“Have you forgotten? I know how to take care of myself.”
“That’s right, you don’t really need me. As you reminded me yesterday morning, you’ve been taking care of yourself and Portia for a long time.”
Better we argue about my independence then take a chance on Nick finding out about Graham’s blackmail.
“I have been taking care of the both of us.” Might as well run with it.
“It didn’t have to be that way, but you decided to keep Portia to yourself. I think sometimes that’s the way you want it to be again.”
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“Am I? ‘Cause that’s not the way I’m seeing it. Bad enough I gotta worry about what Pierce plans to do with Wicked, but I don’t wanna have to worry about what he might do to you or Selective too.”
“Nick, Ihave?—”
“I swear to fuck, if these were the old days that guy would be out in the desert with something broken, or worse. It was all I could do to hold Samson back earlier, but if he goes near you or threatens our family, I’ll hunt him down like a fuckin’ dog.”
For once, I made the right decision. Better to let Nick think I’m being annoyingly independent than embroiling him in the same violence that separated us years ago.
“Please don’t talk like that. No one wants to revisit the past.” Especially when my past can ruin all of us.
“Just remember what I said, and if he comes anywhere near you, I wanna know about it. Understand?”
“Loud and clear.” I disconnect the call and heave out a long sigh. Then I convince myself I made the right decision. Nick pissed off at me for not listening is way better than Nick acting out in violence and putting everything we’ve worked for, including Portia, in jeopardy.
10
NICK
My office door opens, and Samson strolls in with a shit-eating grin. “I take it from your side of the conversation that advising Cheryl didn’t go so well.”
“You got nothing better to do than listen at my door?”
“Shit, did you forget that my office is right next to yours, the walls are paper-thin, and you spent a good part of that conversation yelling?”
“Very fuckin’ funny.”
“I’m assuming Cheryl didn’t take your advice about Pierce. I’m also guessing she spent a few minutes ripping you a new one?”
“How come you didn’t just tell her outright what that bastard said?”
“‘Cause I didn’t wanna freak her out. She thinks she’s invincible. Fuckin’ woman has a mind of her own.”
“Exactly what you love about her.”
“If she thought someone was threatening our family, who the fuck knows what she’d do.” I swipe my phone off my desk. “Just makesprotecting her so damn hard.”
“I gotta get outta here. Let’s have that holiday drink Joker offered at the Gold Mine.”
“You sure? Don’t you think you should go home?”
“If I go home now, Cheryl and I will just get into it again. Anyway, Joker said Boa looked deeper into Pierce for me, and I wanna see what he found out. I gotta figure a way to beat that bastard, ‘cause there’s no fuckin’ way I’m letting him take Wicked from us or make trouble for Cheryl.”
“You know I feel the same way about Pierce, but maybe you should go home and smooth shit out there first. Let it go till after Christmas.”
“No fuckin’ way. I gotta put the business first, and that means talking to Cobra.”
The ten-minute walk to the Serpents’ clubhouse did nothing to clear my brain. Pierce’s ultimatum, him knowing Cheryl, and her not even mentioning she knew him until I asked her point-blank—what the fuck was that about? Way too many loose ends for my liking because life taught me to always be on the lookout for potential problems, and Graham Pierce is a big fuckin’ potential problem.
