I don’t have that option, I think, but damn it, even when Waters is gone, will Deleon live, and go after Pri? Will one of the others inside the Devils?
“Damn it,” I murmur, grabbing the pizzas and shutting the door. I start walking and it’s as if Savage is here, answering me again: “Truth be told, maybe Pri can’t handle the truth, but you have to tell her anyway. And truth be told, maybe it’s not the right time. Maybe she has a hero complex right now for you. Make sure it’s real before you tell her. I don’t know what is real shit or not for you two, but hear this and hear it well. Don’t assume walking away from her is the best way to love her. That’s you fucking up.”
I find myself at the bar, setting down the pizzas. And then behind the bar, pouring a drink. “This is me fucking up,” I murmur, downing the drink and refilling it before walking to the window, darkness, and rain in view.
I sit down on the coffee table and squeeze my eyes shut, my mind traveling back to the past, back to a night with Waters.
Waters is at the head of the war room table with me and Deleon on his left and right. No one else is present. Ricki Lenerd, Waters’ attorney at the time, is here by emergency request. He stands at the end of the table, dressed in an expensive suit, his face freshly shaven, his green eyes sharp but worried. He’s forty-five, bald, and used his mid-life crisis and the money Waters paid him to land a twenty-five-year-old wife too pretty for the likes of him.
“Sit,” Waters orders.
Lenerd hesitates, uncomfortable in an obvious way but he sits down next to me and blurts out, “I’m officially resigning as your attorney.”
The resignation really isn’t a surprise to me. Several missing women, connections to Waters, and bad press have created unease in Lenerd. I’d say he was a smart man on that point, but he’s not. He wanted money. He went down this path. He won’t just walk away. Even before Waters speaks, I know Lenerd is about to get a rude awakening.
Waters smirks, amused and irritated at the same time. “I don’t accept your resignation. You’re a lifetime, Ricki my boy. The money I’ve loaded into your bank account says so. That pretty red sports car your wife drives says so.” He leans forward. “I say so.”
“I’m not the right man for this job, not anymore.” He reaches into his briefcase and sets a thick envelope on the table. “A hundred thousand dollars to buy my freedom.”
He motions to Deleon and Deleon takes the envelope and checks the contents. “About right,” he confirms.
“Well then,” Waters says. “We have a deal, Ricki boy.” He gives him a moment to feel relief, watches his shoulders relax before he adds, “Your pretty little wife with those fuck me blue eyes and long legs can keep fucking you instead of me. At least for now.”
Thunder rumbles loudly, shaking the walls and dragging me back to the present, where I’d much rather live. I down my drink, dispose of my glass on the table and walk to the window. And I do so with an understanding I should have had from the beginning with Pri. She’s connected to me. With Waters and Deleon dead, she will probably be safe, but I can’t be sure. And I’m not trusting anyone else to protect her. Am I making an excuse to keep her with me? Maybe. But I’m done thinking she’s better off without me. That ship has sailed.
“Adrian.”
Pri says my name a moment before she steps between me and the glass. She doesn’t speak and I cup her head and pull it to mine, drawing a deep breath before I look down at her. “If we’re doing this, baby, you and me, you need to know the things I did when I was with Waters. You need to know about my brother.”
Her hands flatten on my chest. “When you’re ready—”
“I will never be ready, but that doesn’t change the fact that you need to know. I didn’t want to kill him. I was trying to save him.” I release her and grab my glass, walking back to the bar. I need to be drunk for this, despite the fact that I know logically that I didn’t commit a crime. Maybe not in the eyes of the law, but in the eyes of God and family, that’s another story.
I round the bar and fill a glass. Pri joins me on the other side of the counter, and I fill a glass and push it toward her. “We both need to drink.”
“I think you’re blowing this up into something it’s not, Adrian. Did you kill him in cold blood?”