Page 105 of Riding the Edge

“Of course she is,” he says, turning his eyes to me. “But no one wants cancer, Wolf and no man wants to watch his woman have to battle it either. Like you know me, I know you. I ain’t that far gone that I can’t recognize when a brother is bleeding internally. I just want to make it clear, we got you. Anything you need, anything she needs, say the word.”

Drawing in a deep breath, I set the coffee mug on the step and hang my head.

“There is something.”

“Lay it on me, brother.”

“I need you to give me back my patch and to call off the deal with the cartel,” I say hoarsely, lifting my head. As I swallow the lump in my throat, I turn to him and watch his eyes narrow into tiny slits. “It’s a suicide mission, Parrish.”

“You want your patch back,” he reiterates.

“Yeah, the sooner the better.”

He stares at me for a beat, silently morphing into the deranged bulldog before my very eyes as he reaches into his cut and produces my patch. Tossing it like it’s a fucking cigarette butt, he rises to his feet.

“You can have your fucking patch but the deal with the cartel is none of your business,” he barks.

Lifting myself off the stoop, I run my fingers roughly through my hair. I should’ve known I wouldn’t get through to him, that he’d be on the defensive. I thought if it was just the two of us, brother to brother, he’d be more inclined to hear me out and wouldn’t think I was attacking him. I was fucking wrong and now I needed to rip the Band-Aid off the deep wound.

“If this meeting happens you’re putting every man with a patch in an early grave, Jack. It’s bad enough we’re all scrambling to clean up the mess you made with the paramedic.”

“The fuck you talking about, Wolf,” he growls. “I handled the paramedic.”

“Yeah? Have you checked into the safe house? The fucking girl hung herself, Parrish.”

His face falls as he processes the revelation and he roughly scratches at his jaw.

“We gotta get her out of there,” he says.

“Bianci already took care of it but, there is still a chance this can all bite us in the ass. The cops ain’t going to let up until they find a body and they’re not sold on your Yankovich story either. You got heat coming at you in every direction and you want to go fucking sell guns to a bunch of Mexican gunslingers.”

“I won’t go back on my word, Wolf. I swore to Bas I’d make his girl and her boy safe. If meeting with the cartel is how it gets done, then so be it.”

“Yeah, well, I gave my word too. A long time ago, I vowed to tell you when to step down and like you’re a man of your word, so am I.”

“Step down,” he repeats. “You son of a bitch. Who do you think you’re talking to?’

“My brother,” I growl. “My sick brother.”

“Don’t do that Wolf,” he warns, pointing a finger in my face. “Don’t use the crazy against me.”

“Parrish, we can’t go on like this. You’re gonna send us all up the river and I know that’s not your intention. I know with every fucking fiber in my body, you want to hold onto this thing we got but, you need to listen to me. You’re slipping man and before you leave your daughter without a father and without a husband, you gotta take a step back.”

“You leave my daughter out of it, Wolf, or so help me God, I’ll fucking shoot you.”

“Call off the meeting, Parrish,” I demand. “We’ll find another way to keep Bas’ woman safe.”

“Don’t you think if there was another fucking way, I would’ve done it. I’m the motherfucker selling my soul and going against everything I believe in. I’m throwing away everything I built for the sake of brotherhood. Me, Wolf, I’m the one who built this fucking club. I made it something when it was nothing and I made you all fucking family. Don’t you ever forget that. As long as you fucking live, don’t you forget who made you all property of Parrish.”

“Property of Parrish,” I say. “What does it mean?

“It means you got a place in this cold world. You got family that will die for you. People who will lay their beliefs on the line and sacrifice their own happiness to protect yours. Property of Parrish is more than a claim. It’s more than brotherhood. It’s a way of life for us and when my body is cold and, in the dirt, it’s going to live on. It’s going to live on in Lacey and Danny. It’s going to live on in Reina and it’s going to fucking live on in you.”

His voice cracks as he looks away and takes a step back.

“Consider your message received,” he mutters.

“Jack—”

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