by Lane Hart
I think about that for a moment. Her confession is not something I can relate to at all. I’ve had to stand up for myself and my sister and brothers my whole life. Staying silent would have meant the end of all of us, or at least the end of our family.
We walk in silence for several more minutes, both of us lost in our own thoughts. It’s nice to be with someone that doesn’t feel the need to fill the air between us with endless small talk and meaningless conversation.
When we get to the Iron Horse pub, I pull her aside. “Okay, here’s the deal. This place is a fucking shit pit and is no place for a girl like you. I want you to stay close, keep your mouth shut and don’t make eye contact with any of the men in there. You understand?”
Her face pales, but she nods, her hand coming up to grip the sleeve of my jacket and pulling herself closer to me. She looks so beautiful and trusting. I shouldn’t have brought her here. I should have argued and told her to just go home.
Instead, I reach up, clasp her tiny hand in mine and open the door to the pub.
Chapter Six
Georgia
The inside of the pub is like nothing I’ve ever seen before in real life. It’s dingy and filthy. Men sit on bar stools with their pants pulled low, the cracks of their butts hanging out for the world to see. The whole thing is like a scene from a movie.
A large group of men stand around a battered old pool table, beer bottles in hand, their laughter taking over the entire room. I recognize a couple of them as guys that had been on the basketball court just yesterday with Carter.
One by one, they notice Tripp standing there in front of me, his hand still clasped tightly around mine, and they fall silent. One by one, they step aside, parting the way for one man to come forward. As he comes into view, I squeeze Tripp’s hand a little tighter. That is the man that had given Carter the brown paper bag.
“Was wonderin’ when you’d show up, Fletcher. And you’ve got a hot little piece with you, too.”
The sounds of chuckles and jeers come from all around us, and my gaze darts about the room, the realization that nobody is going to do anything to help us if needed finally sinking in. Even the bartender is leaning up against the counter, a vicious grin spread across his face.
“Where’s my brother, Trey?” Tripp says, not moving an inch as the other man approaches.
Trey comes to a stop just in front of him and I watch from behind Tripp as he shrugs and pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket. “Around.”
Tripp stiffens. “I’m not here to play games, Trey. Where is he? And don’t give me that around bullshit. Carter will be getting caught up with the Vipers over my dead body.”
The name flows through me like electricity. The Red Vipers. A street gang known for terrorizing the South Side and anybody that dares to come inside of it. I’d been warned about them several times since I’d started here, but I hadn’t realized that the men I’d seen Carter talking to that day had been Vipers.
Trey puts a cigarette to his lips and lights it. “That can be arranged.”
Tripp pulls me closer until by front is pressed against his back. “Tell me where he is, and we’ll go, okay? I just want to make sure he’s alright.”
Trey twirls his finger in the air, and the sound of chairs scraping all around us assault my ears. Men are stepping closer in all directions. “Who says we want you to go?” Trey asks. “I thought you and your lady here were looking for a party.”
Tripp takes a step closer, his face just inches from Trey’s. “I’m not here to fuck around, asshole.”
Arms close around me from behind and a dry, calloused hand comes up, covering my mouth as I scream out in surprise. With wide eyes, I watch as Tripp whips around to face us, his hands already formed into fists. “Let her go.”
Trey steps around him, a gun now dangling from his hand. “It’s cool, Tripp. We’re not gonna hurt her. Not as long as you listen to what I have to say.” Tripp stands frozen, watching with rage flashing in his eyes as Trey approaches me, his gun coming up, the muzzle of it scraping against my nipple through my coat and sweater. I hold back a sob as I keep my eyes locked on Tripp, determined to stay strong for him. To let him know I’m okay.
“Carter came to me with a problem,” he continues. My stomach churns as he presses the gun into my belly and leans in, his nose buried in my hair. “He needed money. I offered him a job, and he took it. Simple as that.”
Trey pulls away and winks at me before turning back to Tripp, who is vibrating with an anger I’ve never seen a man possess before. “He took the job of his own free will, Tripp, and you know what that means.”
Tripp’s jaw hardens.
“It means that Carter is a Viper now, and you can’t just walk away from being a Viper, can you Tripp? You know that better than anyone, I think.”
“Why hasn’t he come home?” he grinds out, his gaze focused on where Trey has the gun pressed against my sternum.
Trey pulls the gun away and shoves it back into the back of his jeans. “He’s doing a little delivery for me. He should be home later. No big deal. Right?” he asks, this time looking at me.
With the smelly man’s meaty hand pressed against my mouth, I can’t tell him what I really want to say, so instead I focus on attempting to shoot laser beams from my eyes. That just makes Trey chuckle.
“Let her go,” he tells the man behind me. The man drops his hand, shoving me from behind and my body goes sailing across the room.
Just when I think I’m about to land face first on the disgusting-looking floor, Tripp catches me, pulling me to my feet and wrapping an arm around my waist to hold me close. “If he’s not home tonight, Trey, you and me are gonna have a problem. A big one.”
Trey grins like that is the best news he’s heard all night. “I’m counting on it, big man.”
