Better When He's Brave

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Better When He's Brave Page 28

by Jay Crownover


  “Yeah. Told someone who she was and was screaming something about trusting the system and doing the right thing. She also said if we didn’t send someone after you, she was calling in the not-so-legal backup. I didn’t realize you had your hand so deep in the cookie jar, Detective. Can you walk?”

  I shook my head in the negative and he hefted me up while wrapping an arm around my back. We both looked at where Roark lay still and lifeless, a bullet hole decorating the center of his forehead.

  “Seems anticlimactic after everything he put you and the people of this city through.”

  I disagreed, but I had just spent the last hazy moments getting beaten with pipes and fists. “He died on the ashes of the empire we took from Novak. Seems oddly appropriate.”

  Packard snorted as we hobbled toward the door. “I’m just glad it’s over, and though I’ll never officially admit it, I’m glad I’m the one that fired the shot. I screwed up with Roark. Evens the scales back a little in my favor.”

  I sighed. This was the Point. It was never over and our scales were always out of whack in the opposite way anyone wanted. I shuffled, jumped, and stumbled with his help out of the warehouse to where I could hear sirens wailing. We were headed toward the back of an open ambulance when I heard my name. I saw her dark hair in the crowd and growled at Packard when one of his guys grabbed her to keep her back from the chaos and crime scene.

  He ordered the fed to let her through and she ran at me like the hounds of hell were chasing her. She hit my chest hard and almost took all three of us to the ground. I was covered in blood, not all of it my own, and she didn’t seem to care. She kissed me all over my face and helped Packard get me the rest of the way to the ambulance. She was talking a mile a minute, her eyes wide and shiny with relief and unshed tears. I slumped down and grabbed her cheeks so I could hold her face. I kissed her to shut her up and because I had to. I was alive. She was alive. The good guys were battered but victorious.

  “You didn’t wait.”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face in the curve there. “I’ve been waiting for something good and right in my life forever, Titus. I wasn’t going to wait for it for another hour. I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t risk you.”

  “Thank you. I’m so proud of you for knowing what to do, for taking care of me.”

  She nodded against me. “I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted you to see that I do trust you, trust the system. I wanted to show you more. I wanted to take care of you the right way.”

  I squeezed her and winced as she brushed my knee. That sucker was shot. It looked like a basketball and was the same color as her dark blue eyes.

  “Any choice you make to take care of me is the right choice, Reeve. I love you.”

  She hiccuped against the side of my neck and I felt the tears start to fall. “I love you too.”

  I ran my hand up under the heavy fall of her hair and wrapped it around the back of her neck. I gave her a little squeeze and whispered into her ear as a uniformed paramedic started to make his way over to us. “I need to tell you something.”

  “Anything.”

  “You never had anything to do with your sister’s boyfriend getting killed. He owed Novak money for drugs. He already had a target on him. Novak manipulated you, used you like he did everyone else in the Point. You’ve never been a killer, Reeve. You aren’t a bad person. You can go make things right with your folks and let go of some of that responsibility you let control you.”

  She pulled back and looked at me stunned. She fussed at the paramedic when he asked her to move away so he could get to my injured leg.

  She slowly shook her head and took my hand. “No. I’m still the same, Titus. Regardless of whether I had a hand in it or not, I’m glad Rissa’s killer is dead, and I would’ve killed Conner. I still want to now seeing how badly he hurt you. I won’t make that choice again, I know I can’t and still keep you, but I still want to. I don’t think it makes me a bad person. I think it makes me a survivor. If it’s me and someone I love or a bad guy, the bad guy is going down and I won’t feel guilty for that anymore.”

  I leaned over and kissed her. “You are a lion tamer.” Fearless and always willing to dance in the dark with the monsters and animals that wanted to eat her up. No wonder my beast loved her. She wrinkled her nose at me.

  “Can’t it be Beauty and the Beast? I think I like that better.”

