The Fighter's Block (32 page)

Dani sighed, not even attempting to hide the worry on her face. Brian was still in their lives, and where that was going to lead was unknown.

However, she decided to change the subject when she said, “About the station…”

Van didn’t respond at first. Sh
e thought he would reconsider—r
ealize how hasty he’d been because of the e
motions from the night before—b
ut eventually he just shook his head. “I don’t think I can.”

“I don’t understand. I thought you loved it.”

Van took his time answering. The timing
of that change in his life
, he thought, had ruined everything. “I’m twenty-five years old, D. There is little that I’ve ac
complished in my life. I
used to
have a
minor
record with the law,
but I’ll always have
a bad reputation because of my father. I’m a fighter, a guy that has made a living by keeping his brains in tact while trying to scramble someone else’s.”

Dani slightly winced.

“It’s who I am,” he continued. With a sigh he said, “Mickey got me in with the department. He had some connections
so I started volunteering there a few years ago
. My record disappeared, but my reputation didn’t. It was like being the new guy in school, the one that everybody forms an alliance against. Besides Ian and
Dicky
, I really don’t feel that camaraderie that a man should feel in a unit like that.
I have the respect, but not the brotherhood.
Not like my
real
brothers in the ring. They’re different. I know they’d never leave me out on a limb; I know they’d never hang me out to dry.”

Dani nodded her understanding. She wished he felt differently, but she did understand. At the same time, she want
ed to mention Quincy’s betrayal
but she knew not to. He was the exception
, and Van silently acknowledged that
.

“I want you to be happy,” she said. “I want you to make your own choice because it’s what
you
want.”

“I was a dif
ferent guy when you met me.
I was trying something different to find a direction
for myself
.”

“You’re the same guy, Van. There’s nothing about you that’s there just because of a career choice.”

“Exactly, which means the bad is still there too.”

“The bad? What bad are we talking about?”

He licked his lower lip, unafraid of the conversation, but slightly unnerved by it. “I am my father’s son.”

She rolled her eyes, not out of disrespect but from pure disagreement. “Maybe your existence came from him,
but you’re your own man
. And I don’t want to hear this shit about how you’re like him
more than I think, or that you’re not a good guy and all that. It is absolutely
fucked up to hear you say that!
”

He raised an eyebrow to her language, but it wasn’t the time to tease her about it.

“And yes
Van
, you tell me you could have killed Brian that day, and I believe that you’re capable of it, but
so am I
. I feel that anger too
. I feel rage whenever I think about him. I’ve thought of a dozen ways I could make him suffer. But it’s the choice that you eventuall
y make that counts. What matters is how you regard the things that are
important
to you. That’s the better half of life. And you, my love, are a
passionate
example of that. It’s what makes you better than what you think you are. It’s what tips the scale.”
She looked him over, placing a hand against his face to run a thumb along his cheekbone. “I love you, Donovan Kemp. You are my entire world. I wouldn’t change any part of you.”

He sighed, unsure if he felt weakened or strengthened by her faith in him. He never doubted her love, and fo
r that surety he was grateful, b
ut he felt like he was losing control
of
life. He had always been comfortable with who he was, knowing that
he could take care of himself and had friends that
accepted him. He always looked out for them, knowing they would do the same. But now he had a wife, who happened to come with a new set of challenges he was unfamiliar with. Their relationship was solid, but it didn’t mean that Van knew every answer. He wanted what was best for them both, and this situation with Brian was going to be a recurring nightmare.

The next day Van met up with Tristan Overland, the private investigator that Dominic Martin had hired to help them out. Just
trying to get an appointment with
Trist
an
was an ordeal, and Van was already agitated when he finally just dropped in on him after lunch.

Tristan
slightly stiffened at the sight of Van just entering his office unannounced,
and at first he was going to refuse to see him. B
ut
he could tell that this particular visitor would not take no for an answer, at least not until he said what he was going to say, so he
grimly motioned to a chair
for him
to sit.

Van silently refused and said, “I want to know why you haven’t located Brian Thompson yet.”

Trist took his time as he unnecessarily strai
ghtened papers on his desk
. “I don’t work for you, Mr. Kemp.”

“Oh?
So
does that mean you’re not gonna answer my question?”

“Yes, that’s what it means. I work for Clarence
Teagan
; you’ll have to go through him.”

Van took two more steps towards the desk, causing the investigator’s heart rate to increase. “Does Mr.
Teagan
realize that he’s doing jack shit to help out his client?”

Tristan took a
silent
breath of air and replied, “The Martins did not retain Clarence for any type of assertive action right now. He is solely there for legal advice, or representation if needed.”

“ ‘If needed’? Are you joking?”

