Reid was downstairs on the phone. He’d been on the phone since we got home, arguing with people, shouting at them, explaining what happened over and over. I barely heard anything, barely felt anything—like the world had broken around me, and I broke with it.
I closed my eyes and thought about Alex’s face the last time I saw him. We stood outside of the deli, leaning back against the wall. Ten feet away, a group of made men were talking in loud voices, gesturing at each other, laughing loudly. I remembered Alex staring at them like he wanted so desperately to be a part of their group.
I hated him for it a little bit. Maybe that wasn’t the right word—I hated that men like that made guys like Alex jealous, that anyone would give a damn what a made man thought or wanted. Alex thought they were special, they were strong, they had money and power and girls—and that attracted him, but I knew that made men were a bunch of animals, a bunch of bastards, and I wished he believed me when I told him that they’d bring him nothing but trouble.
I was right, of course, but I never imagined how fast trouble would find him.
A knock at the door pulled me out of my daydream. I sat up straight and squeezed water from my hair—although I was still in the tub.
“What?” I said, heart racing.
“It’s me.” Reid’s voice through the door.
“What do you want?”
“We should talk.”
“Get out of my room. I’m in the bath.”
“I know that.” He cleared his throat. “Let me come in.”
My mouth fell open. “Are you kidding me? Go away. We can talk later.”
He turned the knob and came inside.
I sat up straight and wrapped my arms around my chest. Anger flared through me. That arrogant piece of shit thought he could barge in here whenever he wanted, even if I was naked and in the tub. He had no sense of personal space or boundaries, even though we’d discussed this and made a deal—he was already breaking the damn rules.
He glanced away, although I saw his original look, his eyes moving to my breasts under the water, down my skin—and liking what he saw.
“I know I shouldn’t be in here.”
“Damn right you shouldn’t, now get the hell out, you psycho.”
He turned his back and took a deep breath. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m fine. Now get out.”
He didn’t move. I saw the tension in his body. Blood still covered parts of his jacket and his hands flexed like he’d broken the fingers.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
I stared at his back, body curled up to cover myself. “What was supposed to happen then?”
He grunted and shook his head. I could see the anger even from behind. “I’ve done that run a thousand times over the years, you know? I have a good relationship with those guys.”
“Who attacked us?”
He took a breath and leaned his head back. “You really want to know?”
“Of course I want to know. Someone tried to kill me today, Reid.”
He turned and leaned back against the sink. His arms crossed over his chest and blood matted his hair. I wanted to splash him, or scream at him, or hit him—or anything but sit there naked in lukewarm water, but I knew that if I moved then he’d see me naked again, and I couldn’t decide if the thought scared me, pissed me off, or excited me.
“The man’s name was Jarvis Lowry.”
“Jarvis?”
“Goes by Jar. I knew him back in the day, when we were both coming up. Hedeon took me under his wing though and we lost touch with each other over the years, but I’ve heard some whispers about him.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Bad shit. He started his own little Irish mafia, a bunch of violent shitheads that liked to crack skulls more than was strictly necessary. I heard a lot of them got pinched last year though, and I sort of thought he’d disappear.”
“Clearly you were wrong.”
“I didn’t know he was that dangerous. He must’ve been following me for a while now and knew that whenever I went to that house…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “I should’ve changed up my routine. I got fucking lazy.”
I put my chin on my knees and looked up at him for a long time. His eyes were far away as he stared down at the bathroom tile, his fingers gripping the edge of the sink so hard his knuckles turned white.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It’s not a good thing, that sort of shit going down. The cops don’t like dead bodies. Fucking hell, Hedeon warned me that we couldn’t have something like this happen, and now look at it.”
For some insane reason, I wanted to reassure him— I wanted to tell him that everything would be okay.