Falcon (Kindred, #5)

TEN-3

“Would either of you like a drink?” she asked. Something about the glitter in her eyes above her wide smile intrigued Devon, but she didn’t pursue that curiosity.

“No thanks,” Devon said. “We were just in the middle of a disagreement.”

Bess seemed engrossed in her own wonder and was examining both of them. “Doesn’t look that way to me,” Bess said, resting a hand onto Zave’s shoulder to give him her weight. “What were you disagreeing on?”

Devon didn’t want to lift her chin because she could feel his glare burning her skin. “I was just telling Devon why joining our operation would be a bad idea for her,” Zave said, his voice was so stern that Devon almost felt like she was being given into trouble.

“Join us?” Bess shrieked and began to hurry around the table. Apparently Zave’s harsh tone had no effect on the woman. “Thad!”

Zave straightened. “Why do we need Thad?” he asked.

Thad came in as Bess sat down beside Devon. “What is it?” Thad asked on his approach.

“Devon is coming to join us,” Bess said, vibrating with glee, she made no attempt to disguise it.

Thad snapped out of his own distraction and seemed to perk up. “She is?” Thad asked, going to sit beside his mom.

Three on one side of the table and Zave on the other on his own. “That’s not what I said,” Zave said, pressing forward on his forearms again. “I told her no.”

“Why?” Bess asked, snatching up Devon’s hand.

“Because it’s dangerous,” Thad said.

“Yes,” Zave agreed, jumping on his cousin’s support.

Devon didn’t know whether she had Thad’s support or not. Bess was having none of it. “It’s not dangerous for me,” Bess said. “She could help from here.”

Zave wasn’t convinced. “What skills does she have that are of use to us?”

Bess gasped. “Shame on you, Xavier. What skills did I have?”

“You’re family,” Thad said.

Bess’ happiness gave way to a more abrupt attitude. “And you boys told me that Devon has little family of her own. What are we sending her back to if we dump her back where she was? Zara doesn’t think Rigor will be much of a support for her. No, Devon should stay with us.”

Thad laughed. “You just want company, Mom.”

“And what’s wrong with that? This place needs another female around to offset all the testosterone,” Bess said, still clasping Devon’s hand with hers while she waved the other.

Somewhere in this conversation, her meaning had been lost and assumptions were being made. “I didn’t mean I would live here,” Devon said, mortified at the idea they might think her so presumptuous.

“Why shouldn’t you?” Bess asked. “We brought you here to care for you, so you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you need. It’s not like we don’t have the space. Zave can find out what’s going on with your property in New York, and we can have everything of yours shipped here. If it’s been put into storage, we’ll pay to have it released.”

Devon’s eyes flared because she couldn’t ask anyone to take care of her personal business or pay her debts, and now she just felt like she was intruding in their family life.

“Can he?” Zave asked, showing more emotion in those two words than he had for the rest of the night.

Still, Bess dismissed him. “Oh, you already have and you know it,” Bess clucked her tongue at her nephew then focused on Devon. “He likes to poke his nose in sometimes and he likes to think he’s the most powerful man in the world.”

Proving that she wasn’t the only one he ignored, Zave didn’t respond to his aunt. “Devon is trying to regain control,” he said to his family members.

“It’s Psyche 101 for trauma victims,” Thad said and his position on the issue remained ambiguous.

“Don’t dismiss her,” Bess said. “If anyone should want to fight back against their aggressors, it’s Devon, she’s the victim.”

“That’s not what this is,” Devon said, but the trio were more interested in each other than her.

It wasn’t about hurting the cartel because they hurt her; it was about using her pain to ensure no one else had to endure it. “I have no objections,” Thad said, with a shrug. “You’re thorough, Zave, and I trust Swift. I have to.”

Her own embarrassment was sidelined. “What does that mean?” Devon asked.

Bess swayed closer to explain. “Swift can find out anything and everything about a person. If you were a danger to us, we wouldn’t have you here. I’m sorry to be blunt, but it’s as simple as that.”

She certainly wasn’t a danger, and she appreciated Bess being upfront. “I can’t start my own crusade,” Devon said, comfortable about being honest with Bess. “If I go back to New York alone and try that, I’ll either go crazy or get myself killed.”

“No one would expect you to, dearie,” Bess said, stroking her arm. “The other girls have had support networks to return to. We can’t send you back to nothing.”

“That doesn’t mean we should adopt her,” Zave said.

Like she was some kind of stray pet they’d found on the side of the road. “So what’s your idea? Are you going to pay for therapists and security for Devon for the rest of her life? I thought shirking your responsibilities was a thing of the past, Xavier,” Bess said with plenty of judgement in her tone.

Her comments only added to the layers of unknowns that Devon had in relation to this guy. Although she disagreed with Zave’s position, she did have to highlight a point, which would be listed in his favor. “I’m not his responsibility,” Devon said. “I’ve put the idea out there. I want to help, but I won’t cause trouble. If there’s no place for me here, I’ll figure out another way that I can—”

“No,” Zave said. “You’re not taking on these guys by yourself. I told you, it’s taken us years of work to get to this point as a team.”

He had said that and she understood that not only did they have manpower, but they had resources that she could not even dream of. “Well then, I suppose it’s settled. It looks like we have a new team member,” Bess said and was grinning once again. “It’s about time we shook things up.”

“If Rave can adjust to a new person in his house, so can you,” Thad said to Zave. “And I guess, nothing’s permanent. We can take time to work it out.”

Devon had gone from agreeing to give them information to promising Rig she would help him any way she could. And somehow through the course of this conversation, she’d become a troublesome roommate. Living in this house would be any person’s dream but like Thad had said, nothing was permanent.

She couldn’t get too comfortable, couldn’t settle in and fall in love with the island because she wouldn’t be here forever. But she’d won this battle because she did want to help in the fight against those who had hurt her. Devon wasn’t ready to go back to her previous life. It was safe here.

Despite his assertion that they would never get close, she was eager to find out more about the man who held himself away from everyone else. Zave had rescued her from her isolation, she wanted to do her best to tempt him from his.