34. Torin
THIRTY-FOUR
torin
Reeve blasts “Dopamine” by American Dream Machine and Loveless from the Bluetooth speakers outside the speakeasy. And I can hear the drums practically vibrating the whole damn building.
Thankfully, the crowd is younger tonight with the free blunt when you order five shots but something’s wrong.
Reeve speaks through music. Feels through the bass over every drop in each bottom note. The harmonies sound above it, but the thrums practically wave the warning flag that he’s not his normal self.
Glancing over my laptop, he’s sifting through his phone. Busy in his own world that I dare not interrupt or he’s going to shut down.
It’s Bay.
She won’t verbally commit and, while she has no problem taking our cocks, he wants it cemented in stone to where she’ll never be able to carve it out.
No matter how hard she tries.
Trying to focus on the books and the money flowing in and out of my business, I can’t concentrate. Not because of the loud ass music, but because Reeve’s vibe is fucking up mine.
I love my brother.
But I want to strangle him and tell him to go sit at the bar.
Yet, Bay is an issue that neither one of us wishes to speak about. We shared the same girl and, while that might be all fine and dandy with a random whore, Bay isn’t.
Bay is endgame.
Bay is someone I’ve wanted for a hell of a long time and Reeve just happened to cut in line and sample that shit.
Opening my mouth to tell him to relax on the customer’s ears, I snap it right shut. If he wants to talk, he will. He’s not like Cairo, where I have to perform high-tech surgery on him to tell me that he got a paper cut and that’s why there’s a stick up his ass.
No, Reeve needs to unravel a little bit before he gets diarrhea of the mouth, and then I won’t be able to get him to shut the fuck up.
Returning back to shipment orders and inventory, the music suddenly sounds louder before I hear the growl of Koda and Kona in front of my desk.
Emilio.
I can sense his bullshit before even acknowledging his presence through the door and, even though I’ve had them for about three years now, they still hate the old man.
“Torin, I need a word with you.”
Geezus fucking Christ.
I’m already dealing with an emo-driven Reeve over here. The last person I want to deal with is my old man and his daddy problems.
Flicking my eyes over my screen, I find him glaring at my two rottweilers. “Yes?” He doesn’t remove his stare from the two dogs that I haven’t called off yet, dressed in pristinely in a black suit that probably makes him feel still relevant.
The thing is, he’s old.
Getting older.
The world is changing, and he doesn’t have an iron grip on Ramsey and I like he once had, and he definitely doesn’t have one on Bay.
The word desperate comes to mind, but I’d have to give one shit to care.
His peppered hair is slicked back while his blue eyes dare my dogs to react.
And I don’t have time for this shit.
“Do we just randomly show up now or…”
Emilio tosses his scowl my way and finally takes a seat, which means he’s going to stay longer than two minutes.
Fantastic.
“You know damn well I don’t enjoy stopping at this shithole just to talk to you,” he finally answers, and it takes everything in me not to say the one word that’ll make my dogs move.
A shithole I built from scratch. Thanks, Dad.
He jerks a thumb over his shoulder at Reeve still fucking with his phone. “You haven’t killed him yet?”
I perk a brow because I think this man has me fucked up. “And why would I do that?”
“Because he raped your sister.” Though, he doesn’t sound completely off-put and upset about it. It came off like he was telling me there was going to be rain later and to make sure I take an umbrella with me before I leave.
“She’s not my sister,” I retort evenly. “And, I think we need to schedule you a doctor’s appointment. Your memory is starting to go.”
“My memory is just fine,” he clips back. “However, your hearing is still fucked. I told you I didn’t want him anywhere near my daughter.”
“Must’ve slipped my mind.” I give him a shitty little smirk. “Maybe we should go to the doc together.”
“I’m concerned.”
Oh, no. Call the fucking FBI now, folks.
“Yeah,” I drawl, fully aware that I’m gonna need a drink for this. “You really need to hit up a doctor.”
“I’m fine, Torin,” he leers. “Like you’d give a shit if I was dying, so cut the crap and shut up.”
