* * *
Severo
“That son of a bitch.” I stare over at Holden as he watches the news play out. Reporting about Patrick Ames, that asshole who killed a little girl, as he’s set free. A murderous fury surges to the surface for all of us. But Holden especially.
He didn’t know the family, but when he found out about this guy, he was blind with rage. And now, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ames mysteriously vanishes.
“He’ll get what’s coming to him,” I comment. Someone will inflict worse on him than he did that little girl. Men like him don’t get away with shit for too long.
Switching the TV off, Seven grabs our cousin’s attention. “We need you to be okay with Aria and us, Hold. Because if she thinks for a second that you disapprove, she’s going to run faster than a rabbit trying to outmaneuver a wolf.”
“She’s already ours, man.” I chime in. “But she loves you more than anyone, and she’ll fight if you don’t accept it.” Christ, she’d kill us if she knew we were over here bartering for her like she’s a possession.
“She’s only eighteen,” he points out, and we nod. “She doesn’t even know what she wants with her life yet.”
“We’ll help her figure that out,” Sev insists.
“Help her or impregnate her?” Holden’s voice is hoarse, barely able to think of Aria and pregnant in the same sentence.
“Help,” I reply. “The idea of her pregnant is enticing as fuck, but we know as well as anyone that Aria deserves more. To travel, go to school, have a life. We’re just saying, we want to be there with her as she does it all.”
Holden stares at us for so long, I think he’s going to pose an argument. I should have known better. “Couldn’t think of two better men to claim my little sister than you two.” He finally grins, reaching forward to shake our hands. “I don’t want any details, though. Spare me that, will you?”
“Wouldn’t share anyways. She’s ours, not the world's,” Sev growls. He’s never been big on sharing. Except with me. And only Aria.
Aria will be the first woman we’ve had together. Sev and I haven’t lived like monks. We’ve had our fair share of women in the past, but not in a couple of years now. Not since Aria popped up on our radar as the woman we craved.
I don’t know how or when we decided she would be ours, but the decision was made, and we’ve never looked back.
“Where the fuck is this asshole?” Holden rechecks his watch as we wait at the Beechmont warehouse for a buyer who is thirty minutes late now. Vega Cruz is a potential new client out of South Miami.
He called Holden late last night, insisting on a meeting today. After being told we wanted to meet him first, he cursed up a storm. But we didn’t grow the business by being fucking stupid. We meet all new clients first. That way, we can sus out if they are undercover cops.
While the majority of the Adair Empire is on the up and up nowadays, we still deal in guns. Our dads and uncles got out of women and drugs a couple years after the kids started to arrive.
I never understood it until recently. The need to protect those most precious to them has been hard-wired in our parents' lives since they met their spouses, and now, with Aria almost becoming ours, I fucking get it.
Waiting here, with this sketchy asshole being late, has me on edge, and from the way my brother and Holden keep looking around, I get the feeling they are having the same thoughts.
“You think this is a setup?” I look over at Holden as his eyes slowly scan the roads leading towards the warehouse.
Movement to the east catches our attention, and each of us reaches for the guns we always bring along to these meetings.
“Backup,” Holden directs as we watch two men with automatic rifles hidden under long coats stroll casually down the road.
They haven’t seen us yet, so we remain in the shadows of the cracked door, waiting to see what they’ll do next. “Ro, go upstairs, see if you can get a better look. If they’ve got other guys with them.” Nodding, I do as he asks, and I’m pissed because I know this is going to interrupt our evening with Aria.
* * *
Seven
From the minute Holden called us to come to this meeting, I knew shit was going to hit the fan. I just didn’t expect it to come in the form of bullet spray. “We got any weapons here?” I whisper. We’re going to need more firepower to deal with these assholes.
“No. We won’t need it.” Holden’s eyes haven't left the men. “They’re going to come to us.”
Narrowing my gaze, I get what he’s thinking now. It seems a given that these are Vega’s men, but we need to draw them inside without shots being fired. Peering around, I see an old metal chair leaning against one wall.
“Let me know when they’re on us. They look dumb enough to come investigate a noise.” Slowly backing away, I reach the chair and watch Holden for the signal that they’re close enough to hear the scraping sound.