Page 14 of Need (Men of Inked Sinners #3)

OLIVER

I didn’t think things could go from bad to worse, but it all happened so fast, I don’t even have time to brace myself.

Lulu’s father slides into the booth next to her, ignoring me entirely. “What’s wrong? Vinnie called.”

Lulu turns her gaze toward her uncle, who’s sitting at the bar, looking in the other direction. He has to feel the daggers she is throwing in his direction with her eyes.

“Hey. I’m here, not there,” her dad says to her.

I shift, the pleather underneath my ass squeaking. “Sorry,” I mutter, but no one’s paying any attention to me.

“What happened?” he asks Lulu again when she doesn’t answer. “He said I needed to drop everything and bring my ass down here. So, I’m here, and I want to know what’s wrong. ”

“Dad,” Lulu says softly. “Nothing’s wrong with me.”

“Well, there’s something.”

Lulu’s eyes move in my direction. “Oliver got in trouble for something we caused.”

“We?” he asks, skipping over the trouble bit.

“Me and…” Her eyes snap to his again, and she pinches her lips closed.

“Who?”

Lulu shakes her head.

“Lulu.”

“I promised I wouldn’t tell,” she whispers.

Her father grunts as his one hand that’s been resting on the table curls closed. “Fine,” he says, but his voice is tight and higher than before. “What kind of trouble are we talking about?”

“A small stint inside,” I answer, wanting to take the pressure off her.

His head turns toward me so slowly that if I were a kid, I would’ve shit my pants. “Jail?” he asks.

“Prison’s more likely,” Lulu says before slapping her hand over her mouth as her eyes widen.

“What in the hell did you do?” he asks me.

I lean back, sliding my arm across the top of the booth, and try to pretend to be relaxed. “I may have gotten carried away.”

He tilts his head as his jaw ticks upward. “You think? ”

“I didn’t have a choice. Someone needed to learn a lesson, and I was the one to teach it.”

It is all as simple as that. Men like that deserve to be put down, and I got as close as I could without landing the final blow. Even if I didn’t end his life, I know two things for certain—he won’t talk to Zoey again, and he’ll think twice before doing that to anyone else.

Her dad, Lucio, a man I’ve met once, blows a long, deep breath as he glares at me. “And who decided it was your place?”

“No decision needed to be made. I was there. It was that simple.”

I’m not winning any points with him, but I don’t think there is anything I could say that would make him understand. I’ll never be able to make him understand without any details. It is impossible since Zoey doesn’t want anyone to know, and Lulu isn’t even willing to say anything.

“Dad, I can’t give you all the details, but someone I love was hurt by them. Oliver was there, overheard everything, and decided to act so that piece of shit didn’t hurt them again.”

“Is it someone I know?”

“Maybe,” Lulu whispers before she grimaces.

“I’ll take that as a yes. How did they hurt them?”

“You don’t want to know,” Lulu replies.

Lucio grits his teeth so hard, they squeak. “How bad did you hurt him?” Lucio asks me, already piecing shit together.

“He’s in the hospital,” I answer.

“Good,” Lucio says. “He deserves worse.”

“He does,” I say.

“They arrest you already?”

I nod. “Just got out on bail.”

“How long are they talking?”

“A year or less,” I tell him. “Hopefully the less side of it.”

Lulu drops her face into the palms of her hands. “This is so bad. I feel so awful.”

Her father reaches over, clasping her forearm. “Baby, shit happens. It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not, Lou. I didn’t have to do what I did, but I did it and I’d do it again to keep you and them safe,” I add.

“We’ll figure this out,” her father tells her. “It won’t be that bad.”

Sure, it won’t be that bad for them. I’ll be the one on the inside of a cell, nothing but bars and criminals around me.

Their life will go on as usual, no matter how long I’m sent away.

But I know, every day I would be gone, Lulu would be riddled with guilt, blaming herself for something she didn’t even do wrong.

“I know someone who might be able to help,” Lucio says, grabbing his phone off the table .

“Who?” Lulu asks him, trying to catch a glimpse of his screen.

“Pop, come downstairs to the bar,” he says to the person on the other end of the call before he sets his phone back down.

“You called Grandpa?” Lulu asks with wide eyes. “Why did you call Grandpa?”

“You know his past, and if anyone knows anyone who can help, it’s him.”

“I have a lawyer,” I tell him, wanting him to know I don’t need any help. I’ve got this covered.

Lucio chuckles with a shake of his head. “We’re looking for other avenues, and if there is one, my dad will know it.”