“I can’t remember the last time you were concerned about anything,” I continue, pulling at one of my drawers and revealing a glass of bourbon. “The fucking world must’ve flipped while I’ve been in here.”
“This is different.”
“Because?”
He kicks a leg over his opposite leg from my peripheral, and I crack the lid off my bottle. “It’s Bay.”
I can’t help the exasperated sigh that leaves my lips, because that seems to be the ongoing issue, problem, mind-fuck, emo-filled state of the century tonight.
“She’s fine,” I deadpan.
“I’ve been here before, Torin. You get in too deep, and then you can’t find your way out. You start doing crazy things to make them stay.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You’ve forced Wallace and Bay’s relationship to crumble.”
“You’re welcome.”
“That causes problems.”
I lift a brow. “You’re really buying that?”
Because I’m not fully convinced that my little escape artist is forever and fully done with Wallace.
Those two have been bound at the ass for years.
“Whether I buy it or not isn’t what I’m concerned about,” Emilio emits. “And I couldn’t give a fuck about it. What I do, is the future I’m laying out for her. The one that she will fall in line with. However, our relationship isn’t moving fast enough.”
“Maybe she’s waiting for you to buy her a pony like every other little girl wants from their father.” I pull the bourbon to my lips, but steal a glance at the old man. “Give it time.”
That’s bullshit and we both know it.
Emilio’s jaw grows taut, but he doesn’t bark out like I expect him to. No, he’s all business now. “Your brother was supposed to have the Titan spot, but we both are fully aware that Ramsey was never built for the position. The Titan seat was kept warm for him while I wanted for him to come back home and claim it. But he never did. Then he died, thanks to you.”
The glass bottle in my hand is immediately tossed over my shoulder because there goes that outlet.
I’ve calmly steered clear of this argument for years. I’ve been blamed, accused, bullied, and shunned because of it. As if I was the one who convinced my brother to fuck off and get himself into some shit.
“One more time,” I practically snarl through my tightening jaw right after the glass shatters along my hardwood floors. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
“You heard me perfectly clear,” Emilio professes haughtily. “Lennox was supposed to sit on my seat, and I was left with a fucking animal and a boy who couldn’t hear a train coming.”
I should kill this motherfucker right here.
I could discreetly get him out of here. Drop him in the middle of the ocean with a cement block tied to his leg.
However, that causes more potential problems.
Or maybe solutions.
“If you’re here to drudge up old arguments,” I rebuke placidly, “then you can get the fuck out of my place.”
“Focus,” he orders with a scowl. “You know what this means now. And I know how you are.”
“Spit it out, old man,” I snap, wishing that I hadn’t just thrown my bourbon to the floor. “I don’t have time for riddles and games right now.”
“I need you to marry Bay.”
Reeve’s head immediately snaps up from behind Emilio at the same time my heart stops.
Fuck.
That was the last thing I expected to come out of his mouth, for one. Two, it was the last person I wanted him to say that in front of.
Then three, that’s a forced situation.
And, if memory serves me right, Bay felt trapped in her relationship with Matteo.
Fuck that, she was. And there’s no way I’m going to do the same thing.
My eyes connect with Reeve’s the moment he rises from his chair to spew out his two cents, but one glance gives him everything he needs to not speak yet and let me handle this.
“Why?” I manage out of curiosity as Reeve slowly sits back down. His sole focus locked on the back of my father’s head.
She’d never marry me, and we haven’t even begun dating yet, so whatever stupid fantasy is living in my old man’s brain right now, he might as well put a gun to his head and blow it out.
Besides, I’d never take that away from Reeve.
Being married isn’t something on my bucket list and, while I want to own Bay, I don’t need a piece of paper to do it. Plus, I think my best friend might murder me since he called dibs.
“I don’t trust her,” Emilio deadpans. “And she’s my only blood heir. It needs to go to her. However, I don’t believe she’ll use it to my advantage, nor any circumstance that would put me in a favorable position.”
“Oh, well, as long as you’re covered,” I mock back through knitted brows.
“Get a grip, Torin. If one of us doesn’t get a handle on her, do you think she’s going to save you? She might kill me, have me run from town, but what about you? You’re my son.”
