Page 20 of Merciless

Jeez. Is everybody short-sighted, but me? Am I the only one who ever sees the big picture to things?

“We’re talking about Priest here. He wants me dead, then he ain’t gonna stop. The guy’s got way more resources and reach compared to me. He’s got the means to do it. I can’t run, because we all know his MO. He’ll go after everybody I care for, dropping their bodies, until he can get to me. There ain’t no out here.”

“So, you’re going to hand yourself over, is that it?”

“I’m gonna force a meet with him to see what’s what. Then I’ll take it from there. Right now, I don’t know why he’s coming after me, what he wants. I can’t be reacting off no intel.”

She shakes her head. “We both know, once you step into his office, you won’t be coming out.”

She can get heavy-handed and real bleak in a matter of split-seconds.

And I’m not having it.

I have to keep things cold and logical. No emotion getting in the way.

I suck in a breath, pushing all this heavy shit down and this brutal reality that’s come at me now. Then, I brush past her, snatch my leather jacket off the back of the door and slip it on.

“You’re heading there right this instant?” she asks.

“Nah. Gotta talk to Ax about all this. He needs to be warned.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No.”

“No?” she questions with a hell of an edge in her tone.

Before I can get another word out, the backup I called in while she was busy taking a shower comes barging in through the bedroom door.

Right on cue as usual.

At the intrusion, Char spins around quick. In the blink of an eye, she’s snatching up my piece from the bedside table, cocking it, and taking aim at Sin.

“Looks like all the skeletons in your closet are gunning for you, Cal,” she comments.

Sin takes a step forward.

“One more and I’ll put you down,” she warns.

He grins at me, then takes another step.

Char fires.

And… nothing happens.

Sin snatches the piece out of her hand, dislodges the magazine, and shows her the empty clip. “He don’t trust you, sugar. Maybe enough to fuck you, but not enough to leave his gun loaded and unattended around you.”

Sin tosses the gun to me and I pull the clip from my back pocket and snap it back into place. As I holster the piece at the right hip of my jeans, I tell her, “Sin ain’t the enemy no more. We made peace a few years back.”

“Huh,” she says, looking real surprised. “I’d love to hear that story.”

“Yeah, well. Shame we ain’t got the time right now then, ain’t it?” I mutter, brushing past her, and telling Sin, “Need you to get her to my eastern safehouse. This place ain’t safe no more with Priest knowing of it now.”

“All right, brother. You got it.”

Unlike his easy agreement, Char ain’t going with it all so easy. She bolts over to me, pulls me around to her and tells me, “I don’t need a babysitter, or the protection of your safehouse. Besides, you’re not doing this. It’s not the right move.”

I take her hands and give them a squeeze to get her full focus on me, needing her to really hear me, to really grasp what my decision’s all about. “This is my call. Figured on bringing you to my safehouse, so we could catch up and then say our goodbyes. Us just parting ways right now with you knowing I was really gone this time would’ve been too brutal and downright mean to you. So, that’s the reason for that, all right? And, as for me handing myself over, I gotta do whatever I can to protect my family. You know that about me. I ain’t never done nothing less. Why’d I be changing that up now, yeah?”

“Your life for theirs.”

“The way it should be.” I stroke her hair, then kiss the top of her head, and pull back. Squaring my shoulders, I look at her and Sin. “All right. See you later tonight.”

“Ride safe, brother,” Sin says.

“Right back at ya.”

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