“I don’t get what that has to do with us,” he says looking at me.
“I got another phone call, about two hours later. They said…” I choke on a sob wiping at my eyes. “They said your club may have been involved. I immediately called Mack. I didn’t want him in the middle of it for obvious reasons, but I asked him for help anyway. I wanted whoever was responsible for my brother’s death to pay for it. I didn’t care how it had to be done.”
“And he helped you find me?” I nod my head slowly.
“He gave me all the research I needed.”
“You knew we’d be at that rally,” he says softly.
“I knew. I didn’t know you’d come up to my table, but I figured that was a good place to start. I could get a feel for what you guys were like before I made any attempt to confront you.” Sly blows out a breath no doubt trying to keep himself under control right now.
“And I walked right into your trap.”
“It wasn’t like that. I mean it was at first.” I look away, unable to look him in the eyes.
“You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to look away now, Fab. Look at me and tell me,” he demands. Slowly I drag my eyes back to meet his.
“I wanted to hate you so badly. I wanted to make you all pay but I didn’t have any proof that it was you guys that did it. I had nothing. I needed proof.” He watches me but doesn’t say anything for a long second.
“Did you find it?”
“What?”
“The proof? Did you find it?” Shaking my head no, he looks away. His hand comes up to run down his face before scratching at the stubble on his jaw.
“You know we kill, Fab. I can’t even say that I knew nothin’ about your brother because I don’t know who he was. Sometimes it’s easier that way, ya know? Sometimes it’s not.”
“Christopher Evans,” I say softly, my heart falling in my chest. Sly’s eyes instantly mist up. His chest begins rising and falling rapidly. I narrow my gaze at him and stand from the cot, moving closer to the edge of the cell. “You know who he was?”
Sly shakes his head, swallowing hard. He moves to stand, grabbing the keys from his pocket and unlocking the cell door. In seconds he’s inside with me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me out behind him.
“Sly? What the hell is going on?” He doesn’t speak as he drags me up the stairs and shoves the door open. The guys all stop what they’re doing and look over, but no one moves to ask. I’m confused when Dez walks up.
“What’s happening? Dad?”
Sly’s grip tightens as he stops walking and looks around at everyone.
“She’s gotta go,” he says, sounding hoarse. I don’t understand this. He kept me down there for days and now he’s throwing me out?
“What do you mean? You were hell bent on her stayin’,” Shaft says looking to Sly for an answer.
“Yeah, now I want her gone!” he roars before shoving me toward the door. I don’t go, not right away anyhow.
“What did I say?” Sly won’t look at me. Instead he has his hands on his hips, head tipped back looking at the ceiling. He’s lost and I hate it for him.
“Get out, Fabiola.” The tone of his voice unnerves me.
“No. Talk to me.”
“Get the hell out of here!”
Chapter Sixteen
They say it doesn’t take much to break a man. She did it, though. She broke me with those words. Two fucking words tore me apart. I couldn’t look at her after that. I didn’t want to. She ripped my goddamn soul out.
“You sure you wanna do this?” Shaft asks. I eye him for a minute until he laughs and backs off. We stand outside the bank that we’ve been casing for a while now, ski masks in place. I need an outlet. I needed something I wasn’t getting. The adrenaline rush that I missed with her. I hate that it has to be this way, but I can’t face her.
“Let’s move on three. We get in, we get out,” I say as I glance around at the guys. They all nod, guns in hand. I raise my hand and count down with my fingers until I hit three. Then we all move. We storm the front door quickly, not many people inside.
“On the ground! Now!” I roar as the guys move through the space. The few people inside drop to the floor like they were told. Shaft, Gauge, and the prospects move around to the tellers as I watch the door. Wolf waits outside in the van for us. I watch the guys as they move effortlessly filling the bags. They know the drill. Don’t let them pull from the right clip. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a man slowly shifting. I keep watching, pretending I’m not, when I see the gun in the back of his waistband. He slowly reaches for it when something hits me. He must be undercover. Visions of Chris flash in front of my eyes. It takes seconds for the man to pull his gun and fire in my direction. The burn hits me but I never actually snap out of it. More shots fire off, screams blast through the room.
“You hit?” I hear Gauge call out. I know he’s talking to me, but I’m stuck in a haze of the past and the future that I fucking took from Chris.
“Let’s move!” Shaft’s voice filters in but my feet stay planted in the same place as they have been. I can vaguely feel hands tugging at me, pulling me from the bank before I’m shoved into the back of the van. My body aches but I can’t move. What the hell did I do? He was a good man. I killed him.
“Sly?” Gauge says my name once more, but I can’t look at him.
“I fuckin’ killed him, brother. I killed my best friend.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about?” Shaft asks.
“He’s losin’ a lot of blood!” Gauge calls out. “Get his ass to the hospital back home!” I can feel the van accelerate as my eyes slowly flutter.
“Stay awake, Sly! You didn’t come this far to die on us!” Ignoring Gauge’s words, I focus on her instead. Those dark eyes, those full lips, the way she smiled at me. I can almost feel her lips touching mine.
“Sly?” Gauge’s voice again. Slowly everything fades. The voices get farther away when I see her.
“What the hell are you doin’ here?” I ask when Shelby comes into view. She looks just like she used to when she was younger,when I thought I actually cared for her.
“What’s wrong? Don’t recognize the devil when you see her?” she asks raising an eyebrow.
“You ain’t shit. You’re dead. What the hell is happenin’?” I look around but all I see is darkness.
“You’re dead, idiot.”
“Like fuck I am. Where the hell am I?”
“Hell. Welcome home,” she snickers.
“This isn’t hell.”
“Then why do you think I’m here? You’re technically dead, Sly. Come look,” she says nodding over her shoulder.
I take a step, but I don’t even feel my legs. It’s the strangest feeling but I move toward her anyway. Just as I step up, I see a window. When I look through it, I gasp. It’s me. The guys are all around me screaming and hollering but I can’t hear what they are saying. Blood drips onto the floor as the doctors wheel me into a room. I’m so confused. I don’t know what I’m seeing.