With everything that had been going on, all of us forgot about Valentine's Day. It's not that we wanted to or chose to, it's just we were so preoccupied with the unknown threat along with the Frazier family and the Santiagos.
Ace brought in some more people to help, namely in his son-in-law, son, and nephews. I was coming downstairs when I heard the doorbell. I answered to see Zack, Tony, Sean, and Lucas.
"Hey, padre," I said, shaking Lucas's hand.
"Hello, my son," Lucas said, placing his other hand on mine only to earn an eye roll from the other three.
"Where's Ace?" Zack asked.
"He's in the kitchen. Follow me," I said, heading to the kitchen.
"Yo, what's happening pops?" Tony asked Brax.
"My foot up to your ass," Brax said.
"Why are you late?" Ace asked.
"Traffic," Sean said.
"Traffic, my ass. We had to grab this one from some chick's house he was banging," Zack said.
Yeah, they are quite the colorful people. I grabbed a cup of coffee then walked over to where dad was leaning on the island.
"There's always time for good pootang," Sean said.
"Yeah, yeah, keep your dick in your pants. We got bigger issues to deal with," Chase said.
Drew walked in a few minutes later. "Hey, Zack." He gave Zack a handshake.
"How's the little one?" Zack asked.
"She's amazing. How's yours?" Drew asked.
"They're good. Grace is pregnant with our fifth one," Zack mentioned.
"Damn, you've been quite the busy beaver," Drew said.
"What can I say? My girl knows what she's doing," Zack commented.
Ace shot Zack a look as I whispered to dad, "Five bucks, Ace rips his head off."
"You're on," dad whispered back.
While they talked, I looked at dad. "I need a favor." He gave me a look.
"Is this necessary?" Dad asked Frazier.
"Probably not, but eh, why not?" Frazier asked, putting on the finishing touches on dad's face.
"This is utterly ridiculous," I huffed.
"Hey, you want to get your sweetie something for Valentine's Day, you don't have any choice their pal," Frazier said with a grin.
I looked at dad, and he looked at me. "You know if your mother finds out about this, she will have a fucking heart attack."
"More like take pictures and laugh later," Jordan said, smirking.
"That's real funny, ha, ha," dad said to him.
"What in the hell is going on in here?" A voice exclaimed, walking over to us until they were in front of us. "Damnnnn, you two are the ugliest women I have ever seen."
"Oh, fuck off, Drew," I said to him with a glare.
"Or should we say, Nancy," Dad said, causing Drew to bluster.
"That was one time!" Drew snapped.
"Yeah, and what's your point?" Dad asked him.
"No offense, but can we leave? I would like to get back here before anyone can see us," I said.
"Yeah, yeah, you can go, little lady," Frazier said.
We turned to leave, only to see Liam and Nik standing at the door, great.
"Damn RJ, or should we say, Rhonda," Liam said.
I walked up to him. "You know if you call me Rhonda, then you call him Rhonda since I have his name." Liam shut up promptly, and Nik raised his hands in defeat. Yeah, I thought so.
We left as quickly as we could, both wearing sunglasses along with dresses and wigs. We passed grandpa, who looked at us confused as we said, "Bye granddad. Bye, dad."
Grammy walked in. "Was that RJ and Ryan leaving?"
"I think so, but I'm not sure. When did we get another daughter and granddaughter?" Granddad asked, confused.
She shrugged, shaking her head in confusion.
Dad and I headed out so I could get Emma something, and he got something for mom. Once we got what we came for, we left, but not before bumping into trouble. He looked us up and down. "Damn, you're an ugly chick."
We tried to hide our faces, but it was hard to control my temper since I wanted to beat the shit out of him. Dad whispered in my ear, "Not now."
As soon as we got to the car, we got in, and dad took off. "Is there a reason you stopped me from kicking the shit out of Mitchell?"
"Yeah, because others are watching," he said as he drove back to granddad's house. Dad was right. If there were one, there's bound to be others. We had to play it smart.
We walked in after our brief excursion only to have mom and Emma meet us, who gave us both a look.
"Is there something the two of you want to tell us?" Mom asked us.
"Nope," we both said, running up the stairs.
"Should I worry?" Emma asked mom.
"Oh honey, I think it's time I fill you in on a few things about this family," she said as they went into another room.
After scrubbing the makeup off and washing up, I turned off the shower. I opened the shower door only to have Emma hand me a towel. I took the sheet and wrapped it around my waist.
"Is there a reason you and your dad dressed up as women?" Emma questioned.
"Yeah, Frazier made us," I answered.
"Huh?" Emma asked with confusion.
I took her hand and led her into the room. I walked over and pulled a velvet box out of my coat and handed it to her.
"Happy Valentine's Day, baby," I said.
She opened it, and inside was a necklace with a diamond-encrusted heart necklace. She took it out and held it up. "Ryan, it's beautiful."
I walked towards her, put my hands on her face, and said, "Not as beautiful as you." I gave her a sweet kiss.
"I love it and you. Since we are giving gifts, I got something for you," Emma said excitedly.
She opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out something. She wrapped it in brown paper with a ribbon. I opened it up and looked at her. "First edition of Pride and Prejudice? How?"
"I had a little help," she said, pointing past me. I turned to see mom standing at the door with dad.
"Isn't this the copy dad gave you at Christmas one year?" I asked.