  I wanted to laugh but I groaned instead as they told me they needed to move me to a gurney. It really hurt but it was tolerable because my girl was there to take care of me.

  Like she always was. I might bleed for everyone else. Fight to the end for this town and those that I loved that lived here, but this woman . . . she would bleed for me and never ask for anything in return. There was nothing more than that. This is what my love looked like in the Point: a girl that could take care of herself and anyone else she cared about . . . and God help anyone that got in her way.

  Chapter 19

  Reeve

  THE GARAGE WAS BUSY when I walked through it. It was noisy and smelled like oil and gasoline. I got a few curious looks from the different guys that had their heads buried in engines or that were working on various other parts of the car but I didn’t pay any attention to them. They all knew I was with Bax’s brother, and as long as they wanted to keep breathing or stay out of jail, they kept their opinions to themselves.

  I knew Bax was somewhere in the cavernous compound. I had called Dovie earlier to ask her where I could find him. She told me he was going nuts sitting at home, and since the contraption holding his jaw in place had been removed, he went back to work. She sounded frustrated and I knew exactly where she was coming from. Though Titus’s injuries were less serious than Bax’s in the grand scheme of things, he was still laid up with a broken knee and some busted ribs. The cop was a terrible patient and he was making me insane with his bad mood and surly attitude while he thumped around the house in his cast. My personal opinion was that the rest was good for him. He deserved some time off after everything he had been through, but Titus wasn’t the kind of guy that unwound. He stayed coiled tight, listening to his police scanner and constantly on the phone with his fellow cops talking about work and unsolved cases. Even hobbled and banged up, the guy was a force to be reckoned with, and the same could be said for Bax.

  He was sitting behind his big, metal desk in his office. His wrist was still in a heavy plaster cast but he had his broken ankle up on the edge of the desk and it was encased in a bulky, black walking boot. He was still too skinny and the sharpness in his face made his glower all the more intimidating as I took a seat across from him without asking. He still emanated badass and don’t-mess-with-me even though he looked like he had been on the losing end of his last fight.

  Dovie had given me the codes to get into the compound and through the massive gates in the first place since there was no chance in hell I would ever be invited. I wasn’t welcome and the fact was evident on Bax’s hard features.

  “What are you doing here?” He tapped his fingers on the knee of his lifted leg and I glanced around the office. I was trying to figure out what seemed different about him besides the weight loss when the old smell of cigarette smoke snuck into my nose.

  I lifted an eyebrow at him. “You don’t have a cigarette in your hand.”

  The vein by the star inked on his face twitched in annoyance. “I have enough shit trying to kill me every day. I figured I didn’t need to help matters along. It was a bitch to try and smoke through all the wires and shit that were holding my face together until a couple of days ago. What are you doing here, Reeve?”

  I pushed some of my long hair over my shoulder and cleared my throat. “I know you don’t like me, that you don’t trust me and want someone else for your brother.”

  He didn’t say anything but his chin dipped down in a barely-there nod. “None of that is a secret.”

  I locked my fingers together in my lap and forced myself to meet his da
rk gaze and the animosity that lived deep in the depths. “Look, I know I screwed up with Dovie and she got hurt, but I saved Titus’s life, so that has to count for something. I’m not going anywhere and you know you can’t do anything about it without hurting your brother. I want some kind of truce, Shane. Like it or not, we’re part of the same family now.”

  He didn’t say anything. He rocked back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him while he considered me. It took every ounce of self-control I had not to wiggle and fidget under that heavy and deep look. It was like the entire night sky was landing on top of me.

  “What are you going to do with Titus in the long run, Reeve? He’s always going to be a cop and you’re always going to be a chick with one foot on either side of the law. Are you going to make him choose between you and who he is, what he has always been?”

