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“Dom!” Creed’s scream penetrated his inner thoughts from taking fruit and he went to hunt the lowlife down before he was ready.

“What?” he snapped again.

“Calm the fuck down. I’m on my way,” he told him before hanging up.

Dom should have fucking known they were in cahoots together. Their timing was too perfect. Every time there was an encounter with one of them, the other would show up not long after.

He knew he needed to calm down. Dee had an innate sense of when something was wrong with him. She always knew. But he didn’t want to relax just yet. He needed to embrace the anger, to let it flow through his veins so thoroughly that when he did finally have his day of reckoning with Bradshaw, he’d take him out without a thought.

Remorse had never been something he entertained until he met Deedee all those years ago. After she’d been shipped off, he became angry at her for eliciting emotions he wanted to lay dormant. The lack of feelings had fueled him when he eliminated someone. He needed to be dead inside so it wouldn’t eat him alive, but she opened him up to a whole new world.

If she hadn’t introduced him to this other side of himself, he wouldn’t have been as willing to take Jaxson in as he was. There was never a doubt that he was Dom’s son, but there was always the doubt over whether he deserved that child or not.

Having her in his life again, he knew that not only did he deserve the two of them, but he needed them far more than they needed him. It was their existence that kept him human. It was them that kept him from becoming the cold person he used to be.

*****

“Pincess,” Poke. “Are you up?” Poke. “I have to tell you something. Pincess?”

She had a nagging sense of déjà vu as Jax poked her, trying to wake her up. Stretching her arms above her head as he jumped on the bed beside her, she asked, “What do you have to tell me. Jaxson?”

“Daddy and Unca Case are on a case, and they are planning something big!” He sounded excited about the prospect of an adventure.

“Is that so?” she asked him distractedly as she got up, thinking the only case they could have possibly had was her father and Brooke. But nothing new had happened, had it?

“Yup, they have cool maps and stuff out, too!”

“Hmmm, have you eaten yet?” she asked him, thinking they could sneak down and she would find out what was happening that way. She knew they would both try to protect her at all costs.

“Daddy gived me yogurt. But I wanted panpakes.” He pouted that he didn’t get what he wanted.

“Let’s go see what we can do about that, shall we?”

Nodding his head, he grabbed her hand dragging her from the bed. They quietly made their way down the stairs. Nearing the kitchen, she heard Dom and Case talking.

“You can’t hide her forever, Dom,” she heard Case say.

“I can fucking damn well try,” Dom growled, making her smile. The man loved to growl.

“Look, all I’m saying is maybe we use her. I mean Bradshaw wants something from her, and we haven’t a fucking clue what that is. What if she contacts him? Pretends like she’s doing it without you knowing, then BAM! We trap the sucker. Find out what it is, then decide whether he lives or dies. Though, I gotta say I’m thinking the latter ‘cause dude, he’s a fucking waste of skin.”

“You talk too fucking much, Case.”

“But you’re thinking about it,” he said triumphantly.

Use her as bait? Could she pull it off? Did she want to? What if everything backfired, and something happened to her? A tug on her hand had her looking down, and she realized it was a risk she had to take in order to keep those she loved safe.

Walking into the kitchen, she told them, “I’ll do it.”

“Oh hell, fucking no,” Dom growled again coming towards her. “You’re not,” he told her. Looking to Case with a death glare, he told him, “You’re dead.”

“But if it gets him out of our lives?” she acquiesced.

“No.”

“Dominic, you know it’s the only way.”

“No,” he repeated.