Laikyn
“What’s going on?” I groaned, rolling over and covering my head with Jinx’s pillow.
“Get up,” Rule said.
“Why?”
I didn’t want to get up.
Now that the weekend was over, I had to settle in for a boring week at home while they spent all their time working. After my drunken escapade on Friday night, we spent the rest of the weekend relaxing. At least, that was the word I was using to describe it. It sounded far better than sulking, which we all knew I had definitely been doing. No one had brought up the scene I caused at the fundraiser or the things my mother had said. I hadn’t heard from Monica either, and when I realized that yesterday, I asked Rule what he said to her after Jinx took me outside, but he told me it was nothing.
I seriously doubted that. When Rule spoke, he had something to say, and he didn’t mince words. Either my mother was too traumatized to call me, or he’d told her not to. Not that I really cared. I didn’t want to talk to Monica. In fact, I wanted to shut the world out and sleep for—
“Get up. If you want to go to work with us, get your ass outta bed.”
That worked. I sat up, the pillow falling to the floor, forgotten. “I get to go to work with you?”
“Only if you’re ready in ten minutes.”
“I’ll be ready in five,” I announced, hopping to my feet and scurrying out of his bedroom.
I stomped all the way down the stairs.
“Morning, Waldo,” I called to the dog as I skipped toward the hallway leading to my room.
So five minutes really meant twenty, but Rule and Jinx were waiting for me when I returned, showered and dressed. My hair was still wet, but I hadn’t been willing to risk them leaving without me.
“Sorry,” I said as I approached.
They were standing in the kitchen drinking coffee. As soon as Rule saw me, he held up a hand and pointed toward my room. “Go back and dry your hair.”
“You won’t leave?” I glanced between them both.
Jinx shook his head, and I knew I could believe him. Rule would leave me out of spite, but Jinx wouldn’t.
Probably.
I hurried back and took the time to dry my hair and apply a little bit of makeup. Nothing fancy, but for the first time in weeks, I felt optimistic. Sitting idle had worn me down, and I was ready to get out in the world and do something.
Something exciting.
Something dangerous.
Something that might get me arrested.
Okay, not really. The first two, sure, but the last … I would prefer not to spend any time in jail. But they could use me for the simple stuff. Like a distraction for when they do the things that might land them in jail.
This time, when I returned, Rule was holding a travel coffee mug. He passed it to me.
“I don’t drink coffee,” I said.
“Good thing it’s orange juice.”
Smiling, I took the mug and followed them out to the garage.
I was actually going to work today.
Two hours later, I was wishing I’d stayed home. At least there, I had Waldo to keep me company.
“This is boring,” I muttered to no one as I sat in Jinx’s office and looked around at the nothingness on the walls.
Seriously. His office consisted of a desk, a laptop, and a chair. There was no art on the walls, no cute little trinkets on the desk. Not a pen or stapler in sight. I mean, I knew his job consisted of hacking—I’d ascertained a little in the time I’d known them—but I’d expected more than this.
“We’re heading out!” Rhyan shouted.
She paused as she passed by Jinx’s office door.
Leaning in, she smiled. “Bored yet?”
“To tears.”
She nodded toward her office. “Feel free to hang out in there. I’ve got a deck of cards. You can play solitaire if you want.”
Oh, yeah. That sounded like fun. A game that drove home just how alone I really was.
“Rule should be back in a few. We’ll be back in a bit,” she noted.
“What exactly is the difference between a few and a bit?” I asked, but Rhyan was already heading down the stairs.
A second later, Red Wally and Willy passed, both waving at me as they went.
This was not what I had in mind when I thought about going to work with Rule. I wanted the excitement of going to the impound lot and distracting the security guards while Rule did his thing. I didn’t want to sit in an office. Alone.
Wait. I was alone. Like completely alone.
Which meant I could snoop without anyone looking over my shoulder.
