Chapter 40

Corbin

I know where Axel likes to play .

Where he hangs out, drinks, fucks women who want nothing more than their nightly fix.

Suck his cock and he’ll feed your veins.

I’m not here to judge the decision making of junkies or whores.

I simply stand outside the door, the knife used on Mutt in my right hand.

And I wait.

To pass the time, I do the one thing that makes sense—I think about my Katie girl.

I’m not the kind of guy to obsess over days that have come and gone. Days that are under our feet and days that require you to stop and turn to appreciate.

You can’t worry about the past.

Ten years without my Katie girl.

I’ve only had her for a little while, so far.

It’s not enough. It’s never going to be enough. I’m never going to catch up to what I want and what I think and feel.

My phone vibrates with a text.

If it’s Mutt, he’ll keep driving me crazy until I respond.

To my surprise, it’s my Katie girl texting.

WE NEED TO TALK ASAP - SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED - I HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE FOR A WHILE

“What the fuck is happening?” I growl.

Of course that’s when the front door to the rundown building opens.

An abandoned building, well off any main roads or even any side roads. Probably owned by some fake shell company that claims to have no interest other than the value of the property.

Axel isn’t stupid. He’s just dumb. And, yeah, there’s a difference.

I have to ignore my Katie girl, which weighs on my heart.

She’s scared over something that happened at home.

Now I’m thinking about her fucking fiancé.

Shit.

Axel comes walking out of the building, his arm around some skinny blonde who needs to swallow a cheeseburger instead of some cock for heroin.

Along with Axel comes one bodyguard.

Just one.

Not a smart move, but one that gives me a small sense of relief.

I push from the building and step out of the darkness, into a small floodlight above the door.

“Let’s talk,” I say, gaining everyone’s attention.

When Axel sees me, he pushes his junkie whore right at me.

I don’t worry about her.

Before his bodyguard can reach for a weapon, I lunge at the man and drive the knife into his neck. It cuts into his skin easily, blood spraying toward the building, some actually hitting the door.

The bodyguard makes it two steps back before he falls.

Grabbing at his neck, mouth open, death warming over in his eyes, he goes to his knees, and then topples back.

Axel’s junkie whore starts to scream.

I look at Axel. “Shut her up.”

Axel curls his lip and swings his hand at his junkie whore.

One backhand to the face knocks her out.

Now it’s just Axel and me.

“No other weapons on me,” I say. “I just wanted to return your knife. The one buried in my cousin’s shoulder.”

Axel swallows hard.

“Don’t play fucking games either,” I say. “You know what you did. You wanted to send a message. I received your message.” I point to Axel’s dead bodyguard on the ground. “Now you have my response.”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Axel says.

I step toward him. “Let this be a lesson to you. Let it be a warning. Whatever you do to me, I’ll come right back at you with worse. Stab my cousin? I’ll kill your bodyguard.”

“You’re a fucking psycho, man. This whole thing worked before you showed up.”

“It worked for you,” I say. “Not for my cousin. Not for my family. What you did was wrong, Axel. You took advantage of a dumb person. I get it. That’s how this works. But you fucked with me. For years.”

“I don’t even know you!” Axel cries out. “What the fuck do we do here, man?”

“I want the same thing you do, Axel. It just has to balance itself out. We’re owed for years of bullshit lies from you. Leaving my cousin out there, hanging, waiting to get popped. It doesn’t sit well with me.”

“What do you want me to do?” Axel asks. “Write him an apology letter.”

Axel starts to laugh.

He suddenly has confidence.

I glance over my shoulder and see the door starting to open.

I quickly crouch down and hear the sound of a gun exploding as the door flies open.

When I jump back up, I have another knife in my hand.

I flick my wrist, sending the knife through the air.

The blade penetrates the left eye of another bodyguard of Axel’s.

It’s a perfect fucking throw on my end.

The bodyguard steps back into the building, shutting the door, probably not even realizing he did so.

I turn back toward Axel and he’s holding his right arm. It’s covered in blood. His lips are white and shaky.

“Your own guy shot you,” I say.

“You said you didn’t have any other weapons,” Axel says.

“Oh, fuck, man, we’re scumbag drug dealers,” I say with a smile. “All we do is lie.”

I step closer to Axel. I reach out and grab his throat.

I remind myself that if Axel dies, then I’m going to be thrust into a position I don’t want any part of.

Sad truth is I need this fucker alive.

I push him out of my way and walk away.

Two fresh murders on my hands.

Yet all I’m worried about is my Katie girl and that text she sent.

I’ll text you the address to the hotel, Corbin. This is all too much. Tell me what to do.

I sit in a chair in the middle of the garage. All the bays are closed.

It’s quiet. It smells like oil.

My Katie girl is being sent away by her fiancé and best friend. They think she’s hurting herself. It’s either a hotel for a little while to clear her head or it’s a hospital.

Corbin?

There are many possibilities here with this.

GO. Play the game, Katie. I have to take care of stuff here. We’ll have fun while you’re gone.

I sit back in the chair and think some more.

It’s time to make some decisions with all of this.

I’m not sure things can ever truly go too far , but my Katie girl being threatened with a hospital or some kind of rehab treatment… that seems pretty intense in itself.

Although I would never allow it to happen.

If that were the case, I’d steal my Katie girl in a second.

I can do it right now too if I wanted.

Then again, think about it…

My Katie girl will be in a hotel. All alone. For days.

Something about this doesn’t make sense.

I have to admit—prison seemed a lot quieter than freedom.

But prison didn’t have my Katie girl.

As far as whatever is happening right now in her life, I’ll get to the bottom of it.

I’ve got murder on my hands, heroin hidden in the garage, and my cousin has been admitted to the hospital overnight for observation.

Now my Katie girl is being sent away to a hotel to collect herself .

Nothing feels right… except when I close my eyes and picture my Katie girl reaching back and playing with her ass…