18. I Am Keeping You

Chapter 18

I Am Keeping You

G race

Sabre had dismissed most of the brothers at the table. It was their day off, and he told them he'd call an emergency church if there was any news. Once they were gone, it was just us and the rest of the officers at the table.

Cyph had run to his bedroom for a burner phone so that I could make some calls. I wanted to help put the pieces together, but I'd had no clue the lies that had circulated around me while I'd been with Matt. There was no other explanation. Somehow, all of this was connected.

"Here," Cyph said to me, as he handed me a phone. "It's just a burner, but I programmed it so that it'll show your phone number to whomever you're calling. I'll work on your actual phone this afternoon to see if I can pull anything from it."

I thanked him. I was dreading this. This wasn't the first time that I'd taken the blunt end of Meredith's anger. It probably wouldn't be the last either. Life had changed the minute my mother had passed away. Over time, Meredith had figured out that if she cried wolf, she'd get her way. It didn't matter if I was the one who took the brunt of the punishment. She had been too little to know any better, and I hadn't been old enough to know not to placate that behavior. We had all been dealing with our grief differently, and my father had spent most of the time in his office, working late.

It was always the same cycle. Meredith would throw a tantrum, usually because I'd overstepped. My father never asked questions. He just doled out punishment based on our ages as he saw fit. I'd end up at my aunt's pool house to wait out the storm. It wouldn't take long for a reprieve, and then it was just a waiting game until the next time.

Trauma shaped everyone differently, and where I could excuse Meredith's behavior toward me, I'd never allowed myself the chance to reciprocate. I didn't resent her as my little sister, but I also didn't stoop to her level. Maybe I should have. It would have evened the playing field.

Instead, I had been the third parent she didn't want. I made sure she had clean clothes, lunch for school, and her homework was done. I didn't know where I had developed my sense of familial responsibility, but I had grown up too fast. She hadn't grown up fast enough, and we had clashed. I was trying to help my father, and Meredith saw it as parental authority.

My heart had broken when she'd said she hated me. She had never expressed hatred before, and it felt like a red flashing signal that our relationship had severe damage. I had played it off like typical Meredith behavior, for the same reason that I'd answered Pretty's questions. Sabre would destroy me if he openly disrespected my sister, and I hadn't given Pretty a reason to come in between us either. I still felt responsible for her, and I hoped that this was just another bump in the road.

I understood why Meredith felt hurt at not being told right away. Meredith always had to know what was going on around her. She'd been napping when my mother had left the house. My mother had been there one minute, and when Meredith had woken up, she was gone. In my mind, she was already calling off the wedding, and there had been no reason to heap more on the situation. I had wanted to make it easier for her, like when we'd been kids.

I dialed her work phone number and waited. I could feel everyone watching me, but this had to be done. It rang. Once. Twice. Three times before she picked up.

"Hey, Mer, it's me. I need to speak to you," I said into the burner.

"I am sorry, but that project is currently on hold." I heard her reply, but I didn't know if she was speaking to me or to someone in the background.

"Do you have a few minutes?" I asked .

"No."

"Okay, then just listen for a second. Do you remember that dinner party that you came to a few months before your wedding? The one where you helped me make a taco bar because we were doing a home-cooked meal for Matt's clients? I know you traded phone numbers with the wives, but I need you to stay far away from any of those people."

"That's going to be hard, considering I am having dinner with Brandon. I have to go. Bye."

I held the phone to my ear until I heard the dial tone. I'd messed up by not making her speak to me right after that family dinner. There was no one-size-fits-all bandage to stick over the gaping wound, so I'd been silent. It'd been a mistake. I should have stood at her front door and not taken no for an answer until we fixed this. The guilt pierced through my heart.

I immediately called my Aunt Elizabeth.

"Hey, honey," she answered. "Are you having a good time?"

"Hi, Auntie. Yes, I passed the inquisition with flying colors." I could hear the men shifting in their chairs. I didn't think they had expected the questions to take a turn like they had. Continuing on, I asked her, "Auntie, have you spoken to Meredith?"

"Not lately. Why?"

"I just called her, and she told me she was going to dinner with Brandon."

Grizz was sitting at the other table, but when I said Brandon, he stood up so forcefully that the table flipped over. There was a loud bang, and it echoed through the main room.

He might have said he was over Meredith, but his actions had just proven his words were a lie. When he went to throw the chairs around, Twig and Pint pinned him against the nearest wall, and I could see Sabre trying to reason with him, but they were too far for me to hear what was being said. Would their relationship have survived if I had just told her? Grizz had been guilty by association.

"Why is she seeing Brandon? I thought that was long over," my aunt asked me .

"I don't know. That's just what she said, and when I tried to question her, she shut me down," I replied.

We continued to talk about nothing for a few minutes more before I said my goodbyes. Hanging up the phone, I set it on the table in front of me. I didn't really want to raise my head to see what was happening.

