But the second he put Nova in his sights was the moment he’d put a price on his fucking head.
Nova yawned as she walked into the kitchen, her backpack already hanging off one shoulder. Dropping it on the floor by the door, she sat beside me and rested her head on my arm. “Can’t you stay just one more day?” she asked, her green eyes full of hope as she looked up at me through her dark-blond lashes.
“I would stay here until your summer vacation started if I could, but I have to get back.” I kissed the top of her head, like I’d always done, and heard her heavy sigh, knowing I’d disappointed her, but also knowing she understood why I had to go. But understanding didn’t make it easier for either of us to have to say goodbye.
“It’s only a few more weeks until Garret graduates,” she said with a bright smile, but it wasn’t the one that lit up my entire world. It didn’t reach her eyes, and I knew she was sad. “Then we’ll be back in New York.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, my jaw clenching at the thought of her brother. “Just a few weeks.”
“Please don’t be mad at him anymore,” she whispered. “He’s sorry, okay?”
I nodded, but I didn’t say anything, not wanting to lie to her or upset her more. I was beyond mad at Garret. I didn’t think there was a word in the English language for the rage I felt toward her brother. He should have been there to protect her, but instead, he’d been off getting high with the rest of the bottom-feeders in this small town. If he thought that he could work for my family and pull the same shit he got away with in Creswell Springs, he was shit out of luck.
He would have to earn his position in our organization, and lying around getting high and being an all-around fuckup was not going to get him anywhere but dead in that world.
If he made it that long.
I still wasn’t sure if I was going to put a bullet in him for not protecting Nova as he should have done.
Felicity placed a bowl of cereal in front of her daughter and then asked if I needed anything else. I gave her a tight smile and shook my head. I’d forced down the eggs and bacon she’d made for me, but if I ate anything else, I wasn’t sure it would stay in my stomach for long.
“We should be getting on the road,” Mom said as she finished her coffee. “We’re scheduled for takeoff in an hour.”
Tears filled Nova’s eyes, but she blinked them back and put on her brightest smile. “O-okay,” she choked out. “I-I need to get to school anyway.”
Even as she said it, her dad walked into the kitchen through the back door. “You ready, princess?”
She stood, her blond ponytail swishing as she nodded. “Be right there.”
Jet’s green gaze, so like his daughter’s, met mine. “Don’t worry, son. We’ve got this. She’s going to be safe. Trust me.”
I stood and shook his hand. “I know you do. It’s the only reason I’m able to leave her here.”
He pulled me in close, slapping me on the back. “Take care of yourself, Ryan. We’ll see you soon.”
“Yes, sir.” When he pulled back, he shook Mom’s hand and then motioned for Nova to hurry up.
She pulled her backpack over one of her shoulders, but instead of following him out the back door, she turned to face me. Her eyes were glazed with unshed tears, and she stared up at me like she was trying to memorize my face. “Call me when you get home.”
Reaching out, I playfully tugged on her ponytail. “Stay out of trouble. Call me when you get home. Or before then if you need me. One word and I’ll turn the jet around and be back here within a few hours.”
Her chin started to tremble, but she gave me a quick hug and ran out the back door before I could even wrap my arms around her to hug her back. As the door slammed behind her, I had to turn away from the others in the room before they saw how close to breaking I was. Without a word to anyone, I walked through the house and out the front door, watching as Jet’s motorcycle roared down the street, Nova on the back. But she didn’t see me. Her face was pressed into her dad’s back, and I knew she was crying.
Damn it.
My fist connected with the banister of the porch. Instantly, pain shot up my hand all the way to my elbow, the knuckles scraped open, blood beading on my skin.
“What did the poor post do to you?” Garret snickered as he came out the door.
Slowly, I turned my head to look at him. He had his own backpack slung over one shoulder, but it looked as if he’d just rolled out of bed. His hair was unkempt, his eyes still bloodshot from sleep—and probably whatever he’d been smoking the night before. His clothes were wrinkled as if he’d slept in them, and I knew his mom hadn’t seen him yet or she would have made him change.
The rage I’d been trying to contain for the last week was suddenly unleashed. With Nova not there to ground me, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I grabbed Garret by both shoulders and slammed him against the side of the house.
“Fuck!” he snarled. “Stop doing that shit.”
I put my forearm across his throat, holding him in place and cutting off his oxygen supply. I had a good thirty pounds of muscle compared to him. If he hadn’t spent the last few years fucking around and doing nothing but getting high when he was home, he would have had a few muscles to work with too. But he was too lazy for that, and now he couldn’t even budge me to save his own life.
If I decided to take it.
“Listen to me, you little fuckup,” I seethed. “You have until you graduate to prove to me that you deserve to be a part of my organization. If you fuck up even one more time, you can kiss the job my father promised you goodbye.”
Anger filled his green eyes, but he couldn’t speak with the way my arm was pressed into his throat. His face was already starting to turn purple, his mouth gaped open in an attempt to draw in even a small breath of air.
“You better fucking protect her. Every second of the day, Nova’s safety is the only thing you worry about. From now until the day I arrive to pick her up, she is your only concern.” I leaned in closer, lowering my voice. “Because if so much as one hair is harmed on her precious head, I will put a bullet in your skull before she can bat those lashes at me and try to convince me that your worthless ass deserves another chance.”
I dropped my arm and stepped back, straightening my shirt while he coughed and sputtered, sucking in life-giving oxygen. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he rasped out.
“Good. Keep her safe, and you might live long enough to see New York again.” I turned away from the sight of him rubbing at his neck. “Otherwise, you should think about how sad your mom will be when she has to plan her only son’s funeral.”
12
Nova
I was awake before my alarm went off. Since Ramirez’s men had attacked me, sleep had been elusive. Anya had always told me that the first kill was the worst, that no matter how many she’d gotten under her belt over the decades, her first had stayed with her to this day. I just hadn’t thought it would be this hard.
The attack had shown me that I’d learned a lot from Anya, but it had also shown me that I still had a lot left for her to teach me. Number one being how to turn off my emotions when it was a do-or-die situation.