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And Perry and his familiarity.
Those fuckers know each other. . .
“I’ve been keeping an eye on her for you.”Jimmy’s wordshiss through my mind.
I’m going to find out exactly what that means, old boy, and if my girl wants to shoot you in the face, I’m going to show her how.
I’m still not sure what he knows, what he presumes, what he thinks is going down, but he’s unpredictable and that isn’t usually his style.
Feeling a pull to go back to her, I fight it. If I could stay with her all night, maybe fuck her slow while she sleeps, maybe lick her skin, or just hold her close to my chest to remind her she isn’t fucking alone, I would.
My phone buzzes, distracting me from my thoughts. Knowing it’s my old man summoning me, I take the hallway towards Dad’s office.
When I enter, he rises and approaches quickly. My Dad looks so much like my beautiful Max - same disapproving scowl, same beefcake physique. He’s just an old beaten version with badarse scars from years of professional boxing. He’s still scary-as-shit, but in a tailored two-piece suit, he could easily be a self-important CEO on his way to a job in the CBD. “You ever get shot again, you better damn tell me or I’ll break your nose for disrespecting me. I had to find out from Jimmy that my own son got shot.”
I open my arms, offering the grumpy old man a cuddle. “I missed you too, Dad.”
He stops an arm’s length away, ignoring my outstretched hands, and stares at my chest with a demand screaming from his concerned face. “Show me what happened.”
A light smile hits my lips as I tug my shirt off and tuck it into the back of my jeans. He looks at the wound, hardly distinguishable against the backdrop of an inked red diamond. “I thought we agreed you would say you got away after the shootout? You dumb fuck! What if you had died? What do you think your brothers would do? They’d burn Darwin to the goddamn ground.”
“That would be a waste of a beautiful holiday destination.” I chuckle, but he eyes me like he’s about to make good on his threat. “I knew exactly where to shoot. I’m fine,” I say, which is half true. What I didn’t expect was how long it would take the ambulance to get to me and how much blood I would lose in the meantime. “There is no way I would’ve let anyone shoot at Sal and not gone after them,” I state adamantly. “I’d never leave him to be picked off. Jimmy knows that. It was the only way. I did what I had to do.”
Dad’s eyes dart over my shoulder as the office door opens. I twist and grin at the sight of my little brother Xander, who is sighing roughly and shaking his head. He’s a pretty fucker, my little bro - still boyish even at twenty-two. “Don’t shake your head at me. Come give your big brother a fucking cuddle,” I order as he approaches. I know I should be in a worse mood given the night that just past, but I can’t seem to settle on anger alone, being home with my family and knowing my beautiful distraction is upstairs in my bed.
Xander bands his arms around me, and I squeeze the little shit hard. Not so little now, really, having been bulking up with his daily boxing obsession.
“You’re going to get yourself killed one day.” He tightens his arms around me. “I’m not going to survive that, Bron.”
“You’re going to outlive all of us, buddy. So you’ll have to survive it.” I release him and move over to Dad’s bar, in need of a coffee, before serious discussions commence. “More important things to talk about. Sit down.” I look at Dad, who is red faced and ready to pummel me. I chuckle to myself, saying, “You too, old man. Sit down.”
Dad moves over to sit behind his desk. He leans back and waits for me to speak. His forehead is tight, brows furrowed - he’s unimpressed. I’m cool with it. It’s just because the big softy loves me. Xander sits on the chair opposite him while I sip the coffee I poured. Pressing my shoulder to the wall, I eye them both. “It’s done,” I confirm. “I have the diamonds. Sal is out of the way.”
Xander looks down, trying to hide the pain he feels at the loss of his cousin. He knew the deal. It doesn’t make it any easier for the kid. “It was quick, buddy. He got laid right before. We had a great send off for him,” I say reassuringly, but he doesn’t feel things the way I do. I’ve known that for a long time. I can compartmentalise with ease. He can’t.
Dad doesn’t flinch, evermore the fixed-faced man I grew up with, but I’m certain that deep inside that scarred heart of his, he feels pangs of grief for the boy he watched grow up alongside his own.
My little brother presses his palms to his face, shaking his head into them. I hate that my actions cause him sorrow, feeling heat in my veins at the sight of it. He doesn’t fill the room with his grief, but nor do we disregard his feelings. I feel it too. I’ll miss him, but we can’t have Sal in the picture when taking down his uncle. It had to be done. Xander knows this. “Demarco is dead too.” I pause as Xander raises his head, wide eyed with uncertainty. “I’ve sent the tattoo on his neck to his boss as a gift.”
“What?” Dad leans forward on his desk. “To Dustin?”
A grin spreads across my cheeks, and a flutter begins in my chest. Thinking about the threat Demarco made on my girls, I grin wider still, but it doesn’t feel nice at all. It feels manic. “It’s being couriered by boat to the docks at Stormy River,” I continue. “It’s where he’s been hiding out. He’ll get it in a few days.”
“Jesus Christ,” Xander mutters. “What if he suspects us?”
“He will. He does. It’s why I had to take a bullet. But Demarco let slip that Jimmy isn’t happy with Dustin. That Dustin isn’t happy with Jimmy,” I say, staring at Dad. The look of disapproval has slipped from his face, replaced by intrigue and something else entirely. Something I can’t read. “I suppose Jimmy didn’t like the spectacle at the auction after all.”
Dad offers the roguish of smiles. “Dustin loves his place beside Jimmy, boys. I bet he doesn’t enjoy being put on the side-lines like this.”
I share a smirk with my dad. “I bet he doesn’t.”
“What will sending him the tattoo achieve?” Xander asks, looking between us questioningly.
“I want him paranoid, beautiful brother,” I state, looking into his wide blue eyes. “So when he receives his oldest friend’s skin, he’ll know someone means business. But I’m not entirely sure he’ll go to Jimmy with this information, given their issues with each other. One man down. One man weaker. I want them all suspicious. At odds. I want them all to fuck up. Just like Jimmy did last night.”
Dad tenses. “How so?”
“He showed me his cards,” I state, amusement moving through my voice. “He’s nervous. I’d say. . . he’sveryfucking nervous. The stupid idiot flexed his muscles yesterday and showed me he doesn’t trust me. And that. . . he never has.” I continue the story, recounting what happened with Shoshanna. With Perry. He’s been watching her . . . the extent of which I will find out. These are secrets and lies he’s had locked up for decades, and I’m cracking the bitches open.
