by Levine, Nina
“You ready, King?” Hyde asked.
I pulled out my gun. “Yeah, brother. Let’s shake some fucking shit up.” With that, I drove my foot into the back door of the joint and kicked it in.
The heavy metal blasting through the house assaulted every one of my senses. That and the smell of weed filling the place. Winter had come through with this address after digging through all of Brant’s known associates and visiting them one by one. Hyde and I had tagged along to two other places so far today, and I was really fucking hoping this would be our last stop. I was always down for some fun, but this fucking weather did my head in. I wanted to deal with Brant, get Ivy out of this shithole town if she was with him, and get back to the woman who had settled herself deep in my soul.
We made our way towards the voices we could hear, and when we entered the dining room where a guy and a girl sat smoking pot, I pointed my gun at them and said, “You’re having a fucking party and forgot to invite us.”
The guy shoved his chair back, stood, and pointed his gun at us. “And who the fuck are you motherfuckers?”
Before he had a chance to pull the trigger, Winter had him in a chokehold. “Put the gun down, asshole. We just wanna chat.”
As the asshole attempted to fight Winter off, the girl made a grab for my gun. I saw her coming and reached my hand out to push her back down into her chair. “Stay the fuck down unless you want a bullet through your fucking head,” I snarled.
She spat at me. “Fuck you!”
Jesus, I didn’t need her shit today. We’d come for one reason today and it didn’t concern her. Aiming my gun at the wall behind her, I shot at it, over her shoulder. The intent was to frighten the fuck out of her so she’d sit down and stay quiet. I didn’t achieve my goal. The dumb bitch lunged at me instead, so I found myself in a fucking wrestling match with her.
“Fucking hell,” I roared as I wrapped my arms around her and barrelled her backwards into the wall. When I had her there, I grabbed her around the neck while pressing my gun to her temple. “You want this?” I demanded. “Because I’m not fucking above killing a woman if she gets in my way.”
“Carly!” the guy yelled out. “Stop!”
Her eyes flicked to the guy, and whatever she saw there did the trick. Her body went limp and she stopped fighting me.
I kept my gaze trained on her. “You done?”
Her lips flattened, anger surrounding her, but she nodded and said, “Yes.”
Dragging her back to the chair, I shoved her down before turning back to the guy. “Now, can we agree to have a chat or do you need some further encouragement?”
Winter eased the pressure around the asshole’s neck when he nodded, but didn’t let him go completely.
“You had a visit from a guy called Brant this morning. Presumably, you sold him a gun. And after doing a little digging, we’ve worked out that you two have done business together before and have spent some time getting shitfaced with your favourite strippers. So what I want from you is every-fucking-thing you know about him and an address for where I will find him today.”
He stared at me. “You’re joking, right? Like I fucking know where he’s gone today.”
I stretched my neck to one shoulder and then the other. I also inhaled deeply and then exhaled while I contemplated how best to deal with him. Wasting time wasn’t high on my priority list for the day, but the idea of drawing this out had woken my monster, and now I wanted to dedicate some time to getting blood on my hands.
“I never joke,” I said, moving closer. Putting my gun away, I flexed my hands before making a fist and jamming it in his face. As he grunted and lifted his eyes back to mine, I said, “You wanna try answering my question again?”
His lip pulled up angrily. “Nah.”
“Fuck,” Hyde muttered as I took another swing at him.
Adrenaline coursed through me as my body hummed with the dark thrill the sight of blood gave me. I jerked my chin at Winter, indicating he could step away.
“Last opportunity, motherfucker. After that, I’ll beat the information out of you, and you’ll wish you just started speaking a whole lot sooner.”
“Go to fucking hell,” he spat.
I grinned, the beast deep inside me screaming to life for this shit. Torture and pain were my beast’s vices, and for the next ten minutes, I gave him what he craved. The asshole took blow after blow. He lasted longer than I figured him for. The crazy fucker. He was a skinny bastard with not a lot of meat on his bones, and he didn’t look like he’d stand up to much of a fight, but he surprised the fuck out of me.
Ten minutes and a whole lot of blood and broken bones, though, and he was done. Lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, he begged me to stop. “He’s probably at his place on Rutherford Street. He was raving on about setting up base there and that he figured his woman would like it there.”
Ivy.
Thank fuck she was okay.
That knowledge released some of the tension from my shoulders and neck.
Hyde stepped in and got everything he knew about Brant from him.
I was already focused on what was to come next.
The fucking end of all this bullshit.
We still had the feds to deal with, but once Brant was taken care of, I would breathe a whole lot fucking easier.
* * *
It was almost too easy to get into Brant’s place. For a guy who’d pulled off some intricate fucking shit, he sure as shit didn’t have his house well secured. It concerned me that this was perhaps a setup, but once we were inside and had spoken to Ivy, I came to the realisation we were simply dealing with someone who’d achieved his goals by sheer fucking luck.
Brant was out when we arrived. We found Ivy watching television, not a hair out of place on her head, completely surprised to see us. And pissed off that we’d forced our way into the place.
