Chapter 27 On Edge
chapter Twenty-seven
On Edge
Nico
“Hold up, so mama is a freak?” Salv asks.
It’s been a week since Tiffany kicked Evelyn out of the house.
She’s slowly gotten back to normal. Despite what she said, I know that what her mother did hurt her.
After hearing what Marcus allowed that woman to do, I wish I could dig his ass up and put another bullet in his head.
It’s because Marcus fell for Evelyn’s bullshit, she thought she could try it with me.
The woman had to be going through dementia if she thought I’d risk what I have with Tiffany for her. Hell, my wife’s pussy alone wasn’t worth losing over her.
“It’s not funny, Salv,” I run a hand down my face. “What if Rose hadn’t videoed the incident, and that bitch made Tiffany think I really came on to her?” Had I known the whole situation with Marcus, I never would’ve tried to hide it from Tiffany.
Salv looks at Kaz and they both burst out laughing. I’m glad they find this shit funny because I don’t.
Today was the first day I was able to see my brothers in weeks.
Shit was pulling us in different directions lately.
Salv was just coming back from overseas.
He had another meeting with the head of the Slobidskyi Bratva.
Kazimir was out west visiting his sister.
And Mason has been upstate handling business.
“No, seriously,” Salv says, wiping his eyes. “Did you call out for a trusted adult when she cornered you?”
This time, not only did Kaz laugh, but Ghost did too. Even though he was standing with an arm brace, the man refused to go on leave, like I told him to.
“Fuck you, Draco.”
This only made them laugh harder. We were at my warehouse waiting for Mason to show up. The grinding of the warehouse door alerted us to his arrival. Mason walks through the door with Grant on his heels.
“Everybody out,” he barks.
The anger in Mason’s tone along with the way he isn’t making eye contact with anyone but us, tells us he isn’t happy. Salv looks at me with a pinched brow. I shrug. The room slowly emptied.
“Not you, Ghost,” Mason says, stopping in front of us.
Grant goes to stand beside Ghost, who looks at me with a concerned look.
“When the fuck were you going to tell me you were hit at a pickup?”
I want to roll my eyes. This is the shit I hate dealing with. I swear I love Mase, but damn he can be so controlling.
“Wait, you got hit?” Salv asks, his tone no longer joking or playful.
I wave my hand through the air. “Why do you think I called this meeting?”
Mason shakes his head. “What’s the code?”
This time I do roll my eyes. We made a lot of rules when we first started out on this journey. We were teenagers moving in a world with grown men who didn’t give a shit about putting a bullet in our skulls. It made sense to make up codes and rules. It was vital to our survival.
“This wasn’t a situation—”
“What’s the fucking code, Nicholas?” Mason roars, cutting me off.
Damn, he was pissed if he was calling me by my real name.
I grit my teeth. “If our life is ever in danger, we reach out immediately. But my life wasn’t in danger. My crew had everything taken care of.”
Mason’s silvery blue eyes narrow. “Ghost, how’s the shoulder?” He asks without turning to look at my second in command.
“It’s good,” Ghost answers honestly.
“And who was the bullet aimed for?”
I cut my eyes to Ghost. He looks at me, knowing the answer but not wanting to say it. His loyalty is with me and not my brother, so I don’t have to worry about him ratting me out.
“Exactly,” Mason says, not needing the answer. “No matter what, you call me. If bullets are flying at you, despite you not getting hit, you are in fucking danger. I shouldn’t have to remind you of this, Nico.”
I shake my head. I get being upset and wanting to protect us, but Mason had to understand that we were grown men now.
“I’m not a kid anymore, Anthony.”
Mason’s gaze flares with anger.
“Yeah, I can use real names too,” I taunt. “You don’t have to hold my hand for every got damn thing. I’ve been running guns for you since I was twenty years old. I can do the shit without having you standing over my shoulder.”