“Mr. Kemp, a person cannot be arrested for attending a fight, especially when he did not break the restraining order.”

“And what about our motion to increase said restraining order.”
Tristan Overland made eye contact for only a few seconds, but Van already knew the answer.
“They haven’t done that?”
he
scoffed. He took a deep breath as he shook his head. “What exactly have you been asked to do?”

“I don’t work for—”

“I don’t fucking care!” Van shouted, slamming his fist on the desk.

“Get out of my office,” Tristan told him
, standing up
. “I could
have you arrested
right now.”

“A person’s life is in danger and you
want
to play authoritarian?”

“Mr. Kemp, I don’t answer to you, do you understand that? If you want to pay me to answer your questions—”

“Fuck you,” Van said over his shoulder as he left.

“Now he’s threatening the investigator,”
Dominic Martin
told his wife.

She was surprised to see him, even
having left
his
photo shoot next door.
“What? Why in the world would he do that?”

“He wanted answers and Trist wouldn’t give them to him.”

“Answers to what
, exactly
?”

“He wants to know where Brian Thompson is.”

Simone pursed her lips as she closed the design book.
She motioned to her seamstress that she was done for the day,
so
Eva left the mannequin partially dressed and
exited
the room.

“What does he want with Brian? I thought the point was to keep Brian
away
.”

“Apparently we’re not doing enough for our daughter.”

“He said that?” she inquired with raised eyebrows. “We’ve spent how much so far?”

Dominic chuckled bitterly. “I guess financial help doesn’t count. Or, maybe at the least, he doesn’t realize that.”

Simone gathered her books and returned them to the shelf below the counter. She faced her husband and said, “Well at least he cares
. He’s only looking out for her
and I can’t be upset with him for that. But this is our daughter’s reputation, her future.
Our
reputation. I’m comfortable with our decision.”

“I am too, and I agree.”

Dominic return
ed to finish up his photo shoot
and made a few business calls to
complete
his workday. The news of late did not settle well with him, but Danielle was his number one concern. He made a couple of personal calls before he left, and when he felt comfortable with
the answers
he’d received
, he met up with his wife for dinner.

Chapter Seventeen

“Somebody thinks they’re funny,” Van said to Dani when he came out of the bathroom.

She laughed and stretched in bed before he joined her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck when he was close enough and pulled him closer.
He
kissed
her
and she
asked
, “Well?”

“I agree,” he
smiled,
still amused with the dirty joke his wife had written in lipstick on the bathroom mirror.

They spent th
e next hour in bed, making love and
enjoying the start to a lazy Sunday. Dani made breakfast at ten, and while
Van
was rinsing the dishes in the sink, his cell phone rang.

“Can you see who that is?” he asked Dani.

She’d been folding a little bit of laundry, but since she had dry hands and he didn’t, she stepped over to the end table to check Van’s phone. “Uh, it says Gus Walden.”

Van groaned out loud and said, “Never mind.”

“Who’s Gus?”

Van took a deep breath and dried his hands on a towel. “My father’s lawyer.”

She slightly nodded
and returned to the laundry so she
wouldn’t
ask ques
tions. But the phone rang again
and obviously someone wasn’t willing to just leave a message.

Van walked over to the phone and stared at it for a second, but he reluctantly decided to just answer it at the last second.

“Van!” Gus exclaimed. “Thank God. Look kid, your dad made parole! He’s getting out! We want you there, Van. If you can
pick him up
—”

“
That’s a fucking joke
, right?”

That caught Dani’s attention, but she kept folding socks
in between glances to her husband
.

“Van, listen… I know this is going to be a difficult start, but it’s
gonna
be fine. If you just hear me out for a second. He’s a new man; I swear to God. He’s got a job too, working with Benny again. And I talked to Darren, Van. He’s coming back to town. He
’s
gonna
be living with your dad; he
’ll be there when Donny’s released and—”

“Kiss my ass, Gus. You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.”

Dani
stared at the back of his head because
he’d turned
away from
her as he walked into the kitchen.

“Van, come on,” Gus pleaded.

“Why do you even care? You’re done with this
.”

“Donny was my friend, you know.”

“Oh, because he beat the shit out of some guy in a bar that was hitting on your wife. Sure, real hero. I
betcha
he could’ve just as easily stabbed you in the back by sleeping with her too.”

“You listen to me, Van. You were a stupid ass kid when your dad went to prison. You weren’t even there that night. She held a gun to his head, Van. She threatened to kill him—”

“
He deserved it, she didn’t!
I don’t even want to hear it again! You understand that?
He made my life a living hell!
I want nothing to do with him!” He hung up the phone, and even though his first instinct was to throw it through a window, he
just gripped it in his hand so tightly until he felt
it
crack.