Page 11 of Dismantle & Prevail

I glance down and a smile pulls on my face and I bend down to pick up Rayne, who is trying to climb up my leg. Her legs kick in excitement and her long blonde hair falls into her face.

“Hi Raynie Girl. I missed you!” I press a kiss to her rosy cheeks and do a quick assessment of her tiny body. It’s been an instinct ever since she came to me with a bruise on her arm one day. Tana said it was because she fell at the playground, but Tana is about as responsible as a damn teenage boy, so my trust in her is minimal.

Rayne is talking a million miles an hour, telling me about her day, and I grasp onto anything I can, while also trying to listen to Boone and Tana arguing a few feet away.

“Mind your damn business, Boone. You have no right to have me followed.”

“I wouldn’t have you followed if you weren’t doing dumb—things.”

“Shut the fuck up, dumbass. You don’t know my life or have any idea what I do in my free time.”

“Watch your mouth. Your daughter is right there.”

“Don’t tell me what to do with my daughter. In case you missed it, Rayne is Aries’ and mine, not yours!”

“Oh wow. You remember you have a daughter? Not just someone you hand off to Aries or your mom?”

“You—”

“Don’t. I know you’re up to something, Tana. And Ari may give you a million and one chances because he believes that having a mother and father is key for Raynie to grow up happy. I for one do not. I want that baby safe and in a stable environment.”

“I am fucking stable!”

“Not according to my PI. He says you’ve—”

“Enough,” I say, interrupting my best friend before he can go any further. I have made him promise not to tell me anything his PI digs up unless it is a credible threat or suspicion to Rayne. The fact that she hangs out with her flavor of the week and leaves Raynie with her mother, who is a nurse at the local hospital, doesn’t bother me. I actually prefer it, which is why I haven’t pushed the issue.

Tana and Boone’s heads snap to me.

“If you two are done, I would like to remind both of you that you are not the only people in this house.” I pause and look towards Tana. “If you don’t have anything to tell me regarding our daughter and when you plan to come to get her next weekend, I think it's time you go.”

“You’re really going to stand there and let him talk—”

Rayne moves in my arms, her head resting against my shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed.

“Tana. Please. I will speak to him once you leave.”

She scoffs and tells me she will text me next week with a time, kisses Rayne, and stomps out the door.

As soon as the door shuts, I turn back to Boone with a fully asleep Rayne in my arms. I narrow my eyes at him and he crosses his tattooed arms across his chest.

“You couldn’t have just sat on the couch with Raynie and ignored her?”

“No. She’s up to something and I will bury her when I find out what it is.”

I roll my eyes and head to the living room and sink into the couch, adjusting Rayne into a more comfortable position.

Her long eyelashes flutter and I smile. This sweet, innocent girl is my entire world. It was dark and lonely before she came into my life. She gave me purpose and the desire to turn my life around.

I don’t know how long I sit there staring at my little girl, but it’s not until Boone sits across from me in the recliner that I look away.

His long blonde hair is disheveled, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

My calm, collected, former assassin of an organization he will not disclose best friend, is usually the epitome of control and unbothered.

“What?”

His mask moves back into place, and he levels his gaze with mine. “Tana is up to something. I can feel it in my gut. I know you want Raynie to have a family, but Tana is not the woman she lets the rest of the world see. You and Raynie are my only family, and I will not let anything happen to either of you.”