Page 47 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family
I leaned against the desk. “So what’s up?”
“You have a problem,” Carter stated bluntly.
“What kind of problem?”
“I’ve been hearing things off the grid,” he said, leaning against the edge of his desk.
“What kind of things?”
His eyes narrowed. “Trent Kendricks.”
“Yeah, Kades told me he’s been running his mouth.”
Carter shook his head. “He’s not just running his mouth, Mir. He’s fucking pissed.” His tone was level, but there was weight behind it. “He can’t get jobs in our circle and barely gets them outside of it. He blames you and that’s a problem.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Trent had been pushing this narrative for a while now. Knowing he was pissed was one thing but knowing he was acting like a bitch about it was something else.
Carter studied me before asking, “What are you thinking?”
I dragged a hand down my face. “There’s really only one way for me to deal with this… and that’s to get rid of him.”
Carter didn’t show a reaction, just watched me.
“But that creates other problems. It’s extreme and technically, he hasn’t crossed a line yet that would justify you breaking code, Mir. He’s just talking.”
“For now but if he pushes this shit then you already know how I’m gonna get down. I’m chilling until it gets to that.” I said.
This shit was annoying as hell. If I could handled this without consequences that could come back to my family I would just drop Trent and keep it pushing. Me breaking code put them at risk of being outcasted from the network that kept money in our pockets.
Carter nodded, but I caught the way his fingers flexed against the desk. “I agree, but you also don’t need to take it lightly.”
“I’m not.” My voice was clipped with frustration. “But there really isn’t a damn thing I can do about it right now. You know how shit works in our world, Carter. I take out one of our own without just cause and they don’t trust me or my family. It’s a bad look.”
“I agree but that muthafucker is barely one of our own.”
I laughed arrogantly. “Yeah, well, thatbarelystill fucking counts.”
Carter was quiet for a second. “Just be careful. I’m only warning you because you’re family and your father would kill me if I didn’t look out.”
That made me pause and I frowned. “You talked to him about this?”
“No.” His expression was firm. “You’re grown, Mir. You can handle your own shit, but if it gets to the point where you can’t, you let me know.”
“My days of needing you to save my ass are long over.”
Carter shrugged, not denying it. “Yeah, I’ve done enough of that but seriously. Don’t let this get out of control.”
The depth of his words sank in. Carter was family and if I needed him, he would stand for me. He also wouldn’t get in my way if I asked him to fall back.
“I’m good.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t push either.
“I got it covered, Reed.”
For now, that was enough because he let it go. At some point I would have to end this shit but the good thing was my family would step behind me no matter what lines I crossed, and that meant Carter too. Even if we didn’t share the same blood, he was damn sure family.
