Page 87 of The Fates We Tame

It takes another hour to organize transportation. And at least an hour again for King and Clutch to stop cursing their bikes getting shot up while trying to organize a split lockdown and security for the exterior of the club.

Then another thirty minutes to get everyone settled into the rooms before I meet Theo in the den.

He’s looking at photographs that line the wall.

I dip beneath his arm and tuck up against his side. He taps a frame. “That was Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the year before I enlisted. I was still a wet-behind-the-ears prospect. Halo had patched in already. But look how fucking young we were.”

“Look how much hair you had. And how wavy it was.”

He runs his hand over his short hair. “Meh. It’s more unruly when it gets too long.”

“Is it weird, being back here?” I ask.

Theo nods. “It’s like I’m wearing a skin that isn’t mine.”

“I felt the same way when I went to my apartment for visits. Nothing fit. Not the clothes. Nothing. I even took two well-thumbed books off the shelf that my brother assured me were favorites, and I hated reading them.”

He looks up at other photographs on the wall. “There are so many pictures of me and Vex doing shit together. I guess I’ve been keeping everyone at arm’s length.”

“It’s hard, isn’t it? My friends stopped coming over. They were ready to just continue with our friendships, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to build one with them. Maybe my family interfered with that.”

Theo kisses the top of my head. “I’m gonna make more of an effort to hang out with him. He clearly meant a lot to me.”

“That’s a good idea. Maybe he can become a friend of mine too. I look forward to getting to know him better. And the old ladies. I really like them too.”

“We should take them all down. Start again with new pictures of things we can actually remember.”

“Especially that one,” I say, pointing to a picture of a shirtless Theo with two topless women, one under each arm, by a campfire.

“Given I don’t remember who they are or why I hung this on my wall, I think you can cut me some slack.”

“Or cut the two of them. Turns out I’m handy with a blade.”

“Yeah. Think we can conclude you weren’t a passive observer in the family business.”

“It feels like a leap to say that, but I think you might be right. I keep thinking about what Alessio said. About how I never ran. How I always fought. It bothers me.”

Theo takes my hand and leads me upstairs. I’m tired. My limp is more pronounced. “Lean on me, Sparrow,” he encourages, and I do.

Once in his bedroom, he sits me on the edge of the bed. “What bothers you about what your brother said?”

“Let’s imagine I’m a completely different me. For what they are saying to be true, a few other things must be true too. I had to have been utterly complicit. I had to be a Mafia princess willing to do whatever for the success of her family and somewhat mercenary to marry a stranger for money and power. I must have been so shallow.”

Theo slips the hoodie I changed into over my head. The soft T-shirt of his follows. “You believe that?”

“My family showed me photos. I clearly loved the lifestyle. Champagne. Private jets. Summers in Sicily. I don’t look like I’m hating life in any of them.”

“That doesn’t mean you didn’t want something more.”

He helps me stand and slides my leggings and panties down my legs. “Go brush your teeth,” he says.

I do, and Theo follows me once he’s naked. “Guess I must have liked the idea of there being someone else here with me,” he says, touching the marble vanity with two sinks.

We open and close drawers and cupboards and rustle up a spare toothbrush. “I would have shared yours.”

Theo wrinkles his nose. “That might be taking our relationship a little too far.”

I can’t help but laugh. “We broke out of a brain-injury hospital, got married, argued with your club, argued with myfamily, got bombed, and are currently housing one half of the Iron Outlaws leadership team, yet sharing a toothbrush is your limit?”