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Some days, it worries me how little my brother fears death.
"Keep her here," the kid answers, "and he won't stop." His line of sight shifts off us to the compound as though he searches for her. "You know how my old man resolves shit like this, Tyke."
"I do." He folds his arms, doubling his intimidating presence. "And that's my concern. She walks with you, and she may as well sign her death warrant. I don’t see how you can believe your own bullshit, sayin’ she’d be safer with you.”
Connor shakes his head. "Let her walk with me, and I'll prove it. I’ll make sure he keeps her alive purely to fuck with you."
“Gee.” Tyke frowns. “Sounds like a right bargain you’re offerin’ me there, kid.” He leans in, leering. “Issue is, for that to work, I’d have to give a fuck about her first.”
“You saying you don’t?” Connor mirrors the movement. “We all know why you want her, Tyke. What she knows? That’s fucking gold, right there. Diamonds, even.” He scoffs, dragging his gaze down my brother. “When else you gonna get an opportunity like that again, huh?”
“Who says I don’t already have one?”
I know where this is headed, even before Connor smiles. “You know he’d do it; keep her breathing as long as it makes your eye fucking twitch, knowing you lost.” He huffs a laugh out his nose. “We all know it fucks you right up when my father has things you want.”
“Ancient history, Connor,” I say before I find myself cleaning blood off the yard. “You want to stir shit? Find some new material.”
He grins, attention sliding to me. “I know she’s here, Digger.”
“Could be at any one of our affiliate houses,” I bluff.
"Sure.” He takes a step back, slinging thumbs in his belt loops. “That's why I've got the both of you cocks standing here with your chests puffed out, right?"
"Let it go, Connor.” All heads turn toward the garage at the sound of her husky voice.
Rae walks slowly toward our group, hands stiff at her sides, shoulders back. She tries so hard not to show fear that it draws attention to it anyway.
"I don't want you." She shrugs, stopping when she's two steps behind me. “I don’tloveyou. How could I? You manipulated me. Hurt me.” She rolls her jaw before adding, “Scaredme.”
"Rae, baby." He reaches an arm through the gates. “You know it was all for show, right?”
I wrap a firm palm around his wrist and use the iron bar to bend his elbow the wrong way. Not enough to break anything, just enough for him to care. "That's far enough, kid."
He jerks on my restraint, slipping his arm free when I let go. "You stay here," he warns her, "and you'll realize that anything I would have done is fucking child's play in comparison."
"You held a fucking knife to my throat when I told you I wanted to break up." Her eyebrows peak, nostrils flaring as she fights her emotions. “Was that for show? Huh? How could these men be worse than that?"
The blood boils in my veins, imagining one of those goddamn black oxide blades against the smooth skin of her neck.
"Ask them what happened to their last president," he dares her. "Ain't that right, Tyke?” Connor mocks. "Got a few secrets too, haven't you?"
The preternatural stillness to my brother means only one thing: we've got minutes before Terry gets called to come collect what remains of his son off our front yard. "That's enough," I growl, placing myself between Connor and his imminent death. "Get on home with you."
"You'll be begging me to come get you," he calls to Rae, pushing to his toes to see over my shoulder. "Give it a week, and you'll call me in the middle of the night again, only this time you'll be fucking sorry you didn’t listen."
"Fuck off, already." I shunt a hand through the bars to push him back toward his truck.His hand lifts, arm crossed over his body. The sheer frustration is enough to drive this kid to do stupid things, not to mention our existing history. "I wouldn'tif I were you."
His fingertips brush the hilt of the knife strapped to his left side—the biggest bastard of them all. His gaze flicks right, and I barely register Rae moving to stand beside my shoulder before the kid drops a sigh and his hand. "You're making a big mistake."
"So you keep telling me," she says squarely. "Yet the biggest mistake I ever made, Connor, was saying yes to you."
Tykesets a hand on her shoulder, his firmgripsteering her away from the gate. "Come on. We're done here."
She relents, allowing him to guide her toward the clubhouse. I stay sentinel, keeping an eye on Connor with my arms folded high and legs set wide. He watches the two of them for a moment before shoving the gates hard enough to make them rattle and then turning for the jacked-up truck. I remain at my post until the fucker has backedthe behemoth out of our driveway and jettisoned down the street in a rush of frustration.
The problem with a small town like this is everyone knows where you fucking live. And when the journey is so short, they have no issue with making the trip purely to spitin your eye.
For the umpteenth time, I dream of a life more remote.
