Page 86 of Fight for You

Every goddamn thing he touches, he destroys.

"I plan on going to the cops tonight and turning over what I have in exchange for their protection."

"And risk going to jail right alongside him?" I ask. "You've been working with him for two years, Titan. You're dealing for him. You know he's pimping out girls. That's human trafficking, man. You honestly believe they're just going to let you go with a clean slate?"

"It's worth a shot," he mutters, but I know not even he believes what he's saying. He's just hoping his Hail Mary pass pays off in the end and things work in his favor. I'm not stupid enough to believe it will, though. Even if his suicidal plan does work and he doesn't go to jail, the Diablos aren't going to stop coming for him just because he's got LAPD protection. They don't operate that way, and we both know it.

"It's suicide," I snap.

"I know, but I don't know what else to do. I don't want to die, man," he whispers. The tears he's fought so hard to contain spill down his cheeks. His broad shoulders shake as he cries quietly.

"I'm not letting you die for this shit," I growl and pace toward him, tears burning in the back of my throat too. I've never seen Titan cry, and it fucking kills me. I'll be damned if I let him die for Curtis Kaleo. I clasp the back of his head and bump my forehead to his. "You hear me, you dumb son of a bitch? You aren't dying over this bullshit. I'll pay them off and deal with Kaleo. But you're out of this right now."

"I'm sorry," he whispers, tears still slipping down his cheeks. "I'm so fucking sorry for everything, Cade."

He's never called me Cade before. Hearing him say it now breaks a piece of my heart, even while mending another.

"I am, too." I wish like hell that he'd told me the truth a long time ago. Or that I'd told him the truth about the money. Maybe then we wouldn't be where we are right now, but that shit ends now.

It's time to stop trying to hold it together with duct tape and time to start fixing what we've broken. I'm telling January about the money, and then I'm getting her brother out of this mess. Kaleo will let him go, or we'll go to the cops with whatever evidence Titan has amassed against him.

"I love you," Titan tells me, taking a shaky breath. "I know I haven't said that in a long time, but you're still my brother. I fucking miss you, and I'm sorry I let it get to this point. I just want to get back to how we were before I started feeling sorry for myself."

"We'll get there," I promise him. I don't know how or when, but we'll get back to where we were before all this shit came between us. He's still my family. He always will be. Nothing will ever change that. "Let's just get through January's party, and then we'll deal with all this in the morning."

"Are you going to tell her?" He actually sounds a little afraid of facing his baby sister. Hell, he should be afraid. She'll rip his balls off if she ever finds out what he's been doing.

"Nah," I murmur, deciding there's one secret I'll keep to myself. To save their relationship, I think I have to keep it. Because January will never forgive him for working with Kaleo if she finds out, not when Kaleo's already ruined so many things in her life. "We'll fix this shit, and she'll never have to know about it."

Titan is quiet throughout dinner, but he's more engaged with January than he has been in a long time. Her happiness hangs in the air around her as if there's too much of it for her to contain. Titan notices it, too.

He eats his food with a smile on his face, one I haven't seen in a long time. It gives me hope that maybe we can find our way back to what we had before shit got complicated and the bond that held the three of us together for so long began to fray.

After dinner, Jana brings out a triple chocolate cake and sets it in front of January. She bounces in her seat as the three of us sing a horribly off-key rendition of the birthday song, which has her in a fit of laughter by the end. Truth is, she's the only one of us who can sing worth a damn, but we give it our all anyway, just to see her smile.

"Be right back," Titan mutters and pushes away from the table while January and her mom cut the cake.

They whisper back and forth as they work. I know they're talking about the ring on January's finger. I also know her mom isn't surprised to see it there. Before I ever bought it, I told Jana I was getting it. I also promised I would love her daughter and take care of her for the rest of our lives. She told me that she's known since January and I were little that we would end up together and that there was no one more deserving of her daughter than me.

I'm not sure how Jana's going to feel when she finds out I'm worth millions. I hope she's not too pissed at me for keeping it quiet for so long. Part of me wonders if she already knows, and that's part of the reason she's never really worried about me and January being together, but I'm not sure. It's possible Ma Lucia told her. I never got to ask Ma Lucia who else knew. She died two hours after telling me the money existed.

"You okay?" January asks, stopping beside my chair to brush my hair back from my forehead.

"Perfect," I say, trying to ease the worry in her eyes. She shouldn't be stressing about anything today. It's her day to be spoiled and pampered.

"Are things with you and Titan okay?" she asks.

"We're good," I promise and then pull her down for a kiss before she can ask me anything else. I don't want to lie to her, and if she asks, I'll have to do exactly that. She tastes like chocolate, which makes me hard. I swear, I could kiss this girl for days and still not be satisfied. I lick at her lips, loving how much sweeter she tastes with her favorite flavor all over her.

"Dude, stop dry-humping my sister in front of my mom," Titan says from behind me. He sounds more amused than pissed, though, so I flip him off discreetly and then dip January backward to kiss the shit out of her once more.

She squeals with laughter, clinging to me. Jana's laughing, too, so I figure she's not too messed up about me making out with her daughter in the middle of their kitchen.

Still, I reluctantly pull back and set January on her feet before it gets too far out of hand. With her, I can't ever be too careful. She's so responsive. If I'm not careful, she'll be crawling into my lap and trying to get us both naked, regardless of the fact that her brother and mom are right here.

She stumbles a little, and I reach out to steady her. Her emerald eyes shine, and her cheeks are flushed with color. With her lips all red and swollen from my kisses, she looks like a porcelain doll again, too beautiful to be real.

"Here," Titan says, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from me. He plops her down in a chair and then places a giant box in her lap.

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