When I don't answer Cruz lets out a string of swear words that will have our sainted mother popping right out of the grave to tell him off.
"I knew you were an idiot, Kase, but I didn't know you were suicidal," Cruz seethes. "Are you out of your damn mind? You know what Calamity will do to you when he finds out what you've done."
He's got a point. If Calamity Gardel finds us both here, tangled together as if the intervening years mean nothing, he's not going to stop long enough to hear Brooklyn's explanation. He's going to finish the work that he started in that warehouse and plant me firmly in the ground. He might even bury me on Rocco's property. It seems like some sort of bleak irony to me that I might die in one of his forgotten hideaways. I'll fade away just like everything else here, with nothing and no one to mourn me. Maybe that's why I sling a response back at him, though I know he's right.
"You almost sound like you care, Cruz. Didn't know I meant that much to you."
Cruz must look even more angry than he sounds, because I can hear Holly muttering soothing words in the background, trying to stop Cruz from smashing his phone to pieces. The last time I've heard him this angry was the day I left Brooklyn for good, abandoning my father's wake in order to see her off.
"Is that what this is, Kase? You're going to die to spite me?"
I bark a laugh. Brooklyn is beginning to stir on the bed beside me. I hadn't meant to wake her, but she will certainly be roused by Cruz's bellow if he doesn't shut the fuck up. I pace away from the bed, facing one of the darkened corners of the room as he continues to fume.
"Yeah, because everything I do is designed specifically to piss you off, shithead. How fucking egotistical."
"Don't you dare talk to me like that, Kase!"
My lips pull back from my teeth and I'm positively snarling into the receiver, unable to keep my voice from rising to a shout. So much for trying to let Brooklyn sleep.
"You're not dad, Cruz! Stop pretending you are. You don't get a say in who I see, where I go, or what I do. Period."
Cruz must have stepped outside onto the front step of Uncle Rocco's old house, because Holly's voice has faded completely. I think I hear the soft patter of rain in the background.
"That's where you're wrong, Kase," he says in a low, deadly whisper. "I'm the president of the Spades now so Idoget a say in where you go. Or more specifically where youdon'tgo."
My heart sinks and I know what he's about to say before he even utters the words. Perhaps I knew from the moment I picked up the phone. My stomach still clenches in panic and a weak echo of rage when he speaks.
"If you're going to fuck around with our enemies, you don't have a place with us," my brother says in that same quietly furious tone. "Consider yourself barred from all Spade establishments, Kase. If you try sneaking in as me, I'll beat you bloody. And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away."
I don't get a chance to defend myself or offer any sort of explanation before the line clicks and I'm left clutching my phone in a white-knuckled grip.
My nerves are stretched thin, anger making every single inch of my skin prickle. For a few seconds all I can think about is finding my brother so I can dislocate his jaw. I don't care if Holly hates me for it, he deserves that and worse. I've takenyearsof his shit, put up with every snub and insult because I know, somewhere deep down, that I deserve at least that much for my part in dad's death. But this? Cutting me from the Spades for following our number one rule? It's so fucking cold that I can't believe that even my bastard of a brother was capable of it.
A small hand latches onto my bicep and I jerk the limb away on instinct, before my mind fully registers that the touch isn't hostile. Brooklyn flinches and I feel like an ass for reacting the way I have.
"Cruz." It's not a question and borders on being a curse. Her animosity does lift my spirits a fraction. It's not often I meet someone who dislikes him as much as I do. To everyone else, he's a big swaggering savior riding in on his Eagle to solve the world's problems. Everyone in the MC seems to think he's some sort of god.
"Yeah."
"What did he want?"
"He knows we're together and he's cutting me out of the Spades for it."
Outrage spasms across her face and I wish it made her less attractive to me. Instead, I find myself hard for her again. We've only been reunited for three days and already she treats me with more care and respect than my own blood. That speaks volumes and if I was a saner person, that would be my cue to drop the issue and leave. A life out there with Brooklyn is better than life squashed beneath Cruz's thumb.
I guess I'm not sane, because I find myself reaching for the phone again, robotically dialing another number. I know it better than Cruz's at this point, because it belongs to the one sibling I can stand to speak to for any length of time.
"He can and he is," I tell her while the phone rings. "Here's hoping Penny can talk some sense into him."
Penny's phone rings four times and I'm about to hang up when she answers. She snags the phone just before I can be sent to voicemail. She sounds breathless and a little peeved. Does she know what Cruz has done?
"Hello?"
"Penny. I need to ask for a favor."
A wary pause and then; "What's the favor?"
"I need you to deliver a message to Cruz."
