Chapter Forty-Six Creighton
Chapter Forty-Six
Creighton
“I don’t understand why we have to be here. With him.” Ashton Walden sent me a chilling glare before he turned that glare on his best friend. “What are we doing, Trace?”
Tristian West ignored Walden, bypassing him to give me a nod and indicating one of the chairs. We had decided to meet in one of Octavia’s basement rooms. Despite my cousin’s recent act and murder, the club was still considered the most neutral territory for us all.
I gave Walden a considering look as I chose one of the seats.
Walden skewered me, going to the farthest seat away from me.
“What the fuck are you grinning at me about, Lane?” He raked a hand down his face, cursing under his breath, pinning West with another chilly look as West took a seat somewhat in the middle.
“Anything we decide here is going to be bullshit. I put a gun to his girl’s head. No way is he going to let that slide.”
I leaned forward. “I’ll let it slide if you give me your sniper.”
Walden’s eyes widened, just barely before a wall slammed in place. “Fuck. Off.”
“Ashton,” West murmured, trying to convey some kind of message to him.
The two shared a look, communicating without words, until Walden cursed again under his breath and leaned back in his seat. He pulled out his phone and began typing on it.
West gave him a cursory look before facing me. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and read whatever was there before flicking an annoyed glance at Walden. His eyebrows pinched together. “Are you serious?”
Walden was back to glaring at him. “I said what I said.”
West heaved a loud sigh and again made a show of facing my way. “We agreed to meet at the table. This room is metaphorically the table. Before moving forward, we all need to agree on a few terms. One, is the war done? Two, are you planning repercussions for what happened in that warehouse?”
Walden snorted.
West added, “Specifically, are you going to hold a gun to Molly Easter?”
Walden’s woman. I studied Walden, saw how he tried to keep from squirming underneath my gaze.
Since I’d walked into that warehouse, saw Blake holding a gun to her own head, I hadn’t wasted energy in wearing my own mask.
Dead eyes. That’s what Blake called them.
To me, it was just me being me. I was letting people see me, and most times, it made them uncomfortable.
It should make them uncomfortable. But Walden wasn’t restless because he was seeing the real me.
He didn’t give one fuck about my vacant gaze. He’d already seen the real me.
I murmured softly, “You’re worried I’ll do to your woman what I did to you.”
He shoved off his chair in a heartbeat. “You sick fuck—”
I didn’t react. I was expecting this from him, but so was West. He jumped up as well, getting in between, but he didn’t just hold his friend back. He planted a foot and shoved him back into his seat. “He’s baiting you. It’s what he does.”
I rather enjoyed seeing this interaction. I wanted to see more of it.
West was right. I said that on purpose. I enjoyed riling Walden up. He was like a windup toy, so obvious how worried, and he should be, but with Blake so angry at me, I chided him. “You can relax. For now. I have no plans on retribution.”
West swore to himself while Walden bristled, snapping, “What the fuck does that mean? For now?”
I contemplated my response, but I didn’t see the point in hiding the reason.
“I’m sure you have your own plants to get information.
They’ll have reported to you that Blake isn’t speaking to me.
If I harmed your woman, I’ve no doubt that she’d never speak to me again.
You, though. You are different. I can harm you any day and all day—”
“Enough!” West stepped between us again, his hands stretched out as if he could physically keep us apart.
When we walked into this room, our guards stayed outside.
Along with our weapons. Each of us was wanded down to ensure no gun or knife or any other weapon was hidden on our bodies.
But that didn’t mean we still couldn’t fight.
I enjoyed ripping heads off of bodies. It’d been a while.
“We agreed at the warehouse that we would hold at a standoff. I should not have to remind either of you.”
A chilling look gleamed from Walden as he taunted me, “Creighton Lane. All alone right now. Buddy number one took a walk when you turned your own gun on him. Buddy number two is still recovering. Is he walking yet? And where’s your girl?
Oh, right. She iced you out, and that was your doing.
You’re used to hiding behind an army, and your personal army wants nothing to do with you. ”
My head tilted to the side.
Both went still at the first flicker of emotion on my face. It wasn’t anger. It was curiosity. “That’s what you think of me? That I hide behind my army?”
Walden frowned, his eyes flicking over to West before he settled back in his seat. My response surprised him. Or more likely, the lack of response. I wasn’t angry. He’d been hoping to incite me, and it failed. He failed.
He replied, measured, “I mean, yeah. Why else do you recruit such a large army?”
“So I can control my environment.” I gave both a new assessing consideration. “Is that not why you have your guards?”
Walden closed his mouth and shot West a look, who flattened his mouth before speaking for them.
“We have guards for protection. Power.” Both seemed conflicted by this new avenue of conversation.
We’d veered into a direction they hadn’t foreseen.
West asked, cautiously, “Is that not the same for you? You recruit an army to ensure your territory, and you do with that territory as you please. We’re the same, Lane. ”
“You do it for money,” I said, and no, it wasn’t the same as me.
I noted this before, realizing when I saw how much he cared for his friend and how both of them have loved ones. It was being cemented all over again. I did not recruit an army to ensure territory to make money. That’s what they did. Power and money.
They used their guards to ensure their money. I used money to ensure the army.
West said, “We do it to control the city.”
That too.
“To keep your loved ones safe from other families coming to harm them.” I understood that aspect.
