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Brooks eyed Steele with not a small amount of hero worship.
Grady understood that look. It was the same one that had likely been on his face when he’d first met Steele. Even though they were both thirty-nine, sometimes Grady still felt that hint of hero worship.
Steele took no shit from anyone. He was a hard man.
But when you were in with him . . . then you were all the way in. Sometimes, that wasn’t always a great thing because they were both men who liked to be in control.
But most of the time, it was.
Because he was family.
The only family Grady had. The only one he claimed, anyway.
And he was Steele’s family.
“Those boys that attacked me that day . . . they all apologized.”
Steele crossed his arms over his chest. “Did they?”
“Yep. One of them looked like he was gonna piss himself while he did it. You did that, didn’t you?”
Steele didn’t reply.
“I looked into you. You were a cage fighter for years. And you were good at it.” Brooks cleared his throat. “And you own a stripper bar. Where my aunt works.”
Fuck. Had he heard about everything else?
Brooks looked off into the distance. “And I’ve heard that you don’t always operate on the right side of the law.”
Yep. Fuck.
“And you think that makes me a bad person?” Steele asked calmly.
“My aunt works for you both. I want her to be safe. I have to keep her safe. She’s all I have. I’m all she has.”
“No,” Steele said quietly. “You were all she had. She was all you had. Now, you have us too.”
“Why?”
“We care about your aunt. We want to look after her. And you.”
“Steele, this might be too much,” Grady warned. “He’s only a kid.”
Brooks frowned at him. “I’ve got to protect my aunt. He gets that.” He pointed at Steele.
“Here’s the thing, Brooks,” Steele said. “Yeah, I operate outside the law sometimes. But I care about your aunt. A lot. I’ve only known her a short time, so I’m trying not to overload her. But she has my protection.”
“What if your otherworkcomes back on Effie? What if you’re putting her in danger?”
“I won’t allow that to happen.” Steele kept his gaze steady on Brooks.
The kid nodded.
“Your aunt only deals with our legal operations,” Grady said carefully. He still wasn’t certain that this was a good conversation to have with him.
“Aunt Effie seems like she’s naive, she’s always trying to see the good in people. And she doesn’t like to upset anyone. But don’t think she’s stupid,” Brooks warned. “She’s not. I’m sure she knows something.”
Steele nodded. “She said she’s heard rumors.”
