18. Andre #2
“No. Fuck that. You didn’t even ask me what the job was.
” And he wouldn’t. He had zero interest in doing anything that would take him away from his own agenda right now.
“It’s Donnie.” Something flickered in the back of his eyes.
“He’s refusing to treat the men Vicente sent to his clinic.
If I had to guess, they’re part of the trafficking ring.
One of us is to give him a message he can’t hide from.
If he doesn’t open his doors tomorrow morning, I doubt he’ll see nightfall. ”
“Why can’t you go?” His top lip curled.
“I have a migraine coming on. I’m about ten minutes from finding a dark room until it passes.” Anticipating his next question, I continued. “You know it would destroy Lafe. He cares for the old pendejo . And no. Parker can’t go either. He’s more liable to get us all killed with his games.”
Grey flopped back in the chair. "If I do this, I don’t take any more jobs for at least two weeks. I already had my own shit to take care of today and this is going to put me behind. Despite my confidence in fighting Bruno, I do still need to train.”
I nodded. He did. Bruno was a beast, and Grey would need all the extra strength and skill he could hone to win. “Done. I’d go, but this migraine is going to take me out sooner than I’d like. Donnie has to be disciplined tonight.”
“Type of discipline?” He glanced down at his hands, where his fingers were rubbing the scarred knuckles of the other.
“Up to you. Vicente doesn’t care as long as he bows to his will.”
“Fine,” he said, pushing up from the chair.
“Wait.” I tossed out a hand to stop him. He slowly lowered himself back down and raised an eyebrow.
“Bring Amorette to me until you get back.” That would solve at least one of my problems. Grey would be pissed, but there was nothing he could do about it after the fact.
And he’d still be alive, so he could hate me just like Lafe if he needed to.
Although, with Grey, it would be more of a pride thing that I got one over on him rather than actual hurt.
He gave me one sharp jerk of his head. “No fucking way. I know you. I’d come back to her mysteriously missing after escaping, right?”
Shit. With my head threatening to toss the contents of my stomach, I was showing too much of my hand. Otherwise, he never would have suspected a thing.
“She doesn’t belong here. Just because she’s got a cute face and a decent body doesn’t make her worth keeping.” With each word, my voice rose. I felt like I was talking to a wall while fucking a cactus-filled hole whenever I tried to reason with my brothers. It was pointless and painful.
They only saw what they wanted and always did as they pleased.
He chuckled, tucking his chin to his chest as he studied his hands. “Keep telling yourself whatever you need to hear. I’m not looking for a fuck buddy. I can find those anywhere. Lafe was right, though, she’s a fighter. I like that about her.”
I gave him a dry look. “So, you’re telling me you’re not going to fuck her?”
The grin he returned was as smug as it was cutting. “Oh, I am. She’s mine now, and you can’t have her.”
Groaning, I dropped my face into my hands. I didn’t have the bandwidth to think about any of this. After the migraine was gone, I’d revisit our problem and figure out a way to knock some sense into Grey.
“If you’re using that logic, you might as well give her back to Lafe. He saved her, after all.” And I could easily steal her from our sensitive little brother.
Grey waited for me to bring my attention back to him before he spoke again, his voice chilling. “He fucked up. She escaped on his watch, so as far as I’m concerned, he lost rights to her.”
“Do you hear yourself? Is that who we are now? We kidnap and hold women against their will?” We were dirty as fuck; we had to be to stay alive with the family we were born into.
But from a very early age, we knew the type of men we didn’t want to be.
Holding that woman here went against our moral compass, as broken as it was.
"She’s seen too much, so she can’t go back home. Not when she could pick us out of a crowded room and share details such as our names. She stays. I feel a fuck of a lot better about keeping her alive than tossing her in the ocean with cement blocks tied around her waist.”
“I wasn’t going to kill her,” I argued, my voice starting to thin with the pain.
“Weren’t you?”
Okay, fuck, I was. Because at the end of the day, my brothers were all I had, and I wasn’t going to lose them.
“Why does Lafe want her back?” I changed the subject.
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
All my patience and interest in this conversation were gone.
I couldn’t even pretend anymore when my vision darkened around the edges.
“Go see Donnie. Make it hurt enough that he never puts us in this position again.” I waved him away.
The quicker he left, the sooner I could fall into bed for a couple of hours.
Grey stood, heading toward the door on silent feet. For as large as he was, he was the stealthiest of us all. With all his training, it came with the territory.
At the door, he gripped the doorjamb and glanced over his shoulder.
“I set the alarm. No one can get in or out of my apartment without my say-so. I also revoked your access.” With how crazy he was acting over this bitch, that didn’t surprise me at all.
“The other reason I came to see you was to let you know there’s a fight I have to oversee tomorrow night.
It’s big and last minute. Vargas is in town and needs to make a quick buck.
As a courtesy, I wanted to let you know I’ll be taking Amorette with me. Parker has agreed to come as well.”
Fucking hell. I should just let her have enough rope to hang herself rather than constantly trying to get rid of her. Then they wouldn’t protest her death. I couldn’t give her to my connections, they’d value her too much.
“You trust her not to betray you?” I asked, my voice grave. He was putting a lot of faith in someone he didn’t know at all.
He shrugged. “She’ll stay, or she’ll try to escape and die. It’s her call. But I won’t keep her caged. We’ve had too much of that in our lives, and I’d rather give her a chance than clip her wings.”
“She’s going to disappoint you. You know that, right? The only people we’ve ever been able to lean on is each other.”
“I guess we’ll see.” Then he was gone.
Shutting my computer off, I barely remembered to lock my office before I went to my apartment. I made sure all the blinds were shut tight to keep out any light. Once I’d undressed, I slipped between the cool sheets on my bed.
I couldn’t think about our little problem right now. But later, I’d decide if I would follow Grey to keep an eye on her.
Later, I’d think about her later.