But the look he sent James made him cold right down to his bones.
He’d known his brother hated him. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but he’d known all the same. It was a truth he’d made as much peace as he could with. Now he had to deal with Ricky blatantly wanting him dead.
Well, fuck.
He waited for the door to close and then slumped into his chair. He’d known this shit wasn’t going to be a picnic from the moment he lost Brendan. Being heir was never something James wanted, but he’d done his damnedest to step up and do right by the family. Naive as it apparently was, he’d never expected his remaining brother to turn on him.
Truth be told, he hadn’t expected a lot of things.
He sighed. As much as he wanted to get the hell out of here and wash off the stench of this place, since he was here, he needed to check in with the manager and make sure things were still going smoothly. He hadn’t heard anything recently, but he was learning the hard way that just because information didn’t come directly to him didn’t mean it wasn’t happening. And Ricky taking an interest in Tit for Tat was a red flag he couldn’t ignore.
A quick phone call brought Lisa Marie up. She was an old battle-ax who had worked her way up from waitressing to the pole to running the whole damn place. She had to have put sixty in the rearview mirror years ago, but she hadn’t missed a beat. As he watched, she snubbed out a cigarette and lit up another one. “Whatcha need, honey?”
“I haven’t been in here in a few weeks. Bring me up to date.”
“You want to know what that brother of yours is up to.” Her shrewd gray eyes saw too much. “He’s been in here five days out of seven, sniffing around. He takes over the office and has people coming and going. Don’t know what he’s up to, but I’d bet my left tit he’s up to something.” She exhaled a plume of smoke. “The little shit told me we’re starting up with those girls again.”
“We’re not.”
“Good. Made my girls nervous.” She tapped the cigarette into the ashtray on the desk. “Ever since that other brother of yours died—God rest his soul—business is up fifteen percent.”
Probably because Brendan scared the living shit out of everyone smart enough to know what trouble looked like. It kept those men and their money away from Tit for Tat. James tapped his fingers on the desk. Ricky seemed all too ready to step into Brendan’s shoes, and that was something he couldn’t allow. Like it or not, they’d taken a hit when he put a stop to the flesh trade. They needed the bump of legit money. “Are the other clubs seeing the same increase?”
“More or less.” She leaned back and crossed her legs, stick thin and covered in pants made of something like spandex. “Having willing girls makes a difference. Johns can tell. And the ones who liked the fear…well, I don’t want to deal with that shit.”
Neither did James. He waited, seeing from the tension in her shoulders that there was something more. People didn’t like silences, especially uncomfortable ones like this was quickly evolving into. Lisa Marie knew the tactic—it was one he’d seen her use before—and she gave him a sardonic smile. “You’re not a puppy anymore, James Halloran.”
Maybe not, but he still felt like a small fish in an ocean full of sharks. Every time he turned around, another threat was rising at his back. It was fucking exhausting. Still, he waited.
She sighed, smoke drifting out of her nostrils. “That Ricky…”
The seconds stretched into minutes. Finally, he relented. “Tell me.”
“I know he’s family.”
Her sudden hesitance set his teeth on edge. “If there’s something I need to know, spit it the fuck out.”
That got her moving again. She snubbed out her cigarette. “He’s been taking a family discount with the girls—and them saying yes isn’t necessary.”
Her words left him cold all over. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He kept all expression off his face through sheer force of will, but it was a battle. He’d known his little brother was teetering on the edge, but apparently he’d already reached the point of no return. Fuck. And James had sat idly by while his brother played fox in the henhouse. It didn’t matter if he hadn’t known. Those women were under his protection, same as every other person in Halloran territory.
And he’d failed them.
“I’ll need a list of names.” His voice was so cold, it was a wonder the bottle of beer in front of him didn’t ice over.
“Sure thing.”
“That’s all.” He waited until she was almost to the door to say, “And, Lisa Marie.”