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I don't want to make her feel like I'm disrespecting her, but I also want to rip her off the sofa, drag her home, and not let her out ever again. How Tamlin of me. She told me about him, one of her redeemable book boyfriends. I genuinely think she prefers the men in books to me half the time but then again, they're made by women for women most of the time so who can blame her?
Back to the present, please, Crow.
Right.
"Why do you want to do that?" my dad asks her, his face clearing of emotion though from the small twitch of his brow, I know he's already made his decision. Fuck.
"It's either me or one other contender. A man from The Laidens that, from what I've been told, will run it to the ground. The Cobras are my family and I want to protect them in the same way that they've always tried to protect me. I want things to be as legal as possible, for them to be a part of society rather than be estranged from it. I want them to be a part of the local community that people feel they can come to if they need help, and I want future generations to have what I've had from them," she says as she lets out a breath, sits a little taller, and straightens her shoulders as she waits for my dad to say something.
Well, shit. I thought she was going to suggest that I take over the Cobras and I was worried that I'd have to ever so kindly refuse, but if this is the way she wants it to go, that includes a lot of change. But if anyone's capable of enforcing it, it's her. She's so much stronger than she realises. Her stubborn streak is made of iron, her mind made of tougher stuff than I've got in me, and her will and wit capable of anything. But she will need help. A lot of it. And there's no one else I'd trust to help her aside from myself.
Well, fuck. Here we go.
"I'd like to rescind my title and offer myself as a second for Charlie in the Cobras. I want to make the transition permanent and official," I tell my dad. I watch as my mother's face lights up even more, my dad smirks, and Zak rolls his eyes at me.
"You have that much trust in her or are you blinded by love?" my dad asks me after another moment of silence.
"It's got nothing to do with love. I believe in everything Charlie wants to do, and I want to help her achieve it, which I can't officially do unless my title is taken from me." It's the way it works in the Irish Mafia. You can't be an O'banian and a Cobra.
My dad looks between us, his gaze indecisive and curious.
"You'd be willing to give up your future for this?" my dad asks me.
I nod my head, not needing to expand on it. Charlie's eyes find mine as she gives me a gentle and tentative smile.
"Very well then. You both have my full support. When you become the Cobras President, I expect a merge as well, and so long as you're OK with that happening then Crow needn't give up his title."
"Can we have dinner now? I need a proper catch up with you all, and I want to get to know this handsome little so and so a bit better," my mum says as she wiggles her eyebrows at Liam. Ew. What the fuck is wrong with her? I take everything good back that I've ever said about my mum. Even worse is Liam lapping up the attention and Charlie finding it hilarious. Brilliant. Fucking brilliant.
"Was anyone going to tell me about this plan before you set it in motion?" Liam asks, frustrated as we walk back down the hall towards the entrance of the hotel.
"Not really, no," Charlie says dismissively as she does something on her phone. An abrupt laugh leaves me at her tone. She sounds like she's in charge already, though I suppose between the three of us, she is in charge. She knows well that both of us will do anything she says.
"Excuse me, I'm technically still the Cobras President, and what about your dad?" he asks, exasperated as he stares at her in horror.
"I'm texting him right now, and not for long you're not," she tells him with a sly grin and a condescending pat to his shoulder before she continues walking onward.
"Have you heard this?" Liam asks me as if I'm not finding the situation the most hilarious thing I've ever witnessed.
"Come on, we're going to see the Devils Dealers now. I don't want to be late." Char whistles through to us and clicks her fingers at us impatiently.
"We're going where?" I ask, confused. She cannot surely mean we're asking them for support as well. They hate us.
"Edgar said he'll help us if I put a good word in for him with Alice. I've already told her, I'm not lying to her about it but I also do think he's actually good for her," she says simply. Right. Right, sure.
"And what are we? Just your bodyguards?" Liam asks.
"Pretty much. Come on, my pretty little bodyguards, let's go. Stop being drama queens and move your butts, please. We're on a tight schedule."
Eighteen
Charlie
"You need to be quicker at dipping out from under me. You're tiny in comparison to him and if he catches you, you're pretty much done for, Char. The only way you're going to win this is if you can avoid him, wear him out, and then throw a sucker punch his way when he's not expecting it," Crow tells me as he helps me up from the floor again and begins circling me once more.
We've been at it for hours, with Liam watching and instructing from the sidelines, and although as we've already determined I can throw a decent punch, if I'm caught, I'm dead. Well, as good as.
The meeting with the Devils Dealers went as well as expected. With Alice, and therefore Edgar’s support, we could potentially have their help. Maybe.
