He leaned slightly forward, Chace’s body went alert so he wisely leaned right back but did it speaking. “I’ll remind you, your father is one of the men who might, if he stops paying, be exposed.”
“And I’ll remind you I don’t give a f**k.”
Clinton continued, “He’s exposed then your mother learns about his…” he paused, “inclinations. If you find them unsavory, a man, a police detective, imagine what it would do to Valerie.”
Chace leaned in this time and even seeing Bonar’s body go alert, he didn’t lean back.
“You got me with that shit years ago. I swallowed that bitter pill and jacked my life doing it.”
“If this is true, why did you approach IA and offer yourself to go undercover?”
“That pill wore off, Bonar, and when it did, I couldn’t live with that shit anymore.”
“You made a lot of powerful men very vulnerable doing that, Chace. They don’t like to feel vulnerable.”
“I don’t give a f**k about that either.”
“You made Valerie vulnerable.”
Chace successfully fought back the urge to suck in a sharp breath, and the stronger urge to grab the man by his fancy-ass silk tie and slam him to the hood of his car, before he replied, “Then it’s time I had a chat with my Mom. It won’t be pleasant and it’ll f**k her up but it’s better comin’ from me than from the media or one of your goons.”
“Chace, you are not understanding me and you need to understand me. My colleagues find this situation untenable, they want it to be over and they have the means to see to that in ways you will not like all that much.”
“Is that a threat?” Chace asked.
“You know these men don’t make threats.”
“Then here’s the same, you or they f**k with my mother or me, what I do they won’t like all that much.”
“Because of Trane, we understand that Valerie and you are off-limits. That said, there are a number of citizens in this town you love so much you’d betray your own father to protect it. These men will not mind doing what they have to do to get what they want and laying waste to this town in the process. Starting with Tyrell and Alexa Walker.”
Feeling his blood heat and his palms itch, Chace took a step into him, getting chest to chest, nose to nose and forcing Clinton to press himself back into the grill of the SUV.
“You f**k with Ty or Lexie, you f**k with me. You f**k with anyone in this town, you f**k with me. Those men wanna lay waste to Carnal, they gotta get through me first. Something you forget, Bonar, I may have left home, I may have become a cop but for seventeen years, I was at the hand of Trane Keaton and I learned every trick he has. To protect what’s mine, make no mistake, ass**le, I’ll use them.”
“Calm down, Chace,” he replied placatingly.
“Fuck calm,” Chace growled. “My father gettin’ off on sick-fuck, jacked up kink made my life a livin’ hell for far too long. I’m clear. I’m stayin’ clear. You tell your boys to stay clear, man up and take whatever’s gonna come to them.”
“We’re simply asking you to have a conversation with two men. Walker, to get him to collect his tapes, Newcomb, to get him to deliver on his part of the bargain. Very simple.”
“Gettin’ either of those men to do that is not about havin’ a conversation. It’s about usin’ a strong arm and I’ve done that for you and your boys. I’m done doin’ that too.”
“As you’ve brought it up, at this juncture, I unfortunately have to remind you that you have, indeed, acted as an enforcer for my colleagues. If this was leaked, you’d find the questions asked by your superiors very uncomfortable and you’d undoubtedly lose your standing in this town as its saving grace hero.”
“It’s not a role that fits, you know why since you and your colleagues jacked my shit. So leak it. I’ll take it.”
“It’s conceivable this would make the news. You were held up as the poster boy for bravery against corruption. The media enjoys building a hero. But they enjoy it more, tearing him down. It could destroy your life.”
“Clue in, ass**le, my life’s already in the toilet. Not only would it be a relief but, I don’t think you get this, I know my father’s plays but I am not my father or any of the men you work for. I got a pair. Shit happens, I don’t hide behind my money and men like you. I deal. Dish it out. I want you to. I already live under a cloud. Nothin’ you or those douchebags you work for, who keep you in your expensive suits and shoes and haircuts, could do could make it any worse.”
“You are very wrong, Chace.”
“Try it and see.”
Clinton held his eyes and Chace let him.
Then he said quietly, “There could come a time when Trane can’t protect you.”