Page 52 of JoJo

Again, I nodded and looked at her. “I would like to see him, but not today.”

“We can have him brought here. He claims he won’t tell anyone what’s happened to him, but I’m not sure. I’d feel more comfortable with you assessing whether he’s telling the truth or not.”

“It won’t matter anyway. He shot his credibility to shit when he asked stupid questions in front of our lawyer that implicated him in my possible murder for hire hit.” I winked at her. “He won’t talk, or I’ll let him know we’ll make absolute sure he goes down for that.”

“He’s your brother,” she stated coolly.

“He’s the same brother who gave me all that grief over the garage too. Just because he didn’t do this one heinous thing doesn’t mean he wasn’t a complete ass-wipe the rest of the time.”

The following day my brother was brought to me, and I made a deal with him. I paid his rent up for six months since his face was on the mend from the beating he’d taken. In exchange, he’d keep his mouth shut. If he failed to keep his mouth shut, I laid out all the evidence we had against him that pointed to my brother taking out the hit on my life. He agreed to our terms and knew that someone would be keeping tabs on him from then on for a while. I didn’t think I had much to worry about though. My brother turned into a blubbering baby, hugging me, and crying about how he almost lost his only family. If only he had realized that sooner.

“Babe,” Steel called out to me as he entered the bedroom. “What are you thinking about?”

“I was just thinking about my brother. Why couldn’t he have been that concerned when he was trying to steal my business from me?”

“Greed sometimes leads people astray, babe.”

“I guess, but still. I want to hug my brother and throat punch him at the same time, and it’s so damn confusing.”

Steel laughed. “I think it’s just the hormones babe. I bet you’d still just want to throat punch him if the baby wasn’t making you succumb to that softer side you keep hidden away.”

“Whatever,” I told him on a laugh. “What’s up? You didn’t come in just to ask what I was thinking about.”

“No, I came in to ask if you really wanted to do this yourself, or if you would humor me and allow for a proxy to take out the justice you require.” He held his hands up in retreat when he saw the anger burning a heated path across my cheeks. “Hear me out,” he offered. I tipped my chin up in acknowledgment. “You’re pregnant, babe. Do you really want to commit a violent act like that while you’re carrying our baby? Do you want that to be part of what you remember about this time in our lives? She’s already tainted it enough. I don’t want to see that taint spread.”

Damn, I hated when he made sense. “How will I know it’s been done?”

“We can watch from here,” he told me before tacking on the last. You could also trust that my brothers and my step-father will make sure it happens. My mom might not have come across as a decent human being when you met her, but my step-father is the best of the best, and he’s been in a rage since he found out. I promise you, she’ll not only meet her end, she’ll suffer on the way there too.”

I glanced down at my nails then. They hadn’t been this clean since I was about ten years old. “Fine. I’d like to keep my nails clean a little while longer anyway. No use getting blood under them.” I glanced up to see his lip twitching. “You’re right, though,” I admitted. “I don’t want her to taint my experience anymore than she already did. It will probably be the final insult that drives her crazy – not being able to see you one last time or to confront me with her crazy.” He nodded his head. “Being snubbed by us in the end will add to that misery.”

“It will.” He leaned in then, taking my hand in his and kissing each one of my fingers before using the same hand to gently tug me forward towards him until our lips met. “Good, because I’m happy right here with you, and I don’t want to go back to shit memories or giving that cunt the satisfaction of seeing you injured, or me at all.”

“I love you, Steel.”

“Babe, that’s all I ever needed.”

---