Sin and Tonic

by Rhys Ford

  Tuesday mornings were usually spent working up a sweat with weights, followed by a long run to nowhere in particular so long as it got their hearts pounding and their legs aching from exertion. But today was different. Today, Kane began the morning with words he never thought he would ever say—Miki St. John proposed to him.

  It still seemed surreal.

  He was so far outside of where he thought he would be on Tuesday morning that instead of pounding his body into submission, Kane reached for comfort from the one person who’d been there with him from the very beginning—his older brother.

  The morning was cold, a bite in the wind with the promise of rain on the horizon. Dawn slapped at the sky only a few minutes before they’d gotten the coffee, and its hint of gold brightened the gray clouds dotting the cerulean stretch above him. The foot traffic on the pier was slight, a few die-hard walkers accompanied by the occasional dog, and a riot of seagulls fought over the remains of a spilled dinner or two at the far end of the dock, their cries rising and falling amid a barrage of flapping wings.

  Kane and Conner were mostly hidden by one of the many warehouses lining the pier, taking advantage of the windbreak it provided, but the chill crept in anyway, rising off the water to nibble at Kane’s unshaven cheeks.

  They’d been coming to that spot at the pier on and off for years, at least long enough for the railing to shrink down to the point the Morgan boys could finally lean on it. As noisy as it was, the pier and its chatter of chaos was still quieter than the home they’d grown up in, especially after the twins arrived. Back when they were kids, it’d been a fifty-cent bus ride to the pier as a lark, and the dockside spot became one of the few places he and Connor could stand and talk without worrying about someone coming out to find them or calling for them to do something. When they’d found a gym nearby, one they could both lift and box at, a dock run was rolled into their morning get-togethers when they could manage it, and it always ended with a cup of coffee stolen from Finnegan’s morning setup crew’s carafes or one of the diners nearby.

  And while where they got their coffee changed, where they drank it rarely did.

  “When are you going to tell Mom?” Connor broached. “Because she’s going to lose her mind. Not that I’m doing any better. Of all of us, you two were the last ones I’d expect to be married.”

  “Agreeing with you there, Con,” Kane conceded, saluting his brother with his cup. “But it’s odd how right it feels and how much him saying that to me shifts everything about us. I’d never have given it much weight, but here I am sitting on the other side of that moment and thinking, God, it all feels right now.”

  Connor tapped his brother’s cup with his. “I know how that is. And I noticed you haven’t answered me about our mother.”

  “Maybe right after you tell her about the Las Vegas trip you took with Forest.” He grinned at his brother’s exasperated hiss. “The longer you wait, the harder it’s going to be.”

  “I’m thinking we don’t tell her at all and just say we’re going to be married.” Connor shot him a guarded look. “We just have to kill the people who do know so she doesn’t find out otherwise. Sadly, that’ll be you and Miki, by my last count.”

  “If you think the rest of Crossroads doesn’t know, you’re fooling yourself, brother mine,” Kane pointed out. “And it’s a toss-up about whether Quinn knew before Forest told Rafe. Our third brother is psychic. Oh, and Kel knows. Kiki might know, too, but I’m not sure.”

  “She knows,” he replied with a shake of his head. “We told her because… well, let’s deal with you and your Mick first. I’d love to say we want to have a wedding and just not mention that we’ve already done the deed, but that’s gone out the window. Time’s running out for me. I just need you to be my best man.”

  “Agreed. I’d kill anyone else you asked until I was the only one left.” Kane grinned at his older brother, warmed at the asking. His eyes might have misted, but he wasn’t going to own up to it. “If I have a wedding, then I’d like you to return the favor, right?”

  “Whatever you have, I’ll be next to you,” Connor rumbled, hooking Kane into a swift one-armed hug. “For the rest of mine, I’ve got Sionn, Quinn, and Rafe to stand up next to us.”

  “You sure you’ve got Rafe on your side of the aisle?” He shifted away from a wet spot on the railing, hoping he hadn’t smeared bird poop over his arm. “You forget Andrade’s in your husband’s band?”

