Page 23 of No Apologies
“Uh… yeah, actually it is.”
“I’m back. I need to work. Why can’t it be with you?”
“You have some experience working in a tattoo shop that I don’t know about?” He crossed his arms over his chest, wincing when his ribs resisted the movement.
“I’ve done a lot of different things over the years.”
“You ever work in a tattoo shop?” He repeated evenly.
Remy scowled, “No.”
“Then I don’t see how you’re gonna help me.”
“You let Bent hang out here, even offered to apprentice him, but you won’t do the same for me?”
Colt seethed. So his cousins were talking to his brother. That didn’t surprise him. Last he’d heard Remy was sleeping on Lincoln’s couch. He wondered if that was still true considering the troublehewas in with that particular family member.
“Bent ain’t welcome here anymore as of about two hours ago.”
“Why’s that?”
“Dumbfuck used the equipment that he ain’t licensed to operate after I told him not to. We’re done. You see him before I do, feel free to let him know.”
“Okay.” Remy shrugged, “That’s better news for me then. You’re gonna need somebody to cover the shop for you when you have to go out for your… extracurricular activities.”
His jaw clenched and even that hurt. Damn it, he didn’t like that Remy seemed to know so much about his life. He hadn’t told him. Cash couldn’t have told him, not about that. Which meant his cousins were talking to Remy, which meant he was involved with them somehow, in something. They wouldn’t have been airing business otherwise.
“Link send you down here? Is that what this is about?” He narrowed his eyes and sure enough, Remy fidgeted. “Motherfucker, he did, didn’t he?”
He watched his older brother wince and cursed some more. He was a pawn. Lincoln’s pawn. Lincoln wanted eyes on Colt after what had happened last night and he was using Remy to send a message.
The business was still half Lincoln’s and if he wanted to hire a new employee, the point was that Colt couldn’t stop him. He wasn’t the one with the power in this situation. It was well played, that was for sure. Not as direct as he would have expected out of Lincoln but it was more effective this way, letting him know that Remy might be his brother but he was on Lincoln’s side.
“Link wants you here to keep an eye on me. You know that?”
Remy sighed, “I need a job if I’m sticking around. Link mentioned he had a vested interest in the shop and thought it’d be good for us to work together. Give us a chance to catch up.”
Colt snorted, “Either you’ve forgotten that nobody in our family does anything for the good of anybody but themselves or you’re more naïve than I ever suspected.”
“You’re not thinking of the third option.”
“And what’s that?”
“I know exactly what kind of power play Link is making by forcing me in here and I’m using him.” Remy’s lips curled slightly with cruel intent, “He thinks I’m on his side. I’m not.”
Colt raised a skeptical eyebrow, “Is that so?”
“Yeah, that’s so. You’re my brother. I failed to protect you once. I won’t do it again.”
He didn’t believe him. How could he? He didn’t trust him. That was partly Remy’s own fault. He’d promised to keep him safe once and he hadn’t. He’d failed him. But it was also the fault of a dozen other people in Colt’s life that had done the exact same thing. He didn’t trust anyone.
Remy must have sensed that declaration wasn’t going to sway him because he sighed, “Look, I’m not asking you to trust me, not yet, but it’s not like you have a lot of choice in this matter unless you want to start a war with Lincoln.”
“Maybe the war already started.”
“No. I talked to him. He’s pissed, wants to make a point, but we’re all still family. He wants a show of power and puttin’ me here gives him that. Do it. Take me on. Let him think he’s won on this one tiny thing and he’ll back off.”
“Link doesn’t know how to back off.”
