too. His old man was killed years back on a street not far from here by a rival who wanted to take over, and did. I heard he has a brother, but no one talks about him.”
“Did you ask?” I remembered what Cash had told me at the cemetery. He implied that his brother was dead. His twin.
My brother looked at me like my curls had turned into snakes. “You don’t ask men like him personal questions.”
“Yeah, like why, exactly, am I here.”
Harrison opened the door and stepped out, then he leaned on it, looking down at me. “I told you. I think he wants to make amends. It seems like he’s trying to build something here. Something good for the community. And the families of his employees are important to him. He knows how close we are.” Harrison looked at his watch. “Come on. He doesn’t like to wait.” Then he shut the door.
I sighed, taking a look at the building. Then I opened my door, taking a deep breath. “Yeah,” I said to myself, because Harrison was already to the warehouse. “I’m sure Cash Kelly is going to be holding family picnics and singing camp songs with the employee’s kids real fucking soon.”
As I walked toward the door, I made a promise to myself to keep my mouth shut this time—the longer I was around him, the smarter my mouth became, and he seemed drawn to it, like chaos to peace. And I didn’t want to give him another reason to call on me again.
The sooner the marauder was out of my village, out of my head, the better off I’d be.
“Get your hands off of me!” I slapped at the big palms patting at my body.
The big guy, Raff, demanded that Harrison and I both be “shook down” before we entered the marauder’s layer.
As it stood, I was shocked that the entire place was decorated tastefully, with exposed pipes, tan brick walls, and chrome details, and not done in fire torches, torture chambers, and a bunch of trophy skulls on the wall.
It seemed too upscale for the marauder, but then again, he seemed to be good at putting the charms on people. This all seemed like a trick to put you at ease.
I wasn’t buying it.
Even the little old secretary with a potted plant on her desk was hiding something. She reminded me of a wicked creature in a popular book series that I’d both read and watched when they were made into movies: on the outside all sweetness, but on the inside a raging bitch with a vendetta against anything that breathed.
“What’s this about, Raff?” Harrison said, giving me a narrow look when I smacked Raff on the head when he touched my leg.
“Cash’s orders. He wanted to make sure this one—” he looked me up and down “—didn’t bring her bow and arrow in. No weapons on you either.”
“I’m sure I could fit an entire bow in my underwear,” I muttered. “Genius.”
Raff stared at me a second before a huge smile split his face. “I shall call you She-Karma and deliver you to the doorstep of the man demanding your fecking company.”
I hadn’t heard the Irish lilt until he cursed. What a bunch of winners (my brother excluded) Cash Kelly seemed to surround himself with. I really wasn’t sure what his deal was, but I was ready to be in and be done. Especially after Raff started to lead us toward a hallway that seemed to lead to offices, and as we walked, I noticed splatters of blood along the floor.
I elbowed Harrison hard, and when he shot me a look, I nodded toward the stains.
He stared at the blood for a second and then met my eye. He shrugged, but it wasn’t lightly. Something about this meeting was bothering him. It was bothering me, too. Why would they have to check me for weapons? My brother, too? From the sounds of it, they had never checked Harrison before. Why start now?
As we passed an office, I knew right away it was my brother’s. A framed picture of Mari and me from a year ago was placed on a table behind his desk. Another picture was on his desk, and I had a feeling I knew who stared at him from the other side.
“That’s real creepy, Harrison,” I said.
“What?” He wasn’t paying attention to me. Whatever was going on wasn’t the norm. But I couldn’t help but give him hell over the picture. He was