Page 72 of Gonzo's Grudge
At the table, the room smelled like smoke and oil and a history that doesn’t wash out. The brothers settled—Tower, Disciple, Shanks, Pull, Lead, Dippy, and Loco who was carrying his shoulders a little looser since his friend Juanita came to town.
I let the gavel hit once. “We’ve got business and I’ve got personal. Business first. Devyn filed. GJ’s out. Walsh gave us everything he promised and then some. Juanita’s got Hampton’s seat in lockdown until the feds decide if they want it or want to pretend it doesn’t exist. Burn?”
He threw a folder down. “Bank trails match the shells. Darlene’s little getaway fund is empty now that the US government put a lock on it.”
“Good,” I said. “Now personal.”
Heads lifted. You can feel when a room braces to catch you if you fall.
“Effective now,” I shared, voice steady. “I’m a taken man.”
A couple grins, a whoop from the pool table, Shay’s name hanging in the air and not landing. Burn arched a brow. “Like that, huh?”
“Like that,” I stated. “Nobody puts hands on IvaLeigh. Nobody bumps her. Nobody ‘just says hi’ to see if I’ll twitch. Prospect sees anyone give her shit in our house, and doesn’t step in, he learns how brooms work from the wrong end. She’s my woman. That’s not a discussion.”
Loco’s smirk was older than sin. “You claiming an old lady, Prez?”
Silence ate the table and then belched. I breathed slow. Titles cut, and once you carve them, you don’t scrape them off. I knew she’d said no sharing and for life. I also knew that doesn’t automatically translate to a property patch she didn’t ask for.
“Not yet,” I explained. “She gets to choose that for herself. I’m telling you who she is to me. That’s enough.”
Shanks thumped the table once. Disciple nodded once like a prayer. Tower grinned like a man who likes being told where the lines are because it means he gets to break other ones instead.
“And if Catalina walks in here and wants to set something on fire?” Peanut asked, half sounding like he wanted to stir up the trouble.
“She can set it outside,” I stated firmly. “She doesn’t come through my door unannounced ever again and she doesn’t get to IvaLeigh.”
“Last thing,” I said. “Shay.”
Burn smirked like a man seeing a car wreck he can’t help looking at. “She’s not going to like this part.”
“I’m not here to be liked,” I explained what everyone knew. “She’s done. We don’t punish her for being what this place made her, but she doesn’t get the run of my space anymore. Set her up somewhere not here.”
“Church adjourned,” I said, and hit the gavel.
As brothers peeled off, Burn lingered. “You sure you’re built for this?” he asked softly, just us in the echo. “No exit she accepts the title?”
I let the question sit. “I’ve only ever had exits. Maybe they’re how I kept from burning. Maybe they’re how I’ve stayed cold. And maybe being tied down is exactly what I need.”
He watched me for a long beat, then slapped my shoulder. “Then light it up, brother.”
On the way back to the cabin, I stopped by a hardware store and bought things men buy when they’ve decided to make a place hold—hooks for helmets, a second fire extinguisher, a drawer organizer because apparently those exist, a small safe that wasn’t my safe. I installed the helmet hooks by the door. One high, one low. She hung hers and grinned like a kid at Christmas.
“You made me a spot,” she squealed delightfully.
“I made myself a spot to see you when I walk in,” I challenged.
Her smile softened, then sharpened. “Don’t think giving me hardware gets you out of the other stuff.”
“What other stuff?”
“Talking.” She smirked, and then, because she knows what I am, “But you can do it while your hands are busy.”
We talked while I fixed. She asked about Pop. She asked about Catalina and I didn’t pretty it up. I gave her the ugliest parts because I’d promised no secrets. She didn’t flinch, just filed them under things that built the man in front of me and kissed me once for each one like she was stapling the pages together so they couldn’t fly away and cut someone.
“What about GJ?” she asked. “Heard you on the phone telling him about us. What did he say when you told him this is for life?”
“Called me old man and told me not to run.”
