Hard Bastard(53)

He nodded. “I hear you,” he said. “But you have to take a deep breath and calm down. Trust that I’m working this the right way.”

I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms. It didn’t feel like we were doing to right, but he was right. I had to trust him. Gage had more experience in this sort of thing than I did, and even if I wanted to take control and fix everything, I knew that wasn’t realistic.

“Fine,” I said. “It’s your call.”

“I know.” He smirked at me.

I shook my head and looked out the window. I hated being sidelined like that and treated like I didn’t know what was going on. I hated that I didn’t have any power in this situation. It drove me absolutely insane knowing that I had to rely completely on other people to get me through this, even if I wanted to step up and take control.

Still, it wasn’t fair to turn my anger toward Gage. It wasn’t his fault. He was trying to keep me safe, trying to save me from the men that wanted to really do me harm. I had to accept that and let him do what he needed to do.

“Do you think they’ll do it?” I asked him after a few minutes.”

“Probably,” he said. “Hard to really tell. Padraig is an unknown to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s a new guy, just stepped into power a few months ago. When I worked with Liam, there was a different guy in charge of the Irish. I don’t really know what Padraig’s game is.”

“That could be bad.”

“Could be,” he agreed. “But the animosity between the Russians and the Irish goes back a long, long way. I think we can count on their hatred for the Russians to overshadow their desire to play this one safe.”

“I hope so,” I said softly.

He reached out and took my hand, squeezing reassuringly. This was our one chance to actually do something about our situation, and I had zero control over what was going to happen.

I had to trust him. I’d trusted him so far, and so far he’d kept me alive. It was time to let go and trust that Gage was the kind of man that could get things done.





Chapter 22





Gage





The rest of the day was spent in the hotel room. We got food from a nearby chicken place and immediately got into bed after finishing every last piece.

I didn’t want to get back out of bed. It was stupid since I knew we had a lot of work to do, but I wanted to enjoy those moments. I wanted to stay with Sadie, maybe fucking or maybe just laying there not moving a muscle, until it all just went away. That wasn’t going to fucking happen, though.

It was just the way she made me feel, like I was more than just the mafia. She made me remember the man I wanted to be back when I was just a kid. She made me remember the kind of man that I still could be.

I made my peace with leaving the mob, but I still hadn’t figured out what I wanted to become. All those years with the mafia taught me only how to be a thug, a killer, a violent criminal. I didn’t know how to be a man, a normal fucking man. I wanted Sadie to teach me, but I didn’t know how to ask. It was all just so fucked up and destroyed, but it didn’t matter. We had each other and that was what mattered.

The play with the Irish was questionable, but I knew that going into it. I knew that they might flat out turn me down, or maybe demand something more than we offered. Fortunately I kept where we were staying off the table, just in case some shit went down. I trusted Liam not to turn me over to the Russians though, if only because they fucking hated each other.

He called me around nine that night. Sadie was in the shower, leaving me alone in bed to think about her sweet fucking curves. I wished we had a bottle of something, and was considering running out to get one, but my phone ringing pulled me out of my daydreaming.

It was a burner and only Liam had the number, but still, paranoia made me be careful. I checked the number and answered it after another ring.

“Yeah?” I grunted.

“It’s me,” Liam said.

“How’s it going?”

“Good brother, good. I spoke with Padraig.”

“And?”

“Come back to the bar and have a drink with me. We’ll discuss it.”

That was a red flag. I narrowed my eyes. “Why not tell me what he said now instead?”

“It’s not so simple. We need to discuss some details.”

I nodded to myself. So they were going to ask for more, or give me some other stipulations. That was fine. I could handle it.

“Where?” I asked.

“The pub, same place as earlier.”

“No,” I said. “Come to Manny’s, it’s a little bar near where I’m staying. Neutral ground.”