“According to you, three seconds ago, she’s your only blood heir.”
Emilio tsks and leans back against the leather chair. “Don’t be a child.”
“And don’t be an asshole. That’s the difference between me and you. I don’t shove myself down someone’s throat. Nor do I need to.”
“So, that’s a no, then?”
This motherfucker.
Staring at him, I don’t budge with the inner workings of Bay and me.
Bay and Reeve.
Bay, Reeve, and I.
It’s complicated. And he doesn’t need to know who I stick my dick into, even though it’s his daughter and I’m related by marriage.
“Marrying Bay will keep the Forsaken Crew in power,” Emilio continues through my brief silence. “It’ll protect The Landings. It’ll keep a stronghold on the shit she decides to do with it, and the advice she’s going to require from someone who’s been around it. She’s been hanging out with you…seems to like you alright.”
“Doesn’t mean she’s going to want to marry me.”
“Make her,” he orders flatly. “You’re capable of flattering a girl, aren’t you?”
“You really need to start paying attention to who your daughter is. She’s not some stupid bitch who’s going to listen to pretty words and plans of a bright future.”
Emilio gapes at me with zero emotion. “Don’t make me confirm that you truly are worthless, boy, and that I kept you alive for nothing. Whatever it is that you need to do to lock her down, do it.”
“And what makes you think I won’t just team up with her and take you down?”
“I don’t,” he states. “However, don’t keep me out of the running when I can still ruin both of your lives with one jerk of my finger.”
“Threatening me isn’t winnin’ you any brownie points here, old man. I’m not impressed.”
“Sweep her off her feet and give her anything she wants. I don’t care. Just make it happen.”
“I’m not interested in marrying Bay Astor.”
“Then I’m gonna give her to Ramsey and pray to God that he doesn’t tear her apart in the process.”
Reeve jolts upward from his resting place, introducing his Glock to the back of Emilio’s head from a few feet away. “You force her into marrying anyone, Wildes, and I’m gonna blow your head off right here.”
I run my hand across my neck, the universal sign for stop, but Reeve’s already got that look in his eye that he’s one bad word away from making Emilio’s brain scatter along my polished floors.
“ Fuck you ,” Reeve signs with one hand, glowering at me because I’m not taking this seriously enough.
I mean, I wasn’t.
Until he brought my big brother into the mix.
“If you want her to sit in your spot,” I tell Emilio, “giving her to Ramsey isn’t going to make her last the next year.”
“Then you’re to blame for her death, since you can’t keep your morals out of the way,” he professes.
“How about we just finish you right here?” Reeve provokes. “I got no problem facing the consequences.”
I motion with my hands as subtly as I can. “ Chill out. ”
“ You’re not marrying her.”
“ I know .”
“Stop with the signing bullshit and say what you got to say, Stanton,” Emilio snaps, glimpsing over his shoulder at the man who’s about to blow him away. He’s seen enough and too many times that Cairo and Reeve learned to sign so they could communicate with me in secret.
And, if Emilio was smart, he would’ve picked it up to make sure I wasn’t plotting behind his back.
Which I am.
“I’ve claimed Bay,” Reeve professes. “I saved her that night. I?—”
“No Stanton boy is gonna be marrying my only daughter,” Emilio returns, turning his body back straight. “Especially one who enjoys incest.”
“Watch it,” I warn, more to Emilio than Reeve. “Talkin’ shit in our place of business isn’t going to bode well.”
“I’m telling you what’s not going to happen,” he retorts evenly. “His father was a waste of space. Pulling from the Titans when Penn got locked up. Afraid of having to fight?—”
“Did you have something to do with my father’s disappearance?” Reeve snarls.
“No,” Emilio asserts, sounding almost bored. “And don’t ask me why you should believe me. He showed me how weak he was when he yanked out of the Titans, then he was no use to me.”
“Sounds an awful like a yes.”
