Permanent Lines (23 page)

I brushed my hand over her cheek, looking deep into her beautiful green eyes. She
stared back with her tear-stricken face.

“I love you,” I said softly before kissing her forehead.

“Thank you.”

I looked at her, confused.
Thank you?

“Thank you for being here,” she clarified.

I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, hugging her tight to my body, kissing her
head over and over because I was close to losing it, too. I didn’t cry—I never showed
emotion like that—but standing there, feeling the truth behind her words … the emotion
engulfing my body was almost too much to handle.

I loosened my grip, sliding my finger under my eyes to remove any wetness that may
have escaped. I cupped her cheeks in my hands so that she was looking straight at
me. “I will always be here,” I murmured, sniffing, the emotion climbing again. “I
love you more …” I exhaled, fighting the knot in my throat down, “more than you will
ever know.”

The tears fell from her eyes again as she bit down on her lip. She didn’t respond,
and she didn’t have to—I knew. I’d always known with Amelia.

“Do you want anything, babe?” I asked Amelia once we got home.

She shook her head while pushing her hair back out of her face. “No,” she sniffled,
“I’m just gonna go lay down.”

I didn’t respond, just smiled. She stared back, her frown slowly growing to a smile
too before walking away. We had a mutual understanding of how deep our feelings went.
My heart melted right then and there.

It was just after 6:30 when Kayla and Miles came strolling in. I could see the apprehension
on Miles’ face—he still wasn’t thrilled about Kayla being our girl to get in touch
with Joey, but by the confident way Kayla was walking and the smile that was always
present on her face, she was blissfully unaffected. If anything, I think she was excited
at the prospect of a covert operation.

I still couldn’t believe that she was going to do it, but when I thought about it,
I’d do anything for that girl too. She may not be someone I was attracted to or felt
anything physical with, but I loved Kayla—she was my girl … my person. She was doing
this for me, for us, and she knew I would do the same damn thing for her if necessary.
I smiled at the fact. She was one tough bitch—the female version of me.

“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” I said but quietly enough that only she could hear.
Kayla and I had a very loose verbal relationship; we joked with each other all the
time, but kept it on the down-low when Miles was around. Not that he thought there
was anything between us (at one point, of course he did), but it was just a courtesy
thing regardless of whether we were joking or not, which of course we were. Always.

“Same old, same old.” She grinned before picking up the Italian bread on my plate
and taking a big bite. “Where’s Amelia?”

“Sleeping still,” I said, grabbing my bread back.

She snarled.

“Don’t you have your own damn cook?”

“Yeah, but I’m on a no carb diet, so she doesn’t make any of this yummy stuff.”

I raised an eyebrow, looking at her confused. “Isn’t that the point then—no carbs
anywhere?”

She rolled her eyes as she buttered her own piece of bread. “I can’t help it when
it’s staring at me in the face …”

I opened my mouth to give her a wiseass remark but she cut me off.

“Zip it!”

I laughed as she indulged into her guilty pleasure, the look of pure bliss on her
face as she savored the bread making me almost snort with laughter. “Hey!” I held
up my hands, claiming my innocence. “I don’t get why you need to diet when you’re
a twig—stuff that bread in your mouth, sweetheart!”

She smiled, her cheeks full of food, making me chuckle. She cracked me up sometimes.

The elevator chimed open with our next visitor, the doors opening to reveal Micah
and Maddy, holding hands and smiling goofily at each other. Immediately, I looked
towards Kayla, realizing that she still didn’t have a clue about them.

She was staring, confused by Maddy’s presence and their closeness, I’m sure. “What’re
you doing here?” she asked Maddy as she walked over to them.

Maddy and Micah looked at each other guiltily. I stayed where I was; I had nothing
to do with this and I was staying the fuck out. I had my own laundry list of troubles.
I turned to Miles to see what he was up to. He was at his normal spot in front of
the windows, but he wasn’t looking out lost in space, he was now turned, facing the
show that was about to begin.

“Well, uh …” Maddy started, her hands fidgeting with each other. “Micah and I are
sorta … dating.”

Kayla’s expression was priceless; she looked like someone had just told her the craziest
shit ever. Her neck stretched forward but she tilted her head slightly, as if she
didn’t hear her sister correctly, her eyes bulging open as her gears, clearly moving
at mach speed in her head, processed Maddy’s words. I wanted to laugh, but managed
not to. I woulda gotten hit or something for that, so I zipped my lips shut, crossed
my arms, and leaned back in my chair. Shit was gonna get fun real soon, and today
was the perfect day for such entertainment.

Amelia appeared from the corner and I motioned for her to come to where I was sitting,
silently encouraging her to sneak over. Some crazy shit was about to go down—no need
to worry about the mafia, Kayla could do circles around them when she was pissed.
Amelia looked at me, confused, but practically slid along the wall until she was standing
between my legs with my arms around her waist and my chin sitting on her shoulders.

“Kayla’s just finding out about Maddy and Micah,” I whispered in her ear.

“Uh oh!” She giggled and settled in against me, ready to be entertained.

She smelled fucking amazing, fresh from the shower with the scent of floral soap clinging
to her skin and hair. I kissed the inside of her neck, making her squirm and me smile.
This girl! I just couldn’t get enough.

“Stop!” She giggled again glancing over her shoulder. “I’m missing the show.”

