Eighteen
Jerick
Once I got Stana to work, I made me way to the club. I needed to talk with me Da. The shit he wants me to do with Liam isn’t going to end well. We don’t exactly get along anymore and putting us together will only end in bloodshed.
“Da,” I call out when I walk into the club. I make me way towards the back room, and I see me dad sitting in his chair with his fingers steepled to his forehead. He doesn’t look at me when I walk in, but I know he’s aware that I’m here.
“Ye come to complain about yer brother?” He asks finally after a long moment of silence.
“Not about him. More about the shit ye want us to do,” I state. “It’s the same shit I’ve been doing fer months. I have a handle on it. I don’t need him anywhere near me work.”
I hear his chuckle come from behind me and when I turn me head, I see the smirk on his face. Liam is a fecking bastard if I’ve ever met one. He doesn’t care about the family, he only cares about himself and what he can gain.
“Ye always think yer better than me little brother.” He states as he walks out of the shadows into the room taking a seat next to me. “Little do ye know I’m the one who will take over the family when the time comes.” I look to me Da, and he doesn’t say a word. It’s the damn truth… No fecking way. He isn’t fit to run the damn family and me Da knows that.
“So ye can run the family into the ground like everything else ye have ever done before?” I spit out. I’m pissed, but I don’t let them see the real anger that I have inside me veins right now. I’ll save that fer when I decide on dealing with this shit. Right now, me head is a fecking mess with Stana and the shit that is surrounding us.
“The only one who would be running the family into the ground is ye, Jerick. I know about yer little whore. Remember I was at yer place. I saw the little bitch. She’s made ye weak.” I clench me hands and take a deep breath before I beat the feck out of him.
“Ye have been with the lass?” Me Da finally asks. “That’s why ye’ve been so damn out of it.” He shakes his head at me as he thinks something over. “Ye told me ye got rid of the last one. Now ye got a new one?” He looks at me like I’ve lost me mind of something.
“She doesn’t have anything to do with this. Ye are just trying to find a reason to kick me down the ladder which is fine. Have fun getting the trust of the people I’ve gained in the last few months. I made the family’s territory what it is. Ye’ll lose everything if I’m not involved,” I state. They both look at each other, and I just shrug me shoulders. “It’s up to ye.”
I get up from me chair and make me way out of the office. I don’t even care right now what their choice is. I have other shit I need to deal with right now.
By the time I get back to me apartment, I scan the room fer anything out of the ordinary. I don’t trust that fecking brother of mine, and I know he did something while he was in here. There is no reason fer him to be in the gaff when I’m not home unless he was trying to do something to me.
Grabbing my phone, I dial Rory’s number and wait fer him to answer.
“Aye, Jerick. What can I do fer ye?” he asks when he answers.
“I need a new place with no ties to me name. Can ye help me?”
“Aye. Any place or do ye have some specifications?” I laugh at that. He knows me well enough to ask.
“I need security. Somewhere me brother can’t find or get into.” I stop there for a second because I don’t know how much to tell him. He’s been me best mate fer years so I know I can trust him. “He knows about Stana and now me Da does too. I think they are trying to push me out of the family business.” I hear him blow out a breath before he starts to talk.
“Feck. That bastard has always been jealous of ye. Maybe if he had pulled his head out of his arse, he wouldn’t be in the mess he’s made of his life.”
I pause at that. “What do ye mean?” I question. I didn’t know he was in a mess.
“Ye didn’t hear about why yer brother come stateside after he got out?” he asks.
“Feck no. What the hell did he do this time?” I already know this isn’t going to go well. The last time me brother tried to help with the family business, I almost fecking died because of the bastard, and I won’t put me life on the line fer him again.
“He got in real bad with one of the men from the Divil’s crew. He just couldn’t stay the feck away from the coke. He got pretty bad and now owes a pretty penny. Him taking ye out gives him a way to earn the money he needs,” Rory comments. I hope to feck he isn’t right about this. This can take me whole family down if I don’t do something to stop it. If Liam takes over the family, all of us will be dead.
“Feck me. I need to talk with me Da. Can ye work on the place and let me know what ye need fer money, and I’ll get it to ye?”
“Aye. Ye know I always have yer back Jerick,” he says into the phone.
“Aye. Thank ye brother,” I respond, hanging up on him. I dial me Da’s number and wait fer him to answer,
“Aye,” he replies, sounding distracted.