Tripp
Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
After locating Jane and Zack, and seeing the two women off to their cars safely, Zack and I went into the house and cracked open a couple of beers. “What are you gonna do?” Zack asks, knowing exactly what has me so upset.
Years ago, Trey, Zack and I had been inseparable. When we were about twelve years old, we’d met this guy who went by the name Romeo. He was older than us, and way cooler. He drove a sweet car and always had the hottest chicks. And he was a member of the Red Vipers. The leader of them actually.
Romeo had taken us under his wing, giving us little odd jobs to do here and there to make some extra money. He’d hooked us up with girls and booze and weed. We all loved him, and we all wanted to be just like him.
When he’d offered us up as potential Vipers, none of us even thought twice about agreeing. If Romeo had it, we wanted it too. We’d jumped into the Viper lifestyle headfirst, stealing cars from rich people and partying all night long.
It wasn’t until Romeo was shot by a rival gang that Zack and I had realized what we’d become. We were thugs. Thieves. My family needed me at home, and Zack had problems of his own. We needed out. The one thing they never tell you when you join a gang though is just how hard it is to get out of one once you’re in.
“Right now, I just want to find my brother,” I tell him. “The rest I’ll figure out after.”
Zack leans back in his chair. “I can’t believe you didn’t lose your shit when Trey had his gun on your girl.”
My girl. We’d grown closer tonight, that much was true, but Georgia definitely wasn’t my girl. Regardless, the vision of Trey’s gun pressing into her soft flesh will haunt me every night until I deal with that son of a bitch.
“All in good time,” I say just as the back door opens and Carter steps inside.
His clothes are rumpled and dirty and I can smell the reek of alcohol from across the room. “Jesus, Carter,” I say, rushing to wrap my arms around him and reassure myself that he was really here, in this kitchen.
Carter chuckles. “Jeez, man.” He wriggles out of my hold and stumbles toward the fridge. “Trey said you came lo
oking for me. He was pissed.”
I exchange glances with Zack. Is he really acting like this is all no big deal?
“Where have you been, Carter? And stay the hell away from my beer. You smell like you’ve had enough.”
Carter rolls his eyes and shoves the bottle back into the fridge. “What the hell, Tripp? I thought you and Trey used to be friends.”
“The key word there is used to be,” Zack says from his place at the table. “You know shit didn’t end well on that front.”
“Is it true you got jacked into the Vipers?”
Carter attempts to stand up straight but sways on his feet. “It is.”
The defiance in his glare does nothing to calm my anger as it grows stronger with each passing second. “So what did you have to do then? Steal a car? Rob a store?”
“Fuck you,” Carter spits, taking a step toward me. “I did what I had to do for this family, unlike you.”
His anger catches me off guard, but not as much as his words do. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Carter flings an arm out, indicating the very house we stand in. “You can’t even keep the heat on in here, Tripp. You barely get any work and I’m sick of eating fucking meatloaf all the time.”
This time it’s me that steps closer to him, my rage barely in check. I see Zack stand from his spot at the table and come closer, clearly realizing that things are spiraling out of control. “I do everything I can to take care of you kids,” I growl. “I work my ass off. I cook, I clean, I take you to all of your appointments. I haven’t had a social life in years. And you’re telling me that you got tangled up with the Vipers because you don’t like what I serve your ungrateful ass for dinner?”
Carter’s face grows redder by the second as he glares at me. “Don’t do me any favors, Tripp.”
“Oh, I won’t,” I say, poking a finger into his chest. “But I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. You’re going to find a way to get out of this mess you’ve created without getting the shit kicked out of you, or worse. You’re going to go to school, the community center and then straight home. You’re going to do exactly what I fucking tell you to do until your eighteenth birthday. How’s that for a favor?”
His fist comes flying at me in a move only a drunk person can pull off, and I see it coming well in advance. Grabbing his wrist, I twist it, turning him until he’s pressed against my chest, my lips going to his ear. “Nice try, asshole. Now go the fuck to bed.”
Giving him a little push toward the hallway, I watch as Carter stumbles, catching himself against the doorframe. “You’re a real dick, Tripp,” he grinds out, and then he disappears up the stairs.
Zack and I stand there, frozen in shock as we hear the door to his bedroom close. Carter and I have had our share of arguments, but never like this. This time, the little fucker actually took a swing at me.
Chapter Seven
Georgia
I place the ring on the table between us, ignoring the way it sparkles and shines beneath the flickering candlelight. “I’m sorry, Benjamin, but I can’t do this.”
Benjamin’s eyes drift up from the ring until they meet mine, and for a moment, I almost remember what made me fall in love with him in the first place. And then he opens his mouth.
“You can’t be serious. You’re going to throw what we have away because I don’t like you working in the ghetto?”
I sigh. Of course, he would think that. “No, I am returning your ring because I don’t think I am what you’re looking for.”
“Georgia,” he says gently, leaning forward to cover my hand with his. “This is just a little bump in the road. Married couples have them all the time. We can work through this.”
