Chapter 19
Electricity chargedthe air as Grayson stepped into the suite with his nonchalant mask pulled firmly back on with a smug smirk gracing his lips. Knix stood and crossed his arms as Marv and Bellamy both glared at him from the couch. I perched on the armchair next to Texas. It seemed out of all of the guys, Texas was less inclined to attack Grayson, though I knew none of them liked him. I had to wonder again if there wasn’t some sort of history betweenthem.
Grayson shut the door behind himself and took up a similar stance to Knix’s except he kept his arms uncrossed. Awkward silence stretched between them all, and I rolled my eyes, standing up from my spot on the armchair. I moved towards Grayson and he raised an eyebrow at me as I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, and dragged him further into the room. I pushed him into an empty seat against the backwall.
“Enough,” I snapped. I directed my narrowed glare at each of them. “We have a problem here, and acting like children is not going to solveit.”
Knix sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose before waving his hand at me tocontinue.
“We have a problem,” I said, looking back at Grayson before letting my eyes roam to the rest of them. “I don’t know why you have a problem with each other, but that’s not what we’re here for.Weneed to figure out a solution to getting Grayson’s brother out without drawing attention. Then we need to convince him to let Grayson take him torehab.”
“Why should we protect his brother?” Bellamy demanded. “He’s a thief. He’s been stealing from people at these events for monthsnow.”
Grayson stood, narrowing his gaze across the room, and I watched as Bellamy straightened his shoulders, standing to meet Grayson’s stare. I frowned, my brows furrowing as I debated how to keep them from attacking each other. When Knix stepped between them, relief coursed through me and Isighed.
“We need to keep this hidden because Sweratt asked us to,” Knix replied. “They don’t want it getting out that people coming to their events are being robbed. They’ve worked extra hard to keep it out of the rumor mill and we are not going to ruinthat.”
Bellamy sat back down with a huff and Grayson turned away, cursing under his breath. He whirled back to face Knix. “What do you suggestthen?”
“I want you to ask your brother to meet you at the docksat–”
“He won’t come,” Grayson interrupted. “I’ve been trying to get him to stop for weeks. If I try to convince him, he’ll just brush me offagain.”
“You’ll just have to try harder then,” Marvsaid.
Grayson flicked an irritated glance Marv’s way but didn’t respond to theslight.
“I want to take him to a rehabilitation facility in North Carolina. I have someone waiting to take him. As soon as I can get him off this island and back in Charleston, he’ll meet us and we’ll drive straight to thefacility.”
“You think that will help your brother?” Knixasked.
With a sigh, Grayson nodded. “If this doesn’t work, he might as well go to prison. I want to do whatever I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. If it fails then it fails, but no one can say I didn’t try as hard as I fuckingcould.”
The guys watched Grayson, all eyes analyzing, trying to determine his honesty. I could have told them he was serious. I could see it in his stance, in his hard, dangerous, blue eyes. Knix seemed to understand that as well. With a nod, Knix motioned for Texas, Bellamy, and Marv. They allstood.
“I want you to call your brother to the docks,” Knixsaid.
“I said hewouldn’t–”
“My men will go with you and make sure he comes. If you have to go directly to his room and drag him out, do it. Just make sure to keep a lowprofile.”
“You want us to drag him out of here?!” Grayson snapped. “He will fight. There is no way that’s going to be kept on the downlow.”
Texas smirked and reached to the side of the couch, lifting a small suitcase that I hadn’t noticed before. It was barely the size of my forearm and obviously not meant for carrying clothes. Texas tapped his free hand against the side of the suitcase and winked at me before turning toGrayson.
“Don’t worry about if he gets difficult. I gotthis.”
“I don’t want you to drug him,” Graysonreplied.
Texas widened his eyes and placed his hand – the one not holding the suitcase – over his chest in mock outrage. “I would never do such a thing as to drug a guest of this facility, sir,” hehuffed.
I didn’t realize that I snorted until Grayson whirled on me and I raised a hand to my face, covering my smiling mouth. He narrowed his gaze before huffing at me and turning back toTexas.
“I mean it,” he said sternly. “I don’t know what kind of shit you have in that.” Grayson paused to gesture to the suitcase absently before continuing. “Whatever it is, it can’t begood.”
“It’s a last resort,” Texas replied with an eye roll. “Don’t worry. I doubt we’ll need it. In case it has missed your notice, Bell and Marv don’t exactly like you. They’ll be more than happy to just knock your brotherout.”
It didn’t escape my notice that Grayson didn’t argue against that tactic. Knix glanced back at me. “Harlow, you’ll come withme.”