Pursing my lips, I shook my head. “How was I trying to ghost you when we text or speak on the phone every day. And I saw you on Sunday.”
“You also made sure we didn’t get a moment alone. You were either chatting with Shawna about whatever y’all always talkin’ and giggling about, playing with Missy Mamas or posted up under Fury like you thought somebody was gonna take that fool in the back and shoot his ass.”
I absolutely adored my niece who he now had the whole family calling by that nickname, but at the mention of shooting Fabian, I arched an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Oohhh woww.” He chuckled and tilted his head. “Let me find out you’re ready to go to war about this man.”
“You think I wouldn’t?” I asked not feeling a bit of the humor he obviously found in this situation. “How would you feel if I threatened Shawna’s life?”
He sobered a bit, laughter still dancing in his eyes. “You and Shawna are cool. Sometimes you act like you like her more than you do me. So, a threat to her would never leave your lips.”
“But you don’t like Fabian?”
“Dude’s name is Fury. I ain’t calling him no fuckin’ Faayybian.”
“Again with the dramatics,” I snapped. “You’ve worked with him for years, Cade. I know because you talked about him which is part of the reason I felt safe going out with him in the first place.”
“What?”
“That’s right. When Fabian first asked me out, the only information I had on who he was as a person—outside of his street persona—came from you.”
“You act like I was giving you all the stats on that man, like I was trying to set y’all up.”
“No. That’s not what I mean, but whenever you called me for a job that he was on, you never had a bad thing to say about him. You even said you trusted him, that’s why you’d asked him and KC to help you find the man who’d threatened Shawna.”
Now, he scowled. “How was I supposed to know you were listening that closely?”
“I wasn’t, not at the time.” I settled in my chair and rested my elbows on the desk blotter. “I mean, you know I always pay attention to the details when it’s business. And he wasn’t business for me, so I only held on to bits and pieces about him.”
“And those bits and pieces were enough for you to jump into bed with him?”
“That’s not what I did.” He made it seem so trivial. Like there was no way what Fabian and I had could be real. “Why are you acting like this? I was nothing but supportive of you and Shawna.”
“Shawna’s not the head of a criminal organization.”
“No, but her uncle was. And her ex-boyfriend, you know the one who threatened to kill you, he was pretty close to running his own organization.” I knew that wasn’t fair, hating even having to throw it out there. If Shawna were here, I would’ve held it in because I knew she still felt a little guilty about bringing all that into Cade’s life. But she wasn’t here and I wasn’t going to allow my brother to act like his choices were somehow better than mine.
“You know what that situation was,” he said tightly.
“And I didn’t judge,” I replied. “I didn’t warn you away from her or interfere in any way. I let you walk your path, why can’t you let me walk mine?”
He stared at me for quiet moments until I felt ready to squirm. This felt so strange. I was never uncomfortable around Cade. Not even when he stormed into my room asking if I’d let Delroy Martin finger me in the backseat of his car. That’sexactly how he’d said it and for a second, I thought I should be embarrassed. Instead, I busted out laughing because first of all, why in the hell did he think I was about to give him details like that about my date? He’d ended up being the one uncomfortable when I happily announced that I was still a virgin.
There was noticeably more tension today and I hated that for us.
“I don’t want you getting caught up in his shit.” He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “You don’t know the type of shit he and his club get into.”
I sat back in my chair. “You mean like beating a man to death in a warehouse? Or no, you must mean like shooting a guy you were supposed to be interrogating in the head just because you felt like he was lying. That’s the shit you’re talking about?”
He frowned. “No. I’m talking about pulling up on your enemy’s family and taking them hostage until you get the money they owe you. Or as a warning, cutting off a finger every day they’re late with a payment. And for the more serious offenders?—”
“Spare me,” I said holding up a hand. “Did you forget what I did for a living? How many crime scenes do I visit in a week to clean up all sorts of gruesome shit? Or the private assignments I take? Last week we picked up bodies at Dewey Bateman’s house and Krystal thinks the young girl might have been a trafficking victim. So don’t sit her and try to scare me about what Fabian does when I’m staring at death and decomposition and all other sorts of shit every day.”
“Dewey Bateman as in the lieutenant governor’s chief of staff? What do you mean you think the girl was a trafficking victim?”
I opened my mouth then closed it quickly because this wasn’t what we were talking about. “I … I don’t know, Krystal just got upset when we were cleaning the office and she mentioned thegirl was young. There were marks on her wrists and ankles like she may have been bound, and I think that triggered Krystal. You know her history.”
He nodded. “Yeah. I do. So, if she was affected there might be something to her assertions.”
