6. Reghan
6
REGHAN
Even though Barrett and I had gone round for round more times than I could count, I still had the urge to soothe away his worry. I shouldn’t. The asshole gave me no reason to want to do anything for him. Our helping him had everything to do with Jordan and the people missing. Not Barrett, or so I kept telling myself.
Jordan picked up his phone, called Barry, and then stepped into the hall. Jordan would only say so much in front of Barrett. Yes, they were on the same side in this, and even to the extent they would both do what was necessary to find who was doing this shit and hopefully rescue the men taken. Barrett still had his job to worry about.
It was clear every time I saw him how his job was important. The fire and passion for it weren’t there, although Barrett hated to see anyone suffer who didn’t deserve it. There was more to it. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.
We had the room to ourselves. I could easily ask him what had him so tied up in knots when I last saw him. Or why he put on a mask of cockiness, as if nothing could touch him.
I didn’t say a word. I stayed leaning against the wall with my arms crossed and my eyes on him. Jordan was safe in the building, plus my brother was out there. In here, it was just Barrett and me.
Hazel eyes met mine a moment before Barrett reclined in his chair, that cocky fucking smirk in place. “See something you want?” he asked. Any other time, I would have let him bait me. We would have one-upped each other until I growled in his face while he half-heartedly offered himself to me. Today, I didn’t want that side of Barrett.
“Why do you do that?” I asked with no heat in my words.
His smirk dropped for a second before he put it back in place. “Do what?”
“Act like nothing touches you. Like you don’t give a shit when I know you do. Like what we say to each other doesn’t matter.” That last question wasn’t supposed to slip out. Fuck it. I said it and waited to see how he responded.
“This is who I am.”
I was tempted to push off the wall and lean over the table to get closer to him, but I kept myself in place. Showing him he affected me wouldn’t get us anywhere. We had countless interactions to prove it. “You’re lying. Is it because you don’t want anyone to know you, or is it just me you won’t open up to?”
The smirk fell, and he got to his feet. “I’m not talking about this.”
Before he could get to the door, I rounded the table and blocked his path, keeping my face neutral. If I had any chance of getting through to him, I had to stop reacting with anger. I wanted to. Oh, how I ever did.
“Move, Reghan, or I’ll move you myself.”
I scoffed. “You can’t, and we both know it.”
He tried to step around me, but I slid to the right to block him. “Seriously, fucking move.”
“No. I’m tired of this shit.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not going to stand here and expose my fucking soul to you. Ask your boss if you want to take a shovel to my past. He’s already dug through my entire family tree. I’m sure he knows my blood type and has a hair sample somewhere.” Maybe Sheldon did, but not Jordan.
“If I wanted to do that, I already would have. I want you to tell me.”
Barrett’s hands balled into fists by his side. “I’m not telling you shit. My personal life is just that.”
I nodded. “As long as I know where I stand.”
“Right the fuck in front of me. Move.”
Lifting my hand, I held it in front of his face, tempted to cradle his jaw to see if he’d relax. Barrett wasn’t angry all the time. I brought it out in him, even when I didn’t mean to.
My hand fell to my side, and I spoke some of the truest words I’d ever said to him. “I’m not sure why you think so little of me, but I’m worth more than this. I deserve more.”
His mouth dropped open. “You think I don’t think you’re worthy of me? Have you lost your mind? Jesus, you don’t know shit.” This time, I let him walk around me. When he did, he whispered, “It’s the other way around.”
I didn’t stop him as he went to the door and wrenched it open, nor did I watch his retreating frame.
Was that what this was? He didn’t think he was worthy of me? I knew what I brought to the table, but how could he not realize what he did? Barrett was much smarter than me. He solved cases for the city for a living. What the hell did I do? I was the muscle and protection for a very wealthy mafia boss. Yeah, I was strategic. I could plan operations and knew how to handle a gun with precision. My brother and I could fight back-to-back, predicting the other’s moves. Those were all things to be admired as skills, but I wasn’t on the same level as Barrett.
He could take his career and keep building on it, moving higher up the chain of command. Where could I go? I wasn’t about to learn the business so I could have a seat at the Altair mafia table. That wasn’t in the cards for me. This was the top of the career ladder, if I could call it a career.
“Reghan?” my brother asked from behind me.
“I’m good.”
“You’re not, but I didn’t expect you to be after watching Barrett storm out. He’s gone, by the way.”
“Jordan?”
“In the hall still on the phone with Barry.”