“Sounds awfully like a waste of my time.” Emilio jerks his head toward the door. “Get him out of here so he can go cry somewhere else. I’m not about to listen to advice from a little shithead who likes to get his dick hard while raping some innocent—” The distinct click of a hammer sounds and I’ve heard it a million times in my lifetime. The bullet that lies behind it where Emilio is still treading that line of finally getting fucked up.
Reeve isn’t going to let this go and I don’t blame him.
I’m not either.
He’s like a fucking pitbull, and he’s already latched onto Bay. He’s never letting her go.
“Boy,” Emilio warns, his blue eyes directed furiously at me. “If you don’t get that damn gun off me, I’ll kill you for it later.”
Reeve steps closer, gaze fixated on the back of Emilio’s head. “You’re not about to use my girl…for some fucked-up fantasy that you have to keep your old ass in power.” He shoves the barrel of the Glock into the back of Emilio’s skull, causing his head to lean forward. “Torin already told you no. I said no. The answer…it’s fucking no.”
“Torin…you better get your boy, or you’re not gonna have him much longer in this world.”
I lift a brow. “Is that another threat, old man? I don’t like those.”
His jaw locks, but he knows he’s outnumbered in this room.
Outside of it, however, might be a completely different story.
“You can understand my worry with how I wouldn’t want anyone besides my own son marrying my?—”
I scoff. “Now you’re just makin’ it sound too hillbilly. Stop while you’re ahead.”
“Stop altogether,” Reeve adds in. “She’ll move the way she wants to move. No one is going to tell her what to do.”
Emilio shakes his head a bit, obviously not keen on the idea, but he has no other choice. I guess Reeve and I have officially locked in as Bay’s bodyguards and Emilio is going to have to go through us to get to her. “Marriage will make sure Matteo De Leon stays off her back.”
“We already do that,” I mention. “And she’s still free.”
“And what about her sisters and her crippled make-believe father, Roger? Are you gonna save them too? Keep them all out in the open in South Shore? I got through just fine, my boy. What makes you think someone won’t take out the only heir of The Landings?”
“We’ll handle it.”
Emilio leans back in his chair and takes more pressure from the gun, not seeming to care about it anymore. “Cairo on board with this?”
“Cairo doesn’t care.”
That’s a lie.
“Cairo doesn’t like baggage. Why do you think he hasn’t married the Muncy girl yet?”
“Because she’s a cunt?”
“She’d be good for business. Keep Muncy on a leash.”
“I thought you had that covered.”
Emilio smirks. “I do. However, with a woman like Bay comes problems. And…” He shoves himself up to stand and meets me eye to eye. “Your brother is getting a little stir-crazy already. Tell me, what will he do if she wants to leave? Is he going to hold a gun up to her, too?”
“You’re gettin’ it twisted, Wildes,” Reeve sneers. “I won’t miss you when you’re gone after I blow you away. With her, I might die, but at least she’ll still roam this Earth free. And I know how it feels to live in chains by my own fucking mother.”
Emilio slowly turns around, going head-to-head with Reeve and his gun. “You say that now…but wait until she starts fucking other men behind your back. If she’s anything like her mother…you’d be surprised at what you might do.”
“You must’ve not have fucked her good enough.”
My father takes a step toward Reeve and my heart races because my boy is starting to edge off his easy-going persona and into a fucking rage-filled blur. “You’re a nothing. You hold no title. Your mother is a cheap coke dealer who couldn’t run a fuckin’ puppet show. Do you think my daughter is gonna stick with you? She runs with men who have something to off. Power and respect amongst men. You’re just a third wheel because my son and his friend decided to take you in because you belonged nowhere.”
“I’ll remember that when I pick up a fuck.”
Emilio doesn’t respond, striding from my office and not bothering to push on the subject.
However, we’re not done. If I don’t pick this up or even Cairo, Bay is possibly going to be locked down with my brother.
I just don’t know how Emilio is going to do that yet.
“You’re not marrying, McQueen.” I slice my gaze over to my best friend who’s already dropped his gun at his side.
At least there’s that.
“I won’t, brother,” I promise. “You get to hold the husband title.”
He gives me a curt nod, and then walks back to his seat that he’s abandoned. Cairo was right.
Shit’s getting too complicated.