Blood & Water

Chapter 4

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Carrie raced to pick up Joey from daycare then straight home to find Kevin waiting for her at the dining room table. He was clearly troubled, and exhausted, she could see the bags under his eyes when he looked up at her.

"Sorry," she sighed. "I got caught up talking to another mom at daycare, that's when I got your message. What's going on?" She asked softly, feeling more sympathy for him than she had recently.

"I think you should take Joey up to visit your sister," he said, shutting his laptop. "Just for a week or so," he shrugged.

"A week?" She laughed a little, looking at him through squinted eyes. "Kev, I have work and a life. What happened? Why are you doing this?"

He cleared his throat, "Uh, things are getting tense."

"Things have been tense," she huffed.

Kevin shook his head. "I don't mean with us."

Carrie swallowed hard and nodded. Putting the baby in his play area she joined her husband at the table, sitting to Kevin's left. "Talk to me, please. I know we're struggling right now but we used to be able to talk."

"I'm worried about you and the baby," he admitted quickly. "If things go off the rails we're dealing with people who cross lines every single day. They wouldn't flinch," he said, his eyes moving from hers to Joey as he laughed and played.

Carrie drew her head back. "The cartel?" She spoke, her voice quivering, and took his hand. "Are we in danger, Kevin?"

"Not the cartel," he said, squeezing her hands. "But putting some distance between you an Santo Padre would be good."

Her eyes flicked up as she tried to figure out who else would possible be a threat to their family. "Is it the club?"

"No," Kevin shook his head. "The cartel and the MC are still in the dark."

"You're scaring me," she whispered.

He nodded. "I'm sorry but sometimes you need a push to listen to me. That doesn't mean it's not true, though. I want you to go, Carolyn, I'm just not sugarcoating it."

"Carolyn," she inhaled sharply. "Using my full name, that means you're serious, which means you're scared too."

"A little bit," he said shamefully. "I'm sorry about last night," he hung his head.

"Don't be." She hated when he was sweet and kind, it made her hate herself exponentially more. "We're both on edge."

"I love you," he said sweetly.

Nodding, biting the inside of her cheek as she always did when she was anxious or uncomfortable, Carrie opened her arms for a hug. "I love you too," she whimpered. "I'm going to go pack some stuff. Play with the baby, you hardly see him as is."

Carrie went upstairs to their bedroom and did pack a bag, with every intention of taking Kevin's suggestion and going to visit her sister, until she saw his personal phone on the nightstand. She knew she shouldn't snoop but the mystery of who could be a threat was too great to do the respectful thing. Carrie grabbed his phone and began skimming through his calls and emails then his text messages. She saw one from Felipe, it was a photo of her and Joey from a few days before as she was picking him up from daycare.

"Fuck," she hissed. "Would he?" She asked herself quietly. "It's Felipe, he wouldn't." Carrie thought on it for a moment, knowing how much Felipe loved his sons, especially EZ, and realized he would do anything for his kids, just like she would do anything for Joey. Bouncing down the stairs she grabbed her keys off the hook.