Murphy(16)

“Yes. Tate, are you happy with that?”

“Sure. I’ll meet you on the floor, okay?” she asked Kelsey.

“Yeah. Erm, this is going to be fun, right?” Kelsey lowered her voice and looked between Eva and Alex. “Right now it’s not a lot of fun.”

Laughing, Tate wrapped her arm around her new friend. “We’ll have so much fun you’ll be talking about it well into old age.”

Kelsey smiled back at her. When the elevator hit the ground floor, Tate noticed the three men waiting. She promised to meet the other two when she was finished with Alex. The three men followed them to the bar.

“Are they with you?” she asked, stepping in beside him.

“I’m a powerful man.”

“A powerful man shouldn’t be worried with three bodyguards.”

Alex led them to the end of the bar. She took the seat next to him as he signaled the female bartender. Resting her elbows on the counter she waited to be served. Alex ordered her vodka with orange while he took a brandy.

“I’ve got many enemies. I’m not a good man, Tate. I’m a powerful man that does bad things,” Alex said.

Lifting the glass to her lips Tate stared at him over the rim. “Why are you telling me this?”

“You’re family, and unlike Tiny, I think you have a right to know the truth.”

Putting the glass down, Tate couldn’t look away. Staring at him now, she saw the threat within his depths. This man was not a good man like he said. She remembered him buying her balloons for her birthday and being there for barbeques, picnics, Christmases, and birthdays.

“Are you with some kind of mob?” she asked.

“No. I’m in business with your father. He helps transport product while I pocket a hefty profit, as does he. Your mother met him on one of our business meetings.”

“You’re in business with my father?”

“No, I lied again. Tiny and I agreed you’d never find out. We’re more than in business together, we’re business partners. Tiny owns half of this building, and I was once part of The Skulls.”

Tate finally sipped at her drink. She’d always thought Tiny was just part of The Skulls, the club that helped look after Fort Wills. She wasn’t stupid and knew the club wasn’t entirely legal.

“Start from the beginning.”

“Patricia and I originally came from Fort Wills. She was too young to remember Tiny, but our parents left the town. It was too rough, drugs, prostitutes, bad vibes, everything. I started this place up, and Tiny came to me with an idea. He still lived in the town and had grown up watching it get fucked over by chaos.”

Tate listened, knowing Fort Wills hadn’t always been the quiet, placid town it now was.

“He had an idea, an idea that put a club in charge of Fort Wills. There were some men who wanted the same.”

“Mikey? He was one?” she asked.

“Yeah, he was a hard nut back in the day. He was amazing at bringing order to the town. We offered him the chance of being leader, the president, but he turned it down. Tiny was the leader. He was the right man for the job. I was the business side, the muscle whereas Tiny knew everything about the town. One visit here, he met Patricia. She was young, sweet, innocent, and they fell in love with each other. I didn’t want her to be part of it. Tiny wouldn’t hear any of it.”

“I know this. They fell in love, and he moved her back to Fort Wills.”

“The club always came first. My sister accepted that.”

“Do you own like drugs and prostitutes and everything you fought against?” Tate asked.

“No, Tiny and I move the drugs away from the town. We don’t accept that shit going down in Fort Wills. We have a lot of crap going down. You don’t need to know everything, but we’ve both made a lot of enemies. He’s got the club to protect him, and I’ve got my men. They’re loyal.”

“Why did you stop coming when Mom died?”

“We thought it was best you having a clean break. You weren’t attached, and we had business that kept me out of town. Tiny didn’t want you part of any of it.” Alex sipped at his brandy, stopping.

“So that’s the story?” Tate asked.

“Pretty much.”

“It’s fucking lame.” Tate stood ready to leave. “The Skulls are a family. When Mom died you had a choice. I thought you blamed us. I thought you hated Dad so much that you couldn’t bear to see us.”

“Sit down, Tate.”

“No, I’m done being ordered around by men who think they own me. I’m going to go and party. I don’t want you to come near me.”

“I was hoping we could build a friendship up,” Alex said. “You’re the only thing I’ve got left of Patricia.”