Brax (17 page)
Authors: Jayne Blue
“How’s she holding up?”
Colt met me right outside the diner. I could see Kellan
sitting in a booth with Nicole. She looked young and small and so tired.
Colt raised a brow and held out his hand to shake mine and pull
me close for a second. We slapped each other on the back then I leaned against
the car door. She couldn’t see me from this angle and that was just as well. I
needed to sort some shit with Colt before I could talk to her.
“She’s strong,” Colt said. “She gets it. She’ll be okay.”
I nodded. “You take care of her brother?”
“Tate’s handling it. He’s probably at the Canadian border by
now. He’s got a pocketful of cash, fake ID and directions to a safe house in
Vancouver. From there he’s got a bed at a rehab facility.”
“You actually think he’s going to go?”
Colt shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Fifty-fifty
shot, maybe. But we’ve done all we can. The rest is up to him. And she gets
that too. They said their goodbyes.”
“How?”
I clenched my fist at my side, my trigger finger itching
again.
Colt sighed and closed his eyes. “Dirty cop. Davis. He’s
disappeared. She said he showed up at her place making her think they’d picked
up Doug. Once she figured out he wasn’t on the up and up, he chloroformed her.”
“Jesus.” I dropped my head. Colt put a hand on my shoulder and
jerked me hard.
“She’s okay. You hear me? Not a scratch on her. He was a
delivery boy. Nothing more.”
Then the rest of it sunk in. A dirty cop on the Lincolnshire
P.D. I raised my head and looked at Colt. His eyes flashed and a pit formed in
my stomach.
“Jase,” I said.
Colt nodded. “Davis must have known something was up when the
heroin disappeared from Nicole’s place. He had to have put it together that
Jase got there first.”
“Fuck, man. That could land hard on him. Did Davis do any
damage to him before he went to ground?”
Colt’s grim expression told me everything I needed to know. If
Jase were lucky, he’d just lose his job. I felt sick.
“Don’t, man. Don’t even. This isn’t on you. If anyone, it’s on
me. I should have listened to you from the beginning and gone after the
Brigands weeks ago. Jase can take care of himself. But as far as the police are
concerned, we’re on our own. We don’t have a friend there anymore.”
I nodded and slapped him on the back again. “Still, I’m
sorry.”
“Well, thanks. Now you better go in there and see to your
girl. She’s tough, but she’s been through hell today.”
I took a breath and straightened my back. Of all the things
I’d seen and done today, this was going to be the hardest.
Kellan gave me a look over Nicole’s shoulder. He reached
across the table and touched her hand. Then he got up and walked past me.
God, I loved her. Too much. A thousand times in the last few
hours I’d felt what it would be like to lose her. And I vowed I’d never let it
happen. She got to her feet and came into my arms. She felt so good. Strong.
Sweet. Real.
“You okay?” I kissed her. The tracks of her dried tears ran
down her cheeks. Seeing them tore me up. Even though I knew I hadn’t caused
them all. I also knew I was about to cause more. But it would be better for her
in the long run.
“I’m better now that you’re here.”
“I’m sorry,” I said as I slid into the booth beside her. I
held her to me, wanting to feel her pulse beating against my chest. “I should
have left someone with you.”
“It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known. He was a cop. I
thought it would be okay to go with him. I should have checked with you first.”
“Even if you had, I don’t know if I would have suspected
anything wrong.”
“It’s over. I’m okay.”
“It’ll get worse. You’re okay now but you’re in for a rough
couple of days once the shock wears off.” I held her hand in mine, tracing the
webbed lines of her palm. But she sensed something. My baby already knew me
that well.
“Brax, what are you doing?”
I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed her. “I thought I
could work this out. But I can’t. What happened today is going to keep
happening as long as you’re in my world.”
She shook her head. “What happened today happened because my
brother is messed up. You think I blame you for any of that? Brax, you saved my
life. If you hadn’t been . . .” She hiccupped and put a hand to her mouth. This
was going to hit her so hard once the shock wore off and I hated that I
couldn’t be there for her. But the break had to be clean if she was ever going
to be safe again.
“Nicole, what happened today is my life. We were lucky. This
time. But it’s always going to be something. We’ve got corruption in the police
department now. That has to be dealt with. The Brigands are neutralized for
now, but they’re going to retaliate at some point. I won’t have you in the
crossfire again. Now I’ve made arrangements to have your place cleaned up. In
fact, it should already be done by the time you get home. Tate’s outside and
he’s going to drive you.”
“Stop it.” She held her hand up and looked toward the window.
Something broke inside of her as she looked toward me. Or maybe it was
something broken inside of me.
“I love you. And I’m sorry. I really thought things had changed
for this club. In some ways they have. But not for me. What you saw today,
that’s who I am. Who I’ll always be.”
“Brax, you saved my life.”
“This time. But the blood on my hand doesn’t wash off. I
thought it did. I was kidding myself. Not anymore. You deserve to be with
someone safe and normal.”
“There is no safe and normal.”
“Yes. There is. And you need to go find it. You’ll never have
it with me.”
