Page 38 of Ballistic

I glanced back at Dax, looking massive next to the baby in his arms, and at his nod, I followed after the woman.

“Hey, where’s Jase?” he called after us.

“Firing up the grill out back,” the woman said over her shoulder. She seemed so at ease, leaving her baby with Dax, while she led me along. “He decided to throw on some steaks!”

“I’ll catch up with you ladies later.”

Something about the experience felt surreal, as if I’d fallen into some strange sitcom where all the characters were friends and all of them could be trusted. Like I imagined a normal world to be, except I’d been so far removed from it, I had no clue how to act.

14

Dax

I sat on a patio chair, cradling a sleeping Luna in my arms, and stared at Jase, who sat with his elbows resting atop his knees, watching me with unseen accusations behind his eyes. Hands balling to tight fists, I shook my head. “Motherfucker, if you don’t stop looking at me …”

“She’s young, yeah?”

Nicoleta was about ten years younger than I was, and the tone of his voice suggested she and I had arrived as a couple, or something. “Unlike some brothers I know, I keep my dick in my pants.”

“Where you two off to tonight?”

My chest rose with an exasperated breath, and without disturbing Luna, I rolled my shoulders. “Woody’s.”

“Sounds romantic.”

“Fuck off, man. I’m following up on a lead.”

His brows winged up. “Tesarik?”

Tesarik had been responsible for murdering his wife’s father about a year before, and Jase had vowed revenge. He just hadn’t anticipated how demanding fatherhood would be, or keeping his family safe, for that matter. So the vengeance gig had been sat on the backburner.

For him, anyway.

I’d kept at it, refusing to give up my search for Nicoleta. “No. Had something come up.”

“Then, I’m picking up where I left off.”

“C’mon, Jase. You’ve got a family you need to think about now. I know where he’s going to be in a couple weeks. I’m just biding my time until then.”

“Doing what? Prom? Trying out for football captain? You told me to back off and let you go after him alone. And I did. But that bastard remains a threat to my family every day he’s alive.”

His comment drew my gaze to Luna, lying in my arms. How even I would kill a motherfucker if anyone ever laid a finger on her. I hadn’t gone lax, or given up, I planned to cripple the bastard first chance I got. “Nicoleta knows where to find him.”

“So, why isn’t she telling you?”

“She doesn’t work that way. She’s got trust issues. Who wouldn’t after the shit they put her through?”

“What kind of shit? She talk about it, at all?”

“No.” The confusion and frustration had to have been clear on my face, because he didn’t say anything when I paused to gather my thoughts. “But she gets these nightmares, sometimes, saying things in her sleep. Something about Pigman.”

“One of Tesarik’s men, maybe?”

“I don’t know.” I glanced around the small yard, taking note of the distance between the neighbors, and lowered my voice. “One of her friends ended up in a snuff film. She wants to go after the men who did it. Thinks they’ve got connections to Tesarik.”

“How?”

“Same clubs. She wanted in, if you can believe that shit.” I still couldn’t believe that shit, and neither could Jase, judging by the incredulous look plastered to his face.