“Ow!” Raiden snapped. “What’s that for?”
“For the first camera you missed when you did your security sweep,” Declan answered, then smacked him upside the head twice more. “And that’s for the other two.”
Raiden, Gray, and Horatio all looked at each other. It was cold enough that their breath fogged the air as they all looked sheepishly back and forth. After a moment, Gray sighed.
“Thanks for disabling the security cameras, Uncle Declan,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, thanks,” Raiden and Horatio mumbled over each other, sounding more like dejected teenagers than the badasses they had been playing a couple hours ago.
Declan cursed under his breath, then nodded. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get these in your garage before anyone sees them. At least I know you’re smart enough to sell them. That pink one alone would get you spotted the second you took it out in daylight.”
“See?” Raiden whispered as they pushed the motorcycles down the driveway. “I told you we should have kept the chopper.”
Soon enough, the loot was stored away and the garage locked up safely. Declan ranted for a while in the kitchen while Gray enjoyed a nightcap with his friend, the exhaustion of the long evening finally hitting him while the sun started to peek over the trees. The adrenaline from pulling off the job crashed to the floor, and as Declan listed off security protocols to make sure they had all been followed on the heist, Gray let out a yawn.
Declan stopped ranting, then leaned back against the counter. “Why don’t you guys get to bed,” he said. “I’ll finish tearing you new assholes later.”
“Thanks, Declan,” Horatio and Raiden muttered as they dragged themselves out of the room, looking as tired as Gray felt.
“Hold up,” Declan said, grabbing Gray’s shoulder when he started to stand. The squeeze was firm, comforting, but also strong enough that Gray knew he wasn’t in the clear yet.
“What’s up?”
Declan kept his eye for a minute, studying his nephew, before he turned away and started to mess with the coffee machine. “I need your help with something.”
“My help?” Declan had never asked Gray for anything, and he felt a surge of excitement that Declan might need him, instead of it always just being the other way around. “Sure, Uncle Declan. Anything you want. Why, those mob guys trying to mess with you again? You know we make good muscle, if you need it. Raiden can take on two, three guys all by himself.”
Declan grunted, punched on the coffee machine, and then turned back around. “Gray, I need you to pick up a job for the security company.”
“Oh!” Gray frowned. It wasn’t really the kind of work he did, but he knew his uncle would pay well. “What is it? Security for a small concert?” That was most of the work the agency had been getting.
“That, I can organize myself,” Declan answered. “But you know I can’t take on any of these bodyguard gigs. I promised Seb I would stay safe and close to home.”
“Which one is this gig?” Gray asked. “Dangerous or far from home?”
“Only the second one,” Declan answered. “And not too bad at that. It’s full-time, in Connecticut.”
“Connecticut?” Gray blurted out. “What, do you think I’m going to move there or something?”
Declan pulled out a chair from the kitchen table and dropped down into it, straight across from Gray. He held his nephew’s eye as Gray shook his head, disbelieving. All the things that tied Gray to his home in Albany flashed through his mind, from his work in the mechanic’s shop to his responsibilities with Raiden and Horatio. You didn’t just leave your family behind. Gray wasn’t that kind of guy, and he wasn’t going to be that kind of leader, either.
“Listen, Gray,” Declan said. “I know this isn’t what you want to do. But a really good job came across my desk, one you’re perfect for. And to be honest, I made a promise to your mom the last time I saw her.”
Gray gritted his teeth. His mother was down in Philadelphia, and he didn’t get to see her as often as he would have liked. Gray’s grandparents had raised both Declan and Gray’s mother in the same shitty world, where the family’s criminal business was more important than anything else. For years, his mom had tried to convince Gray to go straight and to get a regular job, swearing she couldn’t lose another family member to prison or worse. He’d always told himself he’d do it for her one day, just not quite yet, and not when his guys were still relying on him to pay the mortgage.
“What did you promise her?”
“That you wouldn’t die,” Declan answered flatly.
“So what, I’m supposed to move to Connecticut to play bodyguard to some rich people just so my mom can stop worrying at night?”
Declan stood up again. “Seems like a good enough reason to me. But I know you won’t go for a deal like that. You’re too addicted to chasing thrills.”
Gray frowned. “I wouldn’t put it that way.”
Declan poured himself a mug of coffee, then grabbed a pad of paper and a pen from the counter. He scrawled down a number, then dropped it on the table.
Gray looked at the number, which was either a very low yearly salary or…
