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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.
"What's up?"
"I have no run to the store," she huffed. "I need to grab my prescription and some tampons. Need anything?"
"I'm good," he said, still somber but cheering up slightly. "Be careful."
"I will," she blew them both a kiss and hurried out the door.
--
"Angel," EZ yelled out the door of his trailer when he saw his brother returning to the yard. "Got a minute?"
Angel looked up, a slightly goofy look of surprise on his face, and nodded. Closing the door after him, Angel took a beer from the mini fridge and leaned against the wall. "What's up?"
"This morning, when I came by your house, I saw Carrie's car out front."
Angel choked a bit on his beer. "Carrie?"
"Jimenez," he said. "Kevin's wife."
"Oh," he laughed, "Carrie, yeah. You saw her car? You sure?"
EZ just looked at Angel not needing to say anything more than what his expression was already conveying.
Angel huffed, fiddling with his beer bottle. "Yeah, you're always sure," he said with annoyance
"Are you sleeping with our cousin's wife?"
"Second cousin," Angel harshly corrected EZ. "And yeah, I am."
"Jesus Christ," EZ said with a mix of amusement and annoyance. "You're out of your league and asking for trouble."
"I know," he sighed. "Shit I knew from the beginning."
"When was the beginning?" EZ wanted as much information as he could get but also hearing the facts from Angel meant he couldn't slip with a detail only she'd told him.
"This time?" Angel laughed. "Shit I hit that the first time forever ago. It was random meet ups a couple times a year for a while then I guess we got uhh, serious, 'bout two years ago."
"How do you get serious with a married woman?" EZ was growing more intrigued by the relationship the more he talked to Angel about it. The shock had worn off with Carrie but now he wanted to know how Angel felt and how this possibly complicated his work with the DEA.
"I dunno," Angel shrugged. "See her a couple times a month, talk a couple times a week."
"Do you love her?"
Angel rolled his jaw. "Yeah, I do but no one can know about her, EZ. Not Pop or the club, it's just too messy and it puts her in a shitty spot."
EX nodded. "Sorry, man."
"Yeah, me too," Angel grumbled. "Shoulda told her not to marry that asshole back when I had the chance."
"Really?" EZ laughed a little. He knew his brother had heart, lots of it, and he loved hard but it still seemed surprising. "Shit, you really do love her."
"If I didn't I wouldn't still be dealing with it," he admitted. "We don't have the best situation."
"She gonna leave him?" EZ asked, his concern for Jimenez's mental state bleeding into his own issues now.
"I never asked," he said pitifully. "I don't think she realizes I even want that."
EZ nodded, unsure what way to go with the conversation. "She probably thinks you're getting it somewhere else, you should tell her she's the only one you could talk into bed," he laughed.
"Yeah, why don't you go jerk it to your highschool sweetheart," Angel teased.
"We're really battin' a thousand," EZ sighed.
"At least I'm getting laid," Angel chuckled. "You think I'm an idiot?"
"No," EZ said with a small shrug. "I know you, Angel. You're loyal and you got a huge heart, if you love her, you love her."
"If the club finds out about her, about Kevin," he shook his head, "Could be bad. I should tell Bish, it looks shady and it's better to lay it out now."
"Probably," EZ wasn't sure if telling Bishop would bring too much attention and that made him nervous. "Maybe it would just give everyone a headache."
Talking it out quelled some anxieties but made some worse and even brought new ones to the surface.
"I gotta," Angel said bouncing on his balls of his feet. "It'll cover everyone if shit ever gets out."
EZ closed his eyes slowly. It was a bad idea but it wasn't the only risk being taken that evening. Carrie walked slowly up the steps to Felipe's house with her stomach in knots. He was sitting on the porch, a beer in his hand, looking calmly at her.
"I just got rid of your husband. Will I be having another overnight guest?"
Carrie shook her head. "He was here?"
"Yes, and he was very drunk," Felipe told her. "Now what can I do for you?"
"Kevin is sending me away," she told him. "He thinks it's getting dangerous here for me and my son. What do you think?"
"I think your husband is a smart, cautious man, who is in over his head."
"We agree on that," she huffed. "Did you threaten me and my son, Uncle?"
"I will do what I have to," he said matter of factly.
She nodded, her face dark, as she walked closer to him. "You do something to me and Joseph, you're going to be doing more than hurting Kevin, you're going to be hurting your own flesh and blood...so don't."
Felipe looked at her, taking in her words, and as she turned to leave a heavy realization smacked him on the head.
"Joey?"
She stopped, her back still to him, and nodded.
"Does Angel know?"
Carrie shook her head.
"That's something you should share," Felipe said as he stood up.
"Am I awful?"
"If you're awful," he said, as he laid his hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting and supportive squeeze, "Than there are no words for what I am. You tell Angel the truth, fathers and sons deserve to know each other."