“Ye know why he’s really in town Da?” I ask, cutting to the chase. I don’t want to argue with him, but I want him to know why Liam is really here.
“Liam?” he asks like he doesn’t know who I’m talking about.
“Aye Da. Do ye know why he’s stateside?” I grit out. He has always protected that sorry son of a bitch, and I won’t let Liam take this family down.
“He wanted to get back into the family business,” Da states like it’s that fecking easy.
“No, he came stateside because he can’t stay away from the coke. He owes someone big back home.”
“Yer just saying that rubbish because ye don’t like that me oldest will be taking over when the time comes boyo. I get that yer pissed, but to make up shit about yer brother is a bit much, don’t ye think?”
I can’t help but laugh at that. “Da, I don’t give a shit if he wants to lead the damn family. I give a fuck that they will come after us again. That me life will be on the line again because Liam can’t keep his nose out of the coke.” I hear him sigh over the line, but he doesn’t say anything else, so I continue.
“He’s in deep with one of the Divil’s men. When they come stateside to clean up, I’ll jump ship. I will do what I have to to keep meself alive if ye don’t do anything about it.”
“It’s a fecking family Jerick. Ye will not jump ship. We fight like a damn family, not take the coward’s way out,” he grates out. I don’t give a feck, I won’t lose me life fer that son of a bitch.
“Then get yer shit straight with yer son and make sure that fecking shit doesn’t fall on the family I helped ye build from the ground up after he ruined the one we had in Belfast.” Me Da doesn’t respond. Instead, he hangs up on me. Pocketing me phone, I look around the apartment and notice a picture frame that wasn’t there before. Walking over to it, I stare at the photo and think back to when it was taken.
It was right before I took a bullet to the chest after being tortured for hours. I never gave up the information they were looking fer, so they shot me instead. I remember feeling like I was drowning as the blood seeped from me chest and down me body, covering most of me lower body. I was coughing up blood right when they found me. I was lucky to live through that nightmare, and now he wants to throw me right back into his shit.
Grabbing the frame, I stare at the picture of Liam and me. We were thick as thieves, but that day changed every fecking thing. I would have died fer him, but now, I wouldn’t spit on him if he was on fire. He ruined any trust I had in him that day.
Pulling the back out of the frame, I see the bug. “I’m going to kill ye meslef if I have to,” I say explicitly into the microphone before I drop it on the ground and crunch it under me shoe. He doesn’t want to feck with me. I will take him down before he can hurt me lass or me.
Grabbing everything I can’t part with, I pack it up and bring the boxes and bags to me car. I’ll have to store this with Conaill or Rory until I get into a new place. Pulling out me phone, I send Stana a message.
Me: You almost off work?
She doesn’t write back right away, but then again I didn’t expect her to. I take a seat of me bed and lay back against the blankets. It’s been weeks since I’ve really spent any time here. I’ve spent most of me time at Stana’s the last few weeks and will probably spend more time there until I get a new place.
When me phone finally alerts me to a new message, I look down at the screen and see her response.
Stana: No, I still have a few hours. Why? Is everything okay?
I close me eyes fer a few minutes before I finally open them and answer her. I can’t say too much because of the unsecured line, but I can at least tell her that everything is okay fer the time being.
Me: Just some shit came up. I will see you later.
Her response is instant. She’s getting better at typing out her messages now.
Stana: I can fake sick. If you need me, I’ll be there.
I smile at that. Stana would do something like fer me without thinking twice. She’s fecking amazing.
Me: It can wait. I’ll be there to pick you up at 5.
She doesn’t respond back, and I don’t know if that worries me or not. I make me way to me car and take off towards her place. If anything I can pick the lock and hang out at her gaff until I have to go and get her.
When I pull into a parking spot, I scan the area and see nothing out of the normal, so I make me way to her place. Once I get her door open, I set me bag down with a change of clothes and shut the door. Making me way over to her couch, I take a seat on the small couch and put me feet on the on the coffee table.
Fer the first time, I really get a look at the place. It’s clean and organized, but there is nothing personal about the space. She doesn’t look like she keeps much besides the necessaries, and it makes me curious to what she is hiding from. That bastard that came by the other day maybe? I know he hurt her, but I feel like it’s much more than she told me. He wouldn’t just disappear and then come back fer her unless he wanted something.
I just need to figure out what.