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“Long before the Seven Bloods, and long after your pitiful little rats kill themselves, our family, our people, will still motherfucking be here. So again, choose wisely, because as we speak, your club is being burned to the ground.”
His eyes widened as he glared at me. “What do you want?”
“The drugs,” I hissed. “Where did you get them?”
“I don’t—”
“What do you think will snap first, this line or your windpipe?”
“Please…”
“Talk.” I lifted his head up and pulled tight before I allowed the line to go slack.
“There is a man. He’s from Mexico. I don’t know his name, but I will get it, I swear. I’ll get it when I’m out tomorrow.”
“We will be in contact. Until then, rest up. I wonder how they feel having a wounded dog in the house,” I said as I released him completely. He coughed as his good hand reached up to his neck.
“How are you involved with Coraline Wilson?”
He raised his eyebrow at me, confused. “You mean the bitch with the stick up her ass? She ain’t got nothing to do with us. I’m only with her cousin because she said she could help us clean some of our money though her Uncle’s bank.”
“The Seven Bloods are keeping money at WIB? And here I thought you would be useless,” I said emotionlessly, before I kicked his broken arm.
“What the fuck?!” he cried out as he cradled it against his chest.
“Don’t refer to women as bitches in front me or I will kill you,” I sneered as I walked to the door.
Eric stood waiting, keeping Otis’ girlfriend at bay. Walking around her, I stopped in front of Coraline.
“Stay away from him, and if you care about your cousin, make sure she stays away too.” That was all I’d planned to say to her. I couldn’t…this was too close. I hadn’t thought these two parts of my life would collide like this. It was a wake-up call. I wasn’t just a guy…even though she made me feel like one. I was a Callahan, and Callahans were monsters in suits.
“Declan?” she called after me.
And I could hear her heels as she followed me towards the elevator.
“What are you talking about? What’s wrong with Otis?”
“Just trust me—”
“Well, I don’t. If something’s going on please tell me. Do you know the man who did this? How serious is this?” she said when the elevator doors opened.
The man who did this was my cousin, and the man who would do worse was me.
I wanted her. I wanted her badly, but I couldn’t…what if she saw me doing something even worse or what if she got involved. What if my worlds collided again when she was around?
“Never mind, Coraline.” I sighed as I stepped into the elevator. I shouldn’t have said anything to begin with.
“Declan, why are you being so cold right now?” She frowned, confused. “You’re like a totally different person.”
Because right now I wasn’t me; I was the person the family needed me to be. But I couldn’t tell her that.
“Coraline, you’ve rejected me three times in the last week. I’m not going to keep chasing after you. Please step aside, it’s been a long day.” The doors closed on her and I felt both relieved and disappointed as I leaned against the wall. But then the doors reopened, and as her hand remained on the button, her eyes focused on me.
Coraline, no, keep pushing me away, you’re right, your instincts are right, I will hurt you.
“I’m leaving too,” she lied as her feet crossed over the line toward me.
Fuck. I was goner. Having her this close to me in an empty elevator, I couldn’t take it.
I grabbed her and pinned her up against the wall.
“You shouldn’t have opened the doors.”
“But I did.” Her brown eyes searched mine.
My eyes fell on her lips. “You should stay away from Otis. Because he has bad friends.” And I’m the worse one of all.
“Okay?” She still looked confused.
“If I kissed you right now, what would you do?” I whispered.
“Kiss you back.”
“I know. But what would you do after we break away. Run again? Like I said, you don’t know what you want and I’m not going to let you keep messing with me.”
I stepped out of the elevator, and for some reason, I felt like I couldn’t breathe, like she had literally been so close to me, she’d stolen the air from my lungs. I had told her the truth, but I’d also lied. I wanted to keep chasing after her. But reality was starting to kick in, and the magic was disappearing. Her standing next to Otis as a friend when I came thinking I might just have to end his life…it’d been too close.
I made it outside when my phone rang.
“Declan,” I muttered without bothering to check the caller ID.
“I’ll stay away from Otis,” she whispered into the phone and I turned back to find her still inside the entrance of the hospital staring back me. “I don’t have a boyfriend, a fiancé, or a husband. I had my heart broken by a smooth talking playboy once before. So I’m a little jaded. I don’t want be just another girl you screw around with or screw over. That’s why I’ve been pushing you away, but I really do like you.”
Walk away, Declan.
“What do I have to do?” I said instead, and it was like my mind and heart had officially declared war on each other.
“I don’t know?”
“Why don’t we get out of here and find out?” I felt like I could think better if I didn’t have to think about the worst part of me…or maybe I was trying to not think at all.
“You lead, I’ll follow.” She stepped towards me.
“No.” I shook my head as I moved towards her. “You’re the one doing the leading. It’s been like that from day one.”
“Well, take over then,” she said right in front of me as she hung up.
“With pleasure.”
CORALINE
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Did we stop?” I was too afraid to look, and my grip on him tightened.
I could feel his chest moving up and down in front of me, and I knew he was silently laughing. We’d taken his motorcycle instead of my car. I wanted to fight him on the matter since I was still in a dress, but he reached over, hiked it up, and reassured me that I would be fine. Luckily, I was able to change out of my heels and into the flats I kept in my car.
Peeking out, I noticed he had stopped and where now at the Navy Pier. He stepped off first and I as quickly and gracefully as I could, I swept my legs over, closing them shut when they were on the other side. He smiled as he offered me his hand.
Taking it, he led us over to the Ferris wheel that lit up the night’s sky.
“Declan.” I gasped when he skipped the line.
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied as the man behind the machine nodded to him. I felt the need to wave or apologize to the people who were standing in line, but I was in the gondola before I had the chance.
“Callahans make their own rules, remember?” he said as the wheel shifted, allowing the next people who were in line to step into their own gondola.