Both men shared another look before West said slowly, “Yeah.”
So we were similar in one way at least. “I’m open to an agreement, but first and foremost, my men, Blake, and anyone Blake cares about will always be safe. That’s nonnegotiable for me.”
“What the fu—”
West stepped forward, cutting off Walden.
“You will cease recruiting in our territories, and we can agree to that.” His head lowered, more intent, and his eyes narrowed.
He was now the epitome of a businessman, sensing a proposal was close.
He just needed to suss it out, find the right terms, and present it to all parties, and we could have what they wanted so much. Peace.
“As long as my terms are always agreed to, yes. I will cease recruiting in your territories in this city.” I wasn’t concerned about other cities.
Both the West and Walden families had always maintained they would only operate in New York City.
As far as I could see, it wasn’t that they lacked ambition.
It was that holding onto this city was more important.
No one could blame them. It was a treasure trove for our world.
“No human or sex trafficking,” Walden spoke up. He was staring me down. “That’s a nonnegotiable for us. And our loved ones are safe from you as well.”
“How about we agree that neither party harms the other as long as we have this truce in place? If that’s broken, then we’re back to square one.
I don’t think any of us want that.” West gave Walden a meaningful look, who settled in his chair again.
“We keep the territories how they currently are divided. You keep what you’ve already taken. ”
“That’s fine with me.”
West turned to me, and his eyebrows lowered. He expected some sort of emotion from me? There was none on my face. At this point, I didn’t know why he was surprised. “I don’t care about peace like you do. I enjoy the fighting.”
Walden snorted. “He only cares about Green. That’s literally all, Trace.”
“He’s right. Blake’s all I care about.”
“Well, Miss Green made it clear that she cares about peace. She also cares that you couldn’t go after our loved ones anymore—”
“That’s not true. I can’t go after anyone innocent or good.
Just bad or guilty people. Those types are fair game.
She won’t be upset about that. We’ve talked about this.
It’s our form of compromise.” Though, that wasn’t altogether true anymore.
I had to get her permission on how I could harm someone if they harmed her.
And she wanted me to learn the difference between a small slight against her and a bigger slight.
They made no difference in my mind, but that bothered Blake. Normal people world.
But according to those terms and what was being laid out, I could still go after Walden. Neither he nor West had included himself in the terms. Just their loved ones. I liked that loophole.
I said quickly, “I’m okay with those terms.”
“I—” West opened his mouth, but shut it and gave me a blinking look of confusion. I had surprised him again.
Walden was the one who understood me the best, and he hated me.
If he could string me up and take a butcher knife to my gut, he would.
I respected that. West would never understand me.
He was too human of the two. He could turn savage and ruthless, but he didn’t have to.
Walden did that for him. I hoped he appreciated his best friend for taking on that role for the two of them.
Though, that didn’t mean Walden was the most like me.
No. He cared. He loved. In a way, I wondered if he cared and loved and felt more than West did.
He was crueler, but if he’d been forced to be .
. . If so, what would the repercussions from that be in the future?
Would it erode their friendship? Would it build resentment between the two of them?
I’d gone back to studying them, and when a psychopath took on a questioning appraisal, it made anyone uncomfortable. The two glanced at each other.
I was making them uncomfortable.
Levi was indisposed for a few months. Lassiter, I didn’t know when he would return to the fold.
And Blake . . . That was a stay-tuned moment currently.
So maybe I felt some sort of nostalgia for these two.
Either way, if we were going to stop trying to threaten each other, I decided to offer them a gift. “I will help you protect this city.”
They shared another look, this one longer than the others. They were uncertain about my offer.
I huffed, just a bit to myself. “It’s my gift to you.
If another criminal entity tries to push into the city, I will help eliminate the threat.
I won’t do it alone, though. You cannot ride my coattails.
It will be a team effort. Partners, in a way.
I will also promise that I won’t use their attack to launch my own on any of your territories.
I’ll hold the treaty if either of you are weakened. ”
Walden grunted. “Good of you.”
I tried for a normal-looking smile. Normal people world.
He winced. “Ugh. Don’t. You’ve tortured me, remember? I’ve seen your true self.”
Right. I relaxed, enjoying that. I let the mask fade again.
“Never mind. I can’t decide what’s worse. Put the fake shit back on.”
I gave him a deadpan look.
“Okay.” West broke in; his eyebrows rose as he took in our slight exchange. “We’ve come to an agreement. Correct? Loved ones are safe. Territories remain the same. If the city is under attack, all of us work together and we don’t capitalize on it against each other. Are we all agreed?”
Walden scowled at West before he gave a reluctant and stiff nod. “Yeah. Fine. Agreed.”
Both turned my way.
I was disappointed, but I hid that from them. It was small and fleeting. I thought there’d be more bloodshed. “I already agreed. Yes.”
West’s shoulders noticeably relaxed. He gave both of us an appraising and perhaps somewhat approving look. “Good. We’ve all agreed.”
They seemed happy.
Blake would be happy . . . A sobering thought hit me because, no. Blake wouldn’t be happy to hear from me. She’d be happy to hear about the peace, but not to hear from me.
She still wasn’t talking to me.
I’d tried having my men trail her because that was our original agreement. But she wasn’t even having that. She ditched them. She kept ditching them.
I checked my phone.
Her latest shift at the foster center was ending soon.