Over the years, I’ve always tried to give Mason grace. I know his overbearing behavior stems from his concern. When you’ve been the guardian of someone as long as he has, it’s hard to turn that off. But there comes a time when you have to respect us as adults.
“If you didn’t need me to stand over your shoulder, you wouldn’t have crates showing up in the hands of petty criminals. You wouldn’t have a secured pick-up spot being shot up. You ask to be treated like an adult, then fucking act like it.”
“Hey, guys, calm down,” Salv says, stepping in the middle of our heated argument. “We’re all just a little stressed out.”
I ignore Salv. “So, you don’t make mistakes? Shit don’t go left for you? Was it not because of your mistake Salv was nearly killed? Was it not because you fell in love with the fucking enemy that we almost lost our brother?”
The color drains from Mason’s face. I’d just broken a cardinal rule. Never are we to bring up that story. There is a reason Mason only does those contracts with women now. It all stems from a story of heartbreak and betrayal.
“Alright, that’s enough.” Kazimir steps in between us. “Salv is right, we’re all stressed. But we don’t turn on each other.”
“You want to do this shit on your own?” Mason ignores the others. “Then I’ll let you do it on your own.” He turns around and heads back to the door.
“Come on, Mase. Nic is just being an ass,” Salv argues on my behalf.
However, for once, I don’t relent or appease Mason. I don’t apologize just to keep the peace. I hold my ground.
“Nic.” Salv turns to me pleading. “Go apologize.”
I wave my hand through the air. “Not this time. Fuck him.”
Turning away from my brother, I head up the stairs in my warehouse. Behind me, Salv and Kaz call my name. However, I don’t stop. I was done taking the shit on the chin for Mason. I understood where his concerns came from, but it doesn’t give him the right to treat us like fucking children.
After the fallout with Mason, I don’t get much work done that day. I was still pissed. Salvito and Kazimir have been blowing up my phone with calls and text messages. I haven’t answered any of them. After heading home, I locked myself in my office to focus on my work.
A soft tap against my office door has me looking up from the documents I was reading over. A smile lifts my cheeks when my wife and son walk into the room. Noah smiles as soon as he sees me. I hold out my hands for him.
Tiffany walks over, and places him in my lap. Noah immediately starts reaching for my facial hair. I grab his hands and place kisses on his wet palms, causing him to laugh.
She takes a seat on top of my desk, her legs swinging.
“We decided we would come in here and hide out with you. If I have to listen to my father flirting with Ms. Rose one more time, I’m going to vomit.”
I toss my head back and laugh. The moment Matthew Best laid eyes on Rose, he was smitten. The man has been laying it on thick. And although my wife likes to believe that there is nothing going on, I can see that Rose is just as taken with Matthew.
“Your reign as an only child is coming to an end, Tiff. Noah is about to have a baby aunt or uncle.”
She gags, holding up a hand. “Please don’t give me that visual. I mean, I want my dad to find someone and be happy, but I don’t want to think about them being sexual.”
I shake my head at my wife. If she doesn’t want to come to terms with her father fucking, I won’t force it.
“Now,” she says, changing the subject. “What’s this I hear about you fighting with your brother?”
My gaze narrows, trying to figure out how she knows about that. Then I remember who all knows.
“I’m going to block Salv’s number in your phone,” I gripe.
Initially, I loved that she and Salv got so close, but now it’s a nuisance.
Tiff waves me off. “Talk to me. What happened?”
I put my attention on Noah, who is busy trying to pull things off my desk. I move my letter opener further out of his reach, and he goes for the paperweight instead.
“He’s overbearing. I can’t do anything without him looking over my shoulder. He acts like we’re all eight years old again. I don’t need my big brother to fight my battles. I have my own family now.” I run a hand down my face, getting pissed again at the entire situation.
Tiffany remains quiet, allowing me to vent.
“I’m sorry you feel that way. I know you are more than capable of taking care of yourself and your family.”
“Of course I am.”
