Page 58 of The Finish Line

Alarm shoots up my spine as I weigh his words. “I know you’re not fucking suggesting we kill the man in cold—”

“Eye for an eye.” Dom shrugs. “Our parents burned to death. Don’t you think that calls for aggressive action? You, yourself, told Delphine you were sick of all the talk. The meetings are a joke, filled with nothing but pussies who like to bitch while she refills their coffee. Might as well be a book club for all the fucking good it’s doing.” Dom looks straight at me when he speaks. “You know, if we boil down enough tobacco and dab the right amount of concentrate on his fucking car door handle, within minutes of it seeping into his skin, it’s game over. Heart attack on the autopsy report. Presented with the right opportunity, it’s a hundred percent untraceable.”

All the blood drains from my face.

“He’s not a smoker, so there’s the first hole in that stupid idea, and that’s not who we are,” I grit out, terrified that these are the thoughts running through his mind. “And not who we will be, Dom. That’s not what Mama and Papa wanted. There is a better, more diplomatic way to handle this, less merciful than death.” I shake my head adamantly, “No, what we’re going to do is change things for the better.” I think of Antoine and how he represents everything I hate. He—like Roman—thinks himself indestructible. But I’ve learned a lot over the past year. More than that, I’ve learned what not to do. “Once we take Roman down, there’s a hundred like him to take his place. They exploit people like our parents and discard them once they become a liability.” I glance between the three of them. “What are we going to do about them?”

Sean shrugs. “Not our problem.”

“We’re going to make it our problem. That’s the whole point of all of this. It’s not just about our family, or this town, not anymore.” I shove my hands in my pockets. “We’re going to do this in a way that will honor them.”

Sean produces and pops the cap off another beer. “This seems ambitious. I mean, come on, man. Look at where we’re at—bumfuck nowhere.”

“That’s exactly the point,” Dominic snaps. “You want to end up just another line cook at Daddy’s restaurant? What’s going to happen when they call in that bank loan?” He glances at Tyler. “Are you going to be a career soldier?”

“This is exactly why we’re here,” I interject, “to get our priorities straight.”

“My priorities are perfect.” Sean lifts his hands and begins to tick off his fingers. “Pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy, and...” he holds a finger on his thumb, “yup, I’m going to have to go with pussy.”

Tyler and Dom laugh, and I reel on the three of them. “This is another reason why I called this meeting. You want a girlfriend? Have one, but pillow talk and this fucking club are never to go hand in hand. What the other birds do is not my business, but as far as we are concerned, women don’t have a place at this fire, not yet. And not until they are vetted by me personally. End of.”

“I thought you said women are a sanctuary.” This comes from Sean, who tests me with the lift of another beer, a smirk in place.

“They are. Away from business. Personal attachments are the greatest liability. And the first one who fucks up on that front will pay dire consequences—” I give each one of them a pointed look—“no fucking exceptions.” I again snatch Sean’s beer, just as he lifts it. “I’m not dealing with another fucking alcoholic.”

Sean’s smile disappears. “Since when is a sense of humor a crime? I consider it a necessity. And who the hell do you think has been cleaning up the puke off your aunt’s fucking face for the last five years?”

Tyler snaps to, glaring at the side of Sean’s head. “You aren’t the only one looking after her.”

“No, we all are—” he nods toward me—“but he sure as hell isn’t.”

With that admission, I dart my gaze between the three of them and wrack my brain for the right words, but they would all sound like excuses. In this moment, I don’t have any good enough. I can’t make up for what I’ve missed and will continue to miss. In a blink, they’ve gone from kids to teenagers bordering men. But if I can come through for all of them, there may be a chance of redemption. A chance they might see my sacrifice as worth it. It’s all I’m working for. In the meantime, all they feel is my absence and a growing bitterness that comes with my arrival and the demands I make.

They need laughs, they need these stolen moments, they need to experience their youth in the way I couldn’t.

“You’re right,” I admit, handing Sean his beer. “Just, take it easy, okay?”

Sean nods, cautiously taking the beer from my hand, mild surprise on his face.

Tyler stands and grabs some of the logs from the ground, his posture hostile as he tosses them into the fire. Something is... off with him, and I’ll make it a point to take him aside and try to figure out what it is.

“So, if I’m getting this right,” Tyler drawls, “we need a wooden horse to recruit an army to hide inside of it and the opportunity to slip into the city.”

We all stare into the flames as he continues. “I’m going to be a third-generation Marine, it’s a given, and if there’s one thing I know how to do—it’s build an army.”

Sean speaks up next. “Me and Dom will cover the garage, and once it’s up and running, I’ll figure out a way to get us through the gate.” He ruffles Dom’s hair. “And we all know this asshole’s going to Harvard or Yale or some shit.”

“Guess that makes you the horse,” Dominic adds tightly, his eyes on me. But his true irritation tonight is due to our earlier fight and my refusal to let him return to France with me. He’s been begging for months, insisting he can follow in my footsteps at prep and finally join me there. I’d take him with me in a heartbeat if it weren’t for Antoine. I want my brother nowhere within reach.

“No, little brother,” I say, as flashes of my own blueprints flit through my mind, and I reveal the true reason as to why he’s needed here. “You’re the horse. And—” I give them all a pointed look—“as of this moment, I no longer exist.”

The three of them look back at me with unguarded surprise. But beneath the layers of resentment and mild confusion, all I see is blind trust. “From this point on, not one new recruit will know who the major players are. You can give them an impression, but our goal is to confuse them.”

“We’re going to confuse the men working with us?” Sean asks, unable to see the logic.

“It’s the only way,” I insist and glance back at the construction as the sky goes dark. “Leave Roman to me. With him, we’re going to have to bide our time, and you’re going to have to trust me.”

“What about Helen?” Dom asks, joining me where I stand. We stare off for lingering seconds.

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