“I will support your decision to be with whomever you wish as long as they treat you with the respect you deserve and are entitled to. And that they love you, of course.”
“Including Goose or anyone else down there?”
Something flashes in his eyes, but he doesn’t tell me what he’s thinking. Instead, his jaw clenches, and he speaks through gnashed teeth, just one single word. I’m not sure, but I think it actually pains him to say that word.
“Yes.”
GOOSE
Sitting outside the strip club, I watch as the asshole turns his head to look behind him. Just as we expect—as Maverick had known he would—he walks inside. We aren’t busting him tonight. His chest is puffed out, his shoulders squared. He thinks he is the fucking shit. And I think he’s a piece of shit. So there’s that.
Tonight is all about watching, waiting, and talking to the owners as soon as this snake leaves. The fact that I have to sit in a fucking car to watch him go in and out of this club makes my skin itch. I fucking hate being in cars. We call them cages because that’s what they are.
“You think this is going to work?” Maverick asks me.
I smirk, shifting my gaze from the club to him. “Yeah, I do. I don’t know how you came up with it, but I fucking love it.”
Maverick’s smile reaches his eyes, and for just a moment, it feels like old times. There was a point a few months ago when I would have craved the old times to come back, but I don’t now. Maverick is so fucking happy, it almost makes my teeth ache, and I’ve found the woman of my dreams, too. My road may be a bit different than his, but it’s going to lead to that same happiness eventually.
“It was a joint effort, which is how we work best, so I can’t even say I’m not glad we’re working together again.”
He’s right.
We do work best together. Always have.
“Well, let’s get this shit done and handled so we can work together on some other shit in the future. Like security stuff. I think I’m a bit tapped out when it comes to going out of town on a protective run.”
Maverick snorts. “No shit. I don’t want to be away from my family for that long anymore. One night is too long.”
I love that for my brother. He has a good life, one that he cherishes, and while our parents didn’t give a single fuck about us, he’s breaking that cycle. I want that too. I can’t deny that I’m a touch envious of him and Zadie, but my happiness for them outweighs that. He’s got two babies and a woman he absolutely adores. He has everything in life.
We stay in the car, chatting about bullshit while watching for Goffredo. Two hours pass, then three before the rat shows himself. His clothes are disheveled, along with his hair. He’s been ridden hard, and he’s spent. He’s probably a couple thousand dollars poorer as well.
Good.
I’m going to thoroughly enjoy his demise. However, I would have liked to have actually meted out that punishment myself. This is the second best. I know Hogg will do what we ask of him,and gladly. He’ll take care of this, and as always, we’ll take care of him as best we can.
Leaning down in the seat, we watch as he climbs into his car as if he doesn’t have a care in the fucking world and drives away. The absolute goddamn prick. He acts like he didn’t brutalize my woman, like he didn’t try to kill her, try to kill Lightning. He’s just smiling and fucking strippers like he’s got not a single worry.
Well, his time is fucking up.
Maverick and I push the car doors open, then unfold from the seats before we make our way to the door. The bouncer holds up his hand to stop us, and as much as I want to reach into my cut, take my gun out of the shoulder holster, and press it against his forehead, I don’t. He really should be thanking me for that right about now.
“The manager or owner in tonight?” Maverick asks.
The bouncer shifts his gaze from me to Maverick, and I watch as his brows snap together. Even though I’ve bulked up quite a bit and grown a short beard, there is no denying that we still resemble one another a lot.
“Who wants to know?” he finally asks.
Maverick thankfully takes over this conversation, because I am clearly not the one who needs to be doing this. I am ready to shoot first and talk later, but it’s not this bouncer’s fault, and it’s not the owner’s fault, either, whoever he is. This is on Goffredo and nobody else.
“It’s about an opportunity.”
“Go ahead and let them in,” a woman’s voice calls out from a walkie-talkie.
The bouncer lifts his chin, his gaze finding mine before his eyes narrow and he speaks.
“Straight to the back, hang a left, and there will be a door with an office label stuck to the front. That’s the only room you go into.”
