Page 23 of The Ties That Bind

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Although I joy in thee,

I have no joy of this contract tonight.

It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,

Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be

Ere one can say 'It lightens.' Sweet, good night.

This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

ROMEO & JULIET

And so myrelationship with Arabella resumed much the way it had begun before: clandestine encounters conducted under a shroud of secrecy, stolen moments carved out of schedules that weren’t our own.

And meanwhile, the days, hours, and minutes ticked past, counting down the seconds I had left to deliver proof to Jayce that I’d done as he’d commanded. Eight more days. That was assuming he stuck to the original timeline he’d given me. It was hard telling if he’d give me the full allotment or if he’d get fed up waiting and take matters into his own hands.

Unfortunately, I was no closer to pulling the trigger, so to speak, on my plan than I’d been the moment I’d chosen Arabella over him. And that was a problem because the longer I waited, the more I wondered if I’d be able to go through with it when the time came. I’d spend the past 48 hours concocting and then tossing aside one elaborate plan after the next when I’d seen the inherent flaws of each and every one of them. Finally, an hour ago, I’d decided I didn’t actually need any grand plan to accomplish my aim. It was really quite simple: I’d take out Jimmy and then my brother. Two bullets and done. It was risky, but I had the element of surprise on my side.

Still, I didn’t know if I could do it alone. Actually, that wasn’t true. I knew I had to be the one to put the bullet in my brother, but I needed someone to act as my eyes and ears while I cornered him. It was risky bringing someone else in on the operation lest they turn on me, but I was almost positive I could trust my friend Ben Volio. We’d been tight since we were boys and he’d been my right hand enforcer the last five years. He was as fed up with Jayce’s whims as I was, but I didn’t know if he was pissed enough to help me commit fratricide.

Which was why I was sitting in a dive bar in an out-of-the-way neighborhood neither Jayce nor his goons would ever visit, waiting for my friend to join me. Because I had to find out where he stood and the only way to do that was to ask him flat out and trust he wouldn’t rat on me.

“Whiskey, neat,” came a deep, gravely voice as Ben pulled up a stool. “This ain’t your usual haunt,” he observed, swiveling his head to take in the low, tobacco-stained ceiling and dark pine walls covered with posters featuring beer girls last seen sometime in the mid-1980s.

“Nope,” I agreed, taking a pull of my Bud Light. “Figured what I needed to say was better shared where the walls don’t have ears and the bartenders don’t talk.”

“Shit, sounds serious,” he remarked, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket to pay the bartender who’d delivered his shot. Slamming the inferior liquor back, he swallowed and winced. “Shit, I hate cheap whiskey.”

I held up my bottle in commiseration. “Cheap beer ain’t any better.”

“This must be serious if you’re drinking that piss.” He laughed. “I haven’t seen you drink anything other than your fancy craft beers in years. So what’s up?”

I leaned my forearms on the bar and picked at the soggy label. “Something needs to be done about Jayce.”

Ben chuckled. “You’re telling me. He’s lost his ever loving mind.”

I turned my head to take in his face, to read his expression when I spoke next. “I’m going to take him out Ben.”

To his credit, he didn’t flinch. As if I hadn’t just admitted to the worst sort of sin, he raised his hand to get the bartender’s attention and signaled he’d like two more shots. His Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat, he stared back and then nodded. “I know you Zan and I know you wouldn’t do that unless the situation had become untenable.”

The shots delivered, Ben slid one of them my way.

“So what’s changed?” he asked before tilting his head back and tossing the liquor down his throat.

Doing the same, I waited until the hot sting of cheap booze slid down my throat and settled in my belly to answer. “Do you remember Arabella?”

This time he did flinch. “Shit. That’s a blast from the past.”

“Yeah,” I concurred. “I know.”

“What does she have to do with Jayce?”

I hesitated but I couldn’t figure out why. I’d already told Ben I planned on killing my twin brother; nothing I said now would even come close to that. Scratching the side of my face where my beard had grown thicker, I decided to him in on everything.

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