I reached for her. I mean, to hold her hand and kiss her one
last time. But she wouldn’t let me. She didn’t cry. She didn’t beg. Her armor
slid back into place and she became the tough girl who came into
The Den
asking for help.
She stiffened and pulled away from me. “Fuck you,” she said
through hot tears. “So this is it then? You’re going to turn your back on me?
Just like every other person I’ve ever loved? God, I don’t know why I’m
surprised. You’re like all the others. I get it. So don’t bother. I can find my
own way home.”
“Nicole . . .”
“Just go, Brax. Leave.”
She’d turned to stone. The tears had left her eyes and she sat
rod straight. Her shield was back in place. It tore at me to do it, but I did
what she asked. I rose slowly, towering over her. I wanted to tell her I was
sorry a thousand more times, but she was no longer listening.
So I gave her what she wanted. Though it tore my insides to
shreds, I walked away to keep her safe.
Nicole
Two Months Later
Melinda and I collapsed exhausted into a booth after she
locked the door on the last customer to leave.
Ridley’s
Grand Reopening
celebration had brought the whole town out in droves. I’d had my biggest sales
day in over a decade.
“You know, adjusted for inflation, I think our take today was
bigger than the Reagan visit.”
Mel laughed and put her feet up on the seat next to me.
“Halleluiah!” She jangled her apron. I knew she’d switched it out at least
twice.
“Well, that ought to pay off some of your books.”
She smiled. “You’d think. Those suckers are expensive!”
I put a hand across the table and covered hers. “I’m going to
miss you. Florida? Are you sure?”
“You can come and visit me. I mean, you
better
come and
visit me. The shop can survive without you for a few days. And I’m sick of
these brutal winters. Hell, maybe we can even scout property for a
Ridley’s
South
?”
“That would be heaven.”
“You promise you’re going to get out when I’m not around? I
mean it. No backsliding. You need to live a little, Nicole. I’ll have my spies
checking up on you. I hear about you brooding or not getting out from behind
the counter, or any other signs of you turning into a shut-in, I’m coming after
you.”
“Promise?”
“On pain of death.”
“Well, then I guess I’d better listen.”
“Seriously, what are your plans for the weekend?”
“Weekend? What’s a weekend?”
Mel lobbed a dish towel at me, which I neatly dodged. Then she
leaned over and grabbed the hot pink flyer from the counter. I made a policy
of letting local businesses and event planners advertise. She waved the flyer
at me then slapped it on the table. It was an advertisement for my fifteen-year
class reunion. I’d actually been approached to work on the planning committee
but turned them down.
“You going to this? You’d be surprised how many people have
asked me.”
I let out a breath. “Those things are pathetic, don’t you
think?”
“What? Are you nuts? You go, you see who got fat, who got
divorced. It’s a blast.”
“Isn’t that what social media is for?”
“Nah. You want the live show. Plus, you’re still smoking hot.
Isn’t there some mean girl whose face you’d like to rub it in?”
“Mmm. Sounds delightful, but no.”
“Oh, that’s right.
You
were the mean girl, right? Prom
Queen or something?”
“Homecoming Queen. And I was delightful.”
“Even worse. Well, it’s tomorrow night. I’ll still be here to
ride your ass about it so why don’t you show me what you’re planning on
wearing. Then I’ll snort with disdain and loan you something from my closet.
Which you’ll look better in than I do. Shit, no, we’ll stick to your closet.”
“When do you leave for Florida again?”
Mel looked around but she’d already thrown the towel at me.
She had to satisfy herself with just flipping me off.
“I’ll think about it. How’s that?”
“A step in the right direction.”
I sighed and put my feet up next to her. If I didn’t get up
soon, we were both going to fall asleep right there in the booths.
“Have you heard from him?” she asked and my heart stopped for
a second. She didn’t ask me often. In fact, this was probably only the second
time. I shook my head.
“Well, maybe no news is good news, you know?”
“I hope so.”
I bit my lip and stared out the window. I’d said a furtive
goodbye to Doug that last night. He’d made me a promise that he’d turn his life
around. Get clean. But I’d let him go. Just one more person in a long line that
I’d had to say goodbye to in the last few months.
“Enough of that,” I said, slapping my hands on the table. “No
more sad stories. We have a going-away party to plan for you. And then you’re
going to hurry up and get your degree. Then maybe you can come back and run
this place with me. At some point I’m going to need a new manager.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “I can’t do this by myself forever. And I have
plans.”
Mel steepled her fingers under her chin and her eyes lit up.
“Tell me.”
“He went about it the wrong way, but I think my dad’s idea about
selling our product in stores was a good one. I’ve got some meetings lined up.
I’m going to go forward with it.”
Mel took my hands in hers. “Nic, that’s fantastic. Oh, I’m so
happy for you.”
“For us. I wasn’t kidding about what I said. I want you to
help me. Think about it?”
She cried. Big, fat, happy tears. Then she shook my hand. Then
she launched herself across the booth and hugged me. We stayed up late that
night, making plans. Then I swear we ate half of our product before Melinda
finally headed home for the night.