I snickered. I could honestly sit there and play with her all fucking day as long
as that smile was on her face the whole damn time, but I was nice and stopped. There
was
a pretty damn good show going on in front of us that I didn’t want to miss either.

“Wa-wa … wait,” Kayla tried to find her words, “you guys are together?” She moved
her finger back and forth between the both of them.

Maddy nodded her head as Micah just stood there.
What a pussy!

“How long?” Kayla asked.

“Like four months, I think.” Maddy looked at Micah for clarification; he nodded but
didn’t say anything.

I was gonna have to have a little talk with him. He was being a fucking tool not owning
up to their relationship. Though, I guess he’d seen Kayla in action before. Maybe
they’d discussed and decided this was Maddy’s fight.

Kayla put her hands on her hips. “And I’m just finding this out now, why?!”

“Because of this.” Maddy put her hand out to Kayla like she was revealing letters
on Wheel of Fortune. “We knew you would freak.”

“Well, yeah!” I could see the temperature rising in Kayla, her cheeks going from pink
to red to flaming crimson. “You’re my baby sister, and he’s—”

“Hey now!” I called out from behind them, making all eyes turn to me.

“You knew this?” Kayla turned, fuming.

Fuck!

“You fucking knew!” She didn’t wait for me to respond. “How could you have known and
not told me?!”

I tilted my head slightly to the side and gave Kayla an “are you serious?” look.

She looked to Miles for support next, annoyed.

“Sweetheart, I don’t think it’s an awful situation,” he said.

I was impressed with Miles. He usually kept his comments to himself and very rarely
challenged Kayla. But by damn, he was. This was getting fucking amazing.

“How do you figure?” she raised her hand in Maddy’s direction. “She just … you know!”

Maddy got burnt real badly in a shitty situation that involved Kayla’s ex recently.
It got messy and turned up the mommy protection with Kayla to keep Maddy safe. I couldn’t
actually believe that Maddy had managed to get out and see Micah, since Kayla was
on her ass all the time.

“I’m fine, K,” Maddy told Kayla sincerely before looking up at Micah, smiling. “He’s
good to me,” she continued in a softer tone.

Amelia nestled in closer to me. It was pretty fun to see Micah and Maddy like that.
As pussy-like as is sounded, it was heartwarming. Micah was my best friend. He could
be a dumbfuck sometimes, but seeing him happy was a cool sight to see—and with Maddy,
no less. She’s a good girl and I was happy for them.

Kayla stood there for a minute, speechless. I wanted to say something again, but I
wasn’t gonna get myself any deeper than I already did—I was sittin’ with my tail between
my legs at the moment.

“I love her,” Micah finally spoke up.
About fucking time, dude!
“I would never hurt her.” He looked at Maddy with his last statement.

Kayla let out an exasperated sigh. “I swear to God,” she said, peering at Micah with
a warning glare. “If you ever make her cry, I will—”

“I won’t,” Micah cut her off with a confident grin, wrapping his arm around Maddy’s
shoulders and pulling her into his side, kissing her temple. “I would never.”

I stood, clapping to clear the air. Amelia started laughing at my awkward interruption.

“How ‘bout a big, congratulatory group hug?” I suggested, full of sarcastic enthusiasm.

“I’m still mad you.” Kayla glared at me before walking away with her arms crossed
over chest.

“Well then.” I turned my focus to Micah, extending my hand. “Congrats, buddy. You
made it through the crazy family.”

He chuckled along with Maddy.

“I can fucking hear you, Merrick!” Kayla called from the other side of the room.

I shook my head. “Girls have the best goddamn hearing, I swear!”

All seriousness returned when the up arrow on the elevator lit. We all looked around,
knowing that the only people that knew about this situation were already sitting in
the room. Miles, Micah, and I, cavemen inside us all, stood almost simultaneously
in front of our women. My stomach was in knots when the doors started to open. For
a second I wondered if Miles had a gun in this place … I would think so, and it was
probably a good fucking idea to know where that was.

A man in a suit stood on the other side, noticeably nervous. Miles immediately stepped
forward calmly.

“Stewart,” he said as he made his way over to the guy.

My body instantly relaxed. He must be the ex-FBI guy that had been helping us out
behind the scenes.

Miles shook his hand before turning to include me. “Merrick, this is Stewart Cummings.
He knows a lot about what we’re facing.”

I held my hand out to shake his. “Nice to meet you,” I told him. His shake was stiff
and authoritative, which matched his body structure. He looked to be in his late fifties
with silver hair, well-built and broad with little body fat, just as I pictured an
FBI agent.

“You too,” was all that he responded.

Miles crossed his arms over his chest with an intrigued look. “So, what brings you
here, Stewart?” he asked with all seriousness.

I looked at Miles, puzzled. I didn’t know he wasn’t expecting him. I guess maybe kind
of, since Miles looked just as nervous as the rest of us when the elevator opened,
but once he announced who he was, I assumed he was a part of the planning for the
evening. Now I was nervous as fuck. He wasn’t supposed to be here and I needed to
know why.

“I think the ring is onto us,” he began.

Miles’ hands dropped to his pockets and took a step forward. I knew he wanted to keep
this conversation somewhat private from the others, but I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Continue,” Miles told him.

“There was an unknown black Town Car parked outside of your residence.”