  “I’ve been friends with Rafe since before the dawn of time. He was my brother before he became Forest’s.” Connor scowled. “Forest has other friends. He can find a couple more other than Damie and Miki. Rafe’s mine.”

  “Still don’t like to share,” Kane teased. “You’d think you’d have learned to by now.”

  “All of us have come a hell of a long way with each other.” Sipping at his coffee, Connor grunted. “I’m having Rafe standing up next to me. You worry about yours and I’ll worry about mine.”

  “I can’t see Miki wanting anything more than a piece of paper saying we’re married, but that’s up to him. You two going the full stretch?”

  “Everything but the church,” Connor replied. “But that’s on them, not us. Spoke to Forest about it and he’s of the same mind. We’re marrying—again—in front of God and family. That’s what binds us together, not the house we’re standing in when we do it officially.”

  “When are you going to break this to Mom?”

  “Why?” His brother glanced over at him. “You plan on piggybacking your announcement onto mine?”

  “Probably,” Kane admitted. “I want to give Miki as much of a buffer as he can get, and if I have to throw you and Forest under the bus to do it, well, I hope the tire marks on your back wash off.”

  “Nice. Soon. Probably this Sunday. Da’s given us a window.” Connor took another sip from his cup.

  “So Da knows?” Exhaling a long breath, Kane shook his head. “You’re fucked, Connor. How the hell did that happen? It wasn’t me.”

  “No, it was someone he knows in HR. Came by and congratulated Da.” His brother sighed. “Change of status forms did me in. Had to file them so they knew to contact Forest in case—well, the job. You know it. If something happens to me, the department needs to take care of him.”

  “If something happens to you, I’ll kick your ass,” Kane muttered at his older brother. “And you know we’ll be there for him. He’s a Morgan now. We never let go of one of our own, even when they try to fight tooth and nail to get out. Look at Rafe, the poor bastard.”

  “Aye, the poor bastard.” Connor chuckled. “He never had a chance. Between Mom and Quinn, he should have just accepted his fate and came along willingly. Now look at him. He’s having to show up every Sunday until she’s satisfied he won’t be slipping off into the shadows when she isn’t looking. So it’s a yes, then? You next to me?”

  “Safe to say, Con.” Kane grinned. “It’s a yes. Just don’t get married until I get Wong locked up.”

  “Shit, how is the case going? Last I heard you were trying to dig Wong out from wherever he’s hiding, and the DA agreed to release the vic’s property to you.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know what the hell’s up with that guy. Captain thinks he’s trying to play politics, which doesn’t make a fuckton of sense. What’s to gain by holding back evidence I’ve got for an ongoing case? The official word was he needed to assess its value to the investigation and determine whether or not the package actually belonged to the vic or to Edie.”

  “Glad he finally got his head out of his ass and decided it was Edie’s,” Connor interjected. “Still, be good to know what changed his mind. In case one of us runs through this again.”

  “I think Book and Dad pulled it out for him. I hate having to use a gold shield to pry something loose from the DA’s office, but fucking hell, there could be something in there that’ll give me some information on who Wong ran with that wasn’t in the damned sketchy files we got from the gang detail and the DEA,”
Kane growled over his coffee. “Kel and I are going to go over everything this morning and figure out who we’re going to hit up first since Chin’s dead. His nephew’s running a few operations now. Everyone keeps telling me they don’t get along but—”

  “Family’s hard to turn your back on,” his brother finished Kane’s thought.

  “Yeah, Wong’s sister is my next cold call, but I don’t know how that’s going to go. She gave up federal protection to come back to the city.” Kane shrugged at Connor’s raised eyebrows. “Husband retained joint custody of the kid, so either she walked away from her son—the guy now running Wong’s old territory—or came back out into the open and split custody.”

  “Once again, family,” Connor pointed out.

  “Yeah, that’s how I read it,” he agreed. “Problem I have is Miki’s in the middle of all of this. Something happened to his mother. Either she ended up on Wong’s bad side and he killed her, or she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is what I think happened to Chin. I think he was murdered to tell Wong to stop muddying the waters with his shit.”

  “What does your partner think?”