I got up from Jinx’s desk and dragged my hand over the wood top as I moved toward the door. I glanced at the ceiling, noting the cameras that were mounted.
Were they watching me? Waiting to see what I would do now that I was by myself?
“Screw them,” I muttered, continuing out into the main area of the office.
At one time, it had been a house. The bones of it were still there even if the layout had been modified. They worked on the second floor, which I assume had been mostly bedrooms. There were three offices, two bathrooms, and a large area that held a table and chairs. I’d seen Red Wally and Willy at that table when I came in, both with their eyes fixed on their laptop screens.
When I asked why they didn’t have offices, Red Wally explained that they spent very little time in the office. Since Rule and Jinx had only been there for a few minutes, I figured the same went for them. Apparently, grunts didn’t get to go out on jobs, though, because they told me I needed to stick around here for the time being.
It was punishment, no doubt. They didn’t want me harping on them about going on another job, so this was their way of showing me their jobs weren’t as glamorous as I made them out to be.
I wasn’t buying it. No way would Rule or Jinx do this every day. They would go insane sitting behind a desk.
I stopped at Rhyan’s office door and peeked inside. She had a couple of pictures on the wall—both looked like she’d picked them up at a thrift shop or someone’s garage sale. There was a photo on her desk of her and the twins, all three mugging for the camera. They looked genuinely happy.
Too curious to play card games, I kept going, opening several closed doors to find small storage closets that contained envelopes and paper, along with extra staplers and shit. I grabbed one of the staplers and took it to Jinx’s desk. I left it there because, hey, it felt more office-y that way.
I headed for Rule’s office. The door was closed but not locked, so I opened it and stepped inside. His was the largest of the three, but not by much. It held a desk, a chair, and a black leather sofa that looked like it had been slept on a few thousand times.
I went to the desk and took a seat, scanning the space. The walls were painted charcoal gray, the trim vibrant white, and matched the two-inch wood blinds covering the two square windows. I couldn’t picture Rule working in here. Not for any length of time. He was constantly in motion. How could he possibly stop long enough to even need a chair?
On the desk, there was a telephone with multiple lines, but I hadn’t heard the phone ring once since I got there. I figured their clients called Rule’s cell phone since he was always looking at the damn thing.
Led by my curiosity, I pulled open the top drawer. There were pens, pencils, a couple of notepads, and a set of small gold keys, like the kind that would open a filing cabinet or something.
The other top drawer had a calculator, a handful of paper clips, and two large binder clips.
Boring.
I opened the bottom left drawer. It had the brackets to hang file folders on, but there weren’t any, only two spiral notebooks, both brand new.
It was almost as though it was set up to look like an office but not actually used as one.
Continuing my quest to find something interesting, I opened the bottom right drawer. Or tried to. It was locked.
Hmm.
I pulled open the top drawer and grabbed the gold keys. Fitting one into the keyhole, I turned it, and what do you know, it unlocked.
Grinning, I pulled it open.
“Pay dirt.”
At least a dozen file folders were hanging in this one, sorted neatly with those little tags on the top of the folder. Names were written in neat, bold letters. I walked my fingers over the plastic tags, reading each one.
R. MU
M. QU
L. PI
A. LE
T. DU
Clients names, maybe? M. Qu was shorthand for Monica Quinn, I figured. I leafed through the scattered papers in the file. Definitely my mother, but there weren’t many notes taken. Nothing incriminating.
“Boring,” I sang.
I was about to close the drawer when I realized there was one more file at the very back. It didn’t have a name tag on it. I spread the folder wide and peered at the first page inside. I saw my name scribbled neatly on the top corner of what looked to be an application.
I pulled the paper out and skimmed it. It was dated September 26, 2023.
DNA results. 99.9% match. The name of the match was Doe, John, but aside from being male, there was nothing else to say who the person was.
“What the fuck?”
* * *
Rule
Expecting to find Laikyn pacing the office floors, we returned a few hours later after taking care of an issue that came to light overnight.
