That day had been the second worst day of my life.
I was on edge and rarely did I lose it. Today, I did. I fuckin’ punched Tyler. The rage that tore through me after hearing he fucked her … it blew my mind apart. Control completely obliterated at the thought of Georgie screaming Tyler’s name as he plowed into her. Losing control was not something I let in. I couldn’t. I lost it once and it landed me in Juvie for six months and then on the streets for two years until I hit eighteen and joined the Canadian armed forces.
I walked outside the coffee shop Georgie called Perk Avenue, and the summer air hit my heated skin, doing fuck-all to cool the anger simmering inside me.
Tyler was leaning against the brick wall, a blade of grass in his mouth, one leg cocked with his foot resting on the wall. He pushed away and approached me, spitting the grass onto the sidewalk.
“All good?”
I looked at him and he smirked. Asshole. He knew damn well nothing was ever good with Georgie. And now it was worse. This wasn’t just a young girl partying and drinking anymore. This was Georgie having a drinking problem.
At least she’d never had a boyfriend—thank fuck. I checked out every guy she had dates with, which was as Tyler said, ‘fuckin’ shit-ass crazy’, but I made a promise to her brother and I never broke my word.
Some of the men were pansies or in serious debt or had shit jobs and I wanted to stop her from dating them. But I kept my opinion to myself—most of the time. When I didn’t was when guys like Tristan, who had a different woman every day of the week, wanted to date her.
This was about protecting her against the scum, the assholes and the womanizers. And yes, men like me. Men who had a fuck of a good chance of not coming home.
Of course there were times like now when I didn’t have a man on her and had no clue what she was up to, and Georgie was often up to no good.
I couldn’t figure out what the fuck she was doing lately.
The drinking … fuck, I couldn’t understand it or stop it. It was the one part of Georgie I had no control over. At first, it had been hard partying on the weekends then slowly over the last few months, it became more often until I found the little bottles in her purse.
What was really fucked up was it didn’t fit who she was. I knew she was better than that. She was too stubborn and determined, too fuckin’ sure of herself to be an alcoholic, yet I dragged her ass out of bars too many times to recall.
The thing was, Georgie thought she was indestructible. And she was because I was there, or one of my men, to haul her ass out of whatever trouble she landed herself in.
I opened the door of my Audi and got in. Tyler hopped in the passenger side and I started the car and headed to the airport. I’d been staying away from Georgie for the last few months, getting some distance. I didn’t like who she was becoming and I hated seeing it. I felt like she was slipping away and yet I didn’t know how to stop it.
“I don’t get it. The way she looks at you …” Tyler sighed shaking his head. “She loves you, Boss.”
I tightened my hands around the wheel. “She loves the idea of me saving her ass all the time so she can drink herself into a fuckin’ coma. She doesn’t know shit about who I am.”
“Sure she does. She may not know the bad shit, what you’re capable of … but she knows you care about her. She knows you protect your men with your life. Boss, Georgie met you before you started Unyielding Riot. That girl fell for you eons ago and Connor knew it, too.”
I directed my eyes on Tyler. “You hear what you just said?”
Tyler leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “Piss on it. Connor isn’t coming back. All the leads are dust. Don’t know why we’re chasing a ghost.”
“And you hear what else you just said?”
Tyler sighed, shaking his head.
Whether Connor was dead or alive, I wouldn’t break my promise to him. My word was one part of my soul which hadn’t been tainted by the shit I’d been around over the years. Every day was getting worse. I felt the numbness leaking into me when I tortured some sick fuck that had pissed off the wrong people.
When I watched Vic pull out a man’s teeth or rip off his fingernails, I didn’t hear the screams, or smell the urine, or see the suffering. All I saw was a scumbag, and I wouldn’t yield to anyone.
But I did.
I yielded to Georgie.
I’d let her seep into my veins and take hold, and no matter how many men I killed or women I fucked, I couldn’t get her out of me.
“You sure it’s safe?”
I knew exactly what Tyler was talking about. Was the location in New York safe? Was the guy we were meeting safe? “No.” I didn’t trust the bastard. Kai was elusive, had a hell of a lot of money and a non-existent history. That meant it was hidden, and hidden was dangerous. “But I owe him.” Kai had helped me with the situation involving that sex trafficker. He’d shown up looking for the transporter responsible for shipping the women. We collaborated because he had already set up a meeting with Alfonzo. Led us right to the girls and the transporter. Kai told me he’d ask for a favor in return for the help that day.