“Was it really fucking necessary to break the door down and scare the absolute shit out of me?” she demanded, glaring at me. “You could have just knocked.”
“Not if Brant was in here we couldn’t.”
She frowned. “Huh?”
“He’s not a good guy, Ivy. He shot a woman tied to the club and left her for dead. Where is he now?”
Her eyes widened. “Umm, I don’t know. He said he had some stuff to take care of.”
I glanced at Hyde. “You and I will wait until he gets back. Winter can take her now.”
“What? Take me where? You can’t just come here and boss me around again,” she said, her shoulders pushed back like she was ready for a fight.
“You’re not fucking safe here, Ivy.”
“I don’t—”
I cut her off. “You need to get your shit together and leave with Winter. We don’t have time to fucking stand around arguing over this.”
Before she could respond to that, the sound of the front door opening and closing filtered through to the lounge room, and Brant called out, “I’m home, Ivy. Where are you?”
I put my finger to her mouth to silence her and jerked my chin at Hyde. He took the few steps to position himself behind the wall near the entry to the lounge. Winter also moved out of sight. When Brant stepped through the entryway, his eyes came directly to me, darkening with displeasure as they did.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, glancing between Ivy and me. “If you’ve come to get her, she’s with me now.”
I pushed Ivy behind me. “No, asshole, she’s with me.”
He advanced our way, his face a storm of hatred. “You’re a smug fucker, King, but this time you’re wrong. This time, Ivy chose me, not you. She finally woke up to the fact you treated her like shit all those years you were together. And she realised I would never treat her that way.”
“Until the day she changes her mind,” I snarled, “And then you’ll just stalk and murder her, you sick fuck.” At the surprise on his face, I said, “Yeah, we know who you really are, Brant, and we know your history with women. I haven’t had a
chance to tell Ivy yet, but once I do, you really think she’s gonna choose you?”
Ivy inhaled sharply and stepped from behind me to face Brant. “Is that true?”
His face twisted into an ugly canvas of malice. “They’re lying to you, Ivy. He always lies to you.”
I grabbed her bicep and tried to pull her back behind me, but she refused to budge. Instead, she took a step toward him. At the same time, he pulled a gun out and aimed it at her.
Motherfucker.
No fucking way was he getting a round off.
I lunged for her as he pulled the trigger.
The gun fired, the sound deafening as I lurched toward Ivy.
A second gunshot rang out, and Hyde bellowed something out I couldn’t understand. I was too focused on getting to Ivy that I could barely make out what he was doing, but I did see him charging toward Brant.
I collided with Ivy, covering her body with mine, and we went down.
A moment later, a thud echoed on the floor next to me.
I looked up to find Winter rolling Brant over before Hyde stood over him and shot him. Moving off Ivy, I stood and eyed Brant who lay dead at my feet.
Looking at Hyde and Winter, I said, “We need to get the fuck out of here now.
Hyde nodded. “Yeah, brother. You good?”
“Yeah.” The shot Brant fired at Ivy missed both of us, thank fuck.
“King.”
I turned to Ivy who stood staring at me in horror. “Was that stuff true about Brant?”
“Yeah.” When she didn’t say anything to that and just kept staring at me in shock, I reached for her. “You need to pack a bag, and we need to leave. And if you try to fucking argue with me, I’ll put you over my shoulder and carry you the fuck out of here.”
She blinked and then nodded. “Okay.”
Ten minutes later, we were on our way to the premises Winter had found for Storm to operate out of. Romano was out of the picture, Brant was out of the picture, and Ivy was safe. We would finalise some plans with Winter for what he had to do going forward, and then we’d go the fuck home. And once we’d taken care of the feds, life could get back to fucking normal.
Chapter Twenty-One
King
I stood in the doorway and watched Ivy at the kitchen table talking with Brian. I’d brought her to the women’s shelter that he ran for us yesterday and she hadn’t been happy with that decision. She’d argued with me for a good half hour over it until I’d had enough and told her to pull her head in. I’d left not long after that, hoping like fuck she stayed. It had been a long night of little sleep while my thoughts thrashed about in my head.
I’d come to the decision I couldn’t force her to do something she didn’t want to do. Fuck knew, I’d forced enough upon her in the years I’d known her. And not all good things. It was up to her what she did now. I would help her in whatever way she asked, but I had to take a step back and let Ivy live her life to her own plan.
Brian glanced my way and stood. “King, we were just wondering what time you’d come by.”
I entered the kitchen, my eyes meeting Ivy’s. There was still resentment there, but it had eased a little. To Brian, I said, “Can you give us a minute?”
He nodded. “Sure.”
After he exited the room, I pulled out the chair next to Ivy and sat. Resting my arm on the table, I turned my body to face her. Taking in the tired lines on her face, I said, “You didn’t get much sleep either?”
She shook her head and reached for the mug in front of her. After she took a sip, she said, “I think I managed two, maybe three hours. I was thinking about you all night.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. What a prick you can be.”
