Page 78 of Merciless

I can’t help grinning at that. “You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you, Cal?”

“You sound like Ax,” he says with a chuckle as he places a plate of food down in front of me, then does the same for himself as he takes a seat beside me up at the breakfast bar.

“He’s clearly come to know you well then.”

“Yeah, he has.”

I’m about to take the first bite of food when this mention of Ax pulls me up short. “How did he take it… what I told you… my involvement and manipulation leading to Kim’s death?”

He stills. “He took it well, actually. It threw him for a loop, but he accepts it, gets why it had to go down like that. He ain’t hating on you, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He smiles. “I’m kind of glad you are worried about it though.”

“What? Why?”

His smile widens, looking far too pleased with himself. “Because it means you’re really all in with me. You know how much Ax means to me, how close we are. You wanna be at peace with him for us.”

“Yeah, I do.”

It’s admirable how close he is with his family, how loyal too. Everything he’s done has been to protect them. I’m sure I would be the same if my family was still alive. It was just my parents and I and even in my tumultuous teenage years, we were close, a real sickly sweet happy family actually, in spite of the fact that we were dirt poor. That, unfortunately, was what led my father to make a deal with extremely dangerous men, not unlike Priest’s type. He was a butcher and ended up lending those bastards the storage space of his shop. At first it was for small things, like storing illicit goods. But it graduated to bodies. When my father found out, he tried to back out. And that was the beginning of the end. During the night of my high school graduation when I was out partying with my friends, they blew up our home.

That night changed everything. It changed me. It’s why I ventured into the line of work that I’m now infamous for. And when I grew powerful enough to challenge those bastards that took my family away, I made them pay. That night, after I claimed my vengeance and justice for my parents, I swore two things. The first was that I wouldn’t let anyone have power over me again like those bastards did when they brought my life crashing down and took away the only two people I had in the world. The second was that I would never get close to anyone again, so I would never even have to fear the possibility of enduring a loss like that. But, back then, I just never saw Cal “Dealer” Austin coming.

His voice draws me back to the immediate moment.

“Well, it’s all good. You don’t gotta worry.” He takes a bite of his pasta and I do the same. God, it’s good. He’s really good.

As I swallow another mouthful, I feel his eyes on me. I look up from my plate to see intensity burning back at me. “Cal? What’s wrong?”

“Thank you,” he says, the earnestness of it taking me aback.

“For what?”

He shoves a hand through his thick hair. “I should’ve said it sooner, but with everything going on, it got pushed off to the sidelines. Thank you for saving my baby girl that day.”

“Of course. I’d never do anything less.”

“I know and it means a lot. I hope you’re aware that works both ways, yeah?”

I reach out and stroke his arm. “I’d never doubt that from you.”

He wraps his arm around me and eases me against him as we continue eating together.

“So, we still have a big chunk of the day to get through yet and—”

“Get through?” he questions, with a chuckle. “You make it sound like a chore. It’s supposed to be one day of relaxing and taking it easy before everything gets crazy as hell. The calm before the storm.”

“I’m not exactly good at taking it easy.”

He nods, getting it. “It’s unfamiliar and you hate the unfamiliar.”

“Exactly right.” I sigh and sink into him. “But I already agreed and I’ll do it. For you.”

“Appreciate that,” he says, kissing the top of my head.

“So, how do we do it? What do you have in mind?”

“Nothing major, just sharing a few drinks and catching up on what we’ve missed with each other these last few years, the personal stuff that our secret research into each other weren’t able to tell us.”

“So, like normal people then?”

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