I pulled into my ex-best friend’s dirt drive and pushed out of my car. The noise of the engine must have alerted him to my presence, because he came through the screen door to greet me.
"Kins; long time, no see."
"I need your help."
Daniel Seymour dipped his head. "That's the only reason you'd come see me, huh?"
"I don't have time for this, Danny. Will you help me or not?" Crossing my arms defensively over my stomach, I just as quickly uncrossed them. I was positive I was about to throw up.
"Okay. Come on in."
When he held the door open for me, I walked into the small, faded blue house. He had been a constant companion once upon a time, and I hoped he would be again. Time and circumstances had changed things, and it was wrong of me to rely on him now. If I weren't out of choices, I wouldn't even consider using Danny.
"Tell me what's wrong. I'll help any way I can."
I looked around at the empty white walls, the dishes piled in the sink, and the threadbare carpet.
And burst into tears.
6
Burke
"Burke!" Caden shouted.
Jerking my head away from the window I'd been staring out of for the past half hour, I scowled at my cousin. "What?"
"I've asked you three times if you want me to take care of Johnson."
I scrubbed my hands over my face. "Yeah, go ahead."
Shaking his head and muttering, Caden walked away.
Since coming back to Boston, I had done a terrible job concentrating. The funeral for my grandmother was drawn out and expectedly dismal, but that wasn't the reason I couldn't focus.
I hated the way I'd left Connecticut, or more aptly, the way I’d left Kinsley. I needed to see her again, to feel her pussy spasm around my cock as I made her scream my name. I missed the gentle flare of her hips and the softness of her skin, the way she looked at me as though I hung the moon. No woman had ever looked at me like anything other than a meal ticket. She made me feel young again, like I'd remained clean and innocent, not the monstrous, hardened criminal I'd turned myself into.
But those were the reasons I couldn't be with her. She was right when she said she didn't belong in my world. I had to go back to what was expected of me, and a brief fling in my hometown was never meant to be long-term. So I'd stopped calling, texting, and sending flowers, letting my attention trickle down to nothing. Kinsley was smart; she’d get the hint. Though possession flowed through me at the thought of her, I needed to forget about her once and for all.
Because if I couldn't get my shit together, we'd all be in trouble. That was the number one rule in my line of business: if you lost focus, you were a dead man.
Sighing, I yelled for Logan, who appeared in the doorway. "Do we have Marcus?"
"In warehouse five, boss."
Standing, I pulled my suit jacket together and buttoned it. "Take me to him."
Since I preferred to prepare myself mentally for what was coming, I didn't speak on the drive over. When Logan parked in the massive empty lot on the back side of the docks, I pulled on a pair of black leather gloves and stepped out into a light mist.
Logan didn't open my door for me, nor did I expect it of him. He wasn't my driver, or even really my lackey. He was one of my business partners, for all intents and purposes, though I was ultimately in charge.
The sound of me clapping my gloved hands echoed as I entered the warehouse, my overcoat billowing behind me. Walking toward the man currently hanging upside down over an oil barrel caused me to smile widely.
"Marcus, my man, so good to see you."
Marcus looked up, but he couldn't respond for the duct tape covering his mouth.
"Shall we go over the rules you agreed to when we hired you to work for the Gallagher Family?" I circled the drum, glancing at the viscosity of the contents. "You fuck me over, I fuck you over a thousand times worse. An dtuigeann tú?"
