Back in Black (McGinnis Investigations #1) - Rhys Ford Page 0,44
Bobby with my beer, I took a long draw. “Grab a beer, Mike. And where’s the kid?”
“The kid and Maddy are at tumbling class, then having a girls’ dinner at some fondue place,” Mike said, stepping out of Jae’s way. “And I’ve got a bottle of water because I’m driving. I’ll be picking up my girls after I mooch food off of you guys.”
“Long story short, instead of attacking the guy with my gym bag filled with asphalt from the parking lot, I should’ve let Bobby shoot him. Or I should’ve let the guy shoot Bobby. Those were apparently my only two options,” I said, sneaking one of the mushrooms off of the vegetable tray. Jae gave me a pointed look, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of my sarcasm or stealing the mushroom. “I’d like to point out two things. One, I took the guy down without getting shot, and two, Bobby thinks I should carry a weapon until we close this case.”
“There’s a third option,” Mike piped up, settling down on a bench next to the grill. “You can always stop investigating the murder.”
“You obviously have not met our brother, Cole,” Ichi said, joining us on the patio. I was thankful we’d built it as wide as we had, not only because it extended the restructured pantry into a dining room, but because apparently the patio was going to be where we all hung out. The conversation had gone from Bobby beating up on me to everyone else joining in to take a punch. Ichi gave Bobby a quick kiss, then joined Mike on the bench. “He’s not going to stop investigating the murder. And I hate to say this, but I agree with Bobby. If Cole is going to get shot at, he should be able to shoot back.”
Sitting together, it was obvious Mike and Ichi were related, despite their different styles. Mike was exactly what you would want to see as the CEO of a private security firm specializing in providing protection for celebrities and millionaires, while Ichi, our younger half brother, looked every inch of the bad-boy rebel tattoo artist who took down my best friend’s bachelorhood within a year of meeting him. I was definitely the whiter sheep of the family, inheriting more of the Irish from my father, but I definitely lean toward Ichi’s way of thinking.
That said, I was surprised he advocated me carrying a gun. He’d been born and raised in Japan, fully entrenched with an antipathy toward firearms, and had been very vocal about me not carrying a gun when I got into a bad place a few years ago. To hear him say I should be armed made me stop and think.
I was thankful for Jae’s warmth and weight against my legs when he sat down on the recliner next to me. Moving to give him more room, I rubbed at his lower back while handing him my beer, knowing he’d want a sip. He took the bottle and began to smooth down the paper, undoing all of my hard work. My wedding ring was bright against his black T-shirt, its weight as comforting as the man who’d put it on my finger.
“I promised Jae I wouldn’t carry a gun,” I reminded all of them. “I also promised to love, honor, and obey him, so I think that’s all covered like an umbrella insurance policy. It’s not up for discussion.”
“You’re not in the same place that you were in, agi,” Jae murmured, surprising me. “Do you want to talk about this now? Or later?”
“It doesn’t matter what any of them say, you’re the only one that matters in this.” I stilled my fingers but kept my hand pressed against Jae’s body. His heartbeat throbbed my palm with the steady rhythm I knew as well as I did my own breathing. “I don’t want you to ever be scared of me.”
“I don’t ever want to be scared for you,” he countered, twisting about until he nearly faced me, his leg draped over my knees. Glancing toward the grill, Jae prodded Bobby, “You’ve had two times when someone shot at you. Listening to you describe both times, it sounds like two different men shot at you. Yes?”
Jae wasn’t wrong. I didn’t get a good look at the guy at the Brinkerhoff house, but he was younger, not just because of what he was wearing but because of how he moved and how erratic his gunshots were. Although the guy