“Not gonna happen, you little Mexican piece of shit,” Grease growled, stepping sideways so I could no longer see what was happening. “Get the fuck out of here.”

The man started spouting off in Spanish, and I wished for one minute that I didn’t understand the language of my mother. His words cut off when Gram stepped out from behind me, almost shoving Grease aside as she started using Spanish words of her own. I was so surprised that she was fluent, that it took me a minute to register what she was actually saying. It wasn’t until she started using English that everything became clear… or at least, less confusing.

“I’ve got contacts of my own, you little cocksucker. If my boys were alive, you’d already be dead for what you’ve done to my family,” she hissed, yanking me fully behind her as she raged. “You leave my granddaughter alone or I’ll see you in hell!”

“Rosa,” he looked surprised, but spoke respectfully, “who does she belong to?”

“She belongs to me! That’s all you need to know.”

“Ah, senora, that’s not the way this works. You know this. She belongs to Tommy or Chuck, well, that’s one thing. If she belongs to Daniel, that’s an entirely different matter.”

Watching him over my grandmother’s shoulder hadn’t prepared me for his words, and I gasped as he said my uncles’ names… and then my father’s. His eyes flickered to me for a moment, but were drawn back to Gram as she straightened her slightly curved back, making her almost as tall as I was.

“She belongs to me,” she told him again, slapping her chest in emphasis.

“Well, now, I know that’s not true. Imagine my surprise when I heard that she lived at the address of an old friend. It was jarring, really, to hear that name again.”

He looked as if he was remembering something for a moment, but quickly snapped back to the subject at hand when Gram tried to speak again. He cut her off with a wave of his arm and spoke.

“Due to our history, and my history with your sons, I’ll give you two some time together,” he told her kindly, his voice like that of someone talking to a child. “But she’ll be mine, one way or another.”

He gave a nod to his men and started toward the vehicles when Grease’s incredulous voice boomed out from beside me. “You forgetting something?”

“No, I’m not.” The man shook his head, “I’m not concerned with the Aces. You may be here now, but you won’t be here for long.” He waved his hands dramatically as his face broke out in a smile. “Once you ride back to that rainy hellhole you call home, well, I’ll be here… fucking your girl, and then killing her.”

Poet grabbed Grease as he lunged, and both of them almost tumbled down the porch stairs as the Hispanic man laughed and closed the SUV’s door.

When the men drove away and all was quiet, my mind was once again reeling with the new information flooding in. What the fuck had just happened? And more importantly…

How in God’s name did my Gram know those men?

Chapter 19

Callie

For the next few hours, we discussed our plans, arguing and debating the merits of each idea over and over again. If an idea sounded good to me, Gram disagreed with it, and if we both thought something was a good idea, Poet or Asa shot it down. It was frustrating as hell trying to figure out how we were going to get me out of the mess I was in. The guilt ate at me as the sun dropped from the sky, and by the time Gram had dinner on the table, my stomach was so tied up in knots that I couldn’t even eat. I was also too anxious to ask about my uncles’ connection with the men that were after me—the questions I had just didn’t seem as important as getting far away from them as fast as I could.

Cody was willing to drop out of his expensive prep school in order to move with us to Oregon, but I could tell that the thought of leaving was causing him a lot of anxiety. He was adamant that the school wasn’t important, but I knew it was. He’d been away at private school for two years, and the thought of having to start over was scary for my introverted baby brother. He’d already had his parents and his home ripped from him because of my stupid decisions, I absolutely refused to take that from him, too.

The situation left Gram in the position of choosing between us.

If she moved with me to Oregon, Cody would have to leave school. If she stayed in San Diego, I had to move up North all alone.

There was no right answer.

So I didn’t let her choose.

I chose.

“I’ll move up North on my own,” I finally stated, my heart racing in my chest. “I’d be going to college soon anyway. It’s not like I can’t live by myself eighteen months earlier than planned.”

“Callie, you can’t move all the way to Oregon by yourself!” Gram replied sharply, looking at Poet for backup.

“Rose, not sure what you’d like me to say,” he answered her look, “not a whole lot of options open to ya.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she snapped. “She’ll be all alone in a new town and she hasn’t even graduated from high school!”

“Gram, it’s fine. I can do it. Really. I’ll just get a little apartment and finish school out there. I’ll be fine.”

“Callie,” Gram sighed wearily, looking at me with an apology in her eyes, “baby, I can’t afford to get you an apartment. I’m barely living here, I can’t support two houses.”