by J Bree
“I’m organizing a tour. Nothing big, more like gigs at bars and maybe a festival or two. The festivals would be good because I want to see you running around in those little fucking bodysuit things that girls wear to them. Fucking hot, Star.”
I blush and elbow him. “I wouldn’t wear one. I’d wear one of your shirts and be a smug bitch when everyone sees me in it.”
He grins down at me. “Promise me you’ll sing with me for our song and it’s a deal.”
I groan as we arrive at our first class for the day. “No way, I’ll puke and ruin my reputation.”
He roars with laughter at me, dropping me off at my desk and giving Harley a weird bro-nod thing as he walks in that has me shaking my head at him.
Harley sits down and kisses my cheek. “You can't sing on stage anyway, babe. Ash would end up fucking you wherever you stood and Avery would skin him alive.”
I ignore his comment, unpacking my bag and smiling at Avery as the twins finally arrive. Ash pulls her chair out for her and when she smiles up at him it's genuine, thank the sweet lord. Maybe they’ll stop their shit.
The class starts and I let my mind wander now that I've finished up. Harley scoffs at me as he starts taking his perfectly legible notes. I just don’t get how his handwriting can be that fucking perfect. It’s unnatural.
I’m startled from my daydreaming, and planning, by a sharp knock.
I glance up to find two cops standing in the doorway.
Fuck.
I shoot Avery a look and she gives me a tiny shake of her head. So not something she knows about, which means it’s not something the Crow has planned or is even aware of. Fuck.
The female cop looks around the room until her eyes fall on our table. Harley tenses and his hand clamps over my knee under the desk. I catch his wrist and squeeze. I’ll be fine. Whatever it is, I’ll survive their questioning and be out by dinner time. The Tiger owes me.
“Harley O’Cronin? We have some questions for you. You’ll need to join us down at the station.”
My breath catches in my throat. Nope. I can handle it being me, fuck, I was hoping it was me. I can’t handle it being one of my family members.
My face must say everything because Harley kisses my cheek sweetly, whispering, “Don’t freak out, babe. Avery will have me out, I’ll be fine until then.”
But that’s not true. He’ll be alone, he’ll be in lock down, and when one of the cops step forward I notice the district badge on his chest. Mounts Bay. Fuck.
I refuse to leave until they let me in to see him. The lady at the reception knows exactly who I am and each time she has to tell me no, I swear I see her age ten years. Finally, there’s a shift change with the officers and she ushers me in.
Harley isn’t really in the mood to talk, he just sits and seethes as he stares at his own reflection in the mirrored wall. I don’t look at the mirror at all, entirely uncomfortable with the idea of Senior’s pocket-pigs watching us here. Any one of them could take us out right now and there’s nothing I could do about it. I fucking hate it.
When the door opens we both look up to find the Tiger in the doorway, a little pale and shaky under the terrible fluorescent lights. Atticus escorts him with a firm hand wrapped around his elbow and gives him no choice but to take a seat at the tiny table with us.
I give Atticus a nod, my mouth a firm line across my face, and try to be civil as I say, “Is the room clean?”
He nods and turns his attention to Harley. “There’s been a lot of talk about your missing family members.”
Harley scoffs at him. “No shit, dickhead, and we all know exactly what happened to them. We were all there that night.”
The Tiger tugs at the neck of his collared shirt as he sweats. “Yes, well, I can’t exactly get the Stag to come in here and confess. We’re better off getting you the best plea deal possible and then working out compensation from the Stag for taking the fall for him. These things happen amongst our organizations all the time. No different.”
Nope.
I’ve been pushed too far today, way too fucking far, and my mind just snaps.
I don’t even realize I’ve moved until I’m staring down at the back of the Tiger’s neck, my hand clenched in his expensive haircut and pressing his now bleeding nose into the table. He doesn’t make a sound. I forget sometimes that he had to shed some blood to get into the Twelve. The suit and the arrogant attitude can make him seem clean.
