Chapter 19
Brysen
IT TOOK A FEW weeks to get the condo back in a condition that didn’t resemble a crime scene. While we were in the process of changing the floors out, Race decided he wanted to get rid of all the furniture and replace everything so that there were no reminders of what the place used to be. He was still watching me with careful eyes and still handling me like I might break, but each time he took me to bed, and each day that passed where I didn’t fall apart, he settled down more and more. I was determined to show him and myself that I could do this—live this life and not let it grind me down. It was what had to happen if I was going to be with Race and we both knew it. In all honesty, I really was okay. Drew had stalked me, very nearly destroyed my life from the inside out, and if I thought about it hard enough, I could still feel his fingers around my neck as he tried to take my life with his bare hands. He wasn’t a good person. Even if he had a lot to be furious at my family for it didn’t justify the way he went about things.
Before moving back into the condo, I asked Race to see if we could get into my parent’s house so Karsen and I could get the rest of our personal stuff we had left behind. I also wanted to grab my mom’s things, because even though she wasn’t going to be out of treatment for a long time, she still needed to have something familiar and tangible to come back to. Race and Bax went by the house and came back and told me that there was a FOR SALE sign in the front yard and it looked like the place had been vacant for a while. There were those locks Realtors use to keep people out on all the doors, but they were no match for a professional car thief, and a few days later, my sister and I were going room to room trying to find as much of our old life as we could in a rush. I only wanted things that had good memories attached, but I didn’t stop Karsen from grabbing several family photos and other things from the house that I personally would’ve left behind.
When I stuck my head in my dad’s office, I wasn’t at all surprised to find it cleaned out. He had left not only us, but all his other responsibilities high and dry. I didn’t miss the way Race’s eyes got dark and his jaw clenched when he looked over my shoulder into the empty room. I knew my dad owed him and Nassir a lot of money, but that anger was on my behalf, not because of the debt. I wasn’t going to ask Race to let it go, to just let my dad disappear and forget about the debt. Not because I knew deep down he couldn’t do that and still expect the rest of the people who owed him money to pay up, but because I was starting to really believe people needed to suffer the consequences of their actions. Maybe if my mom had gone to jail after the accident, she would have been forced to be medicated and wouldn’t have ended up such a wreck. And maybe, just maybe, Drew would have felt like his father and brother’s deaths hadn’t been in vain and that justice was served and none of this nightmare would have had to happen. In the end, it landed me in Race’s lap, and as long as that was the end result, I wouldn’t complain about the rough ride it had been so far.
I had a minor attack of nerves the first time I had to enter the condo. I thought I was going to forever see Booker’s bleeding body and Dovie standing in the doorway with a gun pointed at Drew, but with the shining new floors and all the modern, brightly colored furniture Race had let me and Karsen pick out, it was like going into an entirely new space, a space that felt more like home, even with its ugly past and bloody recent history, than any other place had in a long time.
Race and I settled into a pretty easy pattern really quickly. I still went to school, still went to work at the restaurant, and he still ran around town, still came home with blood on his hands and clothes, and there were nights he called and told me he was just staying at the loft because it was close to dawn and he was burned out. I could read between the lines and tell that meant he had to do something really bad, something he hadn’t shaken off just yet and wasn’t ready to bring it into this place that was his safe haven. I wasn’t like Dovie. I didn’t just let him go without knowing what he was doing, who he was going to be with, and I wanted him home even when he was raw and still covered in the city. If I was in, then I was all the way in, and he never tried to give me pat answers or brush me off. Even if it made me cringe and my tummy hurt to know what he was up to after dark, he always told me flat out and I tried my best not to stay up all night worrying about him until I heard him come up the stairs.
It took a few more weeks for me to realize that Karsen wasn’t nearly as settled into the new routine and life as I was. I started to notice that she was really quiet, that she seemed kind of listless and uninterested in what was going on around her. I asked Race what he thought about it, considering he had taken Dovie under his wing and practically raised her when she was only sixteen. He suggested just talking to her instead of trying to guess because the teenage-girl mind was like a labyrinth, so I pulled my sister aside one afternoon and asked her what was going on.
At first she tried to tell me that she was just adjusting to a new place, that she missed Mom, but the more I pressed the more I could tell something else was going on with her. I let it go for a few days until I came home from work one night and noticed that she not only had a fat lip, but was also missing a huge chuck of hair. Her hair looked as jagged as mine had after leaving the hospital. Since there was no hiding the damage, she broke down and told me that things at school had only gotten worse since the house had gone into foreclosure. The rich kids were picking on her, the boys were harassing her, and when one of the girls had gotten in her face about Mom being in rehab, Karsen had lost it and smacked her in the face, which had led to a catfight in the hall. She told me she was probably going to be suspended and that she didn’t want to go back to the Hill ever again. She felt strongly enough about it that she had already looked into alternative schooling, because she knew there was no way I was going to let her drop out, and there was no way either Race or I was going to be comfortable sending her into the war zone that was the public high school in the Point. She had taken it upon herself to find a charter school that was really close to where Dovie and Bax lived. It was a school that was just a step down from a private school, and even though she would have to wear a uniform, she was convinced it was the best option and wanted me to go with her to enroll. I was never going to get used to how mature she seemed, how she seemed to be taking to this new life and our new set of circumstances like a duck to water.
