Page 69 of Brutal Power

I squeal with delight. “He got arrested!”

“My family had police connections even back then. I pulled some strings and had him released, and even did him the solid of getting his mugshot and his other info scrubbed from their database, but obviously he never forgave me. I mean, I fucked his sister, made him listen to it, then got him arrested. At least from his perspective. Anyway, the vibes were pretty bad after that, so I quit the frat and moved in with some other friends. The whole frat scene was never really my thing anyway. And that’s the story.”

I break down into a fit of laughter. The Peterson incident sounds like the most childish, douchey thing ever, and I can absolutely understand why Omar would still hate Brody for it. I get up and go around the table and sit back down into his lap, kissing him and leaning my head against his chest.

“You’re a disgusting pig,” I say with a sigh as I wipe laughter tears from my eyes.

“I still maintain that I did nothing wrong. They were the ones acting like a bunch of immature assholes.”

“Now I kind of get why Omar hates you. I mean, that has to be like the worst thing that ever happened to him.”

“Lucky guy if that’s true.” He leans back and stretches. “Now you know. I wonder if his wife understands how bad it was.”

“Probably not. Layla’s smart enough to know there’s no coming back from something like that, not ever.”

“Well, imagine how I felt when I realized it wasthatOmar sitting on the zoning committee. He’s been out for blood for a long time, and he’s using his power to make sure I never get what I want. All out of spite.”

“Can’t blame him.” I get up and sit back down in Brody’s lap. He puts his hands on me right away, stroking my thigh, and I lean down to kiss him. “I still can’t believe you were in a fraternity.”

“I was young and dumb and I thought it would be fun.”

“Was it?”

“Not really.” He toys with the hem of my shirt right above my hip and a tingle runs down into my core. “Dad wanted me to go to college and he thought joining a fraternity would help build new connections for our business. At the time, I wanted to skip the whole lawyer thing, because why bother getting a degree and sweating my ass off in a courtroom if I’m just going to run a criminal empire on the side? But Dad made me understand that the suit and the tie and the degree are all camouflage.”

“Makes sense.” I try not to squirm as he leans forward to kiss my neck. “It’s working out pretty well, right? You have revenue coming in from the firm and from the organization.”

“Much more from the organization, but if we went legit, we wouldn’t be poor.” He pulls back and tilts his head. “Sometimes I wonder how your family does it. I mean, everyone in Chicago knows who you are and what you do, and somehow you manage to stay out of jail.”

“Layers of risk management,” I tell him and shimmy in his lap. I feel him stiffening underneath me even though I’m not doing anything particularly sexy. It’s more like he can’t help himself—whenever I’m around, he’s constantly stroking me, kissing me, getting hard for me. And I love that about him.

I’m about to explain more about our family’s structure when his phone starts to ring. It’s a nice little vibration right under my ass,and I hop up before he can grab on and hold me down. He sighs like it’s the worst thing in the world and answers.

“Yes? Mom? Slow down, hold on. They’re sitting out front?” He sits up straight, staring down at the ground, face blank. “Tell Seamus not to move. I’m serious, tell him to stay fucking put, I’ll be there in a second.”

He jabs a finger at the phone screen and shoves it in his pocket as he gets to his feet.

“What’s going on?” I follow him to the door.

“Apparently a couple of very shady guys are sitting outside of my mother’s house and Seamus wants to go over there and kill him.” He gives me a hard look. “I have a fire to put out.”

“Want me to come?”

“No, I’d feel better knowing you’re here and safe.” He pauses long enough to pull me against him and kiss me, then hurries out front, and is gone.

Chapter 36

Brody

Idrive hard back to my mother’s place. Fucking Seamus, if he goes out there half-cocked and gets himself killed, or murders some random bystanders all because they look a little shady, I’m going to be absolutely livid.

There’s too much up in the air right now. I don’t need more scrutiny on the family, not when I’m trying to juggle a few separate plans. If I fuck any of them up, I might end up getting people killed.

This is how my brother operates. When he commits, he goes all-in like a freaking obsessive, and I wonder where the guy that didn’t want to get into a fight disappeared to, because suddenly all he wants to do is murder Santoro soldiers and take stupid risks.

I think the shooting at the house changed him. Even if it was just my truck getting lit up, he still saw men firing weapons at his mother’s home, and it must’ve really sunk in how exposed we are. There’s no heavily fortified oasis for the Quinn organization, just a house in a decent Irish neighborhood and an office in the middle of downtown. We’ve made it work until now, but I’mstarting to wonder if it shouldn’t be my mother moving in with Elena while I stay out here.

I careen the truck into the driveway. Seamus is standing on the front porch with a very conspicuous gun bulging under the front of his sweatshirt. The fucker’s not even trying to hide it. He’s staring at a black SUV parked across the street and the two men sitting inside of it, their silhouettes barely visible through the tinted glass.

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