Page 69 of Parrish

Chapter Twenty-four

Jack Parrish

Pocketing Schwartz’s card, I reach for my phone and dial Lacey. I need to reassure her that this is only temporary. Blackie’s new lawyer might be eccentric, but his father was a king in the criminal courts. There is no denying Schwartz Sr. knows his shit. I just hope he passed on his antics and his charisma in the courtroom to his son.

Lacey doesn’t answer and that worries me. That familiar sense of being torn strangles me and I quickly leave the chapel. I start to make my way back to ICU, deciding to lean on Layla and ask if she would mind sitting with Reina a little longer so I can physically check on my daughter.

As I round the corner of the corridor, I collide with Pipe and Wolf. Taking in the worn expressions on their faces, I decide neither of them look any better than me. They’re just as fucking torn up over this whole ordeal as I am.

“We need to talk,” Wolf says, motioning to the row of seats lining the corridor.

“Not now,” I reply, ignoring his invitation for a sit down. His newfound stepson and former enforcer for the mob, Anthony Bianci, must be rubbing off on him some. “I gotta check on Lacey,” I add, looking toward Pipe. “Blackie was arraigned and Schwartz told me she made a scene in the courtroom. Can you ask Layla to stay with Reina a little while longer?”

“Lacey’s fine, Jack,” Pipe replies, crossing his arms against his chest. “We took her home and got her settled. Gina and Celeste are with her now.

“You were at the arraignment?”

I don’t know why that surprises me. Blackie might not be a ranking officer anymore but he’s still an active member of the Satan’s Knights and Pipe sets me straight.

“Of course, we were at the arraignment. Blackie might be your son-in-law and your right hand but he’s still our brother,” Pipe retorts. “Schwartz owned the courtroom. He had the judge wrapped around his dick. If it wasn’t for his priors, he probably would’ve gotten the entire case dismissed.”

My shoulders slack with relief.

“For fuck’s sake,” Wolf growls. “Jack, I don’t know where your head is at, but you need to realize we’re not going anywhere. You may have cut your patch from your leathers, but you and yours will always be ours.”

Swiping a hand over my face, I digest their words. I don’t know why I keep insisting they’re not in my corner. Normally I’d point a finger at my maker. I’d tell myself that vile cunt is filling my head with nonsense but maybe I’m starting to feel the effects of not being their leader. All these years, I’ve been telling every man and woman they’re property of Parrish and I’m starting to forget what that means, that it don’t die.

It survives the winds of change.

“I’ve been where you’re at man,” Pipe says. “So thirsty for revenge, you can’t think straight. All you see is red, everyone becomes an enemy and you lose yourself to the cause. It ain’t no way to live.”

“You survived,” I point out.

“I survived because you people didn’t give up on me.”

“There’s a difference, Pipe,” I say, releasing a sigh. “You weren’t fucking crazy.”

“Stop hiding behind the crazy, Parrish,” Wolf scolds. “We’re all in tune with your maker and still we choose to ride with you. I need you to stop thinking we’re against you. Patch or no patch we’re brothers and if this was an attack on your family, we got you. I just can’t go guns blazing into the cartel’s territory without solid fucking proof. I’ll get us all killed, and I think it’s safe to say neither of us want that.”

He’s right.

So very fucking right.

My eyes drift down to my hands and I turn them over to stare at my palms.

They’ve seen so much blood.

“What do you want from me right now?” I question, lifting my head. “You want me to sit here and agree with you. Fine, I agree you can’t go guns blazing into Javier’s drug den. That don’t shake this feeling I got and maybe it’s just my mind failing me but, I can’t shut it down. After I picked up Danny from your house the other day, I spent some time with him. He fell asleep and woke up screaming. Reina knew something was off when that car hit her. She told him to close his eyes and look away.”

I know someone might argue that she only did that because she was losing control of the car, but I can’t help but think there was more to it. Maybe she glanced into the rearview mirror and saw the Cadillac.

“We’re not writing off the theory. Bas is in Kentucky getting some intel on the cartel and Riggs is trying to get a hit on the Cadillac. He’s working on hacking into the city’s surveillance cameras. If that car was following Reina from your house, it’s on camera somewhere,” Pipe says. “What we need from you is to understand what the fuck Blackie’s doing?”

“I’ve been asking myself the same fucking thing since he came to me and told me he retained Schwartz,” I admit. “I didn’t get a chance to ask him anything or to try to figure out his mindset because as soon as he told me, Ritzer showed up and arrested him. It’s like he knew the son of a bitch was going to come for him.”

Pipe and Wolf exchange a look before Wolf strokes his beard and fixes his eyes on me.

“He say anything else to you?”

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