Corrupt

Will bent down to retrieve the basketball. At six feet tall, he was shorter than the rest of us, but his build was just as strong.

“Kai and I have been out for months,” he charged, pressing the ball between his hands in front of his chest and looking at me as he approached. “I agreed to wait so Damon could have his part in this, but I am done fucking waiting, Michael.”

His patience was wearing thin, and I’d known that for some time. He and Kai had received lesser sentences based on the charges, but to be fair to Damon, we’d held back doing anything until he got out as well.

“Like that stunt last night?” I threw back. “Showing up at her house in masks?”

He laughed to himself, all too pleased. “It was for old time’s sake. Give us a break.”

But I shook my head. “We’ve been patient this long.”

“No,” he retorted. “We’ve been patient. You’ve been in college.”

I stepped up to him, a good four inches taller, and grabbed the ball out of his hands. I kept my eyes on him as I shot it out to my side and let it roll off my fingers, seeing Kai catch it in one fluid movement.

“We wanted her in Meridian City,” I told Will, “and she’s here. With no friends and no roommates. We wanted her in this building with all of us, and there she is.” I tilted my head to the window behind me, gesturing. “All that separates her from us is a door. She’s a sitting duck, and she doesn’t even know it.”

His green eyes narrowed on me, still listening.

“We know exactly what we’re going to take from her before we take her,” I reminded him, “so don’t fuck this up. Everything’s going according to plan, but it won’t if she feels she’s in danger before it’s time.”

He hooded his eyes and looked away, still pissed but obviously letting it go. Taking a deep breath, he slid off his black jacket, tossed it on the sofa, and left the room, heading down the stairs into the private basketball court off the living area.

Within seconds, I heard the echo of a basketball pounding against the hardwood court.

Kai rose from the sofa and walked for the windows, crossing his arms over his chest and staring silently outside.

I stepped up next to him. Planting my hand on the windows, I followed his gaze, watching Rika run the roller up and down, her once-white wall now turning blood red.

“She’s alone.” I spoke low. “Completely alone now. And soon she’ll have nothing to eat but our goodwill.”

I shifted my eyes to Kai, seeing his narrowed ones studying her. His jaw flexed, and at times he could be more formidable than Damon. At least Damon was an open book.

But with Kai and his stern dark eyes and hardened expression, it was always a guess what he was thinking. He rarely spoke about himself.

“Are you having second thoughts?” I asked.

“Are you?”

I continued staring out the window, ignoring the question. Whether or not I wanted this or liked any of it, it was never a question.

Three years ago, curious little Erika Fane wanted to play with the boys, so we indulged her, and she betrayed us. There was no way we’d forget. Once restitution was paid, my friends could have peace.

Kai kept his eyes on her as he spoke. “Damon and Will are blind action, Michael. Over three years, that hasn’t changed. They act and react from the gut, but for two men that once believed money and power could get them out of anything, they now know that’s not true.”

He turned his head, locking eyes with me. “There were no games in there. No real friends. No hesitation. Act and commit. That’s what they learned.”

I turned my gaze back out the windows. In there. That was as much as Kai had talked about prison since he’d gotten out.

I hadn’t asked, either. Maybe I knew he’d talk when he was ready, or maybe I felt guilty, knowing that it was all my fault. I’d brought her with us that night, after all. I’d trusted her. This was on me.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was because I never wanted to know what the last three years had been like for my friends. What they’d lost. How they’d waited.

How they’d changed.

I shook my head, trying to brush off his warning. “They were always like that,” I argued.

“But they were always controllable,” he challenged. “They were appeasable. Now they don’t have limits, and the only thing they truly understand is that they are the only person they can trust.”

So what was he saying? That they might have their own agendas?

I let my eyes fall to her, working vigorously as she rolled on the red paint.

And something coiled inside of me, twisting and tightening until my chest ached.

What would I do if they jumped ship? Took their own course of action? I didn’t like that idea.

But for three years, I’d been forced to look at her in my house, hear about her, and bide my time when all I wanted was to be her nightmare. She was here, and we were ready.

“We can’t stop,” I nearly whispered. We could control Will and Damon. We always had.

“I don’t want to stop,” he retorted, his dark eyes pinned on her. “She deserves everything that’s coming to her. But I am saying that things never go according to plan. Remember that.”

I picked up the glass of bourbon I’d set down and tossed it back, swallowing the remainder of the liquid in one gulp. The burn sat at the back of my tongue, my throat tightening as I set the glass down.

I’d remember it, but I wasn’t going to worry about it. It was finally time to have some fun.