Page 16 of Danger Close (Mourningkill #3)

Ex-Wives

Teri

“Joe!” I yelled, coming between them. “Don’t hurt him!”

I pried Cobra’s hands from the boy, putting my palm on his chest. “Please! Cobra, don’t!”

Panicked, I shoved Cobra away with all of my strength. He looked at me with a vicious, threatening heat in his eyes. That look—that glare!—made me recoil, my arms up, defending my head, my breast, my heart.

“Look at her, you fucking asshole!” Greg shouted, stepping in front of me, his arm on my elbow to steady me. “She’s terrified of you!”

Cobra stilled. I could feel his eyes on me, the heat of them against my skin.

I didn’t need to see it to know. It was a look that declared to everyone that I belonged to him.

He could do anything to me that he wanted without repercussions, and I believed it.

I’d pay for my defiance later, when there was no one to protect me.

I hid behind Greg like a coward. For all my strength, all my training… I was still scared, and small. I was falling apart, grasping for anything or anyone to hold onto.

“Son,” Mack McClanahan’s voice called from the bottom of the porch steps. “I think this might not be our business. Let’s let the Guerros talk it out.”

Please… please… please… my voice screamed, even though my lips stayed shut. Please don’t leave me flailing in the dark, alone.

“No.” Greg shook his head. “Did you know that he kidnapped her? Took her out here without her say-so? That she doesn’t even have her phone? Or wallet?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to me. I felt their gaze which was a mix of pity, surprise, and confusion.

I couldn’t look at any of them. I just stared at Greg’s back, my hands around my torso, pulling in the leather jacket, trying to draw some kind of comfort from its scent. His scent. Drawing comfort from the affection of the man who would hurt me.

I let the boy be my champion because I had no one else.

Even my daughter looked at me like I was nothing. My own flesh and blood despised me. They always had.

“I don’t know what the hell happened in there,” Greg continued.

“But I know what it’s like to get turned out by this group.

I’ve looked at you all, and seen nothing but your backs for years.

Now I’m watching you do the same to her.

” He clicked his tongue, like he was ashamed of the company before him. “I don’t fucking like it.”

The groom, Kai Griffith, scoffed. “You deserved it.”

I bristled, wanting to speak—to defend Greg! My lips parted, but no sound came out.

“Maybe I do!” Greg shouted back. “Maybe I deserved every God damn thing. But you know what, Griff? You’ve got everything you ever wanted.

You’re marrying a great woman, a good friend.

You’ve got a family. You’ve always got everyone’s support.

So maybe you can quit bitching about your ex-wife and focus on your fiancée. ”

I stiffened; my eyes darted around searching for Trinity.

An ex-wife? No one had mentioned there was an ex-wife.

No one mentioned there was animosity, or baggage.

All at once, I wanted to find my daughter, and take her out of here.

I needed to tell her that she was better than this.

That ignoring the signs would end with her hurt, or worse!

She could end up like me… and she didn’t deserve that.

Why wouldn’t a man focus on his bride-to-be? It had so many red flags, it was a carnival.

“I never turned my back on you.” Charlotte, or Mamma Mack, stepped forward, her eyes looked hurt by the accusation.

“No, you didn’t.” Greg’s shoulders slumped, his entire posture, from what I could see, softened. “But you’re turning on her, and you don’t even know her. That surprised the hell out of me, Mamma Mack. I didn’t expect that from you, of all people.”

Greg stepped to the side, letting all their eyes fall on me. He wasn’t being cruel. When I met his eyes, he was trying to encourage me to speak. But no words came. I opened my mouth, and shut it again, over and over like a fish. A useless fish on dry land.

I shook my head, begging him not to put me on the spot. He gently smiled, and put his arm around my shoulders. It wasn’t an embrace made to mark territory, or to make a point. It was meant to help me stand up tall, when I wanted to crumble.

It was the only reason I hadn’t shattered on the ground.

“Get your filthy paws off of her, pup!” Cobra growled.

