Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
Bryson
“I’ve got to leave the country in a week, bro, I can’t be committing a felony.” Cullen runs his hands through his hair. The guy looks stressed – can’t say I blame him.
“I’m not asking you to commit anything.”
“It’s breaking and entering, and that’s if it’s all we do.”
“Wait in the car then, I’ll take Toby and Pax in,” I offer, knowing full well he’ll decline.
“Like fuck I’m letting you go in there with those two hot heads. Then I’d have a fucking hell of a mess to cover up.”
I’m not sure I’d slap Toby with the ‘hot head’ label on any given day, but when it comes to his sister, he’d shoot first and ask questions later. I know he blames himself for not seeing what went on with Tonksy sooner, but there’s no way he could have. He dropped out of school at seventeen and got himself a job working for a local building company. He was busy. Sophia wasn’t living at home, and she’d be the first to say that she hid it all from everyone close to her anyway. There’s no way that Toby could have seen what was really going on behind closed doors, but I know that doesn’t stop him feeling guilty.
Their relationship is different these days. They’re much closer now, and he spends time with Aria most weekends. His girlfriend loves her too; it works out well with babysitting options for us.
“I’m going with or without you. You haven’t seen the look in his eyes. You didn’t see how broken she was when I got home today. This is getting handled, because if I keep hovering around her twenty-four seven, she’s going to lose her shit, but I can’t leave her side unless I know she’s safe.” I take a step towards the door, ready to get this done.
“Bry, it’s a bad idea,” he warns me.
I stop in my tracks and turn to face him. I know it’s not the best idea, but it’s the only one I’ve got.
“Cull, what would you do if it was Berlin?”
He freezes.
“And not only Berlin, but a little, perfect , miniature version of her as well. What would you do if someone threatened them? ”
He thinks for a long few seconds, the silence enveloping us. I know he’s not thinking about his answer – he already knows exactly what that answer is. No, he’s debating whether or not he wants to speak it out loud to me.
“He wouldn’t have the opportunity to be a problem ever again,” he finally says.
I nod.
That’s exactly what I knew he’d say.
No way would he stand by and let anything happen to her – to them. He wouldn’t take the risk, and I won’t either. Not with Sophia. Not with Aria.
“I’m not planning to touch him, but that’ll be up to him. If Josh wants to be reasonable, then it’ll all be fine.”
I don’t have any real faith in anything being ‘fine’, but I’m not about to voice my concern. He’s barely agreeable as it is.
He mutters something under his breath, but I don’t attempt to catch what it was, I don’t really care. We both know he’ll back me up on this, no matter what goes down, no matter how stupid of an idea he thinks it is.
He’s my mate. We’ve got each other’s backs through everything. Him and I were there for Pax when he lost the plot, and now it’s their turn to be there for me in this.
I need him there anyway. Both of them. They’re the only people I trust to be able to stop me if I was about to do something really, really stupid.
The long, loud honk of the horn sounds again. It’s the third time they’ve had to do it. Third time’s a charm by the sounds. I can hear footsteps coming down the hall – he’s finally awake.
“What the fuck is that noise?.” a groggy-sounding voice says in the darkness.
The lights come on, and it takes a second for my eyes to adjust, but when they do, we’re looking right at each other.
He’s shocked, but he manages to pull his gaze from me and scan the room. I watch as he first sees Toby, and then Cullen.
He circles back around all three of us with his eyes, while remaining motionless, wearing only a pair of boxers. I can tell he wants to turn around and walk back out – he realises what this is, but he won’t – pricks like him have no self-preservation skills. He’s as brave as he is stupid.
“Did you seriously bring your guard dogs with you? What, too scared to come alone?” he finally sneers.
I make him wait for an answer. He needs to understand that I’m in charge here. We might be inside his house, but I’ll be the one calling the shots.
“They came to make sure I don’t hurt you, not the other way around, Tonksy. Believe me when I tell you that you should be grateful they’re here.”
He makes a noise that’s meant to sound cocky, but it gets caught in his throat and comes off feeling awkward.
“I warned you not to keep fucking with her, but you didn’t listen, and now you and I need to have a little chat.”
“Fucking go on then. Tell me what you’re here for so I can tell you to fuck off. Or would you rather I just called my boys over and we get down to it?”
“You do what you need to do, but know I’ve got four more in a car out front. So just fucking try me.”
He tries to act like he doesn’t care, but I watch as his eyes dart towards the front window. He’ll see the two vehicles parked out there, and know I’m not fuckin’ bullshitting him.
I wasn’t about to show up to a druggy douche bag’s bachelor pad without backup. I didn’t know what to expect, but this small, mostly tidy flat, that’s empty other than the fucker in front of me, makes me wonder if maybe there’s hope for him yet.