How could my sister be so stupid? I wasn't really the person to be the voice of reason with her when I had lived a farce for way too long. I just prayed that she wouldn't be in danger.

I finally had the courage to look around the room.

Grizz was pacing from left to right on the other side of the table from where I sat. Sabre was sitting on the table, slinging one leg back and forth with his arms crossed. The other two men had moved back to their seats, but they were on alert in case something else happened.

Grizz turned towards me. "What the fuck is her problem?" He threaded his fingers through his hair, causing the bun to fall apart.

I shook my head. I had an answer, but I didn't think Grizz would appreciate it.

"Cyph, is Brandon still employed at the bank?" Sabre asked him.

"Yes. Someone edited the video, so it only showed Matt's ass." He chuckled.

Sabre then turned to look at me. "What does Brandon do exactly for them?" he asked me.

"Government regulations. Making sure that the transactions are legal before they clear the bank," I responded, sitting back in my chair. I'd try to help, but I was reeling.

"The cartel has money. Why do they need the bank?"

I could tell Sabre was thinking out loud, but Count piped up. "Legitimacy. If I am up to no good, my money is only going to buy me so much leeway. If the bank backs me, there are no questions asked as long as the check clears. It wouldn't matter if I turned around and paid them off the day after signing. They're still on the project. "

I sat and watched them try to piece together the puzzle. There was no doubt in my mind that they would figure this out.

"Okay, so did they buy Matt off?" Sabre questioned Count.

"If it was me, I would have done a deal with him. If it goes well, do another, but make it a little bigger. They probably didn't have any pushback, or he could smooth things over for them." Count's spikes bounced in his excitement.

"Yeah, but he was high. There's no way that habit was brand new," Wreck said.

"Matt doesn't do drugs," I piped up, confused.

Sabre turned to look at me. "The day we moved you out, he was high on something. You had to look closely at him to notice that his eyes were red-rimmed. I would bet that whatever he's on, he needs more to maintain normalcy."

"Could they be supplying him in exchange for deals?" Pretty asked. "They'd own his ass."

"I have a feeling they already own his ass without the drugs," Sabre replied, and there were a few head nods.

"Why are they here, though? You said they've been to the club, and Clara works there. The only connection both of them have is Matt." I wasn't sure if I was supposed to join in, but this was as much my mess as theirs.

"All roads lead to Matt," someone said.

"Cyph, do we know who pulled the plug on his last transaction? The one from the restaurant?" Sabre asked.

"Hang on," Cyph said as he typed on a laptop. "It looks like it was a mutual agreement. The bank let the ‘customer' know that Matt wouldn't be handling the deal, and they backed out on their own."

Sabre dangled his leg. "Anyone else think the bank is a front-end deal only? They came in, and Matt got it done. On the back end, there was more money exchanging hands."

"Where's the money, though? Before I left, I made a copy of every bank account I could find. Some of them I didn't even know about. There's a record of everything in the divorce, which is now public record." I watched as he shrugged his shoulders. We still felt lost.

"How is Brandon a part of this?" Grizz seethed.

"What do you mean?" Sabre asked him.

"It's a little too convenient that he's waltzing his way back in after the wedding was called off. He may not be as dirty as the other players, but he's trying to play a game that he has no clue how to win."

I rubbed my eyes. Grizz was right, and Meredith would get hurt because she was mad at the world.

"You going to give me permission?" Grizz asked Sabre.

"You would do it anyway, even if I said no. I'll stay here but take four and a riding buddy with you. Count, you're at the club with Thunder."

"I am leaving in twenty minutes if anyone wants to go." Grizz stormed off towards the bedrooms. The rest of the men dispersed.

"Come here, mama."

I was exhausted, but I didn't hesitate. I stood up from my chair, walked over to his side, and stopped in between his legs. He placed his hands on my hips and pulled me further into his body. My arms instantly wrapped around his neck.

"Guess what?" he whispered in my ear.

I nuzzled my face into his neck.

"I am keeping you."

I had come to the same conclusion. There was no going back to the pool house.

***

Grizz

I let my anger build as each mile rolled underneath my tires. There were too many issues to figure out what I was exactly livid about, but they all led back to Meredith .

I'd let her yell and scream for two hours as I sat on her living room couch the night of the family disfunction. I hadn't said a word, and she wouldn't have heard me, anyway. Her hands had flailed as she paced in front of the back patio doors, ranting and raving, and I'd lost track if she had even had a point by the end. I couldn't understand why she thought her life was a mess, when she needed to open her goddam eyes and see the world around her.

I'd tried to move on, but even the club girls didn't entertain me. Meredith was blonde, so I thought if I fucked anyone who wasn't a blonde, it'd work. I had tried. I had grabbed a pink-haired club girl, taken her to her room, and by the time she was undressed, I wasn't interested. She had done me a solid when she didn't tell anyone as I just walked out of the room.