She smiles. “Can I ask you a question?”
I nod, taking the paperweight from Noah, who almost clonked himself upside the head with it. He quickly moves on to something else. This time he goes for the wooden calendar blocks I have as decoration.
“If you got a call from Jake and he said that a few days ago I was in a fight. Two women had walked up to me and jumped on me. He tells you I wasn’t hurt in the fight, but I was attacked.”
“Who are these women, and where the hell was Jake? And why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, not liking this scenario or the visual it gives me. I will kill anyone that hurts Tiffany, even hypothetical women that like to jump people.
Tiffany laughs. “Look at you. You’re already mad, and this isn’t even a real situation.”
Thinking about my reaction, I have to chuckle at myself. I was ready to go to war with fictional females.
“Imagine if you’d found out I was shot at.”
The moment the statement is out of her mouth, I understand where her story is going. Also, I’m going to fucking kill Salv.
I shake my head. “It’s not the same. I’m your protector. I need to know if you’re in danger.”
She shrugs casually. “And he’s yours. I don’t know what it’s like to be a big sister. I do know what it’s like to be a mother and to be responsible for someone else. It doesn’t turn off with age, Nico.
“You said that Mason has been your big brother since you were eight years old. That’s a long time to be responsible for someone.
I’m not saying he shouldn’t allow you to make mistakes and handle your own business, but you have to see where he is coming from.
If Salv was nearly killed in a shootout and he didn’t tell you, you’d be livid. ”
She was right about that. I’d probably choke the shit out of him and finish the job. Like I said, I understood Mason’s concerns. Didn’t mean I had to like them.
“What’s this really about?”
Leave it to my wife to see below the surface of our falling out.
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I sink back into my seat. I watch Noah gnaw at the block in his hand like it’s food.
“I feel like my back is against the wall. There is so much on my plate that it’s spilling over. And then there is this looming presence in the background waiting to strike. If I make one wrong move, everyone I love could be in jeopardy.”
That is the real issue. I’m walking on a tightrope and if I don’t make it across that rope, I could destroy my brothers and everything we’ve built. I’m trying to think five steps ahead of the enemy’s next move, and it still feels like it’s not enough.
She slides over on the desk so that she is closer to me. She reaches out her hand to touch my knee. Noah stops gnawing on the block and looks at his mother’s hand on my knee. He places his on top of hers and turns to me and grins. My fucking heart melts.
“This is the time you need support,” she says. “I know you want to be the one that saves the day, but you have to know when to call for backup. Your brothers are your backup.”
She looks away before turning back to me.
“I won’t pretend that I know anything about what Saint does.” She doesn’t flinch saying that name this time, but it still doesn’t come out smoothly.
“I won’t even pretend that I like the fact that you are Saint. But I know enough to know that Saint is a part of you, and loving you means loving him. I won’t ask you about that lifestyle because I honestly can’t stomach the idea of your life being threatened.
“But I need you to keep the conversation with your brothers open. I need to know that when you are away, it’s not just your bodyguards that have your back, but Mason, Salvito, and Kazimir also have you covered.”
Her request is simple, and I understand exactly what she needs and why.
Lifting her hand off my knee, I pull her off the desk and into my lap. I shift Noah to one side so she can be comfortable.
“I love you,” I say with all honesty.
I had no idea when I saw her that day in the club that I would feel this strongly about her.
Admittedly, I saw her beauty and her unhappiness, and I wanted her.
I wanted her to be mine, and I didn’t think about love or anything more than taking her for myself.
It is still to this day the best decision I ever made.
“I love you too.” She leans in and kisses me deeply. We don’t stop until Noah showers us both with slobbery kisses.
Tiffany stands and then grabs my hand to pull me up.
“Come on,” she says. “I’m not going out there by myself. If I have to hear the two of them flirt, so do you.”
I laugh as I lead my little family out of my office.
I was going to have a conversation with Mason soon. However, it wasn’t going to be today.