I loved her.
And she didn’t even know it.
I loved her.
And I’d almost lost her, yet I wasn’t allowed to comfort her. I couldn’t kiss away the pain, the tears, the shame — no, that was all my best friend. I hated him for it, almost as much as I hated myself for not being there when she’d needed me the most.
I sighed and leaned against the wall. Phoenix was sitting in the middle of the room, his ass strapped to a metal chair and zip ties keeping his hands firmly in front of him. We’d called a small commission. I say small because we hadn’t had a big commission in over thirty years. Shit always went down at those, and we didn’t want the drama.
A rep from each family was present, making their interest known. After all, we couldn’t just wipe out his line — as much as I wanted to.
When Trace and Nixon walked in, Phoenix smirked, but it wasn’t one of those smirks that said, “Ha ha, fooled you all.” It was fake, forced, like he knew he was screwed and wanted me to shoot him in the face and ask questions later.
I was about to say something when Trace lunged for him and smacked him hard across the cheek.
He cursed and fell to the cement ground.
Well, that’s a fun way to quiet up the room. The men sitting around immediately stopped drinking wine and stared.
“Is that it?” Phoenix taunted from the ground.
Trace lunged again, but Nixon grabbed her before her toe collide with the bastard’s front tooth.
Frank cleared his throat. “Will all members of the commission please stand?”
“Commission?” Trace asked quietly.
Nixon pulled her close.
I had to look away.
“Each family is represented by one person. It’s kind of how we hold court. Each person has a representative, and each representative gets a vote.”
“Are you one?” Her voice quivered with fear.
“Unfortunately, no. Since I’m one of the bosses, I elected someone else from my family.”
“Who?”
It was me. I heard him say my name, and I looked up to make eye contact with her. I would do right by her; it was the only thing I could do in this situation, other than kill him.
“Chase.”
“Oh.” She nodded, sagging against him. “That’s good then.”
“Great,” Nixon said dryly as he glanced at me.
I’d been standing at the door for the past few minutes, observing.
“Everyone’s present,” Frank announced. “Each representative of the commission is allowed to speak on behalf of their family. I’ll go last, considering the subject matter.”
Several men nodded.
“I’ll go first.” Faust stepped forward. I’d hated that kid ever since he’d stole my toy truck when I was five. He was a made man for Nicolasi. “Trace, is it?”
Faust was a coldhearted bastard. Swear, when God created him, He’d forgotten to add a soul. He had dark coloring and brown hair. I’d always thought his eyes were soulless holes of nothingness, like he was possessed.
Nixon tensed next to Trace as the guy approached.
“Faust Assante, at your service.” He gave a wide smile and bent over her hand.
Nixon grunted.
“Now.” Faust stood to his full height and nodded to Trace. “Your side of the story, if you don’t mind.” He nodded. “When you’re ready… Trace.”
“My side?” she squeaked. “Does that mean even he gets to have a say?” She pointed a shaky finger at Phoenix. “After what he did to me? Well, Faust…” She damn-near hissed his name. “…my side is pretty much summed up in one word. Rape. That guy sitting over there beat me, bruised me, and then tried to rip my clothes off. When I said no, he said yes, when I pushed, he pushed back, so yeah, that’s basically my side. He would have killed me had Chase and Nixon not intervened.”
“You don’t know that.” Faust’s eyes flashed. “After all, if what you’re wearing now is any indication of what you wear on a day-to-day basis, I’d say you were a tease.”
Holy shit! I was going to rip that prick’s head from his body and use it as a kickball.
Nixon pushed Trace behind him and stood in front of Faust. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Who the hell do you think you are?”
Faust smirked. “I am merely stating a fact. If a woman is asking for something and not careful, well, she will get exactly what she deserves.”
Nixon swung hard and hit Faust across the jaw, sending him sailing to the ground.
Good thing he did because I was just about to.
“Anyone else care to tell Trace what she deserves? Be my guest.” Nixon’s breathing was ragged as he stood there and waited for someone to speak.