Page 84 of Training His Pet

Joey laughed, a rich nonplussed sound that grated on Dax. It was all he could do to keep from sending his fist into the asshole’s mouth.

“You think the cops scare me?” Joey shook his head.

“How do you know they have my name on their radar?” Corbin asked, his voice dropping.

“Friends,” Dax said. He wasn’t giving ammunition to either of them.

“It doesn’t matter.” Corbin wiped a hand through the air and rolled his shoulders back. “They always have people looking at Joey. They won’t have anything to move with.”

Dax turned his shocked attention back to his brother. “Who the hell are you? You aren’t one of these guys. Mom and Dad did not raise you to—”

“How would you know?” Corbin shot at him. “You weren’t around. You were off playing GI Joe.”

“Corbin.” He gritted his teeth. “I was much older than you. What was I going to do, live with Mom and Dad until you grew up?”

“No.” Corbin tugged the sleeve of his white button-down out from beneath his suit jacket. “It doesn’t matter. What I meant is you don’t know as much about me as you think you do. And that’s fine. But you won’t be able to handle the route I’m taking the business, so it’s best if you let me buy you out.”

“Buy me out.” Dax’s jaw clenched. His brother was pushing him out of the business, out of his life so he could play cops and robbers? He really didn’t know Corbin if he could turn his back so easily on Dax.

“Yes.” Corbin sorted through a small stack of papers on his desk.

“You should listen to him. He’s a smart guy.” Joey pointed at Corbin. Dax tried to shut him out. This was between him and his brother; Dax wasn’t letting a scum-eating parasite like Joey interfere.

“Here.” Corbin dropped a document on the edge of the desk. “It’s a fair price. All you have to do is sign and the money gets wired to your account.”

Dax didn’t look at the paper. “And then what? You just... what? What are you doing here, Corbin?” he asked, worried now that Joey had something over his brother.

“He’s just letting me borrow some space, Dax. That’s all,” Joey said. “You know. It’s disrespectful to not look at a man who’s talking to you.”

Dax didn’t miss the underlying threat woven into Joey’s words.

Turning his glare on Joey, Dax hardened his stance. “Borrowing space? Club space?” Dax grabbed a stack of invoices from the desk and started flipping through them. “Or paper trail space? You washing his dirty money?” Dax tossed the stack back down and pointed at Corbin.

His brother’s jaw tightened. They came from the same stock; Dax understood that look. Corbin’s decision was made and there would be no getting him to back down.

“Just sign the papers, Dax.”

“And then walk away? From the club, from you? What’s happening here, exactly? Because I’m not going to just sit here and watch you piss away your life for this guy.” Maybe there was a small chance, a sliver of hope that Dax could get Corbin back on the right road. The likelihood of that happening died slowly as each second ticked by and Joey remained in the office. With every ounce of loyalty Corbin gave to the Persuccio family, he was shoving bricks into a wall between himself and Dax.

“I have my own protection now. I don’t need my big brother for that anymore,” Corbin bit out, his eyes narrowing and his lips thinning out with his irritation.

“Ah.” Dax nodded. “That’s what I was, huh? Protection while you got the business going. An investor to get the damn place for you. That’s what I am?” Anger rolled around his chest, mingling with betrayal and pain. And loss. He was losing his little brother. Because he was being made to choose. Following a crime family into the pits of hell and stay with his brother or walk away and protect himself—and Erika. He would not drag her down, would not allow Corbin to drag her down.

Corbin had been building the foundation of his relationship with Joey for a long time. Dax could see that now. The fog of brotherly love and loyalty lifted, and he could see the power of Corbin’s ambition. Clearly the picture of his brother walking away from Dax came into focus.

“Hey, if you’re willing to play ball, stick around. Don’t sign,” Joey said, waving his hands out.

It was time to make the choice. His grip on the reins, on what little importance he had to Corbin loosened.

Dax stared at Corbin, willing him to change his mind, to get his head out of his ass. But the longer the silence stretched, the stronger Corbin’s resolve seemed to get.

There was no saving his little brother from himself.

Corbin was his own man and would have to pay the price of his own choices.

Reality struck a painful blow to Dax, gripping his chest so hard breathing became difficult.

His chest twisted as he picked up the pen. It wasn’t just the sale of the club; it was the severing of family ties to his only brother. The path Corbin chose was one he would have to walk alone.

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