As I closed the door to the shop and watched her drive off, I
felt hope for the first time in a long time. I
could
make the business
work. It
was
a good idea. And now I knew I didn’t have to do it alone.
I flipped the lights off and started toward the stairs to my
apartment. The class reunion flyer had floated to the ground and I picked it
up. Then I crumpled it and tossed it behind the counter.
Brax
The space
was better than I could have dreamed. The
high rise next to the Great Wolves Gym had gone on the market right when we
needed it to. Colt and I stood in the center of the rundown lobby and lit our
cigars.
“You sure this is gonna happen?” I asked. The place was filthy
right now. Papers were strewn everywhere. Cobwebs. Broken glass. Eight years
ago, it had been an art deco masterpiece. But when the owners abandoned it, the
place had gotten the reputation as a crack den. When we started cleaning up the
area and put the gym up, we changed all of that. Now the place was ours and I
saw past all the mess to what we could make of it.
What
I
could make of it.
“Great Wolves Security,” Colt said. “And I think you have your
first client. The mayor’s given approval for the stadium project on the
waterfront. Once construction starts they’re going to want someone to sit on
it. It’s not glamorous but the money will be good. Then, once that’s up and
running, we’ll have VIPs coming through here. I’m even thinking about
approaching some of the promoters to have some title bouts down there.”
“Thank you. I’ve said it a million times. But I’ve never meant
it more.”
Colt took a long drag on his cigar and smiled. “You’ve earned
it and you know it.”
Still, it felt damn good to hear him say it.
“You heard from Jase?” I asked. We hadn’t talked about him
much, but I knew his brother’s fate weighed heavy on Colt’s mind. He’d been
sacked over suspicions of evidence tampering in the
Ridley’s
break-in.
Davis the dirty cop had disappeared, but not before making real trouble for
Jase. Trouble we couldn’t help him out of. So Jase had been scapegoated and run
out of town.
Colt shook his head. “He’s AWOL. Sold his house practically
overnight.”
“He’s okay though. You know that.”
Colt nodded. “I know he can take care of himself. He’ll reach
out when he wants to.” He looked down and pain etched new lines in his face.
Jase and Colt’s relationship hadn’t always been an easy one. For years they’d
been on opposite sides of the law. Now, just when they were on the same side
more or less, Jase had lost everything because of us.
“I’m still sorry about everything that happened with him.”
“And I’m still gonna tell you not to be. If there’s any blame,
it’s mine for not acting when you wanted me to. I owed you that. That and a
hell of a lot more. Now let’s not be so fucking morose. You coming over for
dinner? Amy’s been riding my ass about it for weeks. She’s worried you’re
turning into a hermit. And the kids keep asking about their Uncle Brax.”
“Ha. Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint any of them.”
“Good. And she says you have to bring a date.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Shit. Don’t tell me.”
Colt laughed. “Oh, yeah. It was a straight-up threat. Bring
someone or she’s going to fix you up.”
“I’m good, thanks. Sam can be my date. Or Amy can work on him.
I’m off the market. For good.”
“You got something you want to tell me?”
“Nope. Bachelor biker. Dyed in the wool.”
Colt shook his head and slapped me. “Well, now that we’ve got
the security firm real estate issue figured out, you can stop using it as an
excuse. I love you, man, but you’re an idiot for letting that girl get away.”
“Don’t start. Seriously.”
“I am fucking serious. She’s the one, Brax. I’ve known you a
long time. I trust you with my life. So I’m going to do you a favor you did for
me a few years ago. You and the rest of the guys saved me from making the
biggest mistake of my life not so long ago. You got behind me when I needed
you. You took Amy in as one of our own.”
“Amy’s different. She was already family.”
“Yeah, well, so is Nicole.”
It hit me like an anvil in the gut. Colt considered Nicole
family because he knew I loved her. And I still fucking did. I thought the
shock of everything that happened would hit her the hardest after the dust
settled. Maybe it had, but it had hit me just as bad. But she was safe. She was
clear of my choices and her brother’s.
“And you think you’re doing yourself and her a favor by living
alone.” Fucking Colt. Maybe he had telepathy with more than just his natural-born
brother. “You’re not. I know you’re miserable. I can only imagine that she is
too. So fucking do something about it.”
“It’s too late. And I will not be the reason she gets hurt.”
“It’s time, Brax. Look around. We’re not in the darkness
anymore. You hang on to it like we are and I get why. You’ve shouldered so much
more than the rest of us. I know that. But I’m making you a promise. You don’t
have to anymore. And you deserve her. Do you hear what I’m saying, man? You
deserve to have someone like her in your life. You’re not this monster you like
to believe you are. She
sees
you. You hear me? She
sees
you. And
God help her, she loves you anyway.”
The first thing he said felt like an anvil. This felt like a
flaming fucking dart straight through the heart. I couldn’t breathe. Colt
stepped forward and put an arm around me. “You’re a fucking wreck without her,
my brother. Consider this an intervention. Now go do something about it before
it really is too late.”