I pound my fist on the door.
Finn’s Mom isn’t standing there when the door swings open. Instead, it’s my half brother himself, his hand firmly gripping the edge of the door as he does a double take. His gaze travels back into the house before he walks onto the porch with me, pulling the door shut behind him.
He lowers his voice to ask, “What the fuck are you doing here?”
I smirk. “So, you can show up to my place whenever you damn well please, but I can’t show up at yours?”
“Whatever the reason, you need to get the fuck out of here. You want to chat, I’ll meet you at your place later.”
But see, that’s just the thing. He’s as unimportant in my mind as he was the first time I told him I didn’t want a thing to do with him.
“I’m not here for you.” I glance back at the door. “Where’s your dad?”
An odd expression takes over his face. For a split second, I wonder if he’s bummed out over it—me wanting more to do with Clyde than him.
“The fuck you need him for?” he questions with a fine line between his brows.
“Afraid I’m stealing your golden light?” I ask with a quirked brow.
“Fuck if I care. You can have as much of it as you want.”
“As much as I’d love it,” I whip out sarcastically. “Not interested.” I know it’s eating him up inside, not knowing what’s going on. This petty part of me high fives myself for it.
He narrows his gaze on me at the same time the door opens behind him. Clyde looms in the doorway.
“Look at that,” Clyde quips with a devilish smirk. “My sons are bonding.”
“He’s here for you,” is what Finn grits out before jogging down the steps toward his car. Too in my head, I don’t realize his car is in the driveway until I glance over.
Finn doesn’t spare either of us a second glance as he climbs into his SUV and backs straight out into the street without checking for traffic. He zooms off down the street, disappearing around the corner a second later.
“Kid always got a goddamn bug up his ass.” He walks back into the house, and I take it as my sign to follow. There are a few guys lingering in the living room, no sight of Finn’s mom asI look around. Their attention follows me as Clyde guides me to the same room we spoke in last time.
It has the same moody vibes and stench of burning cigarettes clinging to the furniture. Clyde doesn’t bother to sit, but he does light up a smoke.
“I’m here to collect on our deal,” I tell him.
“Do I look like a pussy-whipped dumbass?” he asks, though I’m pretty sure it’s rhetoric. “I know why you’re here.”
“So, then you’re ready to sign off. Hold up your end of the bargain just like I did mine.”
“Not so fast.” He turns to look at me. Similar to last time, I watch my surroundings and never let my back face the door. I don’t trust those guys out in the living room wouldn’t storm in and try something. “Your loss pulled in quite the pretty penny, but not near enough to cover what that prick took from me.”
What the hell is he talking about?
“We never discussed an exact amount,” I say it to remind him, but it almost sounds like I’m reminding myself. He didn’t give specifics before. Just said that he wanted to give Tommy a taste of his own medicine and that’s what we did.
He bet on the other guy, and I lost the match so he could take the money and have the satisfaction that he got one over on a guy who he thinks betrayed him.
I take a demanding step forward. “You wanted me to lose the fight so you could win. That’s exactly what I fucking did.”
Clyde chuckles, but this isn’t funny like he thinks it is. He’s looking at me like I’m one big bonehead. He just wanted to walk away with a couple hundred dollars in his pocket and the gratification that he could pull a fast one on me. That’s exactly what the fuck this is. He never planned on giving me the house.
I run a hand over my jaw and grip at the back of my neck.
“You were never going to give it to me,” I mutter, even though he shook on it. I put my palm in his, and wefucking shook. Ilift my chin to the man who has single-handedly taken from me while lurking in the shadows. First Mom, and now this? Why did I think he’d stay true to his word?
Clyde Lincoln is nothing but a snake. An incarnate of the devil himself. A man with not blood pumping through his veins but pure greed.
