Page 63 of Dev

“Tell Raze he has a friend in me.” Tomlin gets up from the chair he’s in and looks at the man on the floor.

“Boss’ll be pleased to hear that.” I let the chief see an immediate benefit of our agreement, sealing the deal by stomping on the back of Les’s head. Tomlin turns gray and rushes out the door as I smash my boot into his skull over and over again. Les stops responding, but I keep going, imagining that it’s Quinnell under my boot. Blood splatters my face when his brains explode like a watermelon, and when I’m satisfied, I slump back into the chair and light myself another smoke.

Staring at the body on the floor, I pull out my cell so I can check in with my girl.

“Hey, handsome.” She answers almost straight away, and I love how happy and content she sounds.

“What ya up to, darlin’?” I rest back in the seat and enjoy the sound of her voice. It's so soft and pretty, nothing like the scene in front of me.

“Alicia’s on her way to pick me up and take me to the club…with Vike,” she adds before I give her a safety warning. “I figured I could hang out with the girls and meet you there once you were done.”

“Sounds goo…” I hear footsteps coming from behind me, and when I turn around, I see Raze.

“Babe, I gotta go. I’ll see you at the club, okay?” I hang up, watching him slide the leather gloves off his hands and place them on the table.

“Ya good boss?” I can’t read the look on his face. With Raze, it’s always been difficult, but just lately he’s been making it impossible.

“I bumped into Tomlin at the gate. He seems keen to extend our friendship.” Raze circles the body on the floor, checking out the mess I made of it.

“Les didn’t take much to crack; he gave the name of the others after a thumb and two teeth. I don’t think Tomlin knows his son’s involved with the crank issue we got. I’m hoping what happened will be a warnin’ to the kid.” I fill Raze in on my suspicions.

“You did good,” Raze praises me, but I can’t help noticing that he’s looking subdued.

“I’mma get Saint to help me lose this guy, then we’ll set to work on finding the other three. I was thinking we should tie ’em up with a neat little bow and give ’em to Burlusconi as a gift when we’re done.”

Fuckers should know that the consequences of dealing drugs in a city run by Burlusconi would be fatal.

“I just got a call from Frank Dawson,” Raze changes the subject. “He wanted to know if his daughter’s been hiding out at the clubhouse. Sounded real worried.”

“Yeah, well, he can fuckin’ worry some more. That asshole was gonna put her on a plane to New York.” I shake my head and snarl when I think about how much he’s hurt her.

“Weren’t twenty-four hours ago that you’d have been paying for her ticket yourself,” Raze smirks, reminding me of how cruel I’ve been.

“Yeah, well, things have changed.”

“You know, the last person we wanna piss off is the man who’s running to be state senator.” He pulls up a chair and sits beside me.

“What ya sayin’, Prez? That I should send her home? Because that ain’t gonna happen, not even on your order.” I let him know how strongly I feel, because I ain’t ashamed of a damn thing anymore. Millie Dawson is mine.

“I’msuggestingyou try and convince the girl to reason with her father.” He takes a smoke from his cut and lights it.

“How about I try reasoning with him?” I make a suggestion of my own, and Raze shows he has little faith in me when he shakes his head and laughs.

“We both know how that would play out. C’mon, Dev, you know how it feels to worry about someone. I ain’t saying that you and her can’t be together, I’m just asking you to do it as respectfully as you can. Frank’s the kinda guy we need to have on our side, just like Tomlin.” Raze tries telling me what I already know. “I don’t think he’s gonna be all too happy when he finds out you're screwing his daughter.”

“I ain’tscrewin’her, Raze. Millie is mine now. Just like Peyton’s yours. Would you have anyone tell you how to handle that?” I question him.

“You know I wouldn’t.” He shakes his head and looks down at the floor.

“I’m just askin’ ya to play this one carefully. For the sake of the club, and for her.” Standing up, he taps me on the shoulder.“I’ll call Saint and Greaser, have ’em head out here with a cage,” he tells me before making his way out the door. Leaving me to wonder how the hell I can convince a man like Frank Dawson that I’d be good for his daughter.

Ihead into Corey’s room to see what clothes I still have here after Alicia messages to tell me she’s on her way. I know I'm going to have to go home and speak to my parents eventually, but I think Dev’s right about giving them time. They have to accept that I’m an adult now. I’m responsible for my own decisions, and I’ve decided that I want to be with Dev.

Being in Corey’s room while wearing one of Dev’s t-shirts feels kinda weird. I haven’t spent too much time thinking about how Corey would feel about the way things have turned out. Of course, I’d like to think he’d be happy for us. Corey was a kind soul; he cared about the people he loved, and he loved me and Dev. Whenever I start to feel any guilt, I tell myself that he would have wanted us to find happiness in each other. Who else would he have trusted to keep me safe? And he was always telling me that he worried Dev would never find his person.

I have to believe that Corey would find comfort in that person being me, or guilt would consume me.

I keep looking through his drawers, knowing that I have at least one spare pair of jeans here, and when I pull open the bottom one and riffle through a pile of hoodies, I feel something I don’t expect tucked right at the back. Pulling it out, I stare at the phone in my hand. I’ve never seen it before, and I know itcan’t belong to Corey, because Dev gave Corey’s phone to me last month.

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