“Falling apart?” I asked, frustration coating my words. “Is that really how you see it?”
He looked at me for a moment before letting out a breath of a laugh and turning toward the door. “Funny that you can’t.”
I started toward him, coming to a stop at the entrance of the kitchen when Maxon’s arm curled around me. “No,” I bit out. “No, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to make Einstein feel like shit. You don’t get to come in here and say that stuff to Maxon and me and then leave.”
Dare looked over his shoulder then abruptly turned, his eyes filled with rage. “I have a problem with guys keeping women where they don’t want to be. Let her go.”
“Jesus Christ,” Maxon whispered. His hold loosened, but I grabbed his hand before his arm could fall away.
“Oh my God, do you hear yourself, Dare?” I asked incredulously. “I want to be with him. I want to be near him. Trying to stop me from going after you when you piss me off isn’t keeping me where I don’t want to be. Stop thinking every move and decision he makes is somehow a direct attack on you or our family, because that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“Now that these guys are in town, Einstein isn’t showing up for work and is ignoring all of us except you. That has two of the people I trust most in a silent war. It’s causing chaos in our family and my business. And it has Kieran fucking Hayes calling me.”
“Oh my God, Kieran Hayes,” I said in mock horror. “Get over it. If she can work with him, you can handle a—” My shoulders sagged and some of the fight left me when I turned, only to find Einstein no longer there. “You need to apologize to her.”
“She needs to wake up. She needs to know what she’s doing.”
“She knows,” I said, seething. “She’s trying to figure things out—she’s been trying to. Einstein’s hurting and scared and she doesn’t know how to deal with having those emotions. She’s going to fuck up now that she is. Give her a break and know that it has nothing to do with Henley being in town. But, speaking of, they aren’t going anywhere. Maxon’s not going anywhere. And that’s something you need to accept.”
“I have,” he said simply, stunning me for a second. “Doesn’t change my decision.”
“Fuck your decision,” I yelled.
“Libby,” Maxon said gently.
I looked over my shoulder, my brows drawn tight, and lowered my voice to a whisper. “I won’t let him do this. I won’t let him dictate my life anymore when he gave up that right.”
After a few seconds, Maxon nodded.
“No one tried to stop you and Lily,” I said to Dare when I faced him again.
Amusement lit Dare’s face. Like he’d been ready for this—waiting for it. “You sure about that?” Before I could respond, he said, “Johnny.”
“That was different. He was crazy.”
“Kieran.”
“She was his girlfriend,” I shouted. “Of course he tried to.”
The guys in the living room all drew out hushed Ohs.
Maxon’s grip on me tightened, and I knew he was putting together who Kieran was—what gang he’d been a part of—from what I’d told him the other day.
“Do you want me to go down the list?” Dare asked with a tick of his brow.
I knew he meant the list of Holloway members. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. Einstein and I, Maverick and Diggs . . . we didn’t try to stop you.” I didn’t continue, but my unspoken words lingered between us like heavy weights.
Even when we found out she was the Holloway Princess.
Even when we found out she belonged to Kieran Hayes—the Holloway Assassin and Underboss.
When Dare spoke, his tone was reserved. “Everyone loved her. Everyone fell in love with her. No one knows Maxon that well.”
“I do,” I said, pressing my hand to my chest. “I know him, and that’s all that should matter. Whether or not he was physically here, he has always been there for me. Through everything.”
“He was your escape from your family. Why would I want him around now?” His gaze flickered from Maxon to the other guys, then back to me. “We were Lily’s escape. See the difference?”
“It’s different now, you know that. You know what it was like back then. You knew I wanted to get away. Maxon’s here because I want to stay. And you’re still trying to prevent that.”
“Trying?”
“Dare . . .” I pleaded with my eyes alone, but nothing in his expression changed.
“His life will only bring you harm, Libby,” he said unapologetically. “Different kinds he can’t understand. And he can’t protect you.”
“The fuck I can’t,” Maxon growled from behind me, his grip tightening.
“Trust me,” he said on a grim laugh. With a nod, he stepped toward the door. “I already told you my decision. It doesn’t matter what you do—how long you stay here or if you stay permanently. It won’t change my mind.”
“I don’t care,” I whispered when he opened the door.
He stilled, then slowly looked at me.
“Your reasons?” I laughed sadly. “They’re not fair. Not to Maxon. Not to me. He’s not a stranger I just met and am expecting you to be okay with. You’ve known him most your life. And the rest?” I shrugged. “It’s not up to you to decide what I do with my life anymore, Dare.”
“Libby—”
“The moment you stopped leading the family was the moment you gave up any right to tell me what I could and couldn’t do,” I said firmly. “I love you, and I’ve always respected you, and I know that’s why Maxon went to you. But when you start pulling the shit you have the last few days, I stop caring about your approval. I stop worrying if you’ll be angry. I stop caring at all.”
