“Dean,” Gwen said, interrupting my violent thoughts.
“You going to be good?” I asked, fearful she would kill him now. I didn’t care in the slightest, but there were still answers that we needed.
“Please.” Her voice cracked somewhere in the middle but recovered quickly.Fuck.Couldn’t say no to that even if I wanted to. I released her immediately, her body sliding down mine until her boot hit the floor.
She stepped up to Kevin, silent in her approach, no doubt trying to rein in her emotions, and he was looking up at her like she was supposed to be his savior. I shook my head as I looked at Jer, a similar look of anger on his face.
Kevin was once a member of their little friend group while I was swinging my bat for the Chicago Cubs. My shoulders tensed; this wasn’t the time to brood about the past. We needed to get the girls back home.
She bent down, getting an inch away from his face, her curls falling over her shoulders, her blue eyes piercing his green ones.
“Did you know about Collin?”
He shook his head. “Gwen—”
“Cut the shit,” she hissed. “Did you know he wiggled his way intomy lifeonly to get information on him?” She pointed at me, her attention still on his face.
Kevin’s face softened, suddenly looking like a great place for the bottom of my boot. “He was only doing what my father told him to,” he replied, his voice trembling.
She slapped him hard, the sound echoing through the room, making the silence that followed louder. My eyebrows rose, but I remained where I was. She could handle this on her own.
“Fuck you.”
In a flash, she lifted her booted foot and kicked him in his injured knee, causing him to cry out once more. “That was for Alex Greenval. He didn’t deserve to die,” she said, her voice deadly.
“I did what I had to do,” he grit out, and she kicked him again.
“So am I. Alex wasdecent. He was a better man than you will ever be,” she snapped. Alex Greenval worked security at Club Fever, and she was right. He was a decent man. His body was found in the alley behind the club.
The room remained silent for a few minutes, the mistakes of our pasts settling in the air around us.
“I’m sorry,” Kevin finally sobbed, his head bent. “I am so fucking sorry, Gwen. None of this was supposed to happen.”
She stared down at him, disgust written across her beautiful face. “You and Collin were my friends. I let you in—both of you. I introduced you to Haley…to Kay. You both manipulated your way into our lives, sinking your mafia claws into us…” She trailed off, gathering herself and wiping the tear that escaped away before he looked back up at her. My woman didn’t want himseeing her weakness, and he didn’t deserve to. She rolled her shoulders and backed up until she was leaning against the table I was at a few minutes ago, her ass resting on the surface.
“Where are they?”
“For every wrong answer you give, Gwen gets to continue her batting practice,” Jer added, his voice a low growl. He scooped up the bat and handed it to her, his pissed off eyes never leaving Kevin. She took it and placed it by her thigh.
Kevin shook his head. “I swear to God, I don’t know anything.”
“Wrong answer,” James hissed, speaking for the first time as he came up behind the bound man, yanking his head back by the hair and pressing a gun to his shoulder. “This won’t kill you, but it will hurt like a bitch, which is fun for me, because I’m enjoying your screams.”
“Easy there, agent,” I warned, folding my arms back over my chest.
“I don’t know anything, I swear. Not about Haley. Whenever I would bring up Kay—”
“What did you just say?” Jer growled, stepping forward.
Kevin started stammering now. “We-well wh-whenever Collin would come and see me, I would use Kay to press his buttons. Yo-you know, to get under his skin.”
“My sister is not a fucking chess piece.”
None of them were.
“I know that, man…I—”
Jer’s hand shot out, wrapping around Kevin’s neck. “I am not your friend, you little bitch,” he growled. “You lost that chance years ago.”
