Mortal Enemy: Shut up. I see you’re alive since you’re texting me back.
Declan: I’m fine, Jake.
Mortal Enemy: I don’t care.
So fucking stubborn.
Declan: Of course not. My mistake.
Mortal Enemy: Fuck you.
Declan: Watch it, Chaos. I might think you’re flirting with me.
I see those three dots appear and disappear four times before I exit out of the text thread and shake my head, my lips tipping up at the corners. He cares. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have texted me at all. Pushing up to my feet, the pain in my side slices throughout my body. I have to get up though, I’mnota sit around kind of guy. If I’m awake I have to be moving.
Deciding to see what Rowan’s up to, I slowly and tenderly move out of my room and downstairs towards his office. It takes me twice as long to get there, which irritates me to no end. He’s on a call when I finally make my way inside the office and sit in one of the two vacant chairs in front of hisdesk. The walls are lined with various pictures of all of us brothers, his kids, his wife, and even a few of our parents.
Our parents were killed when I was twenty-three and Roe was twenty-five. Overnight I went from being on the fast track to get my degree and become a medic to being the under boss of a crime organization I wanted no parts of. I don’t dwell on that though because Rowan went from a single, unattached under boss to the Boss, with three kids to finish raising in the blink of an eye. It could always be worse. I could have been Rowan. He picked up the torch and continued on without missing a step. I would not have been so graceful about it.
We’ve figured it out and settled into a new sense of normal, and we didn’t totally fuck up the three youngest. I mean, at least I don’t think so. They’re all well adjusted, well, I’d like to think they are. Mac’s been sober for over three years. He works for us, hacking files and finding information that has been so far buried into the dark web that no one can access it. Or should I say, no one aside from him and maybe his fiance, but that’s beside the point. He’s come a long way, and pride beams from me every time I think about what he’s come out on the other side of.
Sullivan is about to start with the Jersey City Fire Academy in the next few weeks. We made damn sure that the two youngest never had to live this life. When Sully came to me years ago and said he thought he’d wanted to be a firefighter, I promised him he’d never have to give that up. My only request was that he had to get some sort of degree. Firefighting is a physically demanding and dangerous job, and I wanted him to have something to fall back on in case of an injury. So he agreed and graduated with a bachelor’s in fire science. His plan if he ever can’t be a firefighter is to become a fireinspector.
Flynn was drafted when he was eighteen by the Washington Declaration. They’ve held on to his rights while he developed more in college. He starts training camp with them in a few months, and he’s hopeful to be playing for the NHL in the fall as opposed to their farm team. He’s a machine on the ice as one of the best defense men in the NCAA over the past four years. I’m not sure how he’s going to do with being hours away from Sully, but it’s about time they found their own way. I mean hell, they’ve been inseparable for twenty-two years.
I’m pulled out of my thoughts by Rowan standing in my peripheral vision. I watch him as he begins to pace behind his desk and shout at whoever is on the other end of the phone half in Gaelic and half in English. He’s talking to one of our mid ranking guys about a shipment. We run in the gun and drug trades. Yeah, yeah we know, drugs and guns are bad. Here’s the thing though: we’re an entire CRIME organization. No one’s selling candy and making ice cream over here. We’ve gone legitimate in a lot of ways, but we’re far from saints.
“I don’t care what the reasoning is. Get it sorted before I have to come sort it myself!” Rowan roars into the phone before killing the call. He tosses his phone onto the desk and looks at me in disbelief while shaking his head.
“Deep breath before your blood pressure takes you out.” I can’t help the snicker that bubbles up as I try to discreetly bring my hand up to cover my smirk.
“This isn’t fucking funny. I swear sometimes I’d rather just run this entire thing by myself.” He thrusts his hand through his hair in frustration.
“So, you can’t do that, because that would be insane, but I hear you. It’s got to be tough being at the very top.” I say itsincerely, but I can tell instantly that he doesn’t know if I’m being a smart ass or not.
He flops back into his chair and lets out an annoyed groan, “You ever just wish we got to choose our own paths? Like this shit wasn’t shoved down our throats?”
I can’t even help it when my face falls into a neutral expression trying to tell if he’s dumb or has a memory problem. “I don’t answer stupid questions, Rowan.”
Finally a flicker of a smirk crosses his face, “Sorry. You know you can leave whenever you want, right? I’m serious, Owen could step up in your spot. He’s a solid guy, Dec. It’s not fair that you were ripped out of what you’d always wanted to do to come watch my back. You’ve been doing this for years, but you’re barely thirty. You can go take more classes and get your degree. You can start your career. Hell, maybe you can even work at the same station as Sul. You didn’t sign up for this shit, and you don’t enjoy it.”
His words are appreciated, but I’d never leave him and Kieran alone in this shit. Mac still works for us, but he’s remote, seeing as he’s across the world from us more often than not. I don’t hold a single thing against him for that decision. I get it and respect it fully, just like I know they would for me if I ever put my foot down and left, but I never will. Teaghlach thairis air a h-uile càil,Family above all.
“I’m good where I’m at and with the choices I made. No, I didn’t choose this for myself, but you also didn’t choose to be the father figure to the other four and run an entire empire that spans into multiple countries. I’ll be dead before I leave you to do this shit alone. We’re in this together.”
“You know, it’s funny. I always get the credit for stepping up and doing what needed to be done for the younger four,but you were right there with me. I didn’t do that alone. We did it together, but somehow everyone forgets to mention how prevalent you’ve been all these years. Hell, helping Mac get and stay sober was mostly you. Don’t get me wrong, Mac put in the work to slay his demons, but you’re the one who put everything on hold to be there with him every step of the way.”
I smile at his annoyance, always the big brother. “I don’t want the recognition. I know what I’ve done, they know what I’ve done, and that’s good enough for me. Still, I’m not leaving. Maybe in another life I would have gotten to live out that dream, but we’re in this one and I’m not looking to switch my occupation.”
My tone brokers no room for arguments, so Rowan just huffs and drops it. “Love you, little brother.”
“Love you too, big brother.”
8
Chapter Eight
Jakob