Dare’s face fell, and for a long time he stood there watching me with a look like he wanted to say a dozen things that couldn’t be voiced in front of company that hadn’t grown up in our life.
“Push me out of your life if you want. Stop caring, Libby. You’ve been my responsibility since I was thirteen. You all have. I don’t know how to stop worrying about you. I don’t know how to stop trying to protect you.”
And then he was gone, his words lingering behind him.
Maxon
YOU COULD’VE HEARD A FEATHER fall in the seconds after Dare left the apartment.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
I wasn’t sure any of us fucking breathed.
Libby’s head dropped and angled to the side so she could look at me from over her shoulder, finally breaking the spell, her dark eyes a mixture of defiance and grief.
She swallowed, the movement slow and forced. “I think I, uh . . . I should check on Einstein.”
“Are you okay?” I asked soft enough so my voice wouldn’t carry to the living room.
Her gaze darted away and one of her shoulders lifted slightly. “He can’t get away with saying shit like that.” She glanced at the guys then whispered,
“We’ll talk later.”
I lifted her hand to my lips when she began walking away, kissing the tips of her fingers and holding her stare before releasing her. As soon as she slipped down the hall toward Einstein’s room, I hurried out the front door, ignoring the guys when they started talking and calling out for me.
I caught Dare just as he and one of the twins were sliding into a car.
The second he saw me, he climbed out and slammed the door behind him. The twins followed, naturally flanking him, as if they’d done it hundreds of times.
“Not backup, huh?”
Dare only cocked a brow.
I rubbed at my jaw, my frustration building. “Right. If that’s how you want to do this. But we need to talk.”
“We talked. If you weren’t listening, my decision didn’t change.”
“Yeah, no, I got that. I didn’t think it would anytime soon. Your sister knew that.” I gestured to the building behind me. “But after the shit you pulled in there? You’re begging her to go against you.”
“And you’re suddenly an expert on her?”
A stunned laugh left me. “I know her well enough. You can’t tell Libby not to do something unless you want her to do the opposite. She allowed what you said before because she respects and loves you too much—but you just damaged that.”
A cruel smile crossed his face. “I told you I didn’t want you together. I told you your life would ruin her. Yet you somehow took that as an invitation to stay.” He lifted his hand and pointed to the apartment. “And it doesn’t take a fucking genius to know I walked in on something that shouldn’t be happening.”
“Jesus, give me a break,” I said on a groan. “She’s thirty-one years old, Dare. Are you gonna tell me you were a fucking saint until you married your wife?”
“You aren’t good for her,” he growled.
“Why?” The word was a taunt. I ran a hand over my jaw and stepped closer so my voice wouldn’t carry. “Because I don’t come from your world, Boss?”
The guys tensed, all eyes went wide before I was met with identical threatening expressions.
“Choose your next words carefully,” Dare said in a dark tone.
My brows slowly lifted and my mouth twitched into a smirk. “You honestly think I could love your sister my entire life—be there for her through everything—and not figure out what your family was?” When a cold, detached look settled over his face, I said, “I’ve known since high school. I never told a soul because I don’t care. I get that you think I can’t keep her safe, and maybe in the way you keep people safe . . . I can’t. Doesn’t mean I can’t protect her my way. Doesn’t mean I can’t love her. Provide for her. Doesn’t mean we don’t belong together.”
Dare stared at me for a few seconds before rubbing a hand over his mouth, nodding as he did. “You’re wrong.”
“Jesus.”
“It’s not just the lifestyle. It’s that you’re in a spotlight Libby can’t be in. She isn’t just a Borello by oath, she’s a Borello by blood. People know our family. Our name. I dissolved the gang, but enemies don’t care. When you put her in the spotlight, you put a blinding target on her back.”
My stomach churned and it felt like the ground was coming up to meet me.
I could wait out Dare. I could wait for Libby forever.
But this?
“You knew . . .” I shook my head slowly, then lifted my stare to meet his. “You knew we’d be together one day. You’ve never said anything until now. Why?”
“I knew you wanted to be with her. I knew how much you meant to her. But I was positive she wouldn’t consider a relationship with you—let alone a future with you. Being with anyone isn’t Libby’s style.” He huffed. “Then the last six months happened and I saw how ruined she was by you. I knew I’d had it all wrong.”
I stood there, my mind racing, before I shrugged helplessly. “It was never a question of if we would be together. It was when. I’ve told her our entire lives it was going to be her and me forever, and it will. There’s no ending us.”
“I can’t let you be together.”
I nodded and turned, running my hands over my face and through my hair, gripping it as I paced away before turning around to face the guys. “There’s no ending us.”
For the first time since I’d asked if I could marry Libby, he didn’t look angry. He looked like he felt sorry for me.
“She wants to settle down here with me. She wants a family. I plan on giving her those things, but I’ve been stalling because you aren’t okay with the idea of us.”