That’s where he’s wrong. The more I think about being married to Benjamin, the more it feels like a prison sentence. I’d lived my entire life trying to get out from my mother’s shadow, and lately, I’d realized that I’d ended up engaged to the male version of her. I couldn’t allow it to happen.
“Look,” I tell him, pulling my hand into my lap. “I care about you, but I’m not in love with you. I thought I was, but I can see now that what we know of each other barely scratches the surface. You look at me and see the Addington’s daughter. Rich, poised, educated. Perfect for a place at your side while you climb the company ladder to the top. I’m not that girl though. I never was.”
“Love isn’t everything, Georgia,” he says softly. “I can provide for you. Take care of you. Keep you in all of the things in life you’re already accustomed to.”
He just isn’t getting it. “That is exactly what I don’t want.” Reaching down, I pick up my purse and place it in my lap, ready to make a hasty exit, but then I have a thought. “Haven’t you ever wanted more? Haven’t you ever wanted to be with someone that set your soul on fire, or made your heart flutter in your chest? Haven’t you ever wanted to feel what it’s like to be in love?”
Benjamin’s jaw tightens as he picks up the ring, wrapping his hand around it in a tight fist. “Love is a sentiment, not a reality.”
I sigh. “And that right there is why we could never marry.” Calmly, I push my chair back and stand. “Goodbye, Benjamin. I wish you well.”
He doesn’t reply and I don’t wait around for one as I head out of the restaurant. My heart soars, feeling lighter than I ever remember it feeling. I’d done it. I’d broken free of my mother, of Benjamin. Of everything I’ve always hated about the narrow-minded life I’d grown up in.
The time had come to fully embrace myself and who I really wanted to be. Money played no part in that. All that mattered was happiness, and now that I’d severed the tie from Benjamin, I knew exactly what change I needed to make next.
Tripp
It’s almost eleven o’clock when the quiet knock comes. I pause the movie I’d been watching on Netflix and make my way to the front door. Who the hell would be here at this time of night? Zack is the only one that would show up like this, but he’s had a key for years, and he certainly knows how to use it.
The last person I expect to see on the other side of that door though is Georgia, but she’s there. Her hair whips in the wind, the crisp air nipping rosy pink patches on her cheeks. “Hi,” she says with a smile. “Mind if I come in?”
With raised brows, I step back from the door and wait for her to come inside. The foyer to our house is tiny and her chest brushes up against mine as she squeezes past me, causing a tiny burst of electricity to crackle between us.
“Sorry to call on you so late,” she says. “But … well, I needed to talk to someone, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather do that with than you. Were you sleeping?”
Ignoring the tightening in my chest her nearness had caused, I push the door closed and shake my head. “No. Not at all. Come in.”
She follows me into the house, unwinding her scarf and slowly pulling off her jacket. I’ve never been ashamed of my home before now. I’d worked my ass off for every stick of furniture, every fork and spoon, every picture that hangs on the wall. That isn’t something many guys my age can say. So why does walking into my living room with Georgia Addington at my side suddenly change that?
“What did you want to talk about? Is it everything okay at the program?” Visions of Trey finding out where she works and harassing her flood my thoughts, but she shakes her head.
I motion to the couch and watch her as she takes a seat, her brown eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiles. “Nothing like that. It’s just …” She sighs and turns to face me as I sit down beside her. “I broke off my engagement.”
The confession was so blunt, and so shocking that I just stare at her, open-mouthed, my brain unable to formulate any thoughts other than to register that she had just said she was engaged, and I didn’t like that one bit. Closing my mouth, I clear my throat and force myself to sound unaffected when I answer her. “You were engaged?”
She nods, her eyes lighting up with joy as my heart clenches tightly in my chest. “I was. And
now I’m not.”
Jealousy coils inside my gut at the very idea of her being engaged to another man. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I feel like shouting it from the rooftops,” she cries, a happy grin taking over her face. “I’ve finally realized that the life I was living was only a half-life, and I haven’t been myself. Ever. Until I met you.”
Her words swirl around me, still not making any sense. “But you hardly know me.”
“I know enough,” she says. “I know you’re brave. And loyal. I know you value your family above anything else. I know you don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of you. Do you have any idea how foreign all of that is to me?”
All of what she’s saying is nice, every word acting as a little boost to my ego, but I still don’t quite understand. “What do I have to do with helping you see that?”
Georgia’s eyes bore into mine. “It was you that taught me that it was okay to stand up for myself. To choose my own path.”
Her expression is so earnest and happy, and without even realizing it, I reach up and tuck a lock of her silky hair behind her ear. “You did all that on your own, Georgia. I was just lucky enough to be there to see you do it.”
Silence fills the space between us as we stare into each other’s eyes. And there’s that burst of electricity again. It’s like a static, crackling in the air between us, drawing us together like magnets.
“Will you kiss me, Tripp?” she asks, her innocent question coming out on a breath.
And I’m powerless. My heart makes the decision before my head can. Leaning into her, I brush my lips against hers. They are soft and full, and though our kiss is just a whisper, there is something soul-consuming about the way it pulls me in.