That was par for the course on Mondays. It happened often enough, Rhyan had a pool for how many weeks in a row we could go without it happening. Jinx won this time around, having predicted three weeks.
I couldn’t count how many times I would get called by a desperate parent needing help covering up something their wild, unruly kid did over the weekend. In this case, a college senior who was slated to be a first-round pick in next year’s NFL draft was joyriding with a couple of his friends. They hit someone on a dark street. To their credit, they didn’t leave the guy there to die, but that was about the only noble thing they did.
It would take some work, but I had the ability as well as the connections to make the problem go away. Had the kid not stopped, I wouldn’t have been inclined to help at all.
“Hey,” I called out when I reached the top of the stairs. “Where is everyone?”
I was met with silence, so I frowned over at Jinx. He shrugged and pulled out his phone. He glanced at the screen, then shook his head.
“Yeah, me either,” I told him, doing the same thing, expecting to find a text or a call from Laikyn. “Check the cameras, would you?”
While he pulled out his laptop, I peeked in Rhyan’s office. She wasn’t there. Laikyn or Rhyan. I went back downstairs, through the first-floor living room and kitchen. All empty.
Where the hell was she?
I pulled up her number on my phone and dialed. I scaled the stairs, taking them two at a time, back to the second floor as it rang.
And rang.
And rang.
“She’s not here,” I told Jinx as I made a beeline for my office.
My heart was in my throat as fear clutched me.
I opened the door and saw it sitting on the desk.
“Shit,” I groaned.
The DNA test with Laikyn’s name on it was on the desk, the gold key still in the drawer’s lock.
“Son of a bitch!”
A soft knock sounded on my door. I turned to find Jinx standing there, his laptop in hand. He turned it so I could see the screen. He had one of the video cameras pulled up. He tapped a key, and it started to play. It showed Laikyn sitting at my desk, grinning as she went through my drawers. It was innocent enough. Right up until she found those keys.
“I should’ve taken the fucking keys. Goddammit.”
I didn’t need to see the rest. It was obvious by that single sheet of paper that had been left out for me to find that she knew what I’d done.
My phone buzzed.
— She’s at the house.
“Let’s go.”
The drive to the house took far too much time. Traffic was a bitch, as usual. Not to mention, the universe was out to fuck with me. No doubt, by the time we got there, Laikyn would be gone.
“How can you be so fucking calm?” I asked Jinx.
His head slowly turned, and I cut my gaze to him. Okay. So maybe he wasn’t calm. He merely wasn’t fidgeting.
“I know. It’s my fucking fault. I should’ve told her already.”
We had this exact conversation on Friday night after we got Laikyn to bed. Jinx and I sat outside for the longest time, talking—well, I talked, he texted—about how we wanted to handle this thing with her. We had agreed it was time to tell her the truth about her father. Jinx wanted to break it to her gently so we stood a chance of getting her to listen to reason.
So much for gently. I royally fucked this one up all on my own.
By the time we got to the house, I was sweating, and it wasn’t even hot. My breaths were labored, and my adrenaline was flooding my system.
Please don’t let her be gone.
I didn’t bother with the garage, parking the car in front of the house and following Jinx inside.
I came to an abrupt stop when I saw what he was looking at. Laikyn was sitting on the ground by the pool, her arms wrapped around Waldo. As soon as he heard us, he turned, and she sat up. She spared us only a glance before she turned away.
I approached slowly, Jinx right beside me. “Laikyn?”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Hear what?” It was a stupid question, but I needed to know where her head was at.
“I saw it. I knew you had an ulterior motive. I knew it, but I tried to convince myself it would be something silly. You’re both just like everyone else in my life. Always out to manipulate me.”
“If you’ll let me explain.”
“Fuck that.” She glared up at me. “I don’t want to know who my father is. I don’t even know why you’d think I would.”