I nodded. No one would come near us in this building. Jordan was feared. He would only say so much over the phone. Barry was intuitive as hell though. With only a few words, he could get the gist of what Jordan needed.
My heart and mind warred with one another. My heart begged for me to go after Barrett; to take him into my arms and tell him all the amazing things I thought about him. My head told me that was a foolish fucking move, and I deserved more than to be disregarded like nothing I said mattered. Clearly, Barrett didn’t want to share anything with me, not even a cordial conversation. I was nothing more than the hired help for Jordan, as far as he was concerned.
A little voice in my head told me that wasn’t the case. It reminded me of Barrett’s parting words. The logical side of my brain pushed that voice away in favor of self-preservation.
I also had to remember; I wasn’t always nice to Barrett. Most of the time I was a dick, but he seemed to thrive off that side. We both played our roles, and he didn’t want to dive deeper.
Raiden walked around until he stood in front of me. He put his hands on my shoulders and gently squeezed them until my eyes met his. “Jordan’s counting on us to help him with this.” Not Barrett was counting on us. Barrett was counting on Jordan.
“Thanks.” It was what I had to remember. Where we were and who we worked for. My brother knew I needed a slight nudge, nothing more.
At the end of the day, when I was alone in bed, I’d replay what happened and the words Barrett said. Maybe the answer was no more anger.
I’d despised Barrett for so long because of his attitude and the simple fact he was a cop. Like most people, there were many layers to Barrett North. Would he let me fuck him? Absolutely. There was no doubt in my mind. He’d do it without giving me anything else though. He’d close himself off, come, and be done with me. I used to think I wanted that. No longer. I deserved more, and so did he.
No more anger. No more chasing. No more anything. If Barrett wanted to talk to me, he knew how to find me.
“Let’s go,” Jordan barked into the room.
My brother and I followed him to the elevator, where we rode to the lobby. Barrett was nowhere in sight.
Albert stood outside by the Maserati as we exited the building. While Jordan slid into the back seat, Raiden got behind the wheel of the SUV we rode in behind them. We didn’t need direction as to where we were going. We could follow Albert with ease through the city.
It wasn’t surprising when we pulled into the garage beneath Jordan’s building. This was his safe space, where he could do what he wanted inside. No bugs were planted here. The cops had tried every time they searched the building, but we’d always found and flushed the devices. Jordan didn’t last this long on the side of freedom without predicting the moves the cops would make.
We met Barry in a conference room, where he had a map of East Dremest pulled up on the TV screen that hung on the far wall. There were red pins for the areas the men had disappeared from.
“There’s not much to go off of,” Barry said. “No pattern. I did some digging.” He expanded the map to include both sides of the city. “This takes into account the men who disappeared from the other side as well. Lawson?”
“I’m here,” Lawson’s deep rumble came through the speakerphone in the center of the table. “I pulled the police reports and the descriptions of the men who’d been taken. As Barrett said, they lived alone or were unhoused. Each one was taken out of camera range, so no one had eyes on who did this. There isn’t even a suspicious vehicle. It’s a case of stalking. Whoever did this watched their prey until the time was right to make their move on foot.”
“What else?” Jordan asked.
“The men look similar. Shorter, slender, lost in their own worlds. Men who don’t appear to be able to fight well.”
“Ones who could be bound and held against their will easily.”
“I didn’t want to say it.”
“I hate this,” Jordan growled and slammed his fist against the table. He didn’t care about trafficking guns or drugs, but he drew a hard line at people—a mafia boss with some morals. Jordan would do what he could so no one was trafficked in or around the city.
“I’ll keep digging,” Lawson said and hung up.
In all the time I’d worked for Jordan, I hadn’t seen Lawson once. I’d heard he came by on the rare occasion, but neither my brother nor I were with Jordan when it happened. It was usually in the middle of the night when the building was quiet. Lawson could get in and out without too many people seeing him. Even on the video feed, he moved like a ghost through the halls, dodging where the camera would land on him. He probably knew the layout of the building as well as Sheldon did. Lawson’s came from knowledge of the video feed. Sheldon’s was from his restless roaming all hours of the night.
“I’ve sent ten of our guards out onto the streets,” Barry said. “I placed them near clubs, bars, and anywhere these men could be grabbed from. The last man to be taken was in West Dremest on Wednesday, which tells me another one is due to happen tomorrow. They occur every three days.”
“Put ten more out there. We’ll still have enough power in the building. I’ll call my son and fill him in. The more eyes we have on the city, the better.”