Chapter 11
I was diagnosed with OCCABD . Obsessive , compulsive, cursing, angry bitch disorder. There is no cure.
— Shayne to Ande
SHAYNE
I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him in the middle of a gang war.
Really , I shouldn’t have.
I knew he had a dangerous job. I knew that every day, he went to work and tried to fix a problem that was unfixable. I knew that he was in danger every second of every day he was on duty.
Yet , as I dropped the helo into the middle of that park and saw him there, hands on his hips, angry at the world, I was reminded that though I’d left the warzone, he’d only traded his from overseas to American soil.
Years ago, when I’d heard he’d gone into the gang division, I hadn’t been surprised.
The subject had always been pretty close to his heart, first with his dad, then with me.
He had this vendetta against the gangs that would never be assuaged as long as he lived.
“ What are you thinking so hard about over there?”
I looked up to find Costas closing the door on a kid—probably a gang member, but I chose not to look too closely or listen too hard—staring at me.
“ I’m thinking that you need to stop treating our shared house as a clubhouse and find a new fucking hobby,” I snapped.
Okay , so I hadn’t exactly been thinking that.
Truthfully , though, I was annoyed with his constant gang member presence, I tried really, really hard to be dumb and blind when it came to whatever he was doing.
Costas did take some of my feelings into consideration. He only conducted business when I wasn’t in the house, or was asleep—and the only reason I knew he conducted business when I was asleep was sometimes I’d wake up and hear him talking outside with someone.
“ It’s not a hobby.” Costas eyes went dark. “ It’s a calling.”
I rolled my eyes. “ You’re the smartest man I’ve ever met, Costas . Why do you do this?”
This was a constant argument with us. I’d ask him if he was done with the gang thing yet, and he’d tell me no. I’d tell him he was stupid for playing this dangerous game, and one day he’d wind up dead, and he’d tell me he would live forever.
The only thing that we seemed to agree on when it came to whatever stupid gang business he had was that he should keep it as far away from me as possible. And , so far, he’d managed to do that.
But the activity had started to pick up at our place.
“ When are you moving back home?” I asked curiously.
When are you going to let me live here by myself since you have a paid for loft in downtown Dallas ?
Costas crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head. “ Are you trying to get rid of me?”
I narrowed my eyes. “ Costas , I’ve lived by myself for a really long time. I’m not really hip on living with my brother for the rest of my life.”
His lips twitched.
I loved my brother unconditionally.
I loved him so much that I wasn’t willing to give him up for the man I loved.
If life was fair, I wouldn’t have to choose.
Quinn Carter was the love of my life. But Costas Rodriguez was my shelter in the storm.
He’d been with me when I needed him most. He’d raised me. He’d protected me.
And , in the end, Quinn had left when Costas had stayed.
That was the quick of it.
“ You’re never here to see me, sis,” he said.
“ I’m here right now,” I pointed out.
“ You’re about to go catch a flight to Tampa , and fly back, so you can get some flight hours in with the airlines. Then , while you’re at the airport, you’re gonna talk ol’ Tom into flying you up to let you skydive,” he said. “ You saw me for ten minutes today. Tomorrow , it’ll be more like five since you have to work.”
I rolled my eyes. “ I don’t really care about that, Costas . I care that you have people coming in and out of this house when I’m not here, and I don’t like leaving my stuff unattended with people I don’t know. I can’t hang my bras up in the bathroom either, because they’re always moved.”
“ They’re moved because you hang them up in the bathroom, then I have to take them down to take a shower,” he pointed out.
“ You’re taking a shower in the master bathroom, which I’ve been using since I moved back. You have a bathroom in your own side of the house,” I said. “ You don’t respect my boundaries.”
Costas snorted. “ We’ve never respected each other’s boundaries.”
“ And I could deal with that when I had my own place and could force you to respect my boundaries. But things need to change. This is my home,” I told him. “ And I don’t like what you’re doing here. I want peace, Costas . I don’t want gang shit getting anywhere near me.”