  I shook my head slowly. “I’m going to love him and take care of him like he has always done for you, Shane. He needs someone to care for him and I promise that I won’t ever compromise him. I told Nassir that when I agreed to stay on at the club. Everything is aboveboard and legal, and it stays that way or I walk. Maybe it’s not the most morally pristine job for a cop’s lady to have, but it pays well and I like being able to take care of the girls. Strippers are mostly good women just doing what they have to in order to survive out here. I understand that better than Nassir or Race ever will. It’s not like you can judge anyway. I know what all those cars sitting on your lot are for. Out of the two of us, you’re the one that tests his resolve to be who he is, not me.” I got to my feet and put my hands on the edge of the desk. I leaned forward a little so Bax could feel my own heavy and deep gaze as it landed on him. “And he wasn’t always a cop. He was a kid stuck just like you were. He is a man that has had to make the hard choices just like you. Don’t force him to make another one, Shane. Find a way to make peace with the fact I’m here and I’m here to stay.”

  I wouldn’t beg him. I had too much pride for that, but I would fight him if he made me. Titus needed both of us in his life and I wouldn’t let Bax reopen the gap that had separated them for so long. I pushed up off the desk and turned to head back out the door. Bax’s gravelly voice stopped me just as I was pushing the lever to open it.

  “When you say ‘here to stay,’ are you talking babies and a ring? Traditional shit that makes no sense in this place?” He sounded baffled by the concept.

  I just shrugged my shoulder. What happened next hadn’t exactly come up in conversation with the cop, but he didn’t seem at all concerned that birth control had gone out the window. Well, once the feds had officially cleared out and there was no longer the threat of possible jail time hanging over my head, birth control had fallen by the wayside. Babies and the Point didn’t really mix, but when the mother was willing to do anything, and I do mean anything, to keep them safe and happy, I think Titus and I realized bringing a life into this messed-up world was a risk we were both willing to take. And as traditional and serious as the man was about family, I had no doubt that at some point in the future he would want to make all the more between us official.

  “I’m here for all of it. Whatever it is.”

  He swung the bulky contraption holding his ankle off the desk and got to his feet. He crossed his arms over his chest and we had a stare-down. When I didn’t look away he gave that tiny little nod again and let his mouth twist up into a smirk.

  “We’re fine for now, Reeve, but if you ever hurt anyone I care about again, there won’t be a place far enough away that you can hide to get away from me.”

  “We care about the same people, Shane. I won’t make those kinds of mistakes again.”

  I walked out before he could say anything else. It was a shaky truce at best, but it would do for now. Bax was never going to be my biggest fan, but as long as he tolerated me and understood I would never let anything hurt Titus, I was a happy girl.

  I had one more quick stop to make before going back home to my cranky cop. As nice and modern as the loft was, it didn’t feel like a home. I didn’t want to be locked up in a fortress and I didn’t want to be lifted high above the streets that were my home. I liked Titus’s messy little Craftsman. I liked that once it was cleaned up and actually had some things inside of it to make it feel lived in and homey, it automatically felt like a home we had built together. He hadn’t even asked me to move in. I just did it as soon as he came home from the hospital. I knew he was going to need help since he could barely walk and still had more reconstructive surgery to look forward to, but he didn’t say anything about all my stuff overrunning the closet and overtaking the bathroom counter. I assumed he was happy with the situation since he never complained or batted an eye even if I did harp on him to pick up after himself. I never knew any one person could leave such a tornado of mess behind them wherever they went. He was lucky I loved him because the man was a straight-up slob.

  I found the room I was looking for when I got to the hospital with minimal effort. I had wanted to come by sooner, but between the cops questioning him and the feds wanting a piece of him, Booker was a busy guy. Not to mention he had required three separate operations to keep him alive and to dig the bullet out of his chest, and was just now awake and lucid enough for visitors.

  When I pushed the door open I wasn’t surprised at all to see that he wasn’t alone. Big brown eyes looked up at me guiltily as Karsen took a startled step back from the bed. The teenager flushed and bit down on her lip.

