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Once my brother lumbers into the next room, the kid visibly relaxes, and that’s when it happens… she takes the bear. Crushing it to her chest, she sighs. It’s a content sort of sound. Exactly what I needed to hear after a long, gory day. Four men got dead by my hand in the hotel, all of them scum of the earth, not fit to breathe the same air as me. The Devil better have himself a hay-fuckin-day with those bastards—tie ‘em up and let ‘em burn for eternity.
Not botherin’ with hello, my blood brother joins me at the end of the girls’ bed, kneeling as I do on the scarred hardwood. She takes one look at him and then continues to play with the bear. It ain’t hard to see we’re related. Kids in school often confused us ‘til he beefed up.
“How’s it goin’?” he asks, knocking a shoulder with mine.
“Fine.”
I know what he wants—information—on Kit and Adam. Someone let the news slip of the kid and his mother. I haven’t told my brother about them yet. Wasn’t planning on it ‘til I was ready. I’m still not ready. It’s bad enough I ignored her texts all day. Haven’t read a single one on account of what they might say. Don’t think I’m ready to know. But this damn phone sure is burnin’ a hole in my back pocket.
Reading my tone like any brother would, Bonez doesn’t push for more and turns his attention to the kid. “Who ya got there? She’s a pretty bear.”
The cutie dances the toy in her lap and shrugs bashfully.
“You gonna name her?” he asks.
Another shrug is all she offers.
“I think she looks like a…” Bonez scratches his goatee in exaggerated thought. If he wasn’t tryin’ to put on a show for the girl, I’d smack him upside the head for the antics. Instead, I do what any good sibling would and play along.
Pursing my lips together, I scrunch my face in constipated deliberation as I join Bonez on the important search for the perfect teddy name.
“Theodore?” he suggests after a moment.
The lil one shakes her head, wearing the prettiest of crooked smiles. There’s an adorable gap between her two front teeth.
Turning my nose up at the perfectly acceptable name, I roll my eyes at Bonez. “Try again, old man.”
“Hey. Who you callin’ old?” A shoulder collides with mine hard. Going with the flow, I topple over onto the floor like an overgrown oaf. Making it a bigger spectacle, I bitch up a PG-13 under-breath storm at the disrespect. Drawing all the attention in the room, girls and women alike chuckle at my expense. I eat it up, knowing this might be the first they’ve laughed in ages.
Still not finished with me, Bonez throws both muscled arms in the air with flourish. It’s fuckin’ spectacular. “That is what ya get for callin’ me old.”
Curling into a ball on my side, an arm propping my head up, I glare at him. “Oh yeah?”
He meets my glare with one of his own. “Yeah.”
“It’s not my fault you can’t pick proper bear names,” I taunt.
“Theodoreisadequate.” Faux offended, Bonez flicks the side of my calf.
I pretend to kick his advance away with a girlish gasp. “Real mature, Bonez. Real. Mature. I think you’d better ask the bear’s owner what a suitable name is.”
The girl in question touches her belly as she trembles in silent laughter, tears streaming down both cheeks. In the corner of the room, fellow brothers record our performance on their phones. Good thing this can’t wind up on YouTube. This kinda fun isn’t for worldly consumption, only those I trust and give a damn about.
Doing as he’s told, Bonez waggles his eyebrows at the kid. “Fine. All right. Theodore doesn’t work. What’s the bear’s name, sweetheart?”
Just like that… the room goes lax, the amusement fading to a simmer as we await her response. I get off the floor to rejoin my brother. The beautiful kid combs a nervous hand through her hair, knowing she’s been put on the spot. All eyes look at her. I urge her forward with a smile. She’s got this. I know it. The entire room knows it.
Her lips part, close, then part again. She peeks at my cut, reading my name patch letter for letter.
“Gunz,” she mutters. “Her name is Gunz.”
Good God.
My heart… I rub the damn thing as it explodes like a balloon full of glitter. The pink-and-purple kind, in case you were wondering.
Fuck.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
