Better When He's Brave

While he talked my skin pulled tight across my body and I felt a tick start to work in my jaw. All those pieces that had been missing started to land in my lap and I suddenly couldn’t see anything but a familiar black gaze dancing in front of my eyes. I cleared my throat and asked the man if he had any idea who the kid’s real dad was and the man replied, “Someone just as twisted, brutal, and messed up as he was.”

I thanked the man for his time, sat back in my chair, and kicked my desk hard enough that it moved two inches across the floor.

“Son of a bitch!” I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of the connection sooner. Just like Novak had tried to sink his claws into Bax in order to groom him into his own vision, he had done the exact same thing with his other illegitimate spawn out there in the world.

Roark had to be Novak’s son, and of course the criminal mastermind hadn’t had a thing to do with him until he was old enough to be useful. When Roark joined the Border Patrol, Novak swooped in and got his hands on his already tainted offspring. He had done the same with Bax, ignoring my brother until his skill at stealing cars proved useful. It all clicked into place and it made my heart start to pound.

Roark wasn’t trying to exact some kind of righteous vengeance because Race and Nassir were taking over Novak’s business; he was paying them back for killing his father. The father—it was now obvious—that he shared with my younger brother. Bax was undoubtedly going to be in Roark’s crosshairs since he most definitely had a hand in ending Novak’s life. It all had dread settling heavily in my stomach I needed to call my brother ASAP and warn him to watch his back. Just as I was getting ready to dial Bax’s number I saw his face light up the screen of my phone. I knew he was going to be pissed about the situation with Reeve, but I needed him on my side and I needed him to know just how careful he would have to be considering he was one of Roark’s targets.

“Hey.”

“So you’re alive. I was starting to wonder.”

I rolled my eyes at his tone and could practically see him squinting through the cigarette smoke as I heard him exhale.

“Shit’s been crazy.”

“I heard. Nassir was more than happy to tell me all about the shootout at the club and the fact you disappeared with that bitch into the back for an unspecified amount of time. I know you put her up at Race’s, but I didn’t know you were sleeping with the enemy.”

I grunted at him as I crossed the parking lot. “Meet me at the diner by the station. I need to eat and I’ll fill you in. I have a lot of stuff I need to talk to you about.”

“You’re done avoiding me?” I could just imagine the way the black star he had tattooed by his eye was twitching in aggravation.

“Listen, I just got you to trust me after everything that went down five years ago. I don’t want this girl and what I have to do with her to mess that up. I didn’t know how to make you understand that right now she is important and not have you mess with it. Besides, we have much bigger problems on our hands than where I’m sticking my dick.”

“She almost got my girl killed.”

I sighed because I could still hear how much that tore him up in his voice. “I understand that, Shane. I really do, but sometimes we have to do things we don’t like and don’t agree with because the end game is bigger than us and our own. Do you get me?”

I heard him exhale again and then a flood of really nasty words hit my ears. “I’ll be at the diner in ten. Order me a burger.”

Relief hit me hard that he was at least willing to hear me out. Bax and I hadn’t exactly been close growing up, but now that we were adults and both in the trenches, albeit on opposite sides, I really felt like we needed each other. I loved my brother and it had taken watching him almost blow his brains out right in front of me to realize how empty my life had been while he was gone. I needed a reason beyond right and wrong to keep up the fight. I needed Bax to remind me that sometimes the bad guys weren’t bad because they wanted to be; they were that way because they didn’t have any other choice. Bax hadn’t had a fair shot from the get-go. Not with our mom being a drunk and his dad being a sadistic killer. Not to mention that I had bailed on him when he needed me the most. It was a miracle the kid had as much humanity in him as he did. It was my job to give my brother options, to remind him that he mattered even if we disagreed, and I would do it until they put me in the ground.

The diner was packed with fellow cops and the only spot available was near the door. It was too exposed and I didn’t want to sit there, but my stomach was growling, so I relented and slid into the booth. The waitress hurried over and I ordered the burgers and coffee. The tension that was sitting in my neck was so tight that pain shot up the back of my head in agonizing waves when I reached for the steaming mug she held out to me. The only time that I had felt any measure of peace, felt any kind of relaxation or mindless oblivion, was when Reeve had done exactly what she had threatened to do and taken care of me. I wasn’t the kind of guy that got naked and down and dirty in a strip-club bathroom, but it was the only time in recent memory I had been able to let go of everything else I hauled around all the time. There was no Bax. There was no Point. There was no Roark. There was no job that was slowly wearing me down and turning me into a hollow shell of a man. There was just a beautiful woman with dark blue eyes that had everything that made my life and dick hard inside of them and the amazing things she was doing to me. I shouldn’t want her, but I did, and the level that want was growing to was really starting to get bigger than me and any reservations I might have had.