  “Hi, Reeve.”

  “Hi, sweetie. Does your sister or Race know you’re here?” The teenager flushed even hotter red and I knew the answer was no. I sighed. “You better go, then. You don’t need to get the brute in any more trouble with Race.”

  She nodded and whispered good-bye to Booker before scurrying out the door. I shut it behind her and went over to take up the spot she had just vacated by the bed. Booker was looking up at me with weary blue-gray eyes and he had all kinds of tubes and wires coming out of him.

  “You really do have a death wish if you think Race is gonna let you get your hands on that girl, my friend.”

  He wheezed out something that sounded like a laugh. “You still pissed at me too?”

  At first, when Titus explained why Booker had betrayed us all, I had been so burned, felt so violated, that I was sure I never wanted to see the man again. But I was a master of knowing all about drastic choices made in the vortex of desperation and frustration, so when I calmed down I knew I couldn’t stay mad at him. Booker was playing the only hand he had been dealt just like we all did. We all gambled with fate and chance every single day, so we were bound to lose every now and then.

  That’s why I was here. I knew all about screwing up so bad that you felt like you were all alone and no one would ever be able to forgive you. I needed Booker to know that even though his actions had hurt me, had been dire and foolish, I got it and I understood what made him do it. The two of us were an awful lot alike, and in this place it was hard to find people that you not only liked but could relate to. I wasn’t going to cast him out and I wanted him to know that.

  Race wasn’t as quick to forgive as I was. His fortress had been breached from the inside and that made him feel like he couldn’t keep his girls safe. I wasn’t sure what the future held for him and Booker and their working relationship, but with Karsen still sniffing around the much older and much harder man, I knew the road bumps were just beginning for Booker.

  “No, I’m not pissed anymore. I understand why you did what you did, but that’s only because I’ve been there. The guys . . .” I turned my hand back and forth in a so-so motion. “They can only see you putting their women at risk, so they want to go caveman on you. Give it time. Race will see the entire picture sooner or later.”

  “What about the cop?”

  I shrugged. “He doesn’t love that I got beat up, and he doesn’t love that you got me the gun, but he’s proud of me for taking care of myself. I think he gets that you were desperate and grasping
at straws. Someone had to do something and maybe it wasn’t the right thing, but in the end your actions brought Conner down, and that’s all that matters. Titus said you’re still going to get probation for skipping on your bond, though.”

  He wheezed again, which I think was a laugh. “He let you keep the gun?”

  I nodded a little. “No. But he got me another one. This one is licensed.” I was still doing me and living my life, I was just doing it with more clearly defined lines than I did before. It was actually pretty fun when I had my own sexy cop around to enforce the rules.

  “Good. I don’t want you to lose your edge.” His eyelids started to droop, so I reached out and squeezed one of his hands. Despite it all, Booker’s heart had been in the right place even if he might have gone about everything all wrong. That was something that was painfully familiar to me.

  “Those edges just smooth out naturally when they end up rubbing against the person that is your rock, my friend.”

  He grumbled something and let his eyes drift closed. “I don’t need a rock. I’m hard enough on my own.” I didn’t say anything, but I did think of the doe-eyed teenager that had just snuck in to see him. Sometimes rocks were tiny pebbles tossed around in a storm, battering endlessly against a much bigger boulder, slowly, silently chipping away at the surface.

  I slipped out of the room and went down to the GTO so I could get back to Titus. He didn’t throw the L-word around a lot . . . in fact he had only said it to me twice. The day after Conner was hauled away by the coroner and the day he finally came home from the hospital when he was still stoned out of his mind on pain pills. It didn’t bother me because the next day he had handed over the keys to that Liberty Blue muscle car and told me I could use it until his leg was out of the cast. If that wasn’t a full-on declaration of love and devotion, then I didn’t know what was. The keys to the GTO were better than any diamond ring he might give me.

 

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