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Shortly after that incident, Randy had tried to enter Club 4 on its anniversary night. We had opened the club two years before and it was at the top of the city’s club scene. For theanniversary, we threw a huge three night party with special DJs, contests and drinks created just for the weekend.
Randy showed up with a group of his dealers and tried to get in the door. Gideon had put Randy’s photo with security the first night we opened and it was well known that he wasn’t permitted into the club. Aiden sent me to the offices to ensure I wasn’t a part of what came next.
Gideon and his men pushed Randy and his dealers back from the club. They had been trying to sling their products to the people in line and we had a strict no drug policy for Club 4. Gideon never told me everything Randy had said, but I was sure it was full of threats, which is when our cash payments to him started. We were three years into those payments and we’ve never varied, just to keep him away from us.
Now, I stared down at my phone and I knew without a doubt I couldn’t call him. There was no guarantee that he would even help us look for Brooklyn. More concerning for me was if he knew there was a woman out there that meant as much as Brooklyn did to us. It would be the leverage he needed to bring us back under his control.
I locked the screen and threw it on the bed. Pacing across the room, I tried not to think of what my woman was going through. There was no doubt that Lyle had her now, but we were in the dark with what his next steps would be. He had tried to kill her twice and I couldn’t stomach thinking that the third time was a charm for him.
Groaning, I sat back down on the bed, wishing for nothing more than to have the chance to bring Brooklyn there with me again. I was so angry with myself and my brothers for allowing the fight we had get in the way of how much she meant to us. She told us to not follow her, but I regretted actually listening to that request. I should have gone to Ash’s apartment and tossed her over my shoulder if she refused to listen to reason. Maybe wewere being too overbearing, but it was only because she was too important to us.
The pain in my chest since she left the house hadn’t lessened. There were moments I actually wondered if I was having a heart attack. I didn’t tell my brothers, because I didn’t want to discuss how badly I was handling her leaving us. And now that she was missing, I could barely breathe without pain lancing through me. It was as if Brooklyn had torn out my heart and packed it in her suitcase that day she left and now I was a hollow being, just wandering the world.
I knew the only thing that was going to fix me, fix my brothers, was Brooklyn. That reminder had me picking my phone up again. I wasn’t going to call Randy. I couldn’t give him leverage over us and put Brooklyn in even more danger. But I realized I might have a different way of getting help from some of the same people.
Scrolling, I clicked on a name I hadn’t called since I left the business. I knew the number hadn’t changed, because it was a business phone. But I wasn’t sure who would actually pick up the call.
“Yeah,”a voice said after the ringing stopped.
“Cain?”I asked.
Silence was all I got at first until the voice answered with a question.“Who’s asking?”
“I need to know it’s you first, Cain. You once trusted me with your Spiderman figure, which I popped the head off of,”I said, hedging with a hint to our history.
The story had the desired effect, as a loud laugh came through the line.
“Fucking, Jaxon! What in the hell are you calling me for, man?”Cain asked.
“Are you alone?”I asked.
“Weird first question after not hearing from you for, what has it been, 8 years?”He asked.
“Cain…”
“Yeah, man, I’m in the car. Alone. You sound like there’s trouble. Did your dad do something?”He asked.
“Can you meet up? Would be best to talk about this face to face.”
“Oh fuck, this must be serious if you’re willing to risk this. Yeah, my man, I can do that. Where?”
I sighed, not really wanting to have Cain in our home. I was almost positive I could trust the man I had grown up with. We had been neighbors and his father started dealing for my dad. Cain had run with Oliver and me for a while, but his mom took him away when she left his father. Cain came back once he was an adult, messed up after his mother had been killed in a car accident. He immediately fell into old habits with his dad, but I was on my way out with my brothers.
There was a time I wanted to offer a spot for Cain in our business. But Aiden and Gideon didn’t know him the way Oliver and I did. The debate was difficult, and the decision was even harder. I would never want Cain to know that we eventually agreed to not pull him out of my father’s business, because we couldn’t be positive about his loyalties. Now, I was willing to take that risk.
“Club 4. I’ll head there. Come to the back and I’ll let you in,”I said.
Cain agreed, and we hung up. I threw on sweats, changing out of the suit I had been wearing all day. I jogged down the stairs, finding Gideon just as he was leaving the kitchen. He had his phone to his ear, but he was saying goodbye as he turned his focus to me.
“That was the hospital. Frank should be waking up within the next few hours. He has a really positive prognosis. They’llcall me immediately so I can get down there to talk to him. Hopefully before the cops,”he said.
I nodded and slipped my feet into my Nike running shoes. He eyed my appearance for a moment and when his eyebrow went up in question, I paused to face him.
“I called Cain,”I said.
“Shit, Jaxon,”Gideon breathed.
“I couldn’t call Randy. I have a sick feeling that if he finds out about Brooklyn, he’ll use her as a pawn. I can’t have my father be another threat to her welfare,”I said.