"The same one," mom said.
"Why? Why would you give this up?" I asked mom.
"Because it was time," she said to me. "Plus, Emma wanted to do something special for you. I mean, you dressed up like a woman to get her a gift."
I rolled my eyes, and she laughed.
"Thank you both, I will cherish it," I said.
"We know," Emma said, causing mom and dad to laugh.
I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her.
"Um, son, get dressed. You're sort of peeking out there," dad said.
Emma and I looked down. He was right. I was flashing people. "Be right back," I said, grabbing some clothes and hightailing it into the bathroom.
After my flashing incident, we went downstairs and had dinner. After dinner, we all just hung out in the living room. Frazier had to get something from the car.
"Frazier, can't it wait till morning?" Marissa yelled.
"Just give me two minutes," he yelled back. Just as he was about to open his door, he dropped his keys. "Damn it," he said, bending down to pick up his keys when dad and Jordan ran to the door.
"Frazier," dad shouted.
"What?" Frazier yelled back, turning to face him. Then it happened. Something came flying down onto the car, causing him to step back. "What the hell?" He looked to see what it was, and his eyes widened as dad and Jordan came out of the house.
Dad walked over and pulled the plastic from the item only to find a person. "Holy fuck!"
We all ran out to see what the noise was. Dad and my uncles turned to see all of us. Frazier and Jordan move quickly towards us trying to shield the person on the car, but it was too late, Zane was the first to see.
"Frisco?" Zane asked, shocked.
The brothers broke free from us and ran over to the car. Dad, Jordan, Frazier, and Nik tried to restrain them as they screamed at the sight of their brother, tortured and dead on top of Frazier's car.
"Let us go," Angelo screamed.
"He's gone," dad said to him as Angelo fought him.
Mom walked over. "Let them go,"
Dad and the rest of them did as she said and they ran over, pulling him off the top of the car. We stood there, shocked. We watched as they cradled their brother's lifeless body in their arms and cried. Their cries pierced our ears with the agony that filled it. I looked at Matt, who went back inside. He had to call Scarlett.
Mom looked at dad. "Go help Matt. We'll take care of the boys." Dad nodded as Marissa and Elena, along with Nik, Maggie, and Leslie, helped the brothers.
"Come on, guys," mom said in a soothing tone. They let go of Frisco, and they helped them inside. Jordan and Frazier grabbed a blanket. They wrapped his body up and took care of it.
We all stood there, and Liam asked me, "Why?"
"It's a message," I said, turning and going inside.
We all sat in the living room quietly. Mom came in and took a seat.
"How are they?" I asked.
"Devastated. Marissa and Elena are with Zane. Nik is with Leo, Maggie is with Angelo, and Leslie is with Xavier." Dad walked in. "Did Matt reach Scarlett?" Mom asked him.
"Yeah, I'm sending him to be with her. She's completely devastated," he said.
"God, this is just like a few years ago," she said to him.
"No, this is worse. Frisco is never coming back," he said.
It was at that moment, how real this was feeling. With Matt out of the picture, we would be one man down, and on top of it, we would deal with not just grief-stricken brothers but angry ones at that.
The mood in the house over the next few days was tension-ridden. We had to plan a funeral without getting killed and deal with the loss of one of our own, especially the brothers.
I was finishing tying my shoe when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Emma standing there with a soft smile on her face. I pulled her to me and buried my head into her. She placed her arms around my head. This time we weren't having a fake funeral but a proper one, and it was awful.
She rubbed my head, and I stood up. I took her hand, and we left the room. We all went to the cemetery. Since it was a bitter February day, they held the funeral inside. I stood there as the brothers sat there along with Scarlett, Matt, and Nik. Emma rubbed my back, and just her touch was comforting. We listened to the minister speak, and all of us stood there watching one of our own buried.
Frisco may have had his problems, but I remember the kind, timid guy I could talk to about everything. I remember when the five of them mooned us when we played football. They ganged up on Matt being the overprotected brothers. They had our backs through everything and what they did for Nik when we thought Mike had died. They had been there for us through everything, and now we would be there for them.
Dad walked over to me. "I know what your thinking," he said.
"Then you should know, this means one thing. Game over. It's time we finish this once and for all," I said.
He turned and raised an eyebrow. "It will get messy."
"Messy is our middle names," Frazier said.
"I thought that was an idiot?" Jordan asked.
"Why?" Frazier started.
"Knock it off. We have a business to take care," dad said.
"We want to help," someone said.
We looked to see the brothers standing there.
"Are you sure?" Dad asked.
"I'm positive. The person took our brother. Now we will take them," Xavier said.
"After we torture the shit out of them and set them on fire," Angelo said as the others nodded.
"We're in," someone said, and we saw the hellions standing there.
"Us too," the double troubles said.
"I'm always up for a good fight," Shawn said.
"Matt's sorry he has to set this one out, but you got us," Drew said.
"Who says I'm sitting this one out?" Matt asked, walking towards us.
"What about Scarlett?" I asked.
"Don't worry about me. I want Matt to find whoever did this and make them pay," she said, cradling Sasha.
"Then let's get to work. It's time to finish this once and forever. Like RJ said game over," dad said. With that, we all headed back to the house to get ready for a fight. Winner takes all. This person just messed with the wrong damn family. I hope it's worth it when I look into their eyes as their life drains away.