AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But how can I turn my back on my family right now?” He rubbed his eyes as he took the chair across from her. “My parents have already lost one son. If I patch out, it’s like losing another.”
Amanda shook her head. The whole line of reasoning was stupid. “Only if they choose to. It’s on them.”
He lifted one shoulder. “Maybe. I get where you’re coming from. But the code is the code. To them, I’d be the one abandoning them, not the other way around.” Pushing his plate away, he laced his fingers on the table in front of him. “It’s not only my parents, either, it’s also my friends. Cue Ball and Frank have been there for me more times than I can count. Walking away, I’m kicking them when they’re down.”
She got up to pour two glasses of iced tea, then rejoined Kane at the table. “I don’t have the answers, baby. If those guys took care of you when I wasn’t there, I’m grateful to them. If you love them, I don’t want you to lose them. You know what I think of the club, but I can’t tell you what to do. It has to be your decision.”
They both started when his phone buzzed on the table. He glanced at the screen. “Brick wants to talk to us. Do you mind if he comes over?”
Brick. He was a friend she could get on board with. He had a sketchy history too, but by all accounts, he’d turned his life around and got engaged to a school teacher he was crazy about. “It’s fine. He’s always welcome here.”
She called down to alert the doorman, and within minutes, Brick’s heavy knock sounded at the door.
Kane ushered him in with a pat on the back. “Thanks again for helping out this morning, especially since you had to stuff yourself in such a tiny space for nothing.” He hadn’t had a chance to speak to his friend at all after Malcolm secured the video.
Brick rubbed at the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t say it was for nothing. You learn a lot when no one knows you’re listening.” He gestured to the couch. “You’d better sit down, man. This isn’t going to be easy to hear.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Kane
Kane hadn’t been inside a hospital since he’d been stabbed all those years ago. Northside hadn’t changed much in the time since. The smell, especially, threatened to take him back to one of the worst nights in his life. A pungent mix of antiseptic and death.
He’d successfully avoided returning like the plague, but the conversation he needed to have couldn’t wait until his friend was discharged.
Frank was already in Cue Ball’s room when Kane came in. “I heard everything went smoothly with your old lady’s father yesterday. I’m happy for you.”
Cue grunted. “You’re really back with Mandy Griffin?” He shook his head. “How the hell did you end up there? She tossed you out like hot garbage.”
He settled into the seat next to Frank on the left side of the bed. “It wasn’t what it seemed. She thought she was protecting me, but the whole thing was a set-up. One my dad and hers came up with together to keep us apart.”
Frank frowned. “Your dad? You’re saying Malcolm and the fucking mayor were working together just to make you break up with your girlfriend? You’ve got to know how ridiculous you sound.”
“I heard them talking about it. My buddy recorded the whole thing. My dad told Scott to bring me along the day everything went down with the apartment fire.” His fingers pressed hard into the wooden arms of the chair. “He fucking set it up so Mandy thought she was protecting me from prosecution for being there.”
Cue groaned as he adjusted to face him more fully. “Why? Why would he?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Frank growled. “It’s the only reason Kane joined the club. He got fucked-up, he lost his girl, and we were there to put him back together again.” His friend faced him. “You were never going to patch in. It was all about college and getting married.” Frank closed his eyes. “Fuck.”
Cue Ball shook his head. “Her dad is the same guy who brought the Russians to our front door. He’s the reason I’m in here…the reason Scott is dead. And Malcolm was working with him?”
He nodded. “Before, yeah. And keeping it a secret is why he’s not pushing for revenge now.” He put his hand on Cue’s shoulder. “You know how much you guys mean to me. You’re my brothers. I couldn’t love you more if we were related by blood.”
Frank sighed. “You’re patching out.”
Cue scowled. “No, he’s—Kane?”
“I am.”
His friends looked stricken. Tubes stuck in his hands, Cue rubbed tiredly over his bald head. Frank dropped his head into his hands.
“My father manipulated my entire life to get me into this club. I can’t live with that. I don’t want to sell drugs or guns; I never did, and you guys know it. My future is with Mandy. I want her to be my wife and the mother of my kids. This isn’t the life I want; it never was.”
“I get it,” Frank said softly and looked up. “What your dad did was all kinds of fucked up. But the rest of us…we never betrayed you. You’d walk away from all of us?”
“I don’t want to.” He banged his head against the back of the chair. “I want to keep you both in my life. Fuck, my mom, too. But you are the ones who have to decide what the code means to you. I know what my mom’s going to say, and it breaks my heart. Still, I’ve got to try, here, with you. I’m trying to tell you I want you both to be part of my future. But as for the club, as of today, I’m patching out.”