I told her I wanted to check the school out before I agreed, but I think she knew it was a done deal. I couldn’t find anything wrong with it after I toured it and talked to the principal and teachers. Karsen seemed to think it would be a good fit, so I filled out all the paperwork and her transfer only took a few days to be approved.
I was just getting back from taking her to get her hair fixed and buying the khaki and black she was going to have to wear for her uniform when my phone rang. I was getting ready to kick my shoes off and toss my keys on the counter but paused because I didn’t recognize the number. That wasn’t unusual, considering my boyfriend had about five different phones on hand at any given time and that my best friend was always using a different prepaid cell.
“Hello?”
There was a lot of noise in the background, I heard someone yelling and someone else shouting, and then there was the sound of a door slamming shut and a deep voice asked, “Is this Brysen?”
I frowned. “Who’s asking?”
“This is Detective King, Bax’s brother.”
“Oh, yeah, this is Brysen. What can I do for you?”
I figured he was just following up on everything that had happened with Drew, but my heart started to thunder when he sighed and told me very matter-of-factly, “I just called Race and Dovie down to the station. I have some news for both of them and I think it would be smart if you and Bax made your way in as well. I already called him because he would kick my ass if I didn’t.”
My hands curled around the keys I was still clutching until the metal dug sharply into my skin.
“What happened?”
“
I can’t tell you until I talk to Race and Dovie. Just trust me, you want to get here as soon as possible.”
I hung up and bolted for the door with Karsen hollering after me, asking what was wrong. I made it to the police station in record time and didn’t have to search too hard to find Bax prowling around in front of the main intake desk like a dangerous, dark predator. His midnight-colored eyes flared a little when they saw me and he stopped midpace to stalk over to me.
“Titus called you down here too?”
I nodded and craned my neck around to see if I could see my guy or Dovie anywhere. There were people all over the place. Some in uniform, some in business dress; most were in street clothes and there were far too many in handcuffs who looked like they had just been picked up off any corner in the Point for my comfort.
“Do you have any idea what is going on?”
Bax grunted and rubbed his hand roughly over his head. It was obvious that he was as agitated as I was, but his concern came across as barely leashed violence.
“No. But if I don’t see Dovie in the next five minutes, I’m finding my brother’s office and getting some goddamn answers.”
Well, that was fine by me. He could storm the castle and I would just follow along behind him. I was going to tell him that I was all for that plan when his spine snapped straight and all of his impressive bulk went stone hard. His teeth snapped together with enough force that I heard it and the star tattooed on his face started to throb as red heat moved up his neck and into his face.
I turned to see what had him reacting so violently and could only frown in confusion as a beautiful young woman with endless amounts of jet-black hair and a body that would stop traffic faltered as she saw him and then made a move to walk past both of us.
Bax suddenly moved around me, practically knocking me over as he loomed unmoving in front of the woman, forcing her to a stop and look up at him. She had really amazing eyes that were almost navy blue in color and I could see the way she shook when Bax got right in her face and literally growled at her like a wild animal.
“Hey . . .” I tried to interject because we were in the lobby of a police station after all.
Bax ignored me and barked out in short, clipped tones, “What. In. The. Fuck.”
“Hello, Shane.” Her voice was surprisingly calm in the face of all that dark rage sweeping off of him. It was strange to hear anyone use Bax’s real name besides Dovie, and it was obvious he didn’t like it.
“You bitch. I should put your head through that wall after what you did to Dovie. She thought you were her friend.” His eyes blazed like the very pits of hell at her and I could almost see the rage rolling off of him in thick, suffocating waves.
The woman blinked slowly and she went really pale but she refused to look away from him. She had some serious balls. Bax was scary and the way he was looking at her was like he already had a shallow grave dug somewhere in the city for her body.
“No one has friends in the Point, at least that’s what I thought. I’m trying to make it right.” Now her voice cracked a little and I noticed that her bottom lip started to quiver slightly. She was far more frightened than she was letting on. Whatever else Bax had been ready to lay into her about was cut off when Titus suddenly appeared and smacked Bax across the back of the head, startling him enough to move away from the young woman as he reached up to rub the sting.
“Leave her alone, asshole. She’s trying to help.” Titus sounded annoyed and frustrated in equal measure.
The woman looked between the two men then at me, and was smart enough to bolt while she had an opening. She left without saying anything to either brother.
“Who on earth was that?”
Bax retaliated by ramming his elbow hard into Titus’s very flat belly, which had the older brother sucking in a breath and glaring as his sibling. Bax turned his dark eyes on me and bit out, “Reeve Black. She’s the person who told Novak Dovie was on her own the night he had his guys grab her off the street. She got into bed with him over a blood debt and he called it in and used it to hurt Race and Dovie. She should be in jail for capital murder, but she cut a major deal with the feds and went into witness protection. She’s supposed to be as far away from here as they could put her. I told this idiot”—he pointed at his glowering brother—“if I ever saw her again I wasn’t going to be responsible for my actions.”
