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“Whatever you need,” I promised him. “Anything going down here I need to know about?”
“Not a damn thing,” he said, turning a cold glare to the rest of the men standing around us. “No extracurricular while I’m gone. I don’t want to hear about any of our guys knocking over liquor stores, pimping out girls, or dealing. Y’all got me?”
The grunts all nodded their agreement, but I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be that easy for me. I’d known these guys for years, but now that I’d been promoted, they were going to want to test me. I knew it. They knew it. And Eddie knew it, too. That was really why he was leaving. To throw me in the deep end and see if I’d sink.
But I’d been playing this game too long for that. I knew how to keep them occupied. Just a little “cat’s away and mice will play” action. And I knew that a party thrown by Speedball would keep everyone too busy to go out and wreak havoc.
****
“Was this what you had in mind?” Kenny asked, laying down on the sofa and resting his head in my lap as he stared up at me.
“I think you outdid yourself,” I admitted.
The party had moved into day three and showed no signs of stopping any time soon.
Kenny had sent the word out that he was throwing a surprise party for me to celebrate my coronation, and every grunt in metro Detroit seemed to have turned up at the warehouse we used as a defacto headquarters.
Kegs and strippers were delivered and rotated out, DJs spun music on all three floors of the building, and everyone seemed to stay in some state of high, drunk or passed out at all times.
“I aim to please,” Kenny said, grinning up at me.
“That you do,” I agreed.
I trailed my gaze down his body and frowned at the angry, purple track marks littering his arms. My fingers grazed over them as I made a tsking sound between my teeth.
“Don’t,” Kenny said, knocking my hand away. “I’m alright.”
“You’re not alright,” I argued. “I wish you’d let me help you.”
“I know you do. But I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. This shit is going to get you killed.” I brushed a strand of hair out of his bright blue eyes and held his gaze. “Kenny, you know I love you, right?”
“Duh.” He grinned. “You’re my big brother.”
“Yeah,” I said, smiling sadly back at him. “I’m your big brother. And that means it’s my job to take care of you.”
“Sure. But as your little brother, it’s my job to get into as much trouble as possible.” He laughed as I rolled my eyes. “Matt. I’m fine. But I gotta go. Things to see, people to do, you know how it is.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, running my fingers through his baby soft hair and dropping my arm across his chest to keep him from leaving. “Stay with me.”
“I can’t.” He wrapped his hand around my wrist and brought my fingers to his lips, kissing them quickly before pulling himself up and off me. “Have a good time. I’ll try to stop by tomorrow and see if things are still going.”
“I’m hoping they go until Eddie gets back,” I admitted.
“Well, I certainly have enough provisions coming through to keep everyone happy for at least another week.”
“How the hell do you pull this shit off?” I asked him, amazed that for a kid who could barely remember to tie his own shoelaces every day, he managed to organize epic parties and provide first aid to branded morons like me.
“Friends in high places.” He grinned at me and shot me a wink before spinning on his heel and heading toward the door.
My heart constricted as I watched him go. Something was going on with him and I hated that he wouldn’t talk to me about it. He really was my best friend and if anything ever happened to him I wasn’t sure I’d survive it.
“There you are!” one of the grunts yelled, I think his name was Giovanni. He rushed over and grabbed my hands to pull me roughly to my feet. “Come on. One of the stripper’s bodyguards scored us an ice luge. They’re setting it up in the back.”
Great. Because that’s just what I needed. Some nice cold vodka to dull the pain and worry that had settled into my core.
I might consider Kenny to be my little brother, but he was a grown man who’d been through a lot in his nineteen years. I had to trust him to take care of himself.
