Page 74 of I Stop Somewhere Waiting For You

MAV

The loud thuds of relentless pounding on the front door jolt me from my dreams. I push up, shifting my legs off the couch onto the floor as I rub the remnants of sleep from my eyes. Glancing to the left at my wall of windows, I notice the city is still blanketed in darkness. I reach for my phone, illuminating the screen with a tap. 3:45 AM.

Somebody better be fucking dead.

I shove off the couch with a yawn, reaching for my piece as I make my way to the door where whoever’s on the other side continues to bang away.

My hand grips hold of the handle, ripping it open on a growl as I simultaneously raise my weapon to meet whoever’s on the other side.

Nicky’s face doesn’t even flinch as the barrel of my gun centers in on his forehead. This crazy motherfucker leans into it, his eyes pinning me with a murderous glare as he presses his forehead against the muzzle.

“You got nothing to worry about, Nick,” he seethes in a mocking tone. “Me and her? That was a long time ago. You remember saying that?!”

He swats at my weapon-drawn hand, and I relent, allowing it to be shoved aside as he pushes past me into the apartment.

“No, Nick. You’re not intruding at all. Please come in.” My tone’s heavy with sarcasm as I gesture into the space around us. My foot juts out, kicking the door closed as I head off toward the kitchen.

Nicky follows me, spewing more bullshit in his pursuit. “I thought we had an understanding, Bishop.”

Still groggy with sleep, my hand reaches into the fridge to grab a water. I shut the door, coming to lean against it. “What the fuck you babbling about?” I spit in annoyance, cracking the plastic top open and downing half of it in one long gulp.

Nicky holds up a black file folder for me to see before dropping it on the marble countertop with a smack. The impact jostles the documents inside, causing them to partially slide out into view.

They’re pictures. High resolution. And I can already tell just based off the portions I can see what they’re of. My eyes briefly flash up to Nicky, who redirects my attention back toward the folder with a nod. “Go ahead.”

Placing the water bottle down, I flip open the file to find images of J and me. It’s from our run-in on the street the day before yesterday, and it’s clear the pictures in here were chosen for a specific purpose. There are three, none of which show her accidentally slamming into me or her basically telling me to fuck myself as she shoved off. They’re all of me holding her, stroking her face as she gazes up at me.

“Forty-eight hours, Mav. You couldn’t make it forty-eight hours?!”

“First off,” I growl as I toss the pictures back at him, “slow your fucking roll, Nicky. Remember whose house you’re in. Second, what the fuck? You following her? That’s psychotic, even for you.”

He snorts. “Says the man who fucking shot somebody four days ago for cracking a joke about her.” Nicky eyes me, releasing a slow exhale. “They’re not mine, dipshit. I got pulled over an hour ago coming home. Feds. No specific reason, they were just flexing. But they gave me those. Said if they had known my sister was so well-connected on both sides of the fence, they would have started watching her earlier.”

While this information annoys me, it doesn’t ruffle my feathers the way he intends it to.

“Nick, she’s your sister. You run the second largest drug ring in the tri-state area. Trust me, she’s been on their radar. If you think otherwise, then that brain of yours isn’t as big as I give you credit for.”

I go to move around him, but he steps in my path. “My concerns run beyond that, and you know it.”

I scoff, shouldering past him as I round the corner back into the living room. “You know what, Nicky? Fucking spare me. I saw her for two minutes. We literally bumped into each other. Those bullshit photos captured possibly the only three seconds of that interaction where your sister wasn’t looking at me like I’m the biggest piece of shit to walk the planet.” Rounding the sectional, my ass drops down, collapsing into the soft black leather. “Rest assured, she still hates me. I’m keeping my part of the deal.”

“Get up, Mav. Get dressed.”

I chuckle at his audacity. “Get out of my house, Nick.”

“Yuri called.”

Any remaining hint of laughter dies on my lips as Nicky’s words elicit a sobering response within me. Noticing the shift, he continues. “About thirty minutes ago, right after the Feds let me go. Said you and I are to report to Echo together within the hour.”

Echo is one of my clubs I own over on the west side of the city. It’s closed on Mondays though, so no chance of any staff lingering doing clean-up, which means no witnesses.

“What the fuck does Yuri want with me?” I lean forward, my elbows coming to rest on my knees. “And why does he think I’ll get in the car with you?”

“I said that. Told him I’m pretty sure you’d take a shot to the dick before you trusted me to take you anywhere.”

“And?” My brow arches in anticipation.

“He said he was confident I could convince you, given we’re practically family.”

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