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I’d seen pieces of a dad who cared in his own way over the years. Bits of some half-assed attempt to try and be there for me. But his version of that was killing anyone who tried to harm me and wanting to be praised afterward like he was some sort of superhero swooping in to save the day. Except he had a gun, cases of them, and men who’d lay down their lives for him and me. That wasn’t a hero. Not in my eyes.
Getting out of there, away from him, was one of the best things I ever did, but I knew I couldn’t go far. So, I stayed in the city I’d grown to hate. Stayed in the place that had no love for me. And I built something for myself. Something I could call mine.
I didn’t despise it anymore. I learned to love my little slice of the world where my shop was. Where I could do what I was passionate about. It wasn’t enough to fill all the dark, empty places inside me, although it was better than a hollow existence.
Then Dexen Dremest entered my life. I had been coming back from a family gathering in West Dremest and stopped at a grocery store near the creek that divided the west side of the city from the east. It was like I swallowed my damn tongue the first time I saw him.
Copper hair, that damn button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows to show off his solid arms, and the nicest ass a pair of slacks had ever adorned.
I was done. Knockdown, dragged out, I was obliterated from that point on.
Dexen didn’t care who I was, who my dad was, outside of making sure I was safe. He knew of me, of course, since he practically ruled West Dremest with Junior’s side of the family. I was the elusive cousin Dexen didn’t meet until that night. It amazed me our paths hadn’t crossed before, given the charity dinners my dad liked to show his face at and sometimes forced me to go to with him. Ones the Dremests also attended.
Kismet. That was Dexen and me back then. Now too, along with Greer.
I locked down my currently sappy heart when I pulled up to the building my dad resided in. I didn’t bother with the underground garage, simply parked on the street. No one was going to fuck with my beat-up old truck.
Armed guards met me at the door, patted me down, and sent me on my way up to the floor my dad was on. With every floor I passed, my anger grew. I couldn’t show up here emotional. He didn’t respect that, not that he respected me much to begin with. The anger fueled me though, reminded me why I was here.
The doors slid open, and I strode into the ostentatious place I hated with the fire of a thousand suns. My dad was on the couch, lounged back with a glass of whiskey in his hand.
“Son,” he said in greeting. One of his guys would have told him I was on my way up.
I stopped in front of him. “Tell me you had nothing to do with someone repeatedly breaking into Dexen’s home.”
He sat up straighter, his eyes darkening. He didn’t like being accused and he most certainly didn’t like the way I was speaking to him. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t give me your shit. I’ve lived and breathed it my whole life. Just tell me.”
Jordan Altair Sr., the man who helped create me, slowly rose to his feet so he could stare me in the eye. “You don’t come to my home and demand things of me.”
I scoffed, “You’ve done the same to me. How many times have you sent Malik or someone else to fetch me? Saying no wasn’t an option. I came to you for an answer. That’s all. You’re the one who wanted me with Dexen. You got your wish. I need to know it’s not you going after him.”
“The only reason you’re still standing is because you’re my fucking son,” he bit out. “And it’s the same reason I’m going to answer you. But if you ever come in here again like you just did, you won’t walk out the same man.”
“I’m fucking shaking.”
He laughed. A real one, not that fake shit. It was loud enough it startled me and made me jump slightly. “There are days when I wonder where I went wrong with you.”
“If you need examples…” I had… oh, about a million of them.
“You have some of me in you, no matter how much you don’t want it. To answer your question, even though the respect you’ve shown me since you walked in here is nonexistent, I had nothing to do with Dexen’s home. Barry told me you asked him and that Dexen isn’t the only man you’re in a relationship with.”
“Greer is off-limits,” I growled. The old man already liked Dexen, but the Lynx brothers didn’t rank the same.
“You care for him.” It wasn’t a question. He knew by my reaction I did.
“I love him and if you lay a goddamn finger on him, or if anyone under you does, I’m coming for your head.”
He held my gaze with his hazel eyes. The ones I was glad I didn’t inherit from him. “I wouldn’t do that to you. Consider him off-limits and the brother since he’s with Junior.”
“Dominic too.” I didn’t need to add Dexen. He was already safe.
His jaw ticked. “You don’t get to ask me for anything else.”
“Wouldn’t fucking dream of it.”
These men, Dominic, Peyton, Greer, and Dexen, they were my family. It was how I thought of them. Junior already was. My dad wouldn’t go after his nephew, not unless he had a hell of a good reason.
