Page 20 of When Sinners Rise
My heart is in a flutter all the way home.
CHAPTER SEVEN
SHAW
This country can’t do coffee worth a shit. After the gym at the hotel, I need it.
I end up trying some of their British tea with my breakfast to try that on for size. It’s like drinking swill from the bottom of a barrel, with less alcohol involved. I stare at the waitress, trying to take my mind off the taste. Doesn’t work, and before long I’m just leaving the hotel and heading out onto the streets around me.
The morning drifts by with me walking around London, dodging bikes, and occasionally stopping at something of interest. The fact of it is, though, nothing is of interest. I shouldn’t be here – don’t want to be either. It’s all bullshit and of little point to me or my family. No one needs Miri back in San Antonio. Abel’s just being a dick and making sure he gets the fully finished effect all wrapped up. I get that, but she’s nothing to us. Sweet as fuck, yes, and probably profitable in our screwed-up world, but damn, we’ve got a thousand of those kinda girls roaming our own streets.
I cross the river and wander around that side of town to pass the time, finally ending up in some place called Battersea. Means nothing to me, despite hundreds of dudes taking pictures and hurrying along. It’s just a building of some kind. Nothing special. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any building as special, home included, other than the building that nearly took all my brothers’ lives – The Priory.
I went there late last night. Took a cab. The old place looks nearly as dead as Elias is. Crumbling brickwork, rotting, charred wood. Still solid enough, though. Like me. I just do as I’m told and follow orders like a soldier despite this underlying disagreement in me. It's like that’s all I’m built for. I wasn’t once. I was playful and full of fun. Mariana and I used to prank around – fighting mostly, but it was kinda cute looking back on it. We’re so far from those kids now I don’t recognise her, or myself, most days.
Guess it all changed when she got taken. Dante changed, Elias changed, Knox changed, she changed. Not me, though. Didn’t understand back then. I just felt the atmosphere around us all turn cold and cruel, and what once was was never the same again. I’d never seen Dante like that before. In fact, I’d never seen any of them like that before. Knox said nothing had changed, but, from a thirteen-year-old’s point of view, one that had known nothing but money and fun and support, every fucking thing changed. It was either grow into what they were becoming or feel alone and outside of the fold. And then Abel came out of Huntsville.
He was about the most evil-looking thing I’d ever seen in my life, and that took some doing. I shook when he looked down on me. Damn near pissed myself when he shouted and meant it. And watching Dante cower – the strongest guy I’d ever met – made me question what the fuck Abel was capable of. Took about a year of him being out, and him getting me involved inthe business, for me to find out. He gave no fucks about anyone or anything unless it was family, and even then, he showed it via pain if necessary. If you’re weak, you’re a waste of my fucking time, he said. Yeah. I understood that well. Still do.
I check my phone – time for a coffee date.
Ambling back to the place we’ve agreed to meet, I look at more people passing me by. They’re just average Joe’s getting on with their day or tourists looking at the sights around them. I shove my hands in my pockets, questioning when the last time I took some time off was. Although, it’s not like I live a normal nine-to-five like most of these guys do, I guess. My life’s weird as fuck when you put me up against them. I sleep with the whores we own, or anything else connected to our business, and by night, or day come to think about it, I’m beating on guys or killing them because someone told me they need killing.
A group of girls smile as I turn a corner and nearly crash into me. Two of them giggle and bat their lashes, and one of them gets in real close. I could fuck her if I felt like it. I could get chatting and flirting and get her back to the hotel real damn quick – get them all back to the hotel. Instead, I turn and keep walking despite their sweet asses and cute faces. I’ve got something else to fuck around with, and then it’ll be a trip down memory lane for her because that’s what I’m here to do. A soldier. A yes man. I nod when I’m told to do something – anything.
By the time I get to the coffee shop she’s already waiting for me outside. I wait a way off and look her over as she scrolls through her phone and inputs a message. The visual’s as sweet as it was last time at dinner. She’s fine as hell in reality. Shame.
“Hey,” I say, closing down the gap between us. She looks up and beams at me, quickly shoving her phone into her bag. “Boyfriend?”
She frowns. “What?”
“Well, with you being as fine as you are, you must be playing with at least three of us.”
“What?”
“Boyfriends. You can’t possibly have just me on the scene.”
She looks at the sidewalk and laughs lightly. “Just you. I’m not really into dating.”
“We’re dating now?”
Her head shoots up. “I ... I mean, not dating, just …”
I laugh and move past her, opening the door to the coffee shop. “It’s all good, Miri. Don’t panic. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t invested. You’re cute as hell when you fluster, though.” She slaps me on the chest as she walks past me and looks around.
“That was mean.”
“Mmm. A little.” Nowhere near as mean as this is gonna get, though. “You grab a table, and I’ll get the drinks ordered in. What are you having?”
“Caramel Latte, please.”
I nod and walk off, ordering her drink and an espresso to try for a decent coffee again.
By the time I’m back to her with our drinks, she’s back on her phone again.
“Now, see, I’m gonna get worried about my competition if you keep playing with that.”
She puts it down and smiles. “Really? You don’t seem the kind to worry about a healthy competition at all.”
