Page 134 of Chaotic Curse
Right.The family fixer.
Not any more.
Too late, I almost say.Reyes is tied up in a barn.My knuckles split open on a safe.Some sex offender is dead, and then there’s Daniela…
“I’ll do what needs to be done,” I say.“I’ll keep it clean.”
Does he see the lie in my eyes?Or does he see Hawk the family fixer?The one who has cleaned up allhismesses?
“Okay,” he says finally.
He’s fading again.I see it in the way his eyes go unfocused and the lines around his mouth soften.
“Rest.”I adjust the blanket.It’s a stupid gesture, but it makes me feel like I’m doing something.“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Liar,” he mumbles.The smallest smile.“You always…go somewhere.”
I huff out a breath that might be a laugh.“I’ll be just outside.”
He tries to nod.Doesn’t quite make it.His eyes close.
Injected.
By force.
The words ricochet around my skull and hit everything they should.Haynes.Dead days before the card with his DNA.Reyes.A safe that won’t open.The chocolate.The grenade.Someone who wants us to feel helpless.Someone who likes control.
I want a name.I want a face.I want a throat under my hand and I want to squeeze the fucking life out of it.
But I sit.I breathe.I make myself look at my brother instead of the space past him where rage gathers like a storm inside me.
The door opens without a knock.Falcon steps in.He stops when he sees Eagle sleeping.Looks at me.A question without words.
“He talked,” I say.“He wanted me first.”
Falcon’s mouth does that thing like he’s swallowing a handful of nails.“He good?”
“Better.”I glance at the IV.The dressing.“He didn’t relapse.”
Falcon blinks.“What?”
“It wasn’t voluntary,” I say.The words taste like poison on my tongue.“Someone injected him.”
“Who?”Falcon grits out.
“He doesn’t know.Two, maybe three guys in a black van.He couldn’t tell me much else except it was after he left my place.A garage.All he remembers is the smell of cheap aftershave.”
Falcon’s eyes go dark.“You think?—”
“I think I’m going to find them.”I look back at Eagle.He’s sleeping.He’s breathing.He’s here.“And I think I’m going to make them regret touching our brother.”
“Hawk,” Falcon says, “I don’t like what this is doing to you.You’re the good son.”
I shake my head.Why is this damned family so caught up in labels?
“You be careful.”
“I will,” I lie.