“If I find out you’ve switched sides and you’re getting Harley out of the way for the Jackal I won’t just kill you, I’ll climb in your fucking window and gut your entire family.”
Blatant lie, but the trail of headless corpses that now follow me have made me look a hell of a lot more callous and bloodthirsty than I really am. I’m going to use it to my advantage.
“Harley leaves here with me today and whatever it takes, he does not see the inside of a cell again. I don’t care what it costs you, I have a fucking diamond and you owe me, Tiger.”
He gives me the barest nod and I ease up, sitting back in my chair. The Crow gives me a disapproving look but Harley slips his hand into mine under the table. I try not to think about the cold steel handcuffs tethering him to the floor.
“I wouldn’t have brought him here if I didn’t trust he was on our side,” Atticus says, and I shrug without glancing at him.
I keep my eyes glued to the Tiger as I snap, “I don’t trust people outside of my family. Keeping my mouth shut in the Twelve meetings and taking jobs from you all seems to have given you the impression that I’m easy to influence and manipulate. I’m not. You’ll do as I say or you’ll die.”
Atticus huffs at me but the Tiger nods. “I know. I chose this side because this is the sane side.” He huffs out a laugh at himself, “How crazy is that? The side that just threatened to butcher my kids in their beds is the sane one. But it’s true. If I’m honest I’d rather it be you climbing in my window than the Jackal and his men. I just needed to make sure you’re aware that this is not going to be easy or cheap. The police chief is dirty.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m well aware thank you. Find me a judge who’s also dirty, but happy to be out of Joseph Beaumont’s clutches. I’ll pay, in cash or blood.”
Harley’s hand does a funny little twitch in mine and I squeeze his fingers. Whatever it takes. I really don’t give a fuck what it costs.
The Tiger nods and leaves the room, his phone to his ear. I stare at Atticus and try to arrange my face into something a little less hostile but, fuck, I’m not in the best of moods.
“I’ll pay for this.” he says.
Harley scoffs, leaning back in his chair, and replies, “I have the cash. I’d rather you take care of the blood if it comes to that.”
I give him a look but Atticus nods. “If it’s something I can take care of, I will. You have my word.”
I try to ignore the swirling discomfort in my gut but it bubbles out of me. “You can’t buy our friendship. We already said you have our vote. Maybe you should wait until Ash or Blaise need the bail and give them the same offer.”
Atticus’s eyes narrow at me, like cold steel, and Harley snarls at him for it. Atticus ignores it and says, “You said you work as a family? Well, that’s what I do for my family. I told you back at the Gala, if you keep Avery safe then I will back you on everything, regardless of whether or not she forgives me.”
Dammit, he just keeps making it harder for me to hate him. “If it’s blood I’ll take care of it. Illi has been enjoying the… workload that being mine entails.”
Atticus scoffs. “He’s just as deranged as Matteo. You need to watch him carefully.”
Ok, that helps me hate him again. My stomach fills with butterflies when Harley snaps, “He’s family too, dickhead. He got my vote long before you did, and I’ll side with him over you to the fucking end.”
That’s the real family line. We don’t have to get along all of the time but once you’re in, you’re fucking in. Unfortunately for Atti
cus, two votes don’t make you family.
Atticus shakes his head at us both. “You grew up in the Bay, how can you not see who he really is?”
Harley smirks at him, cold and arrogant. “Did you know Illi has Ash’s vote too? It was unanimous. Just because you see him at his day job means nothing. Fuck, we’ve all shed some blood at this point, who the fuck cares how much he enjoys it? Don’t get pissy just because he likes playing you. He does that because he’s all in and Avery loves it. He makes her feel important just because she’s a tyrant and he respects the hell out of her for it.”
Atticus stares us both down and then shrugs. “If he touches a hair on her head, I’ll walk into that school and drag her back home with me. Then I’ll deal with him.”
