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"New blood," Paine greeted, his voice having a kind of deadness that made a sliver of ice slide through my insides as we moved to stand on the sidewalk a few feet away from them.
"Paine," they greeted, jerking their chins up at him.
"Ain't here to get to know you," he said a little roughly, making me watch his profile. I knew Paine for a long time. He was friends with Breaker before I ever got the balls to run from my Pops so he was a big part of my life. And while Breaker knew him when he was still involved with Third Street, I didn't have much to do with him at the time. I didn't see this side of him. I didn't see the coldness. I didn't get the sensation of heartlessness, because that was so far from the Paine I knew and loved that it was hard to reconcile that they were even the same person. But there was Paine standing next to me with dead eyes and a tone that was reserved for the scariest kinds of criminals. "Made it pretty clear I don't give a fuck 'bout this operation anymore when I fought my way out."
"Then why the fuck you here?" the bolder, also younger and stupider, of the two asked.
Paine made some sort of growling noise low in his chest that effectively shut the kid up. The door behind them opened a second later, the other young kid behind a man who was taking up the whole doorway. My head snapped up and I felt a deep kind of knowledge settle in as I took in his familiar caramel-colored skin, his wide, strong body, his light eyes. There was no mistaking it, the leader of the Third Street Gang was Paine's fucking... brother.
From what I knew, he didn't have brothers, only sisters, sisters I had met.
I'd never heard a word about a brother.
But there he was.
"Long fuckin' time, Paine," he said, nodding his head.
"Not long enough," was Paine's response.
"Came here just to dish out attitude."
"Came here to find your supplier," he countered and his brother stiffened slightly.
"Ain't got no business in our business anymore."
"Became my business when Carlos stole Shoot's woman."
His face snapped to me, took in the gun in my hand. "The Shoot? As in Shooter?" he asked.
"Yup," was all I could manage.
"Enzo," he said, giving me a chin jerk before turning back to his brother. "Interesting friends you keep."
"Luis Carlos," Paine said, cutting through the crap. "He been through here?"
"Ain't your place to ask."
"Don't fuckin' test me, Enzo," Paine said and I could see his fist grip his gun harder and I realized whatever bad blood there was between those two went deep. "His woman was sittin' safe and sound in his apartment and that piece of shit gets in and drags her, got the fucking camera footage, drags her kicking and screaming out of it. So you cut the shit and you fuckin' tell me if your supplier has been through here today. If he asked about a safe place to hide out for a while."
"Why would I do you any favors?"
"Because, mother fucker," he said, his voice positively lethal and all the men on the steps stiffened, "if you don't tell me in about ten seconds, I am going to call Breaker. And then I am going to call Hailstorm," he dropped and there were shared glances. "And finally, you stupid shit, I am going to call The Henchmen. Let me tell ya, nothin' will make me happier than tearing your shit apart."
"You really want to be making enemies?" Enzo asked, cool as could be, like that wasn't the most petrifying threat that had ever been uttered.
"I really don't want to fucking be here," he corrected. "But my boy's girl was taken and we want her back before that slimy piece of shit causes any damage that can't be fixed."
"You want me to turn on my supplier. You have any fuckin' idea what that would mean for business?"
"You being watched? You get that fucking lazy, man?" he asked and Enzo's eyes got smaller. "If you ain't bein' watched then no one knows we were here or why we were here. So stop dicking around and point me in a direction or maybe I'll let you and your boys find out how Shooter got his name."
"Gotta tell ya," I agreed, nodding, rubbing the muzzle of the gun across my temple, "if there's a day when I could use to shoot someone, this is it..."
Enzo exhaled a pained breath. "Down on Madison," he finally supplied.
"Building," Paine demanded.
"All you're getting," Enzo countered, crossing his arms over his chest. And, judging by the way Paine jerked his head, Enzo meant business. That was all we were getting. But it was something. It was a direction. It cut out the countless other streets in the area.
"Let's go," I said, nudging Paine.
"Yeah," he agreed, giving Enzo another hard look before turning and making his way back to his car while I dragged my phone out of my pocket.
"Lo, find me some place on Madison where they could be keeping her."
"On it," she said, snapping and relaying the order to her people.
I hung up, turning slightly as Paine whipped the car into a neck-achingly fast K-turn, and studied his hardened profile. "You alright, man?" I asked cautiously. I got a tight nod. "Sorry you had to come here..."
"Didn't have to do it," he corrected, shaking his head, each foot further away from the neighborhood making him relax more and more. "I wanted to do it. I like your girl, man. Want you to be able to have her around. Definitely don't want that piece of shit dealer with his hands on her."
"I appreciate it, Paine. Know that wasn't easy for you."
Then his head twisted and a small humorless smile toyed with his lips. "Bound to happen sooner or later. I'm just glad it happened in a way that was at least productive." He took in my face and his tone softened. "Shoot, it's still only been minutes. No more than forty. We have a street. We have the best in the area on finding a building. We're gonna get her back."