“Huh,” I mutter, letting that statement replay in my mind. I’m not about to turn down help. Anything that can be done to keep me from going to the big house for months on end, I am more than willing to try.

“Grandpa is going to have so many questions,” Lulu tells her dad.

“We’ll keep the details brief,” Lucio explains, as if it’ll be that easy. It wasn’t with him, but somehow Lulu remained tight-lipped about her sister, keeping the secret when many would’ve spilled every detail.

“I’m here,” an older man says, stalking through the dining room from the area behind the bar. “I was in the middle of a nice snack and my favorite show, so this better be good.” His gaze moves from Lucio to Lulu and then to me. “I already know it’s not.”

“Hi, Grandpa,” Lulu says with a little wave and a halfhearted smile that doesn’t make her eyes sparkle.

“Hey, kiddo. What’s wrong?”

Lucio tips his head in my direction. “Lulu’s friend here got into some trouble and is looking at possibly a year inside.”

The old man sucks in a breath as his eyebrows shoot up so fast, and I would have been pretty sure nothing else on his aging frame moved that quick anymore. “Wowsers,” he says. “That’s not a short stint.”

I shake my head. “Don’t I know it.”

“Scooch,” he says to me, motioning for me to move my ass across the bench, and without a moment’s hesitation, I move. “You been processed?”

“Arrested and out on bail.”

“Good. Good.”

I don’t know how in the world any of that is good, but if he says it, I have to believe him. The man looks like he’s been through some things. Lucio said the man had a past, and I am fairly certain much of it isn’t good.

“Lawyer?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Good. Now, tell me what happened.”

I spend the next ninety seconds explaining as much as I can without giving away Zoey’s name or any identifying details so her grandpa and dad can’t piece shit together.

When I finish explaining, Lulu exhales and her shoulders sag.

She was wound so tight, assuming I’d slip up and the two guys would figure out it was Zoey I’d protected.

“Vin, grab a paper and pen for me from behind the bar,” her grandfather calls out.

Her uncle Vinnie moves quickly, snapping up a pen and paper that are lying nearby. “Are we making a plan?” Vinnie asks as he carries over the two items and places them in front of his father. “Because whatever it is, I’m in.”

“You’re not in,” Lucio tells him. “I’m not in either. We’re leaving this one up to Pops.”

Vinnie jerks his head back, looking at his brother like he has three heads. “Are you feeling okay today?”

“I’m fine,” Lucio snaps.

“This is Dad we’re talking about,” Vinnie adds.

“I’m right here,” the older man says, sliding the pen and paper in front of me on the table. “I need your details and the lawyer’s information. I’ll handle the rest from there.”

“What happened?” Vinnie asks, staring down at the entire table like we’re all bananas.

I stay out of their conversation, finding it easier to write down the information than wade into a family discussion. If I keep talking, I’ll slip up eventually and give too much away.

“No time,” her grandfather says, running a hand through his wavy salt-and-pepper hair. “I got shit to do. It’s time to work a miracle.”

“Well then, you’re screwed,” Vinnie says, and I know those words are pointed at me.

“Have some faith in your old man,” his father says to him. “I’ve been known to get out of a jam or two.”

“Or fifty,” Lucio adds.

I have absolutely no idea what’s going on, but for some odd reason, I feel like her grandfather is being honest and earnest. “You’ve done this before?”

“Plenty.”

Vinnie snorts. “My father’s past is…”

“Colorful,” Lucio says, finishing his brother’s sentence.

“I know a lot of people in the business,” her grandfather says.

“That’s not a lie,” Lucio says. “If anyone can help and make the entire thing disappear, it’s him.”

My eyebrows furrow as I stare at the older gentleman. He looks so kind and innocent, I’d never think he’d know how to get someone out of jail time. He looks more like the type of guy who’d be standing over the stove, making his famous meatball recipe.

“I’m sorry,” Lulu says to me from her father’s side. “I wish I’d never dragged you into this.”

“I don’t regret it,” I tell her, staring her straight in the eyes.

She’s so damn pretty. Too pretty for me, really.

But more than her beauty, it’s her sweet silliness that has a choke hold on my cock.

“I’d do it again if given the chance. I’ll always do whatever it takes to protect you and your family, Lou. ”

It suddenly hits me that all three men are staring at me.

I swallow, wishing I’d kept those words for later.

They were a little too heartfelt for public consumption, but I don’t think for a moment that they’re looking down on me for what I did.

At least not anymore, now that they know more of the story.

“Solid response,” Vinnie says, tapping his finger against the table. “I approve.”

