Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
GREYSON
Gentle fingers smoothed the tension from my shoulders before Riley’s head rested on my back.
“They’re waiting for you,” she said, her hands wrapping around my waist.
I took them in mine and brought them to my lips. Never had I held something so precious as Riley now was to me. Thinking she may have been the one in my brother’s hands and that this wasn’t the first time she’d almost ended up there made my stomach knot.
Green eyes, dark with worry, looked back at me when I glanced over my shoulder at her. Turning, I pulled her closer.
“What did he say?” she asked.
I had stepped away to take the call with Emerson, leaving her in the main room with the others. The ass had ignored every call and text, making me wait until he was ready to talk. It was a move I would have made. I was the calm one, he was the impulsive one.
“Nothing good.” I gave her a quick kiss, wishing I had the time to savor it and more of her. But with her brother and Tyson waiting, not to mention Den, who was the most unnerved I’d ever seen him, now wasn’t the time to indulge. “Come on.”
I led her out to the living room. Den’s pacing was wearing a path in the floor near the windows.
Mason was on the couch, a drink in one hand, his other around his girl, and Raines was in the chair with his wife sprawled on his lap.
Apparently, we all came as a package deal now.
It wasn’t the life to bring a woman into, but I didn’t have a choice with Riley, and I’d found she took after her brother in ways that still surprised me.
Calculating and smart, she saw things I missed, looking at situations with a critical eye that surpassed even mine.
Casey had taken down a pack of Bad Omen to save Mason.
And Angie…well, as obstinate as she seemed, I had a suspicion Raines didn’t have any choice but to include her.
“I have two weeks,” I said, walking into the center of the room.
Mason leaned forward, swirling his drink in his hands. “Two weeks to what?”
Rubbing my temple, I said, “To decide. Me or Ava.”
Tyson pushed Angie to the side. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I hand myself over to my brother or he kills her. He’ll call me for an answer and if I give him the wrong one, she’s dead.”
“Fuck,” Den muttered, his pacing stopping.
“Why two weeks?” Angie said, staring at her nails. “Even I can make a decision in less time than that. Do I want a French manicure or just tips? The pink shoes or the black ones?”
The muscles in my jaw tightened. “Why are you even here?”
“Because she’s a bitch and won’t satisfy me if I leave her out,” Tyson said, biting her ear and eliciting a giggle from her.
My head had ached before, but now it was becoming a migraine. “This is not shoe shopping. This is life or death. Not a fucking manicure.”
“But she has a point,” Riley said, “as much as I hate saying that.” Angie threw her a look that Riley returned without flinching. “Two weeks is a long time in our world.” Our world. I loved her more every day.
“I’m inclined to agree.” Mason took another swig of his drink. “These are the Omens we’re talking about. They don’t give timelines. They act swiftly and with intent. Something’s off.”
“Something’s been off,” Casey added. “Everything about this has been off since they kidnapped me and Angie.”
I scratched my jaw, thinking about all the careless mistakes and miscalculations.
“No, since Clint Randall,” I mused. Riley shivered, and I brought my hand around her waist, pulling her over to me.
There were still nights she woke up from nightmares I couldn’t free her from.
All I could do was hold her close and soothe her until she fell back to sleep.
Not even I had the power to take her memories away.
“He went rogue. Or at least I thought he had. He botched everything he did. He had every opportunity to kill you, Brinks. Why not just do it when he was in your inner circle?” I patted Riley’s ass, which garnered me a grimace from Mason, then walked over to my bar.
Pouring myself a glass of scotch, I continued, “He failed at killing Riley the first time.” She cringed, and I gave her an apologetic look.
“And the second time, he screwed up again. I thought he was going rogue on the family, but what if he wasn’t? What if he was just sloppy?”
“How so?” Raines asked.
“He took the time to call me. My brother would never give up the pleasure of telling me he had Riley and allow one of his men to make the call. It was a novice move.”
“Or a move that came from someone without the constraints of the Bad Omen.” Angie said. “A rogue man like you said.”
“No.” Mason’s brows knitted, his hand tight on his glass as he thought it through. “A rogue would have kept his mouth shut and taken her somewhere. Raped and killed her or kept her hostage until he was done with her.”
Riley rubbed her arms. “Can we stop talking about me like I’m not here?”
“Shit, sorry, Ri.” Mason looked genuinely apologetic.
“I know,” Casey said, hopping from her seat and taking Riley’s hand. “You have wedding gifts to unwrap. Angie, I know how much you love comparing yourself to others, so why don’t you join us and see if Riley got better gifts than you?”
Tyson snorted, and I heard an oomph that told me she had likely elbowed him. But my eyes were on Riley.
“We were going to open them together,” she said, conflict in her features.
“Go. Presents aren’t really my thing. I only like giving them.”
She gave me a small smile as Casey dragged her away, Angie chattering behind them about how she’d wanted some ice cream machine.
“I had to get her that damned machine and I’ve seen her use it once,” Tyson complained, rolling his neck as he stood and stretched. “So you two think what? That there’s something off with the Omen?”
“Casey suggested that a while ago, remember, Ty?”
I raised a brow, taking a swig of my drink. “She was the one who noticed?”
“Fuck off, Tides.”
Smirking, I ignored him and said, “My brother hasn’t had more than a two second conversation with me in years. Now he wants to talk, and that has my alarms up. There’s something off.”
“What did he do to you?” Raines asked.
I stared down at my drink. “It’s what I did to him. A young, foolish move I thought would prove a point.”
They waited for more, and my expression soured. “Let’s just say I knew his girl liked to sleep around and I proved the point.”
“You fucked your brother’s girl?” Tyson said with a chuckle.
“She gave me a blow job and I kicked her out once I made my point.” Even saying the words sounded crass now. I was no longer that man, hadn’t been in a very long time. Enough time to regret my actions, but not enough to mend the destruction they had caused.
“I hope you didn’t say that to my sister,” Mason said, almost growling.
I sat in the other seat. “Your sister knows everything. We have no secrets. Not anymore.” But it had taken almost losing her to confess it all to her.
“So, what do you think is off?” Tyson asked, setting his glass down and steering the conversation back.
“I don’t know, but two weeks is a long time for Emerson. That tells me he wants me to think about his proposition and maybe more.” I took another drink. “Maybe it’s time to piece together whatever it is we’re not seeing.”
“And if we don’t?” Mason asked. This was my fight, but Riley’s connection to Ava made it theirs, too.
That didn’t mean they were running the show, and that Mason had deferred the next move to me, told me he understood the hierarchy.
Ava was my man’s niece and although I hadn’t been in her life before, Den was the closest I had to a best friend.
That made this my battle to direct and to win.
“Then we bring our force to Seagate and take my brother down.”