I look over the edge, watching as bubbles break the surface, then all is still.
Gavin stands beside me. “Happy now?”
I look over at him, tipping up an eyebrow. “Yep. Always wanted to do that.”
“I bet, you fucking psychopath.”
I grunt, and we walk back over to the wheel. Gavin and I get along fairly well. He’s been a part of our family since I was a kid. For a while, I thought he was my brother, the same as Carter. He is, in all the ways that count.
I stand beside him at the wheel as one of my guys pulls up the anchor and we head back to land. “Just once,” I shout into the wind, “I wanted to be like the Godfather.”
“Did they throw someone overboard in that movie?” he inquires, an eyebrow raised.
“Who knows? Never watched it.”
The night swallows Gavin’s laughter as he drives us back toward the shore.
CHAPTER 2
DECLAN
Spreadsheets, schedules, fucking order forms. All of it makes my head spin. Over the past six months, I’ve had to do it on my own. No help, no assistance. Not like I asked. The one person that usually helps me isn’t here. My right hand…he’s not…
I shake that depressing thought from my head and focus on the order forms, checking over the inventory for Azure Rose. There’s so much that needs doing, but I can’t escape my ghosts. Hendrix hangs around, his soul permeating the very walls.
Eyes on your paperwork, bosshe’d say in a cheeky tone that irritated the fuck out of me.I know I’m pretty but stop staring.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to stop his voice from pulling me back to those first few weeks after he was killed.
No one knew it, but I was a fucking mess. I covered it well, making everyone believe I was a robot, that me avenging Hendrix was all I needed to move on. But it wasn’t. Hell, six months later, I don’t know if I’m pieced back together.
Hendrix was…mine. Just like I was his. Being without him hurts more than words can express.
Not in a relationship way. He and I never crossed that line, mainly because Hendrix was straight and he was more my brother than a love interest. But for years, he was all I had to lean on, all I had in my corner when times got rough, or I needed someone to have my back.
With a snarl, I push my chair back and leave my office, needing to be away from those four walls. I’m already surrounded by memories of Hendrix when I’m at home—I don’t need that shit at work too. Not right now.
I walk to my receptionist’s desk and say, “I’m going down to the floor. Hold all my calls. If it’s my dad or Carter, forward them to my cell.” Not like Dad or Carter ever call my office. They usually hit my cell if it’s something important.
“Yes, sir,” Draya says. “I’ll be taking my lunch in thirty minutes. Will you be back by then?”
“Nah. Just route the calls to your cell if I ain’t back in time.”
“Yes, sir.”
I breeze toward the elevator, the men that guard it stepping inside with me. By order of Carter, I’m not allowed to be on my own until I hire a full-time bodyguard to take Hendrix’s place. I’m in no hurry. I’ll swap out Whitlock men until someone sticks.
I’m not sure anyone will.
When the elevator door opens, the men hang back a few paces as I stride across the floor. I do a slow circuit of the casino, checking to make sure everyone is where they’re supposed to be and no one is fucking with my shit.
When I get to the money cages, I catch the eye of a few of the cashiers that are lounging around, talking and laughing. They immediately straighten up and pretend they were hard at work. One of the few men, a fucker named Jadon, meetsmy gaze, his eyes widening a fraction before he faces the cage windows, helping someone that had just walked up with a handful of chips.
His reaction makes me more alert, like he’s up to something. I make a mental note of that.
Fear clouds the faces of the dealers and servers that see me, most of them averting their gazes as I pass by.
Hendrix’s deep laugh sounds in my head.