His attitude is singing a different tune, though. Cocky prick.
“What’s the matter, Tonks? You only willing to throw hands at girls?” Pax asks from his spot in the dark living room.
Tonksy spins around, trying to look for him in the blackness.
When he turns back around he’s got a wicked gleam in his eye. He knows he’s severely outnumbered, but he’s still sick in the head enough to have a smile on his face.
This motherfucker is seriously psychotic.
“Sit down,” I tell him, gesturing at the seat across the dining table from where I’m sitting.
“I’ll stand,” he says through gritted teeth.
“You’ll sit,” I correct him.
“You don’t tell me what to do, mother fucker.”
I get to my feet slowly, the chair scraping across the ground, and round the table towards him.
Toby takes a step forward in support, probably worried Tonks is going to start throwing hands when I reach him.
“Settle down, training wheels,” Tonksy taunts him, not missing the tension rolling off him either.
“You touch my sister again, you piece of shit, and I’ll –”
I hold my hand up towards Toby. This is why I didn’t want to bring him, he’s too emotional. I’m hanging onto my shit by a thread, but that thread may as well be made of steel. There’s no way it’s going to snap. I won’t give Josh the satisfaction of a reaction – not the way he wants to goad it out of me.
“You want to lay your fists into something, you lay them into me,” I tell Tonksy, stepping up to face him toe to toe.
He puffs his chest out, but it’s a waste of his time, unlike the rest of us, he hasn’t filled out. Too much time at the glass barbecue and not enough time at the gym will do that to a guy, I suppose.
I could snap him in half if I really wanted to, and we both know it.
“Give me a fucking reason, Tonks… trust me, I’ll take it. If it were up to me, you’d be six feet under already, just for laying a finger on her. You give me one more tiny bit of incentive and I’ll put you somewhere that no one will ever find you.”
“I’ve been to prison, do you really think I’m scared of you?”
“Prison is no match for a man protecting the woman he loves.”
I may as well have physically hit him, the way those words assault him. He recoils back, sneering.
“And what if she’s the woman that I love too?”
The idea of him loving her makes me sick.
“Then you better find a way to come to terms with the fact that who you think you love is irrelevant, she doesn’t love you back.”
That hurts him more than any punch in the nose would. He’s full of shit anyway; you don’t treat someone you love the way he treated her. He loved the control… the power, not the woman he was inflicting it on.
“You come in here, and think you can just take my woman and daughter and I’m just going to stand back and let you do it?” He’s grinding his words out between his teeth, he’s so furious, but once again… I don’t care. He’s as insignificant to me as his feelings for her are.
“She’s mine now. She was always mine, I was stupid enough to let you get your hands on her before. That’s on me, but I can promise you it will never happen again. Don’t touch what’s mine unless you want to pay for it after.”
He sneers at me, but it seems like he’s run out of things to say because for once the mouthy prick stays silent for five seconds, allowing me to continue.
“And as far as Aria goes, if you want to be a decent fucking human being, if you want to be her dad, then I’ll support that all the way. But if not, then I’ll be there to make sure I do the job for you, because there is no way that angel is going to miss out if you’re too weak to step up.”
It’s obvious he fucking hates me talking about Aria. I can’t really blame him, I wouldn’t like some dude talking about being a dad to my daughter either, but I don’t give a fuck. He’s got no one to blame but himself. He got himself into this shit show, but he’s got choices, it’s up to him whether or not he steps up now, or crumbles.
“You’re a slimy piece of shit, you know that?” He looks ready to explode.
“I don’t give a fuck what you think of me, think whatever the fuck you want, but you’ll toe the line. That part isn’t optional,” I warn him.
“Or what? ”
The cunt can’t help himself. He’s got to throw something in there, every god damn time. He knows what. I’ve just fucking told him what. He’s an idiot but he’s not that fucking stupid.
“Use your fucking brain, Tonks, I know it’s in there somewhere.”
“You think you’re so fucking smart.”
I’m wasting my time here. I’ve said what I wanted to say. That’s all I can do. What happens next is up to him.
I tip my head to the boys and they move from their posts, following me out silently.
I’m almost to the door, but I decide one last threat won’t hurt me, just in case he really is as brain dead as he seems – can’t hurt to spell it out for him.
I turn around to face him, and lock eyes with him. “You know what, Tonksy, if you were to blow up in a meth lab setup gone wrong, I don’t think anyone would even suspect foul play.” I nod my head thoughtfully. “Nah, I think they’d just tick the box on that one.”
Something flickers in his eyes, and for only the second time tonight, he’s rendered silent.