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“I thought we had a deal!” I begin, pointing my finger at Jack as I approach the table in wide and angry steps. “I stay out of your business and you stay out of mine—and out of DC!”
A frown spreads across Jack’s face and he shakes his head at me.
“We agreed to no such thing,” he says. “Besides, what the fuck are you talking about?”
I huff with disgust. “Don’t play dumb. The Velvet Rooms, last night, that’s on you guys, isn’t it?”
Jack and Carter exchange a look, but neither of them says a word, while Tyler rolls his eyes in the back. I knew it. They’re not even trying to deny it.
“Who paid you?” I implore. “Who hired you to throw some fucking smoke grenades at a kink club? And why?”
“What’s it to you?” Carter barks back at me. “And how do you even know about this?”
“I know this, because I was there when it happened,” I tell him — and his face derails.
“Dude, we didn’t—”
“Yes, of course you didn’t know!” I exclaim. “You’re not supposed to know, just like you’re not supposed to be fucking around in DC! That’s my city! If you want to expand outside Boston, why not stick to Providence down in Rhode Island? The network is still solid on Federal Hill, you just need to work it.”
“Providence is overrated,” my brother Jack laments. “Besides, we never agreed on staying out of DC and—”
“Yes, we did!” I cut him off. “Just stay the fuck away from me! There’s plenty of shit for you to fuck up over here, why can’t you just leave me alone?”
“Wedidleave you alone!” Carter insists. “Chill, would you? This was just an unlucky coincidence. Don’t be such a baby about inhaling a little smoke, because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
I glare at him, before I turn away to foot over to the fridge next to where Tyler is sitting. The thing is small but filled to the brim with beer, just as I expected. It may be early, but I need something to calm me down—otherwise I might rip someone’s head off.
“Why are you so worked up about this?” Jack implores. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
I hate how well he knows me. Jack is the second born among us and only two years younger than me, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he can read me like no other.
“I invested in this club,” I reveal, and the beer fizzles as I open the can in my hands. “You attacked one of my new business endeavors.”
No one says a word, but I can feel their eyes—even Tyler’s—on me as I walk over to an empty chair at the other side of the table, sitting down opposite of my brothers before I take a swig of beer.
“You bought a sex club?!” Carter bursts out. “That’swhat you call going clean?”
They share a laugh at my expense, to which I have nothing to retort other than a quiet glare. Of course, they’d laugh at that. They don’t know any better and they have no idea what I’m trying to do. They will never understand.
“I didn’t buy it, I invested in it,” I clarify. “And I want to know how the fuck it ended up as a target for your bullshit.”
“Money,” Jack replies,quick like a shot. “What else?”
I scoff. “Whose money? Who paid you? And why?”
Jack and Carter shake their heads in unison.
“You know we can’t tell you that,” Jack says. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Just some random moneybags who don’t like their new neighbors.”
“Besides, it was a one-time thing, total fluke,” Carter adds. “If we had known that you’re… involved with that establishment, we wouldn’t have done it. It was more of a favor, we owed someone.”
“Damn straight,” Jack agrees. “We’re good here, even without you.”
I roll my eyes at him, but he just shrugs.
“Listen, we may not like your decision, but we respect it,” Jack adds, pinning me down with a stern look. “We are not trying to get in your way, you can trust me on that.”
“Me too. All of us,” Carter piles on—and all our eyes wander to Tyler, who hasn’t said a single word since I entered the room.