I smirk and Harley makes a big show of dragging his eyes up and down Atticus’s carefully styled appearance, all pressed lines and cashmere suits, and says, “My money is on Illi but feel free to give us a good show.”
Chapter Twenty
“Do I need to drive down to the Bay and gut an O’Cronin? Because that sounds like the exact way I’d like to spend my evening.”
To his credit, the Stag doesn’t bitch me out or try to make excuses, he just listens to the fucking venom I breathe down the phone at him and takes it like a champ.
It had taken another three hours for Harley to be released, the Tiger and the Crow pulling some freaking strings to get him out, but the only way to get the case dropped is for the witness to retract or die.
The witness is going to fucking die.
“The Crow has already called, it wasn’t a member of my family.”
I scoff. “I have the Coyote hacking into the police record system, you better fucking hope it’s not one of yours.”
He sighs at me, and the call of gulls in the background tells me where he likely is. He’s down at the docks, probably on his first job now that I’ve vouched for him with the Boar. Fuck. “If it’s a member of my family, who would be working on their own, I will deliver them to you myself. It won’t be.”
I hang up on him, pissed off and feeling kinda stabby, like someone needs to pay for this and nothing but my knife buried deep in their neck will be good enough.
Harley changes gears in the Cadillac, the one I’d borrowed to come after him, and gives me a side-eye. “You think it was really one of my family?”
“I’m your family. Avery and Ash and Blaise are your family. Illi and Odie, and that’s fucking it. I don’t trust the Stag. He’s a whole lot of talk at the moment, I want to see some action to back it up.”
Harley nods and slows the car as we pull into Hannaford, the gates opening automatically for us. My phone starts to ring.
“Why hello there, my good friend Lips,” says the Coyote, and I roll my eyes. He must be with the Crow, he lives for pissing that man off.
“I’m not in a fun-and-games mood, Coyote. What have you found?”
He coos at me, “Aw, did your little friend have a bad time in lockup? I hear your first time can be rough.”
I take a deep, deep fucking breath. “Jackson. It wasn’t his first time in lockup, you already know this, why are you being a dick? Just tell me.”
He grunts and Viola snaps at him in the background. “Ow, fine, yes, I knew that. Did you know he got more time for fighting while he was in juvie? Fucking brutal, you’re in bed with a beast. I heard about the other one fighting with the Viper’s guy, too. You got a thing for blood or something? I always knew you were a kinky fuck. I could just tell.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “Are you high? Put Viola on the phone.”
He cackles and then Viola speaks, “We were out having dinner when Atticus called, sorry.”
Harley parks the car and quirks an eyebrow at me. I shrug. “It’s fine, it’s just fucking weird to hear him like that. Did he find the rat?”
She scoffs. “He couldn’t find his own dick right now. I found the rat, some guy called Michael Byrne.”
No idea who that is but Harley curses under his breath. “Thanks. Can you send through his info? I’ll deal with it tonight.”
Viola makes a choking noise. “Ok, it’s still so weird to me how casual you are about this… stuff. Gross.”
I hang up and Harley’s hand tighten on the wheel even though the car isn’t running. “He’s related by marriage. His daughter married one of my uncles, I think she’s still a part of the family.”
I nod and call the Stag back. “Michael Byrne is dead. If you have to make arrangements to contain the fallout in your family, do it now.”
He curses. “Fucking scum. You don’t have to worry about Deirdre, she’s fucking delirious with happiness now her husband is gone. He was beating her and the kids, if her own family is pissed about the changes in my family well then he deserves a cold hole in the ground.”
Hm. Ok, maybe he isn’t so bad. I guess it’s just ingrained in me to hate anyone with the name O’Cronin.
Harley helps me out of the car and kisses the top of my head as he tucks me under his arm. We head back to our room to shower and grab supplies. I’m doing this the right way and I’m doing it tonight.
