Sweet Reckoning (The Sweet Trilogy #3)(52)

“Pirates of the Caribbean!” Zania shouted.

“Yes!” I pointed at her, and the girls all cheered.

“About time,” Blake teased.

I fell back onto the love seat and sighed with relief. Kai patted my knee.

Oh, if the Dukes could see their children now.

“I’m next!” Blake stood. Just as he made his way to Patti, his hand stilled on the top card. I felt Kaidan freeze next to me. Across the room, Kope sat up straighter. I recognized the glazed-eye look they got when they were listening to something from a distance. The whole room quieted, and my heart rate spiked.

Kaidan signed silently to the room: Hide.

Patti rushed the twins, Zania, and Jay up the stairs. Kaidan tried to push me to go with them, but I shook my head, unstrapping the hilt from my ankle. If it came down to a fight, the others could come down and join us, but we needed to keep our allies secret as long as possible. Together the three guys and I silently went to the front of the house and peeked through the curtains.

A nondescript small gray car had parked in the driveway. An African American man who appeared way too large for the vehicle stepped out, making the car bounce upward with the release of his weight. In the span of one second my mind took in a myriad of details about our visitor. He was one of the biggest men I’d ever seen—extremely tall and stacked with muscle like a bodybuilder. He wore a fitted black do-rag on his head, a sleeveless muscle shirt, baggy jeans low enough to show half his black boxers, and he walked with a serious swagger. But the thing that stood out most was the amber Duke’s badge at his chest. And the fact that he looked really familiar . . .

Oh. My. Gosh.

“Nuh-uh,” Blake whispered.

Kaidan let out a deep breath of relief and said, “It’s Belial.”

I ran to the door and opened it, looking up as he approached. He had been a large man in his former body, but now his presence was overwhelming. And it was driving me nuts that I couldn’t place him. I would remember meeting this body in real life. Why did he look so familiar?

“What’s up, baby girl?” he said from the front step. His voice was deep, but not gruff anymore. Definitely a smooth baritone.

I felt the presence of all three guys behind me now, and Kaidan’s hand on my shoulder.

“Dad?” I said.

“It’s me. You ain’t gonna hug me?” He held open his giant arms.

I wasn’t scared, even though it was completely strange. But as I went into his embrace, I couldn’t shake the strange feeling of familiarity. Dad squeezed me and I squeezed him back, letting myself feel safe.

When we turned to walk back inside, Kaidan and Blake stood in the doorway with shocked expressions.

“What?” Dad asked, sounding impatient.

“Sir,” began Kaidan. “You’re . . . did you mean to . . .”

“You’re Big Rotty!” Blake blurted.

I gasped, staring up at Dad. Holy crap! Blake was right!

“Why’s everyone keep saying that?” Dad asked. “What the hell’s a Big Rotty?”

Rotty, as in rottweiler. Big and intimidating.

“You better come in,” I said. We walked in and shut the door, but stayed in the foyer. “Don’t you remember anything about this body’s past?”

He shook his head. “The human soul takes the memories with it. You gonna tell me what’s up?”

“Dad . . . did you get this body from a hospital in D.C.?”

“Yeah.” His giant brown eyes looked down at me, pinched.

“You took the body of a famous rapper.”

He stepped back from me.

“It’s all over the news, sir,” Blake told him. “He was in a coma and they said he died last night.”

Dad dropped a big curse. I hadn’t seen the news since last night at the bar when Big Rotty was shot.

“Well, at least they think he’s dead,” I said.

“He wasn’t gonna live.” Dad’s whole forehead was pinched now. “No family was in the room this morning. I just let his soul go long enough for the monitors to show he was gone. They pronounced him dead, unplugged him, and I jumped in. Brought the body back to life. Waited till they wheeled me down to the morgue, then grabbed some scrubs and left. Damn . . . I didn’t have time to do research on ’im. Stopped at a store to get some clothes, and everyone kept staring at me.” He cursed again.

This wasn’t good. He couldn’t have picked a more conspicuous body. Big Rotty’s family, friends, and fans would want a funeral, but now his body was mysteriously missing. If this hit the news, and people started spotting Dad . . .

He rubbed his giant hands across his face, a gesture that was distinctively John LaGray.

“All the kids upstairs can come down.” Dad sighed.

Right away we heard footsteps. Jay was first at the bottom. He did a double take, and his eyes widened.

“Wha—Big Rotty? Oh, man! I have all your albums!”

Uh-oh. Music fanboy alert.

“Jay,” I warned.

He ran over to us then stopped, suddenly confused. He turned to the twins, who came down behind him. “I thought you said her pops was here.”

He looked around, now thoroughly confused as his eyes landed back on the gigantic newcomer.

“My dad possessed Big Rotty,” I deadpanned.