As we exited the highway, I took deep breaths, trying to calm down before I saw her. We were almost there, and I wanted answers. Why would my woman go to dinner with her cheating ex?

I knew where he would take her. The little Italian place with the grandmother that sung while she was cooking in the kitchen. Meredith loved that place, and I had taken her more times than I could count. The food was good, though.

Pulling into the parking lot, I instantly honed in on her car. I shook my head at her stupidity. She'd parked at the back of the lot, furthest from the door. Pulling into a nearby spot, I made sure that we would all fit, side-by-side. It was easier to observe from here, and no one would easily see us.

I called Cyph to get the license plate for Brandon's car. He confirmed it was the one right next to hers. Instinct told me to go check his car, and I signaled to the brothers that I was going to look.

Creeping behind the other cars, I made my way over. It was still light enough to see, but I cupped my gloved hand around my eyes and pressed on the windows. The front seat was clean. I did the same thing with the back windows, and that was when I saw it. Brandon had a gun in the car. It was sticking out between the driver's seat and the console .

I made my way back to my brothers and told them what I had found. "Why would a banker have a gun?" Wreck asked.

"I am going to get her. This isn't right." I strode towards the front door. Pretty and Wreck were both following me, and the other three were standing guard over the bikes. "What are you doing?" I asked them.

"Watching the fireworks." Pretty whistled.

Walking through the front door, I instantly saw her. She would always be a beacon for me, calling me to her like a siren.

The hostess tried to ask how many, but I ignored her. Meredith was sitting with her back to the door, so she never saw me coming as I walked straight to her. Brandon didn't even lift his head as I approached. Fucking pussy. There was no way he could protect her when shit went down, and it fucking would. I briefly wondered if he even knew how to fire that gun in his car.

Sitting next to Meredith in the booth, I helped myself to a piece of bread on the table.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me. Her tone was ice cold.

"Saving your ass." I dipped the bread in the olive oil and brought it to my lips. Taking a bite, I let out a little moan. I wouldn't normally do that for food, but I enjoyed watching her face change. She wasn't as unaffected by that sound as she thought she was.

"You need to leave," she told me as she tried to slide further into the booth. I'd purposely sat so that we were touching, and she had nowhere to go.

"Why, so you can tell me to go fuck myself? Nah, I'll pass. I'd rather be fucking you." I took another bite.

"Go to hell, Grizz." She tried to push me out of the booth, but I was too big for her to move on her own.

"You notice Brandon has said nothing?" I asked her. If another man had done what I just had, there would have been no words as I drove my fists repeatedly into him. Brandon was sitting there with his mouth wide open. His eyes pinged back and forth as he watched us .

"What in the fuck did you see in him, anyway?" There was nothing about Brandon that impressed me.

"More than I saw in you."

Direct fire. I'd had enough of her bullshit and giving her space had only let Brandon weasel his way back in.

"Now, baby, you're just making shit up to irritate me. Trust me, I was already livid when I heard about this little party. You should have invited me personally."

She looked at Brandon, and although she hid it pretty well, the disgust was clear on her face. "Get up, so that I can go home," she said to me as she tried to push on my arm.

"Tell Brandon this will be the last time he ever sees or hears from you." I was locking her ass in my room at the club until she came to her senses.

"Fuck off, Grizz." She tried to push my arm again, and when I didn't move, she blew out a breath that whistled through her hair.

"The next time I fuck off, it's going to be with you. I am already hard thinking about that tongue thing you do," I said. I was actually keeping my cool. Taking a peek at Brandon, I saw he still sat there like a chump. If someone had said that to my woman, I would have launched myself over the table. "Tell him, baby. Tell him you're mine."

"I am going home. You both can go to hell. Now move," she huffed.

I only had a few minutes before she'd start making a scene.

"Why is there a gun in your car?" I asked Brandon, crossing my arms and leaning my elbows on the table.

"What in the ever-loving fuck? You have a gun?" Meredith was two seconds from screeching at everyone, and I had to wrap this up.

"Protection," Brandon said.

"From whom?"

He didn't answer. Brandon stood up, threw some money on the table, and left.

"Nice date. At least he bought you dinner before he left. "

I pulled my phone out and texted Twig. He and Berry needed to follow Brandon and report. Shit was going down, and that ass wipe had a shit stain a mile long. He didn't come here to win Meredith back. Someone had sent him.

"God, I swear. What are you doing here?" Meredith covered her face with her hands.

"The only God you swear to is me when I am fucking your pussy raw. Let's go." I stood from the table and held my hand out to her.

She was angry. Her cheeks had red tints to them, and her eyes squinted at me. "I am not leaving with you. I am going home, and you better not follow me."

I didn't know what it was, but I'd had enough of her. I picked her up by her arms, stood her in front of the table, and threw her over my shoulder in a fireman's carry.

It was time to go.