“Boss, Rossi just pulled up.”
“Send him in.”
I push all thoughts of my personal shit and potential war on the horizon to the far back corner of my brain as Rossi steps in to start our meeting.
6
Chapter Six
Jakob
Idon’t know what was up Declan’s ass at the beginning of the week when he texted me, but I don’t have anything to be ‘careful’ about, so I just go on with my life like normal. It’s been another grueling week, but it’s finally Friday. Instead of hanging out at Knipe and getting suckered into being behind the bar, a couple of my friends and I are meeting at Primetime.
Primetime is a sports bar in neutral territory. It opened back before Lee and Mac got together and is now a favorite spot for me and my buddies to meet up. Memorabilia from all of Jersey’s professional teams line the walls, the lights are dim, and the music is deep. Walking into the crowded area, I look around for Ethan, Jasper, and Miles. Spotting three arms in the air, each holding a beer bottle, I know I’ve foundthem.
Walking past the high top table, I knock on it twice, “Anyone need another?”
They all decline, so I nod and go grab a drink from the bar for myself. After I’ve come back, I grab the empty seat between Miles and Jasper.
“No Eli and Tuck today?”
Jasper shakes his head as he takes a long pull from his bottle, but it’s Ethan that answers, “Nah, they had some family thing come up.” Elias and Tucker are brothers and have the same friends. Sometimes I think it’s weird, until I remember Dieter and I also have the same friends. Aside from Eli and Tuck, we’re missing Roman, but he’s going through some stuff right now, so I’m not surprised.
“Speaking of brothers, where’s D at?” Miles asks.
“He and Hannah had a date tonight.” I smile proudly about how much he really is killing the Dad game.
“We moving over there after she goes to bed?”
I shrug, “I’m not sure, I guess it depends on how long we’re here.”
Jasper looks at me like I have five heads. “No, he means are we making our way over there at nine when she goes to sleep or not?”
I can’t help but smile. “I mean, that’s fine with me. I’ll call Dieter at nine and check with him.”
Jasper, Miles, Eli, Tuck, Rome, Dieter, and I have all been friends since we were in our late teens. We brought Ethan into the fold when he started working for Dieter. They had front row tickets to Dieter having it all, then to it all crumbling at his feet on the best and worst day of his life. So working things around Hannah’s schedule isn’t new to them.
A lot of friends are surface level friends. They’re your drinking buddies or who you hang out with on the weekends, but never let the conversation get too deep. They’re your superficial friends that phase out after a few years.
We’ve had our fair share of those too, but these guys are the real deal. They’re the ones who would take turns coming to stay the night and help with Hannah so Dieter could grieve his loss and adjust to being a new dad all by himself. Hannah has an army of uncles that are very much active in her life. They were there the day she was born, and they held her while I held her father as the priest lowered her mother into the ground. The type of friends that she’ll one day be shocked to learn aren’t her biological uncles.
“So can we talk about what happened to your pretty face or…” Jasper laughs and ducks out of the way of my fist as I halfheartedly swing out at him.
“Nothing happened, but I can give you a match if you’re that obsessed with it.” I laugh as he scoffs like the notion that I’d actually swing on him is so far fetched. I mean it is, but still.
Without warning, Miles grabs my chin with his fingers and brings my face around so he can inspect the deep purple bruise that starts at my cheekbone and stops just under my jawline. Another man did the same thing just days ago, only when Miles does it, it doesn’t cause heat to rush into my bloodstream.Get it the fuck together, Fischer. Why are you letting him affect you like this?He touches it as easily as he can, but it still hurts so I jerk my head out of his grasp.
“That’s not ‘nothing’ Jake. That’s more than a broken up bar fight. Are you sure your cheek isn’t broken?” He’s trying to sound concerned, but it just comes out borderline disgusted.Miles hates blood or any type of injuries. Weak stomach.
“It’s not broken, idiot. It’s just a bruise. I caught a stray in a fight, end of story.”
Ethan shakes his head at me while peeling at the label on his bottle. “You heard him, he caught a stray. He’ll tell us when he’s ready to trust us with the real story.”
Fucking asshole.
“That was low.” I glare at him but Ethan just shrugs.
“Maybe, but it’s the truth.”
