Snake nods his head but I can see his mind working a mile a minute. “Then we get Pax and Nico to work behind the scenes. Have Pax see if he can gain any information to blackmail him with. Then we can have Nico help build a case without causing noise.”
“And if none of that works?”
Snake’s smiles manically, the darkness entering his eyes. “Then we do it my way, the fun way, and fucking kill him.”
My lips twitch. “Will that always be your first response?”
“Has it failed me yet?” He counters.
Only time will tell and with the feds on our ass, and the warning of a threat from Steven, the clock may coming down to its last tick.
“Any other reason why you came in here other than to give me a therapy session?”
Snake barks out a laugh as he clutches his chest. “Good one, Oaky boy.” I shake my head at him but he can tell by my eyes that I’m clearly amused. Snatching my water canister off the floor I begin to walk out of the gym. Snake follows in step beside me. I can at least act civil when I see the others.
As I’m about to leave the gym Snake stops me by standing in the door frame.
I give him a bored expression. “Any reason why you’re blocking the way out?”
“I didn’t only come in here to play therapist,” Snake begins. “But I wanted to make sure my best man was in the right mind.”
“What’s going on, Snake?” I ask him hoping he gets straight to the point.
He feigns offense, “You’re not even going to comment on being best man? I’m hurt, Oak.”
“Thank you for making me best man,” I appease him and he smiles. I continue with a leveled stare, “Now what the fuck is going on?”
“Crow is here.”
My body becomes tense again as my finger twitches against my outer thigh.
Fucking Crow.
Snake gives me an accusing look. “I don’t particularly like the fucker either but he’s working with us not against us. It would be wise not to kill him.”
“I don’t want to kill him.” Snake raises a brow with disbelief written on his face. “Fine,” I relent, “but I can be civil.”
“You are civil,” he agrees easily.
“Is that all?”
He nods his head. “I just didn’t want you and Crow in the same room if you were still consumed with your anger.” I nod, understanding and appreciating him looking out for me. “And next time don’t take it out on the poor punching bag. You feel that way again you fight me.”
“You aren’t medically cleared to fight, Snake,” I tell him. “And I don’t want to worry Alice.” Alice and I have a brother sister relationship and I would hate to make her worry or cause her to be upset. The poor girl has suffered enough tragedy in her life.
“One,” he begins, holding up his finger to count his points, “I have been medically cleared as of this morning. And two,” he adds a second finger, “I always have Alice’s feelings in mind and her best interests at heart.” I can’t argue with him on that. Alice is his whole world. He then adds a third finger, “And three, she knows I need those fights as much as you do. Every now and then the demons need to be unleashed. And she knows that you and I need that occasionally.”
“She really does understand you, doesn’t she?”
“She knows me better than I know myself.” A smile, a genuine soft smile that reaches his eyes lights up his entire face. And it’s a smile that only belongs to Alice.
Snake then backs away from the door frame letting me pass. We walk side by side out into the main area of the compound.
Once we reach the main area I see Grace like she’s my very own beacon of light.
And everything about her speaks to me on a molecular level.
Every part of her is ingrained in my soul and she’s finding her way inside my dying heart. And with each breath she takes, with every smile and every laugh, with every kiss and every touch she’s bringing it back to life. Making it so that it beats only for her.