“Not too bad,” Lucio says, “but also a little too much.”

“Dad, stop,” Lulu says to her father. “Oliver is a nice guy.”

“Obviously,” her father replies. “Not many men would feel the same way he does. They’d be filled with regret when facing time behind bars for something that they didn’t need to do.”

“What kind of shit man wouldn’t need to do anything when they saw someone in pain?” I ask.

“Plenty,” her father answers. “And not a damn one would deserve to breathe the same air as her.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” her grandfather says as he shoos his son away from the side of the booth. “I need to get on this ASAP.”

Vinnie steps aside, letting his father get up. “The man has a fire under his ass.”

“Even in retirement, I don’t get much peace,” her grandfather says as he stands and stretches. “ Someday, my old body will give out, and then what are you guys going to do?”

“Don’t say that, Grandpa,” Lulu tells him, her eyes carefully watching him as he moves.

I never knew my grandfather or grandmother on either side of my family. I can’t imagine being as old as I am now and still being able to hold a conversation with them. I would give almost anything to spend a small amount of time with any of them to learn about my family’s past and what makes me me.

“I’m not getting any younger, kiddo, but I’m not going anywhere yet except upstairs to make phone calls. Let me know if anything else happens,” he says to me.

“I will,” I promise him.

The door to the bar opens, and Zoey walks in, stiffening immediately as her eyes land on Lulu, me, Lucio, and Vinnie. I know what she’s thinking immediately. We told them, but we didn’t. I never would, and I know Lulu would rather go to her grave than tell Zoey’s business.

“Hey, baby,” Lucio says, waving over his younger daughter.

Fuck. This isn’t good. If the man puts two and two together, he’s going to lose his absolute shit.

“Hey, Daddy,” Zoey says as she moves toward us at a slower pace than most people walk when excited to see someone. “What are you guys doing?” Her eyes move to me, and I do my best not to give anything away.

“Nothing, Zo. Oliver got himself into a bit of trouble.”

Zoey’s eyes flash with panic, and she nearly trips over her own feet.

“Nothing huge,” Lulu says, trying to send signals to her sister to chill out. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“What kind of trouble?” Zoey asks as I slide over, making a spot for her in the booth.

“He was arrested for getting into a fight,” Lulu explains, doing her best to make it seem like Zoey’s clueless about everything.

“Arrested?” Zoey’s mouth hangs open as her gaze moves to me. “When?”

“This morning. It’s not a big deal. It’ll all get sorted.”

“Fuck,” she whispers as she squeezes her eyes shut. “That’s awful.”

“Grandpa’s going to do his best to get him out of the jam,” Lucio tells Zoey.

Zoey’s eyes fly open and snap to her sister. “Oh my God. How many people know about this?”

“Just us,” Lulu explains, “And only what they need to know, and that includes you.” Lulu’s trying to cover her tracks, but whether she knows it or not, she’s failing.

Lucio’s gaze is moving between the two of them, and I can see the wheels spinning. The man isn’t dumb. He’s been around these two for their entire lives. If anyone knows them and their code talk, it’s their own father.

“No!” Lucio barks out, staring at Zoey. “You?”

“Me what?” Zoey asks, touching her chest and starting her backpedaling. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Was it you?” Lucio asks again, leaning over the table and taking his daughter’s hand in his.

“What?” She’s good, but she’s white as a ghost, making it damn near impossible for him not to get all the confirmation he needs.

“What happened to you, baby?” he asks, but this time, his voice is gentle. “You know you can tell me anything.”

“Daddy,” she whispers, her gaze dropping to where their hands are connected. “I can’t…”

“Was it you?” he asks again.

“Yes,” she says, but her voice is so quiet, I can barely hear her.

“Fuck,” he hisses, and the pain is etched all over his face as the reality of everything that could’ve happened slams into him. “Did he…”

“Dad, I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” Zoey says, but this time, she’s looking at his face, begging him for a reprieve. “I want to forget everything that happened. Please don’t make me talk about it.”

“I won’t,” he says as he sweeps his thumb across the back of her hand. “Are you okay?”

“I’m better than I was. ”

“What can I do?” he asks.

“Nothing, Daddy. Oliver did enough, and Lulu helped me too. I just need time.”

I’m not sure time will make anything better. That type of betrayal and trauma isn’t something that any length of hours or days can erase.

“Thank you,” Lucio says.

I drag my gaze from Lulu to him, finding him staring at me. “For what?”

“For protecting my girls,” he says.

“Always and forever.”