  “Kel? He’s open to any and all suggestions,” Kane snorted. “Including Wong offing Chin to show what happens to people who fuck things up.”

  “And you disagree?” Connor turned, giving Kane his full attention.

  “Yeah, I don’t see it that way,” he replied. “Most of Wong’s people aren’t around anymore. Or at least the ones we could track down. The few that are around aren’t going to suddenly chuck away the lives they’ve built while he’s been locked up, just to stroke Wong’s ego. He doesn’t have enough people to waste. The man was brutal and bloodthirsty, but he wasn’t stupid. I just don’t see him losing IQ points simply because he was in prison.”

  “So why go after Miki? What’s the point of that if his mother was one of Wong’s?”

  “Truth? My gut tells me this isn’t about Mick’s mother.” Kane felt out the edges of his thoughts, returning to the same circle he’d found himself in time and time again. “Wong used to give his—best performers—a bonus of sorts, mainly women who worked his brothels or massage parlors.”

  “And Miki’s mother was one of these women?” Connor whistled under his breath. “Are you sure it wasn’t the woman who met Edie?”

  “Yeah, coroner said the vic never gave birth. That’s one of the first things I asked because, shit, who wouldn’t wonder that, but that came back with a no. Chaiprasit’s package allegedly holds personal effects from Miki’s mom.” Kane scoffed. “DA confirmed the articles might just be of some value, which is why they’re releasing it to the department.”

  “It never should have been in their possession to begin with.” His brother frowned. “Is that what we’re getting to? That office stepping on top of us? Making it harder to do the job?”

  “Da says politics muddies the air up there,” Kane pointed out. “That’s all this was. Someone in the place grabbed at the shooting, hoping to make it some endemic violence and ride out the drama storm they’d made, but it went deeper than they expected. Book’s hoping whoever did the grab got their hands slapped for it, but—”

  “None of us are going to hold our breath. There’s lines that can’t be crossed. Interfering with a case is one of them.” Connor’s frown deepened until he looked like their father did one Christmas morning when he’d come down to find his three oldest boys had stripped the tree of candy canes only to puke them all back up onto the mound of presents gathered in the corner of the living room. “So now what? You find out his mother’s name and then what? How is knowing who she is going to help your case? Or is this just for Mick?”

  “First and foremost, it’s got to be for the case. Miki knows that, and besides, Edie’s going to share what she’s getting. Honestly, I want her name so I can chase down anyone who connected her and Wong. It might open up a few doors for the case or be nothing. Either way, it’s some place I can dig through and maybe find something.” Kane sighed, wishing he could dance around the elephant in the middle of the situation. “Miki’s caught on deciding if he wants to find out more about his mother or just letting it go. Edie’s dropping off her copies for him to look at today. I asked if he wants me to be there, but you know him.”

  “I do. He’ll be wanting to stew over it for a while. That’s one thing about him, he doesn’t expect you to do anything but be there for him if he needs it.” Connor pursed his mouth, obviously choosing his words. “Thing is, will he ask you if he does?”

  “Yeah, he will,” Kane said with a nod. “Finding out who his mother is—was—isn’t the worst of what he’s facing down. A couple of the guys working for Wong were DEA, and when Wong was handing out his favors, they were on the receiving end. Had to keep their covers intact, so….”

  “You’ll be opening up a whole different Pandora’s box if his mother was tapped for one of those agents. Case could always be made that he didn’t know she was pregnant.” Connor exhaled hard. “But what if he did? Suppose the guy knew about Miki? And walked away anyway?”

  A simmering rage ignited in Kane’s gut, spreading through his soul. He’d seen photos of what’d been done to Miki by a man who should have taken care of him. Vega died at the hands of one of the young men he’d terrorized, his killer driven by anxieties and fear until he’d developed an obsession with being Vega’s sole focus. Knowing what Miki had survived—was still struggling to survive—shook Kane to the core, and the idea ghosting through his thoughts that a man, his natural father, could have prevented the nightmares and terrors haunting his lover only fed the fire of Kane’s anger.

