Page 23 of In It for the Long Ride

“Let’s just get the boy fed some lunch and let Easy handle the guys. We’ll figure something out.”

“Will we?” She emphasized the ‘we’ and glared at me in the rearview.

I shifted and opened my door before things could get hostile in the car. Rather than trot off like some young blood, I opened her car door and extended my hand. She stared at my hand and slowly shifted her gaze to my face before accepting the assistance.

“If you let me, I’ll carry him inside and get him set up with something,” I offered.

She sniffed like she was unprepared for the offer but stepped aside with a hesitant nod.

I reached in and plucked Blaze out of the booster seat. He clung to my neck with one arm and rubbed his eyes with the other.

“I had a dream.” Blaze murmured, his voice slow, and slightly thick with sleep.

“That a fact?” I looked at him as I weaved between brothers and ol’ ladies alike in my effort to reach Easy, who was holding the screen door open for us.

“Mhm. My daddy visited me again.” A chill ran through me, and I could tell from the way Easy’s face fell, that he’d heard it, too.

“He said I won’t get a brother, but that it will be okay, because Uncle Eric is going to be a dad soon and his son will be my best friend. Closer than a brother,” Blaze rattled away.

Easy turned and shot into the house, leaving me to catch the storm door with the back of my arm while I maneuvered inside with Blaze.

“Where did Uncle Eric go?” Blaze chirped, looking around.

“Guess he had to pee,” I lied.

It wasn’t the kid’s fault. He found comfort in his dreams, Easy on the other hand…

I found him in the backyard after I set Blaze up. He was surrounded by the guys, but not really saying much.

“What's the plan, bossman?” Demon crowed, looking directly at me.

“’Bossman?’” Mak laughed.

Demon and Banshee looked awkwardly between one another and a few of the prospects suddenly found the tree line fascinating.

“I’m claiming the presidency.” I didn’t bother beating around the bush.

I knew there would be some blow back out of Mak and Mark, but I didn’t care. There wasn’t time for tantrums and bigger dickcontests. They now had two of our women. Crystal and Oak had thrown themselves into the fire.

“President?” Mak laughed, “The fuck you are. You’ve refused that patch more times than I can count.”

“Yeah.” I nodded, looking at Easy. “Call Oak.”

“Yeh? That’s all you got to say?” Mak barked.

I cut my gaze toward him and stared into his beady eyes. He wanted the world to know how tough he thought he was. He was a coldhearted bastard, I’d give him that, but he wasn’t tough. Not by a long shot. There was a difference in being able to terrorize people that have never truly grasped violence and being able to calmly and meticulously plan devastation. To survive extreme hardship and be able to creatively draw from it and strategize, that was something he knew nothing about. He was like a dog that had been kicked and was reacting on impulse. A wild bark and snap with no real aim or intent other than to intimidate. He had no idea what souls like Demetri Valentino were capable of. I, on the other hand, had spent years studying my captors from a cage. They weren’t street punks; they were men of war. People who were trained to shatter the mind and spirit. To survive, I learned to read their body language and predict their actions. I knew how to play those games, and I never wanted to teach the next generation how to play. Lord knew I begged Mark not to put us in a position to have to climb into that kind of world again, but he just had to have his mafia princess.

I gravitated toward Mak, but my gaze slowly shifted to his father. We were both marines once. He might not have been captured and held prisoner as I was, but he knew.

The son of a bitch flew forward with lightning-like speed and jerked his son back.

“Move, Mark. I’m having a conversation with your boy,” I calmly advised.

Mak laughed, and tipped his head back like he was intimidating one of his skirts. His eyes lit up to his credit, telling me he might have really been a little crazy, but he wasn’t the monster he wanted everyone to think he was.

I knew better.

I knew the lost boy he had been.

---