I recoiled, but Greg didn’t react to him. He just kept on speaking when I was rendered mute. “You don’t care how he got her here, do you? You’ve all decided she’s the bad guy, so you’re going to leave her flailing in the wind.”

He clicked his tongue again, reprimanding them all.

“He’s the good guy, she’s the bad guy. None of you care about the rest.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Sorry Taz, but I thought you were better than that.”

A tear slid down my cheek.

“Hey!” Trinity stepped forward, her sharp tongue ready with a retort, but was cut off.

“No, I’m not finished!” Greg continued, his voice loud enough to echo from the wilderness around us.

I almost reprimanded him for speaking to her that way, but I knew it was not my place. They were a family. I had no part in it.

“I get it, Greg ‘VD’ Vedder’s the bad guy who slept with his best friend’s wife,” Greg said, pounding his chest.

I was shocked. He didn’t seem like the type. He was empathetic, gentle-hearted. I could not reconcile what I had experienced of him with the sins he owned.

“Cool. I’ll be the bad guy.” Greg dropped his arm from my shoulders, stepping forward again, as if shielding me from their angry gazes.

“What did she do other than get dragged out here for a wedding she didn’t know was happening?

Did you give her a chance or did you hate her right away based on one person’s side of the story? ”

“That’s enough.” That was the groom, whose heavy boots pounded on the porch steps as he came down. “Don’t you dare doubt Taz’s word–“

“I ain’t doubting shit!” Greg’s voice echoed in the trees. “Two people can have different perspectives and both be right. You know it. I know it. So quit circling the wagons against someone who’s got both hands tied behind her back!”

Greg squeezed my shoulder, as if reassuring me. As if he was saying “I got you”.

“I’m disappointed in all of you.”

Greg was so much like Joe, the boy Cobra had once been. Idealistic, and a white knight, through and through.

That was how I’d fallen for him in the first place. He wouldn’t leave me alone, and he stepped in like a prince.

Joe had stood up to my mother, my father. He’d been my hero, and for that, I’d given him my love. My heart. My body. My child…

I had given all of my faith to Ray as well. All for a kind word, and the occasional compliment.

I was such a fool. I am such a fool.

I stepped away from Greg, because I didn’t need to open myself up in exchange for a kind word anymore. I was fine on my own. I was better alone. And he was better not wasting his goodness on a lost cause like me.

“It’s okay,” I said, barely in a whisper, as I tried to find balance on my own feet. “You’re very kind, Greg, but don’t have conflicts with your friends on my behalf.”

I meant it sincerely. I wasn’t worth strife within this unit.

“I’ll just… I’ll just go.”

I turned away, ready to walk down the driveway. To walk… anywhere… No wallet. No phone. No one.

I’d figure it out. I always did. I was nothing if not a survivor.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Cobra’s voice was a menacing, cruel growl. Fear seized me, halting me mid-step. I was a frozen deer in his headlights.

I swallowed, because it wasn’t Joe’s voice that I heard. Not really. It was Ray’s.

I shut my eyes, my hands in fists, as I prepared myself for what could come next. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew deep in my bones that whatever would happen, it would be awful. It would hurt. It would break me.

“If you think I’ll let you walk away now—” Cobra’s footsteps rushed towards me, just as Greg called out, “Stay the hell away from her!”

“Do you think I’m ever going to harm my wife?” Cobra’s shout made me freeze. “Do you really think I would ever harm her? If that’s what you’re accusing me of, then you and I are about to have a real conflict.”

My heart leapt to my throat. I turned, catching Cobra’s eye. He stood firm, not retracting his statement. Not taking back the label he had thrust on me several times that day.

“That’s enough,” a softer, deep, feminine voice said.

Mamma Mack. Charlotte, the matron. Her gentle command was no less powerful than Cobra’s chest pounding.

“Greg, please show Mrs. Guerro into the house,” she instructed. “Put her in the guest room. You know where all the spare linens are, right, son?”

Greg turned to her, then looked at me. He hesitated, his eyes asking for permission. I didn’t give it, but I also didn’t dissent either. I suppose silence was consent.

“Greg, please,” Charlotte gently pushed. “I need a word with Cobra.”