An hour later, we take Blaise’s Cadillac and leave Avery safely stashed at Hannaford with Illi and Odie, watching a movie together in our room. Ash insists on driving and I sit in the back with Harley to try to get myself in the right headspace for what the night is going to bring us. The car is quiet, only the sound of the engine revving as Ash changes gears. My bag with all my supplies is on the floor at my feet, re-stocked and ready to go, and I know without a doubt that all three of my guys have the holsters and weapons strapped to them. I have no intention of letting them be involved at all, but it's good to know I’ll have the backup if I need it.
“You’re not fucking going on your own, so don’t even try to start with that shit,” says Harley, drumming his fingers against his knee.
I roll my eyes. This is a simple fucking job, there's nothing for him to worry about.
“I told you guys I could do this by myself. I need to send the Jackal, and anyone who makes the stupid decision to work with him, a message. You heard the Crow, half of this fight is dealing with his numbers,” I murmur. Harley mumbles something under his breath but I ignore it. He just can't let go of his protective nature, it's something I love about him, but in this situation it's not needed.
I'm not scared of the fucking Jackal. Not anymore. I’m wary, sure, anyone who has ever met him would be wary, but I’m not afraid of him.
I use the rest of the drive to look over the information Viola gave me even though I’ve already committed it to memory. I always was an obsessive over-planner, but I’d rather put the work in and get it right.
When we finally arrive, I make Ash stop the car at the end of the road. He's not happy about it but I need him to stay put. He’s pissed about that but he also knows Harley and Blaise won’t let anything happen to me. He insisted on being the driver because he’s less reckless at it than Blaise and Harley had bitched him out when he tried to get him to drive instead. Apparently they’re taking turns in coming with me on jobs.
I slip on my tiny black ballet slippers. Harley looks at them and then down at his own shoes. I lift a shoulder at him in a half shrug.
“As long as you're quiet and it’ll be fine. Occasionally my Docs make a squeaking noise and it's just not worth the risk."
He nods and gives Morrison a look. "And what about him? Those boots aren’t exactly discreet."
Blaise sneers at him. "I can take them off if I fucking have to."
Deep breath. I really don’t want to deal with their snarking, not after the day I’ve had. “He's gonna be the lookout from downstairs. The info pack Viola gave me said that it's just Byrne and his wife here. The kids are all grown up and married off. He doesn't have any men for a security detail, he's just got the system, so Blaise will watch the door and Harley can come with me because I’m sure he’ll insist."
Harley smirks. “You bet your ass I insist."
When we arrive at the Byrne’s place, and it looks as though he's compensating for something, all grandeur and over-the-top details. I bite my lip trying to keep that joke in but Blaise wiggles his eyebrows at me to tell me he's thinking the same fucking thing. Harley rolls his eyes at us both.
I disable the security alarm, too fucking easy to do thanks again to Viola, and we step into the house. Marble floors, Persian rugs, paintings that would easily cost six figures, it’s the biggest show of wealth for a guy who isn’t really that rich. He’s got money, but he ain’t a Beaumont. I motion for Blaise to stay put and he nods, leaning against a wall and frowning around the room like the shadows might come to life.
Our feet are silent as we make our way through the house. I wait until we get to the top of the grand staircase before I slip my hand into my bag. I’d rearranged it and left it unzipped in the car so that there was no noise involved. Harley watches me as I carefully pull out a hypodermic needle and a small vial, something Doc had given me years ago and replaces every time my supplies get low.
I lift a finger to my lips to remind him to stay silent. It's not like I think he actually needs the reminder, but I do it anyway. He nods silently, taking the bag from me, and follows me to the bedroom.
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Brynes sleep in the most ridiculous fucking bed, I barely contain my sounds of disgust. Not really, but fuck man, it’s something else. It's the type of bed I would’ve imagined Avery sleeping in, back when I thought that she was a pampered princess. This man must think so fucking highly of himself, it only makes the kill sweeter.