Of course, she didn’t realize there was a financial fortune involved. She thought I’d set out to find her father for altruistic reasons.
“I can’t go back to my mother’s, but I just need a day or two to find a place to live. Then we’re done.”
“Laikyn…”
She shot to her feet. “I’m done with you, Rule. And you, too,” she snarled at Jinx. “I don’t know why everyone in my fucking life thinks I can’t handle my own shit. If I wanted to know who my DNA supplier was, I would’ve figured it out. It’s none of your damn business.”
I could feel Jinx’s eyes on me. I knew he wanted me to tell her. It was the perfect time to do it. Once she was armed with that knowledge, she could do whatever she wanted with it.
But I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Once I did, Laikyn would be gone. She would disappear from my life and…
And what? And I couldn’t live without her?
The thought pissed me off. I’d sworn to myself a long fucking time ago that I wouldn’t depend on anyone for my safety, security, or happiness. People didn’t stick around. They bolted when shit got too real. They disappeared because they only cared about their feelings. Laikyn was no different. She didn’t need me, but somewhere along the way, I’d started to rely on her being here. Looked forward to it, even.
“You know what?” I huffed and headed for the door. “You do whatever the fuck you wanna do, Laikyn. I don’t give a shit anymore.”
It would only be a matter of time before I believed it.
* * *
Jinx
Shit.
I knew this would happen. From the day Rule married her, I knew it was going to end like this. But somewhere along the way, I thought we could find a way to explain it so that Laikyn wouldn’t think we were evil, manipulative bastards.
Too late.
“Why does he get to be pissed?” Laikyn snapped. “He’s not the one who was lied to.”
Technically, we hadn’t lied to her. We’d omitted a few things, so perhaps different sides of the same coin, but…
Shit.
I started typing a message to Laikyn.
— If you let him walk away, that’s it.
Her phone was beside her, so she didn’t have to pick it up to read my message.
“I don’t care. I’m done.”
— I’m serious. Once he’s convinced you’re done with him, there’s no second chance.
“I don’t want a second chance.”
Because I knew she was being petulant and didn’t truly understand the gravity of what I was telling her, I crouched beside her, grabbed her arm, and tugged so she was forced to look back at me.
“I heard you, Jinx,” she hissed, jerking her arm away. “I. Don’t. Care.”
I stood tall, sighed, and typed out one last message.
— He’s got abandonment issues, Laikyn. You really should think this through.
This time, I didn’t give her a chance to respond. I went inside to look for Rule. The good news was he had left. I mean, it wasn’t good in the sense he’d run away, but it was better than if he’d come inside and expected one or both of us to follow. Since neither of us had, there was a good chance Rule would be on his way to another state to start a new life.
For some, abandonment issues meant they expected someone in their life to walk away. For Rule, it meant he expected everyone in his life to walk away. He lived on borrowed time with those around him. He was always prepared to shut someone out if he got the hint that they were considering leaving him.
I knew, with Laikyn, this was doubly hard for him. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he was in love with her. Hell, I saw it when he was with her. I’d known the man since I was a fucking kid. Never had he looked at anyone the way he looked at her. In the past two months, so many of his walls had come down because of her. He was a different man.
Unfortunately, at his core, Rule was the same terrified kid who refused to let anyone get too close for fear they would rip his heart to shreds one more time. It didn’t matter that I’d gone to that prison to pick him up or that I’d spent every single day since with him; he still didn’t trust me completely.
It was true, though. I would never abandon him. Not for anyone.
Not even Laikyn, and God help me, I fucking loved her. It would kill me for those two to go their separate ways. I didn’t want to choose. I prayed to God I didn’t have to. My soul belonged to Rule while my heart was split straight down the middle; half was his, half was hers. If they split now, so would I.
I headed for my bedroom. I needed a minute to breathe. Music helped, and that was usually where I sought solace from the chaos that stirred my anxiety.