“How nice of you,” he said with a curl of his lip.
“I said stalling . . . I didn’t say I wasn’t preparing for everything.” I smirked when his hands fisted. “I could find ways to keep stalling and hope you’d come around, but even if you didn’t, eventually I’d stop waiting. I asked you if I could marry Libby because you mean the world to her. I’m trying to respect you, but you can’t control her life. She’s not your daughter, she’s your older sister.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then treat her like it. As much as you hate it, I do know her. She defies authority. She does what people tell her not to. After today, I know she’s going to push for me to stop waiting for you to give me the green light. And she won’t have to push hard.”
Dare stared me down, his chest pitching with his rough breaths. After a few moments, his shoulders sagged. “I never wanted to lead. I never wanted to be in charge of the family. I was forced into it. But they all became my responsibility—Libby became my responsibility. All I ever wanted was to find a way to end it. Now that I have, I don’t know how to stand back and watch my family make decisions I know will hurt them.”
“I get it, man, I do. But you said it yourself . . . you thought I’d ruined your sister. That’s what happens when we’re not together. She’ll hurt more if we’re apart. Let Libby be mine. Let her become my responsibility. I’ll take care of her.”
“Didn’t you hear a word I said?”
“I heard you.” I shrugged. “Look, I won’t lie to you. People will want to know about her in the beginning. They’ll want to know who my girl is. But we have publicists for a reason. Everything can be monitored and pictures of her can be taken down if they need to.”
“Hell of a lot of good that did you for the father-to-be pictures.”
“There wasn’t a reason to take them down considering it was Ava and we thought it was funny. Not to mention we made the decision to wait a day to give a statement. Libby’s different. But she won’t be caught with me until her last name’s changed. No one needs to print the name Borello. No one needs to know who she really is.”
He stared at me like I’d lost my goddamn mind. “That’s it?”
“I love her. No one else can offer her better than that.” He looked like he was about to disagree, so I hurried to ask, “What, would you be okay if I was someone safe? Some guy working in a cubicle who would piss himself if he ever found out about who you really are? Or would you rather me be from your life? Someone who could keep her safe? Someone who kept Libby pulled into that life after you spent so long finding a way to end it?”
Dare’s jaw clenched, but he didn’t respond.
“I’m her best friend. Her safe place. The guy she chose.” I flung my hand out toward them. “I found out about all of you and didn’t bat a fucking eye or run scared. I’m what’s best for her. You can deal with the rest.”
Dare nodded absentmindedly for a few seconds before heading for the car, the twins following without having ever uttered a word.
Once Dare was at the car with the door open, he looked at me and called out, “I don’t ever want to walk in on something like I did today.”
“Don’t walk in without calling first,” I shot back.
His laugh was loud and didn’t hold a hint of his earlier anger. With a dip of his head, he slid into the car and turned it on.
I didn’t wait to watch them leave. I walked into the apartment
and found the guys standing in a tight circle, talking softly.
As soon as they saw me, Jared threw out his hands and mumbled, “The fuck, dude?”
“Yeah, what the hell did we wake up to?” Lincoln asked.
I blew out a harsh breath. “Honestly, I don’t know half the shit they were fighting about.”
“When did Dare become such an asshole?” Ledger asked, looking over my shoulder to see if the guy in question had followed me inside.
My mouth twitched into a grimace as I headed toward Einstein’s room. “Right about the time I asked if I could marry his sister.”
“Not like you haven’t been fucking her for the last decade.”
I paused and shot Ledger a warning glare, then looked to the other two. “Did the girls ever come back out?”
When they shook their heads, I continued toward the room, following Libby’s and Einstein’s voices.
With a knock on Einstein’s door, I slowly cracked it open and waited to see if there would be demands to leave. When there was nothing, I stepped inside and looked between the girls.
“You both okay?”
“Who came in?” Libby asked instead.
I glanced behind me before realizing what she was asking. “I went to talk to Dare.”
Her exhausted stare bounced over my expression. “Are they gone now?” When I nodded, she leaned forward to squeeze Einstein’s hand, then stood from her bed and walked toward me. “My room,” she whispered.
I let her lead me across the apartment, ignoring the questioning and confused looks of the guys as we passed them. I closed her door behind us, then leaned against it when she began pacing the length of her room.
“Dare’s never been like this before,” she said after nearly a minute. “Even when he was boss.”
“I know.”
“I think he’s panicking because he doesn’t have a say over anything now, and he doesn’t know how to let us live our lives.”
I watched her for a while, waiting to see if she would add to that. “He thinks you’re going to get hurt, and he’s trying to prevent it.”
She stopped moving and turned to look at me. “It doesn’t matter. He can’t do what he’s doing. He can’t say the shit he said today. And Einstein—God, he doesn’t even understand what’s happening with her, and he’s trying to place the blame somewhere else.”
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