  “If that’s the case, then I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Kane drained his coffee cup, then balled it up in his hand. “But I sure as hell know where I can get a shovel, because if I don’t kill the guy, then Da will. There’s no changing the past. I know that, Con, but someone put shadows into my Mick’s eyes, into his heart. And I can’t kill the man who put them there, but I sure as hell can beat the shit out of the man who could have stopped it.”

  “You’d lose your badge,” Connor shot back. “And jail’s no place for an ex-cop. Keep your head about you.”

  “I know. I will,” he grumbled. “Miki needs a break, Con. He knows I love him. I’ve worked damned hard at making sure he feels it down in his bones, but if there is anyone who needs to know he’s not trash, it’s my Mick. And I hope to God in Heaven that the man we find at the end of this can be as much of a father to him as Da is. He deserves it. He does.”

  “Then I hope that’s what’s waiting for you both.” Connor patted Kane’s back. “Just don’t you forget, just like you’ll all be here for Forest, we’re all right here for your Mick. No matter what happens, no matter who crawls out of the woodwork, he’s a Morgan now, through and through.”

  FOR AS much death rode on its coattails, the manila envelope Edie handed over to Miki hardly seemed worth the effort of opening, much less killing for. It lay on the chest, a plump yellowish-beige rectangle with hidden fangs and sharp edges. Miki stared at it for a long minute, still unsure about how to handle the sudden thrust of his unknown past into his tumultuous present, but he was at a now-or-never point, with now biting him in the ass so he could move on with his life.

  “Hardly seems worth the effort for all this fuss, yes?” Damie groaned, reaching for the envelope, but his hand stopped short, fingers a few inches above the package. “Shit, Sinjun. That’s on me. Just reaching for the thing. Habit, I guess. It’s been what’s yours is mine for so long.”

  “It’s okay.” He scrubbed at his face, wishing he could rake away the odd, unsettled discomfort in his guts, but it lingered, poking at his sanity. He inched closer, scooting forward on the couch, but the envelope only got slightly bigger, hardly large enough to loom over him, no matter how he felt about it. “I keep telling myself I should just open it, but I can’t fucking do it.”

  “Edie said all of it’s just copies. The real thing’s over w
ith Kane.” Damie poked at a corner of the package and Miki snorted. His brother was more curious than a kitten, and sometimes as destructive. “You going to wait for him? I mean to open it?”

  “No. It’s weird. This is weird.” He shook his head, restarting the ache in his temples. “It’s his case and this is… fucked. He’s going to be opening up the real thing—probably today—and anything he finds out, he probably can’t talk to me about. Or if he can, it’s going to be all flashy red light crap where I can’t tell anyone what he found out. This shit’s connected to a murder—that woman’s murder—and he’s got to dig out why she got killed.”

  “Thought they found the guy who did it. Dead, but still, found.”

  “Head guy is still out there, remember? It’s why I can’t go take a piss without someone standing outside of the damned door,” Miki grumbled. He was growing tired of the constraints on his life. It wasn’t as if he had a daily routine, but he liked the freedom he’d had, even if that meant he spent days without actually leaving the house. It was frustrating to know he couldn’t simply get up and leave. “Dan’s okay, but I don’t like that Richie guy. He’s an asshole.”

  “Don’t think he’s going to be coming back,” Damie reassured him. “Sionn said he tapped out because it wasn’t exciting enough for him. Me? I like the boring. Means no one’s trying to kill you, and I’ve grown kind of fond of having you around.”

  “You just want company onstage.” Miki sneered.

  “You know me, Sinjun. I’ve got ego for days. Do you really think I’d want to share the stage with someone prettier and hotter than me?” He nudged his shoulder against Miki’s. “Besides, knowing you were here kept me going, right? Let’s not forget that.”

  Damie leaned against him, a nearly too-warm, too-heavy weight Miki never, ever wanted to lose again. They’d forged a brotherhood between them, and a couple of bands, but underneath all the words and sentiment, they were easy. Even in the throes of an irrational anger at Damien for allegedly dying on him, Miki’d held on tight. Something in each other completed a connection, knitting their psyches together. It was easy to put into musical terms—a melody and harmony—but it went deeper than that, a twinship of sorts, thriving without question and as inseparable as the stars and the night sky.