I wouldn’t shed a single tear if they did.
15
Hero
I DRUMMED MY thumbs on the table in the visitor’s room. Storm came earlier than I expected for his Monday visit. Not sticking to the plan put me on edge. I prayed nothing went wrong on his end when they returned Dutra’s mom and sister to their home.
The news of Rudy Dutra hanging himself burned through the place like wildfire. Inmates and DOs were shocked he’d managed to end his life in a sitting position. While his cellmate slept on the top bunk, Rudy had tied his sheet to the rail, secured it around his neck, and lowered his ass toward the concrete floor. He didn’t have a lot of room between him and the floor but it was enough to do the job. He could have easily stood up and saved himself.
Rudy proved his family meant something to him, shocker of all shockers. He hadn’t given a shit about raping women but cared about his mom and sister enough to kill himself. I never would’ve guessed.
The door opened.
“Thanks,” Storm muttered. How friendly of him. Unusual. He took his seat with a barely noticeable curl to his lip. “Boxer and Ire won Saturday night. It was a fuckin’ good fight.”
“Rub it in my face, why dontcha?”Asshole. “I’ll probably miss the main event on Black Friday.”
Storm considered me a long second. His platinum eyes shimmered, something I only saw when he was with Angel. “You’ll be there.” The confidence in his voice had me straightening in my chair.
“How do you know? Did Theo get me a deal?” My mind was blown. If I could be out by Christmas, I’d be the happiest man alive.
“Nope.”
“Then how?”
Why was he dragging this out? I could strangle him for screwing with me.
Storm laughed, clutching his stomach like fucking Santa Claus. Maybe this was a dream. Storm rarely smiled, much less chuckled all jolly and shit. Yeah, this was definitely the weirdest dream I’d ever had.
“It’s unbelievable, really. I’m still stunned.” He steeled his joy and turned serious again.
Okay, so maybe not a dream. What the fuck was going on?
“So tell me goddammit!” My heart raced, desperate to hear.
“At the event Saturday night, Grizz called. He’s been working his ass off trying to get you out. Well, he’d been on Tiktok.” Storm rolled his eyes. My prez hated social media. I did too. “Someone saw Sonny putting the weed in your saddlebag. A teenager recorded and posted it with some tagline about corrupt pigs.”
I gaped, jaw hitting the floor. “You’re kidding?”
“Nope. Theo is on it. If all goes as expected, you’ll be out before lunchtime.”
“Fuck yeah!” I grabbed my head between my hands. “My first stop is—”
“Hold up. Let me stop you there.”
“Excuse me?”
Storm hiked a dark brow in warning. “I need you at the club before you do anything else.”
“Storm—”
“No. It’s not a request. Morrison is driving Raul nuts. Get shit squared away with him, then you can have some time to yourself.” The crease in Storm’s forehead deepened. It made me uneasy. It couldn’t be about Morrison, the needy fucker.
Christ, was it Roja?
“What’s wrong? Is it my woman?”
“I don’t know. How much do you know about her?”