After I raced downstairs, the sound of voices coming from the gym pulled my attention, and I changed direction to investigate. When I pushed the door open, I had to do a doubletake with what I found in front of me.
"Are you two fucking serious?" I demanded, blinking twice in case my mind was playing tricks on me. But nope, the image didn't change. Zed and Cass were actually sparring. Cass's left arm was still strapped in the black sling, but his other hand was covered with a boxing wrap and his upper body was bare and gleaming with sweat.
Zed was also shirtless, both of his hands in wraps as he danced around Cass and taunted him with quick jabs to the body.
They didn't fucking stop when they saw me, either. Not that I blamed them; I'd bet they were both cautious of the other taking a dirty shot while they were distracted. It's what I'd have done.
"Cassiel Idiot Saint!" I barked, striding across the gym to stop them by any means necessary, even if that meant decking both of them. "You've got to be fucking with me. In what world did you think this was a good idea? Either of you?" My accusing glare swung between Zed and Cass, but neither one of them had the grace to look ashamed.
"Don't give me that look," Zed responded, then flicked out a lightning-fast jab at Cass's face, which Cass dodged and answered with a sharp right hook that caught Zed across the cheekbone. "Ouch." He winced and shook his head with a rueful grin. "Besides, Grumpy Cat started it."
"Fuck off, Zeddy Bear," Cass sneered back. "You started this because your balls are so blue they're basically fossilized."
"That doesn't even make sense," Lucas drawled from the doorway. He gave me a shrug when I turned to look at him. "They've been at this for ages. Better just leave them to get it out of their systems."
I hesitated, but Cass just gave me a one shoulder shrug before swinging his leg up in a hard kick that caught Zed in the side. I winced but then shook my head and followed Lucas's advice. Fuck it, they didn't need me refereeing whatever the hell they were dealing with. So I just threw my hands up in exasperation and exited the gym with Lucas by my side.
"If it's any comfort, Cass is winning," he murmured with an edge of laughter as we headed through to the garage. "Even with one arm in a sling, he's a fucking weapon."
The admiration in his tone was unmistakable, and I gave him a curious side-eye. "Did you research Cass before or after you knew who he was to me?"
Lucas shot me a smirk. "I can't give away all my secrets, Hayden. He hardly needs the ego boost of knowing I used to watch his old fights online."
Something about that was way too adorable, so I grinned and headed over toward Zed's Shelby Mustang, as the Audi was nowhere to be seen. No doubt he'd already taken it in to get the paint touched up.
"Hey, um." Lucas paused before we got to the car, his hands toying with the brim of the ballcap he held. "Any chance I could drive?"
My brows shot up, and I considered his question as I grabbed the keys off the hook near the car. "Sure," I said, tossing the key to him and giving him a stern look, "but don't fucking tell Zed, okay? He's a total diva about his cars."
The smile that split Lucas's face was worth Zed's wrath, and I couldn't stop myself smiling back as he put his cap on backward and popped the driver’s door open. It had been a good decision. Lucas looked like he was straight out of a sex dream behind the wheel of the Shelby in his hoodie, backward cap and sexy fucking grin.
"Stop staring at me," he teased as we started driving. "You're making me want to blow off this visit to my mom and dirty up the backseat of Zed's car."
Dammit if my pussy didn't tighten just at the idea of that. "Maybe on the way home," I replied with a sly smirk. "But we really should talk to her if she's having a good day. At least see if she can tell you whether you do have any older siblings."
Lucas grimaced. Zed and I had told him about the redacted file we'd found, and we'd theorized on what it all could mean. But ultimately, there was no conclusive evidence that Sandra had ever had another baby before Lucas, only that she'd had some form of IVF treatment as a teenage girl. Which, in itself, seemed suspect as hell, but it didn’t mean that it’d ever resulted in a pregnancy.
Then again, maybe it had. Maybe multiple pregnancies. Only Sandra could tell us, though, as our attempts to dig further into her medical records had gone nowhere. One thing was for sure, though, and that was the Guild was heavily involved in the Wildeboer family.
"Is it bad that I sort of don't want to know?" he asked after a few moments of silence.
I reached out and threaded my fingers through his where it rested on his knee. "Not even a little bit. But I do think you need to know. Something sketchy is going on with the Guild, and more than anything, I need to know how to keep you safe. So... I need to know what the whole story is so I can see where the threats might be hiding."
His hand squeezed mine, but he didn't look reassured. "This is the last thing you should be stressing about, Hayden. You've got enough going on with Chase."
I shook my head. "And that situation will become so much easier to deal with when we can cross the fucking mercenary guild off our list of concerns. Besides"—I drew a breath and licked my lips—"I love you, so, you know... I'd do anything to keep you safe."
Lucas didn't respond immediately, and even as fast as my heart raced, I wondered if maybe he hadn't heard me. But then he pulled over onto the side of the road and turned to stare at me.
"What did you just say?" he demanded, his lips twitching with a smile.
I wrinkled my nose. "You fucking know what I said; don't pretend you don't." My cheeks were hot and my palms sweaty, even though our hands were still joined. Shit. Why was I suddenly turning into such a... human?
Lucas gave a soft laugh and leaned over to kiss me softly, his lips moving against mine and his tongue exploring my mouth in a relaxed, confident way that was totally at odds with the panic I was experiencing at telling him I loved him for the first time.
"I've loved you from the moment you kissed me that night at 7th Circle," he whispered against my lips as his hand cupped my face like I was his most treasured possession. "So I'm glad you're finally on board."
His teasing made it easy to quit panicking. He knew exactly how to handle my shit, and I loved that about him. Or about us. So my heart was ten tons lighter as I pushed him away gently and rolled my eyes.
"Okay then, Captain Emotionally Stable. Can you keep driving please? We're going to miss visiting hours, and then I'll have to threaten the poor nurses to let us in against the rules."
He just grinned and leaned in to kiss me again, then pulled back out onto the road to continue toward the medical center his mother was being treated at. We drove in silence for a few minutes, then he raised our linked hands and kissed my knuckles.
That gesture, more than any words, struck me right in the heart. Lucas never hid his feelings, but I'd just never truly recognized them. But now I had, and it was a feeling I wanted to hold onto forever.
8
More often than not when I brought Lucas to visit his mom, I would wait outside, simply for the fact that my presence and my resemblance to my dead mother, who'd been Sandra's friend, caused her undue stress. But today Lucas kept my hand in his as we made our way through the facility to his mom's room.