When Waldo trotted along beside me, I patted his head. I knew he felt the tension, and he didn’t like it any more than I did.
I unlocked my bedroom door and motioned for Waldo to go in. He hopped up onto the bed when I flipped on the light. As I was shutting the door, Laikyn appeared, her eyes narrowed. I knew she was about to blast me one, but I didn’t want to hear it. I needed a minute or thirty.
I shook my head and tried to shut the door, but she put her hand on the wood and pushed. Since I couldn’t very well argue with her, I gave in.
Only when I took a step back did I realize my grave error.
“Look, Jinx. I can’t be the one who—” Her eyes went wide as she looked at the walls. “Oh. My. God.”
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
“You … these…” She spun around and pinned me with a murderous glare. “These are mine.”
Technically, they were mine because I’d purchased them outright. But she was correct in the sense that she was the artist.
“When … how…”
I swallowed and reached for my phone.
“That’s why you didn’t want me in here,” she said through clenched teeth. “You knew who I was before I met you. How did you get those? They were commissioned by—” She gasped, a shocked look on her face. “You had them commissioned for yourself. That gallery didn’t want my work. You did.”
I wanted to type a message, but I was scared to look away from her. I didn’t want her to disappear before I had a chance.
“I cannot believe this! You played me. You both did. What else don’t I know, Jinx? Huh? What else are you hiding from me?”
“What the hell is going on?” Rule’s voice sounded down the hallway.
Laikyn spun when he approached the door. She stabbed him in the chest with her finger.
“You’re a liar. You both are. I hate you.”
Rule looked at me, and I started shaking my head. I didn’t want him to let her leave. If she did, there was a good chance we would never see her again. He could pretend all fucking day that he was okay with that, but we both knew better. Letting her go would ruin us both.
I pointed in the direction she went, but Rule simply shook his head. “I’m done.”
Fuck that. Fuck him.
I shoved past him and stomped down the hallway to Laikyn’s room.
She was pulling drawers out of her dresser and throwing her things into the suitcase she’d brought the first night she stayed here.
“I can’t believe I fell for this. I can’t believe I let myself freaking fall in love with you.”
She wasn’t talking to me, but rather herself, her attention on her task.
“I’m a bigger idiot than I thought. I mean, gawd, I married him.” She threw her arms up and turned back to the dresser.
I held up my hand, attempting to get her attention. If she saw me, she ignored me. I could feel Rule behind me, but he didn’t intervene. He was going to let her pack her shit and leave.
“I knew it was too good to be true.” Her eyes narrowed, and she spared me a glance. “What I don’t understand is what’s in it for you. Both of you. It’s got to be something.”
She didn’t give us a chance to respond just continued to pack.
I tapped out a message.
— Let me explain.
Laikyn didn’t bother to look at her phone.
— Please. Just stop.
She ignored that one, too.
“I am so done with men. I don’t give a shit if they are good for sex. I’m fucking done.”
“Stop!”
Laikyn jerked back, shocked by the vehemence in the word. Or maybe she was shocked because that word and the sound to go with it had come out of my mouth.
Rule was suddenly there, his hand on the back of my neck. His eyes locked with mine, and he stared in wonder.
I wanted to explain. I wanted to tell them how I was feeling about this whole fucking mess, but when I tried, nothing came out. My brain wouldn’t command my vocal cords to work.
I swallowed hard and took a deep breath before marching into Laikyn’s room. I grabbed her phone off the dresser and held it to her face, forcing her to look at my messages.
Her eyes were glassy with tears when she finally nodded.
When she took her phone, I grabbed mine and typed a message, this time to both of them.
— You two need to talk, and I need a minute. Don’t you dare fucking leave. Either of you.
“Okay,” Laikyn said, all her bluster gone.
I looked at Rule, wanting him to agree.
“Fine.”
Trusting that they would be there when I came back, I went into my bedroom, closed the door, and proceeded to have a panic attack.