“Because a prick would fucking rescue you from the motherfucker you put your trust in, and find you a bed to sleep in while you get your shit together.” Fuck, even when I didn’t wanna argue with her, she managed to get under my skin and rile me up to the point where I fucking found myself arguing over stuff I gave zero shits about.
“Fuck you, King.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face while I forced myself to take a moment and think about what came out of my mouth next. We could sit here and argue our way to lunchtime or I could lead the conversation in a better direction. Blowing out a harsh breath, I said, “Why did you say no yesterday when I suggested I drop you over to Bethany’s?”
She averted her gaze, refusing to look at me while she turned silent.
“Ivy,” I pushed. “What’s going on?”
Another few moments passed between us in silence before finally she looked back up at me. “I haven’t spoken to her in five years. We had a falling out, and she refuses to talk to me now.”
“What happened?” I didn’t like the woman; I didn’t like that she turned her back on family.
She fiddled with the tablecloth as a tear slid down her face. “She didn’t like Tony. We’d argued over him for a long time, and after one of my miscarriages, she told me to choose between them. I chose my husband.”
“So she did the same thing to you over him that she did over me?”
“Yes.”
I hated that a mother could do that to her child. But as much as I disliked the woman, the fact remained she was Ivy’s mother, and I could see Ivy’s pain over losing her. “You should call her, tell her what’s happened. She might surprise you with her response.”
“And she might not.” She looked at me through her tears. “I don’t know if I could handle that.” Her voice cracked, slicing through my heart. This conversation threw me back to the past, to the time in our lives when so much shit was going down and bad decisions were being made. It fucking dredged up old hurts and a fuckload of anger that I still carried with me. I’d tried to let that shit go, but because it was all tied together in my mind with Margreet’s death, I’d failed.
I chose not to push her on it yet. Instead, I said, “You heard about Tony?”
“Yes.” Her voice held relief. “The lawyers are helping me sort through everything, but there won’t be much left over when all is said and done, so I just need to pick myself up and start over.”
“Brian can help you with that. He’s got contacts everywhere. He’ll help you find a job, and you can stay here for as long as you need.”
“Does he owe you for something? Is that why he’s okay with me staying?”
“No. We manage this place together. I front the cash, he runs it.”
She wiped her tears away while she studied me for a beat. “For an asshole, you do good things sometimes.”
“Just trying to help the people who need it. That’s all.”
She slowly shook her head. “No, that’s not all, King. I may have hated you for a long time, and been angrier with you than with anyone else in my entire life, but even I can acknowledge when you do something nice. I’ve met the two women staying here at the moment. Their lives were unimaginable, worse than mine with Tony, and what you’ve given them is hope.”
My chest squeezed with heaviness. This place may have helped numerous women, but the one woman I should never have turned my back on sat in front of me broken because of my actions. “I should have kept an eye on you after you married Tony.”
“No, that wasn’t your burden to carry.”
“Fuck, Ivy, if I hadn’t—”
Her shoulders slumped and she sagged in her chair as she cut me off. “Don’t blame yourself for the choices I made in my life once you were no longer part of it. Sure, while we were together we both made some shitty decisions, but after that”—she shrugged—“my choices were all mine. And some days, like today, when I’m honest with myself, I can see I’m a fucked-up mess. Maybe if you stop by tomorrow, I’ll be back to thinking you’re an asshole and hating you for the part you played in it. But today, I just think you’re an asshole who tries to help people and sometimes gets it right.”
As I listened to her, a rolling movie of memories filled my head. All the years we’d spent loving each
other and fucking each other up. We’d never had a chance. Not with the shit we’d each been through before we even met.
When a puzzle was missing pieces, it would never be complete. It would always be lacking. Ivy and I never had a shot at making that damn puzzle come together because we were missing pieces all over the place and the pieces we did have didn’t slot together in the right ways.
Sometimes two people just weren’t meant to be together.
Sometimes there was more hate than love, more war than peace.
Sometimes love wasn’t enough.
I stood. “You’ve got my number. Use it if you need something.”
There was one more thing I could do to help her, and as much as doing it would put me back in front of someone I wanted to forget, I would do it. Because even though Ivy and I would never be together again, I would never stop wanting the best for her.
* * *
“You shouldn’t have come here, King,” Bethany said to me through her screen door an hour later.
I’d left Ivy and taken my sweet fucking time coming here. It was unlike me to hesitate to do the shit I needed to do, but just thinking about this woman threw up all kinds of red flags.
I squared my shoulders. “We need to talk about Ivy.”
“What about her?”
“Fuck, Bethany, what the fuck do you mean, what about her? You say that like you don’t even fucking care about her—”
Her lips pursed. “I’m not interested in standing here listening to you swear. If you have something to say, say it, but do not use that language with me.”
If her appearance was anything to go by, the years hadn’t been kind. She stood hunched over, her frail hand gripping the door to steady her. Lines wrinkled her face, grey hair sat in a mess of a bun on her head, and breaths wheezed out of her. Mostly, though, she looked defeated by life. And the way her face pinched, she appeared to be full of resentment and bitterness.