“Very well,” Parisis says, taking another pull from his cancer stick.
“I guess, since you’re here, I should go ahead and give youyour gift,” I offer, smiling as I lean back in my seat and cross my arms. I’m kind of excited to be able to deliver this package to Vincenzo. It’s about time he took out his own trash.
“There’s no need to give me thank-you gifts, Gabriel. I would think you would know that our friendship extends beyond material things after all we’ve shared these last few months. No?” Vincenzo smirks.
Asshole.
“Hawk.” He knows what to do and quickly takes out his phone. He walks slowly over to Vincenzo’s seat and shows him our guest in the basement.
Vincenzo takes the phone from his hand. He doesn’t show any outward reaction except when he shouts, “Santiago!” The doors to church open, and in walks Vincenzo’s second most trusted henchman.
Vincenzo shows the screen to Santiago. His eyes snap to Vincenzo’s. “Orders?”
“Collect the trash. We’ll take it home and dispose of it there,” Vincenzo orders. Santiago turns to me, and I call for the prospect to take Santiago to the basement.
“I feel as though I owe you something in return, Gabriel,” Vincenzo says, though there’s a hint of humor in his tone. “Perhaps you will all see me out to my vehicle.”
This should be interesting.
It’s been my experience that whenever we meet near Vincenzo’s vehicle, there’s a body inside waiting for me. I follow him out the back door in time to catch Santiago backing into a parking spot. The backdoor of the SUV opens, and out steps Kayce Eaton. My men are all lined up at the back of the building. Declan, Jake, and Hawk lean against the brick wall awaiting orders.
Kayce comes forward, stopping in front of me, his arms crossed, attempting to be intimidating.
“Gabe,” Kayce approaches, getting close enough that I unload three rapid punches. One to the face and two to the body. The bastard has had this shit coming for a while now, and it’s about time I delivered.
When he rights himself, he shakes his head, jerking his jaw from side to side. “Guess I deserved that.”
“What you deserve is a bullet between your fucking eyes for the shit you’ve pulled!” I argue. “I don’t give a fuck how close you were to Declan back in the day or that you helped find his woman and her son. You crossed a line when you snuck onto Kings’ property and not only helped a known traitor escape, notonce but twice—then you framed our brother for four fucking murders and disappeared, leaving us to clean up your fucking mess!”
“We also helped rescue your niece and bring her home safely. Or doesn’t that count for anything?” Kayce taunts.
“Sadie would’ve found her way home; of that I have no doubt. That girl has outsmartedallof us, including Tate,” I growl menacingly. “Let me be very clear. You are not to come anywhere near Kings property, and that includes our women. Violet and Carter are no longer your responsibility—they’re Kingsnow. You have no business here at all. If I so much as catch your scent on the wind, I’m going to unleash hell on every fucking one of you.” Inching myself closer, crowding the fucker until I’m right up in his face, I give one last word of caution. “If I were you, I’d take the warning for what it is and fuck off.”
Kayce takes his place in the back of the SUV. I turn back to find Vincenzo smiling. He slaps his hand on my shoulder and says, “This is why we are friends, Gabriel. You don’t mince words. You are a man of action and a man of honor. Until next time.” Vincenzo drops his hand and goes to get into the SUV. We all stand watching as they leave the yard.
“The fuck does that mean?” Jake asks me.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling that whatever Vincenzo is up to, we’re going to get roped in.” Shaking my head, and ready to be done with this shit, I announce to my men, “Come on. Let’s go see the girls. We can finish church this evening. I want to see my niece and could use a fucking drink.”
When we make it inside the main room, the women are laughing about something. The sound does something to calm my insides. It damn near gutted me when Sadie took off and we couldn’t find her. If I weren’t sure Hawk already punished her for her stunt, I would handle it myself. Doesn’t mean I won’t give her ass a good chewing out though. She needs to learn thatshe’s not her parent’s mistake. She’s family, and that means something around here.
I’m headed toward Sadie to tell her as much, when I see Linzie get up, making a beeline for me. When she stops in front of me, she looks nervous, and it makes my chest ache. My woman should never be nervous to tell me anything.
She steps into my space. Her small hand comes up to rest on my chest, and it feels good to finally have her touch on my skin again. After our last conversation, when she lost her shit about things she didn’t understand, it put a wedge between us. I’ve been meaning to get over to her house and get shit right between us, but with the Feds and then Sadie’s disappearance, it was never the right time.
Linzie takes a deep breath, as if to steel herself before she speaks, and I’m suddenly worried I’m not going to like what she has to say. My eyes drop to her hand, then back up to meet hers. All the women go deathly quiet, and now I’m certain I’m not going to like what comes next.
“I owe you an apology for the way I went off on you the last time I was here,” Linzie says, her eyes slightly glassy. “This is your club, yourlifestyle,and I had no right to yell at you the way I did. I heard the rumors in town and had the Feds in my shop talking to customers about you all, and I was worried for my son.” She sighs, shrinking back a bit.
Is she afraid? Of me?
What the fuck?
“That being said. I’m sorry for the way I acted, and I hope we can go back to the way things were.” Her words are the relief I needed. After everything that’s gone down with the club and then dealing with Vincenzo and that prick Kayce, I’m just happy to finally have shit back to normal. I’m fucking exhausted, and I really need to go talk to my niece and get all this club shit settled before I dig any deeper into things with my woman.
Not wanting to let things linger any longer than they have to, I give her the quickest response possible so I can move this show along. Because as soon as I’m done here, I plan on taking her home and fixing shit between us the right way, with her underneath me screaming my name until we both pass out.
“Yeah. That’ll be great.”
