How West Was Won (Haven, Texas 7)

Alec’s lips quirked. “You put her down for a nap?”

“Well? What are we doing about this asshole?” West demanded. He didn’t have time to kick his brother’s ass for his own amusement.

Alec looked around at his brothers. “We have him under surveillance. Can’t pin him to the shooting, can only watch and hope he fucks up.”

“That’s bullshit, Alec!” West stalked to Alec’s desk and smacked his fists down. “He shot Beau! He shot at Flick! He could have fucking hit her.”

And she’d be gone. Forever. No fucking way that asshole was getting another chance to hurt his baby. And she was totally his now. He’d tried ignoring his feelings for her, keeping his distance, but that was over now. He was completely in.

“He’ll try again.”

Alec’s face hardened.

“We need to take him out,” West told him.

There was silence. Nobody said a word.

“I’m with West,” Maddox said.

That didn’t surprise him. If anyone was as dark as West, it was Mad. West wasn’t exactly certain what demons he carried inside him. He hadn’t worked for Marceras and Mad wasn’t sharing. But whatever they were, they ran deep. And hard.

Alec shot his gaze to their younger brother. “We don’t do that anymore.”

“We would have done it with the Monster of Manhattan,” Butch pointed out.

“Yeah, but Jake was there spoiling our fun.” Tanner pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m with West, let’s take this dickhead out. Don’t know why we haven’t done it already. What he did to Flick was whacked. Beau is our brother. Flick is one of us now. Nobody fucks with the Malones.”

“Wouldn’t be hard,” Maddox pointed out. “Asshole’s in a wheelchair. Sneak in, take him out, make sure we all have alibis. Done. He’s no longer a problem.”

Jaret hadn’t said anything, and West looked over to find him looking worried. His gaze moved to Alec, who looked pensive.

“Alec?” West asked. “Why the fuck are we hesitating? He tried to kill Beau. He nearly shot Flick.”

“He didn’t shoot him.”

“He hired someone to do it, same fucking thing. He’s not going away and he’s proved he’s happy to use violence to get what he wants. We need to fight back. And now.”

“Are we sure we want to do this?” Jaret asked quietly.

West met his gaze. He and Alec had been the ones pulled into jobs by Marceras. Not Jaret. At least, not that West knew of. Although, looking into his younger brother’s eyes now, he wondered if he’d missed something.

“No one else has to be involved. I’ll do it,” West told them.

“You do this, West, it pulls you back into the dark,” Alec warned.

“I’ve never left the dark, Alec.”

“Yes, you have,” Butch told him. “She’s pulled you into the light.”

He didn

’t agree with that. With how fucking bright she shone, she’d sent some rays his way, but he was still deeply in the dark.

“You’ve got a chance at everything, West,” Alec told him. “At holding goodness in your arms. At drinking in sweetness every day. You can’t fuck that up.”

“I can’t let her be harmed,” West argued. “We let him keep doing this, she’s going to get hurt. That’s not happening.”

Not on his watch. No fucking way.