Costas sighed. “ It’s …”
My alarm sounded, indicating it was time for me to head to the airport.
“ We’ll be talking about this later,” I said. “ And don’t sweettalk the mail lady again. I want my packages delivered all at once. Not once a day so she has a reason to come to the door.”
Costas snorted.
“ That’s not what I did,” he argued.
“ It’s exactly what you did.” I caught up my backpack that had snacks and drinks in it—there was no way I was paying airport prices for those, and I didn’t have time to go to the pilots’ lounge today—and headed out.
Today I was flying to Tampa in a quick turnaround. The same flight crew would be handling both flights, and since I cherry-picked which flights I piloted to keep up my required flight hours, I also chose the flight crews that I wanted to work with.
Today I was with an old timer who liked to sit back and allow me to do everything, as well as a couple of flight attendants I’d worked with before and I knew would keep the passengers happy.
Years ago, when I’d decided to get my commercial pilot’s license, I’d thought it would be fun.
But now it was more of a burden.
I’d promised myself that I would keep the hours up so I could keep my license, but now I was regretting that promise to myself.
It wasn’t like it was bad flying, but it just took up so many of my days.
And there was this certain person I wanted to go check on after yesterday.
Ande had let it slip in our conversation at the station that Quinn had taken a gunshot wound to the calf. It’d only been a graze, but my heart didn’t care that it was only a graze.
It wanted to make sure that he was all right, and hearing it from other parties, secondhand, wasn’t going to cut it.
Not this time, anyway.
I could handle hearing about his wellbeing when he wasn’t hurt. I couldn’t do it secondhand when he was.
Unfortunately , I had to practice some patience, which I wasn’t very good at.
I had to work.
I needed to work.
But someone was on my mind, and that sat with me through the entire day, until I got home and decided to skip my weekly skydive just so I could get to him that much faster.
The three missed calls from him while I’d been in the air hadn’t helped matters, either.
I decided to drive straight to Quinn’s apartment instead of returning any phone calls, only to find a strange old man answering the door with a scowl on his face.
“ Um ,” I said carefully. “ Is Quinn here?”
“ Quinn don’t live here no more,” he snapped.
Then he slammed the door in my face.
My stomach sank, and I stared at the door in shock.
He didn’t live here anymore?
He’d lived here since he’d moved home…
“ Lookin ’ for Quinn ?”
I blinked, surprised to find Quinn’s brother, Gable , at my back.
He looked… rough.
I’d also seen him around my house multiple times since the first day I’d seen him at my place and had forced myself not to ask him how Quinn was doing.
“ Yeah ,” I grumbled. “ You okay?”
He shrugged. “ I’ve been better.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “ I haven’t seen you around my house or my brother lately.”
He flashed me a wink. “ I knew you noticed who I was.”
I snorted. “ Other than the huge eye widening thing you did at me to keep me quiet, you’re pretty remarkable, Gable . Plus , you have that little shock of white hair that you can’t always cover up fast enough.”
Gable had a couple of strands of white hair that grew at the top of his head where he’d sustained a head injury when he was young. Ever since then, the white hair had grown in between his dirty blond strands.
And all the hair dye, colored contacts, wardrobe changes, and acting couldn’t hide who a person was when you’d spent a lot of quality time with them in your formative years.
“ I figured you were there to watch my brother,” I admitted when he didn’t say anything. “ And I didn’t want to out you.”
“ You know I was there to find information on your brother, and you didn’t want to out me,” he repeated. “ Why ?”
I looked at him seriously before I said, “ Costas is an adult. If he wants to play stupid games, he can win stupid prizes. Honestly , I think jail would be good for him at this point. I think he’s stuck in this gang and will wind up dead if he’s not careful. Yet he still thinks he’s invincible.”
His lips turned up at the corner. “ I’m headed down to the bar at the corner if you want to meet us there. Quinn’s supposed to show up and be our designated driver.”
I fell into step with him. “ If I show up, you won’t have a designated driver.”
Because he’d be coming home with me.
Gable snorted. “ I figured.”