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DARREN
I leaned my head back against the seat, letting my tired eyes slide closed. It felt so good to finally be able to shut my eyes and relax, not having to constantly keep one eye open and stay on guard at all times, even in the dead of the night
James, my brother and head of the Family, was the first person to be notified of my release. Hell, he was notified before I was. So, when I was released from prison, he already had a car waiting on me outside with a driver, fresh clothes that would fit way better than my old ones, a phone with all important numbers programmed already, and a gun with two extra clips.
Even as a kid, I had always been able to rely on my older brother, and I was glad to see that hadn’t changed while I’d been inside.
The phone that had been given to me suddenly blared in my lap. I pulled it up, glaring at the damn piece of technology, trying to figure out how the fuck you answered the shit.
In ten years, technology had advanced like a mother fucker.
“You put your finger on the green phone symbol on the screen and swipe, sir,” the driver told me.
I glanced up at him. His eyes were flickering between the rearview mirror and the road. I’d been expecting pity, but there wasn’t anything in his eyes, just as I knew James had made sure he was trained. The driver was just very matter of fact, trying to help someone who’d been locked away from society and all of its advancements for ten fucking years.
I did as he’d instructed and pulled the phone up to my ear. “What?” I grumbled.
James’s laugh rang in my ear. “Happy to hear from you, too, brother,” he sarcastically replied. I just grunted. “How far out are you? Emmaline is excited to meet you.”
Emmaline was my brother’s wife, making her the queen of the Family. I’d never met her, though they had been together for a while now. It was code that no one visited me while I was inside. I didn’t even receive letters. I just got silent protection, and every once in a while, a guard who was part of the Family would let me know what was happening outside of the walls I’d been confined to.
“I don’t know,” I told him honestly. “Don’t particularly care, either. Been stuck in confinement for fucking ten years, James. I’m just trying to enjoy the fact that I don’t have to worry about someone slitting my throat because I let my fucking guard down.”
He made a humming sound. “Understandable. Should have made our parents pay for that fucking mistake a lot sooner.”
I stayed quiet. I knew both Mom and Dad were dead, but honestly, for me, there was no love lost there. For a while now, I’d had a gut feeling that Mom had been shady, and Dad was always off the fucking rails.
As far as I was concerned, James had done everyone a favor by getting rid of both of them. I was just sorry his wife had been at the center of all the chaos.
“Daddy!” I heard a kid scream in the background.
“Where’s Mommy?” I heard James ask Carter, his son. I’d never imagined my brother as a dad. He’d never wanted kids, but I guess shit had a tendency to change when you ended up getting the woman of your fucking dreams.
And trust me, my brother was infatuated with his wife. I knew that much from the talk of new inmates. My brother had made Emmaline and their son untouchable.
I ignored my brother as he spoke to Carter, waiting for him to put his attention back on the call.
Looking around, I noticed we were nearing James’s place. “Give me about three minutes, and I’ll be pulling into the driveway,” I told James.
We hung up a moment later, and I let my eyes close again, enjoying the sound of the tires moving over the asphalt of the road. It was a sound I hadn’t heard in so long, and honestly, I had missed it.
~*~*~
James was waiting near the front door when I walked inside the house. His wife was standing beside him, and his son was on his hip.
I quickly ran my eyes over Emmaline.
Fuck, my brother had gotten lucky.
Emmaline quickly took Carter from him, and James engulfed me in a brotherly hug, clapping me on my back. “Fuck, it’s good to have you back home again, Darren,” he told me. “And shit, what the fuck have they been feeding you in that fucking place?” he asked, laughter shining in his eyes as he ran his eyes over me.
I grinned, intentionally flexing my muscles. “When you don’t have shit else to do but work out for ten years, you’d look like me, too,” I told him. I turned my attention to the blonde beauty at his side, giving her a warm smile before I wrapped her up in my arms, pressing a kiss to her cheek. She blushed. The inmates hadn’t been lying. She really was a sweet, innocent, little thing. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Emmaline.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Likewise, Darren.”
Carter put his hand on my chest. “Uncle Darren?” he asked.
Ah, so my brother and sister-in-law had spoken to the little guy about me.
“Yes, Uncle Darren,” I told him, grinning at the boy. He was the spitting fucking image of James at that age, and it was slightly freaky.
He looked at James. “I like him,” Carter bluntly spoke, making me laugh with my brother.
James ruffled his hair. “I know you do, kiddo.” He took Carter from Emmaline and set him down. “It’s time for lunch. Go,” he ordered.
Carter took off running for the dining room, and a moment later, I heard Mrs. Judy scream in shock. James sighed and shook his head. “He has way too much energy,” he grumbled as he wrapped his arm around Emmaline, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head.
“Glad to see you finally settled down and happy,” I told James honestly. He deserved this.
He just shrugged, but the love he held in his eyes every time he looked at Emmaline spoke volumes.
I looked at my phone for the time, making a mental note to get a watch. “I need to eat something, and then, we can sit down and discuss what I need to do,” I told him. “I’m ready to get back into shit.”
James nodded, and the three of us walked towards the dining room. “Right now, I’ve got some paperwork you can look over.” I shot him a dark look. He only grinned. “But Adrian has a job to do tonight if you want to go with him.”
“How is that fucker?” I asked, mentioning one of our good, childhood friends.
“That fucker,” Adrian spoke up from behind us, “is just fucking dandy.”