“And I told you to stop saying shit like that to me. Remember, I’m a cop.”
“Why are we here, Detective?”
Titus scowled at Bax and flicked a narrow-eyed look at me as well. He crooked his finger and motioned for us to move closer to him.
“I got a call from one of the federal marshals handling all the witnesses in the Novak case.” I saw his Adam’s apple bounce up and down as he met Bax’s hard stare. “Race and Dovie’s old man was murdered last night in the secure location WITSEC found for him. Hartman was willing to give the names of major arms dealers, drug suppliers south of the border, and all kinds of other information the RICO unit was chomping at the bit to get their hands on in this case. He had a full security detail, was located out in the middle of goddamn nowhere, and someone still managed to get to him.”
I bit down on my lip and shared a worried look with Bax. “How are they handling the news?”
“Dovie is a sweetheart, so I think she’s mostly worried about Race since he hasn’t said a single word. The asshole tried to have Novak kill her, so I think she’s just relieved that that’s one threat she’ll never have to worry about again. Race just kind of zoned out; I’ve never seen him like that before. That’s not all, though.” He rocked back on his heels and put a hand on the butt end of the pistol attached to his belt. “With Hartman being so insulated, we know the hit had to come from the inside. It had to be someone handling his move and relocation.”
Bax swore. “A fed?”
Titus nodded. “Probably.”
Bax dropped about every dirty word I had ever heard and clenched his hands into fists. “Not enough we have to worry about the bad guys, now we gotta worry about the good guys too?”
“That’s about the shape of it.”
“Why was Reeve here, Titus?” It was a sharp change in subject and obviously Bax wasn’t happy that the stunning woman was anywhere near his city.
“Because she has information I’m going to need if I have any chance of flushing out our dirty fed.”
That had Bax swearing again. “What kind of info?”
Titus shook his head and scrubbed his hands over his short hair. “That’s the line where brother and cop cross, Shane. Leave her alone, I need her to do my job and I will be seriously pissed if you get in my way.”
I was tired of the masculine posturing when I needed to take care of my man. This was a lot to process and I just wanted to get to Race. “Where is Race?”
“In my office with Dovie.” Titus stopped Bax with a hand on the center of his chest as he went to maneuver around him. “Look, I need this girl to stop what is happening in the Point. She is absolutely necessary. I told Dovie all of this and she gets it, so you need to use your head and not go off half-cocked because I will shut you down so fast it’ll make your head spin. You got me, Bax?”
Bax didn’t say anything, just pushed forcibly around Titus and stomped his way across the precinct toward a glass door that had DETECTIVE KING stenciled on it in black letters. I went to follow him, my head spinning and stuffed with the excess of information it had just been handed out, when Titus reached out to stop me.
“Race is a good man. He’s in a tough spot right now and making some really difficult choices, but he’s always been a lot softer at his center than Bax. His dad was a piece of shit, a murderer and a goddamn oily son of a bitch, but when it hits him, when it really settles, he’s gonna need a hand working through his old man being gone.”
I tilted my chin up a little defiantly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
I went to go get my golden god when he
suddenly came out of the office, Bax and Dovie following behind. Bax had Dovie folded into his side, and even though her eyes were dry, she was way paler than normal and she was clutching Bax like he was what was keeping her tied to the here and now. Race looked like he always looked. That beautiful dimple flashed at me, his blond hair glimmered like gold, and when he reached me he put both hands on my cheeks and gave me a sweet kiss. If I didn’t know him as well as I did, I would have thought he really was okay, but there were fine lines of tension bracketing those evergreen eyes, and even with the dimple flashing, I could see the way his teeth were clenched together behind the smile. He grasped my hand in his and started to pull me toward the front door before I could even ask Dovie if she was okay or offer her up a hug.
Race didn’t look directly at me, he just said softly, “I have some stuff to take care of. I’ll meet you back at the house later, okay?”
I looked at his face, saw all that darkness and moodiness moving behind the green, and wrapped him in a tight hug. “As long as you promise to come home tonight.”
His eyes shifted away from me and I could see he wanted to argue that point.
“Seriously, Race. Come home.”
After a minute he nodded his agreement, dropped a hard, stinging kiss on my mouth, and walked away toward the Stingray. I watched him until he got in the car and raced out of the parking lot. I muttered a few choice words under my breath and was going to head in the opposite direction where the BMW was when I was stopped by Bax’s heavy hand on my arm. Dovie gave me a lopsided grin and rubbed her cheek on Bax’s side.
“He’ll be all right. He just has to work through it.” His tone was gruff. “I’m glad it was someone else, because I would have killed the guy if I ever got the chance.”
I shuddered at that and watched as Dovie looked up at him under her rust-colored eyelashes. She huffed a little and shifted her gaze to me.
“Don’t let him try and turn this into his fault, because he will.”
I nodded and told her, “Call me if you need anything.”