Rev (16 page)

“Rev, don’t do anything hasty,” I exhorted. “Please don’t go off and do something you’ll regret.”

“This has nothing to do with you,” he shouted, pulling away.

I shook my head and raised my hands, palms up. “Of course it does,” I pleaded. “Whatever happens to you affect me deeply. Please Rev.”

He ran his hands through his hair and looked down at the ground. “I want you to come to Uncle Norman’s funeral. He would have wanted you there. I’ll let you know.”

He turned and left for the car.

“Rev, don’t go. Stay here for a minute…”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and realized it was my Aunt Sylvia, who’d been sitting there quietly the whole time.

“Let him go,” she said softly. “He needs time.”

Chapter Eighteen

REV

“So he knew?” I asked, standing with my brothers, waiting to bury our Uncle.

“He knew what Uncle Norman was up to,” Mayhem said. “He knew he was behind the heists, including the last one that stole over a dozen Maseratis off a Gryffin hauler.”

“Yeah, and a shit load of cocaine,” I added.

Mayhem tensed. “Shut the fuck up,” he whispered. “Do you want Dad to overhear that his own son was involved as well?” he whispered harshly. “Use your fucking head for once.”

I raised my hands. “Yeah, sure. I’m sorry.”

Mayhem continued. “Point is, dad knew about the cocaine too. He could have turned down the shipment, but he didn’t. I don’t know what’s going on between him and this Roman Carmichael guy, but I’m going to find out.”

“And I don’t think I have to remind you this is a wake-up call,” Ink interjected. “You’re done with jacking shipments. From now on, you run things by us, Revon. Last thing we need is to lose someone else.”

“We’ll see,” I muttered.

Our father approached. His face was hard, severe, grim. I wouldn’t say he was overcome by sadness as much as a forbidding austerity. He stared at me with his steely ice-blue eyes. I’d always felt an unrelenting condemnation under those eyes. He signaled to Ink and Mayhem and they walked off, leaving my father and me alone.

“I have a question for you Revon,” he began, paralyzing me with his stony expression. “And I want you to answer truthfully. Because so help me God, if I find out—and I always do—there’ll be hell to pay.”

I nodded and felt the anxiety build. I knew what came next.

“Your Uncle and your race crew were involved in multiple heists involving one on my own damn carrier. So, it begs the question: were you?”

I didn’t hesitate. There was no point. He’d know.

“Yes,” I said. “I was helping Uncle Norman give people a damn chance after you left them without jobs, kicked off the land they’ve worked on for generations.”

My father tensed his fists. “Damn it, son. You don’t understand the first thing about it. You need to grow the hell up. Adult life is full of complexities. For some reason that never got through to your Uncle. And now you—”

“That’s bull shit!” I cried out. “You don’t give a shit about Desert Haven. It’s all about making a buck. Grandpa’s probably rolling in his grave. And now Uncle Norman—”

My father put his hand up, as a warning to quiet down. “Listen to me Revon. This whole idyllic farm and country thing you keep going back to: it’s not viable. It’s dead. I’m doing the best I can facing the realities of the future. Gryffin Transportation is always hiring, there’re jobs popping up in those huge warehouses built by the online companies. It’s a different era. We can do the best to maintain some kind of influence in this community or we can watch someone rip it from us as we stand idly by.”

I crossed my arms and fumed. “Yeah, right. And what are you going to do about Uncle Norman’s murder?”

“Listen to me.” My father leaned in close until I practically felt his furious stare bore into me. “All this Robin Hood shit ends now. You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” He backed away, a fleeting moment of tenderness flickering across his face. “I already lost a brother. Don’t make me lose a son.”

He walked away. I seethed.

What the hell does he know?

My father was the one who’d had no problems letting Roman Carmichael smuggle cocaine through his transportation network. Who was he to get up on his high horse? At least Uncle Norman and I were doing something positive for the family name and the community we’d called home for generations.

And yet, he was right about something.

Everyone around me got hurt. Maybe they’d known the risks involved. Maybe they were ultimately responsible for their own fates. But let’s face it. I had a habit of being drawn to the reckless life. I’d surrounded myself with every form of hazard and peril. Being around me was like taking your chances with a pretty dicey future.

And things were about to get even more dangerous. Some drug kingpin had it out for my family. My father was clearly involved in some pretty deep shit. And who knows? Did Roman Carmichael know I was involved in that heist? Was he just biding his time, waiting to take me out and send an even stronger message?

They say if you love someone, you let them go. Just the thought of giving up what I had with Winter brought a painful twist to my stomach. I knew I’d never find that again.

But I couldn’t live with myself knowing she’d be in constant danger. And even if I could somehow keep her safe, what kind of life was that? I’d be out there hunting my uncle’s killer while one of the most powerful criminals in the country was probably hunting me.

And I wasn’t about to back away from all of that. I couldn’t do it. I was never the calm, cool, collected type.

I wanted her in my bed every night and morning. I wanted to sink into her, our bodies so close together that I lost track of where one of us ended and the other began. She was everything to me.

Which was why she deserved a real life, a balanced life, with all the normal things that made it worth living. Not some hothead caught up in circumstances that amounted to a death trap. Four people were dead already.

I shook my head.

Yeah, this fucking sucks.

Our paths had crossed in what seemed like a heaven-sent destiny. This whole week, I’d felt like they converged and we were looking up ahead at a long straight road that stretched into the horizon. But there was a fork in that road and fate was telling us to go our separate ways.

And I had to let it happen. Because I was a reckless fool but I had my limits. I’d risk anything but her.

Chapter Nineteen

Winter

“As you all know, my brother and I had a complicated relationship.”

I stood next to Rev and his brothers as Edward Gryffin began the eulogy. Rev was withdrawn and uncommonly reserved. I reached my arm across to hold his hand, but he ignored my gesture.

“Norman had his faults, as we all do. He didn’t understand the new realities of the modern world. So we were often at each other’s throats. We argued, we fought, and we clashed.”

I looked up at Rev’s rigid expression. There was sadness in his eyes, which I understood. But as he stared straight ahead with his features stiff and cold, I saw resignation and defeat. He’d never been this closed off. For once, I couldn’t see the fire in his eyes. It worried me.

“But just as I do, Norman understood the importance of family,” Edward Gryffin continued. “We could both agree on that, even as we struggled to come to terms on just about everything else.”

Rev pulled at his collar. It was the first time I’d seen him in a collared shirt, much less a suit and tie. I had to admit, as good as his muscular physique looked in a tight t-shirt and rough-denim jeans, a tailored suit enticingly highlighted the angular planes of his face and the broadness of his shoulders. For some men, a suit covered their flaws. For Rev, it emphasized the archetypal masculinity of his body. He was a gorgeous man, no matter what he was wearing, where he was, or what he was doing.

“Norman always thought we should honor our father’s vision,” the eulogy continued. “But Arthur Gryffin lived in a very different world. Still, there was one thing Norman and I agreed upon. Despite the presence of oil reserves on Gryffin Ranch, we’d refrain from drilling on or selling the family property.”

“Wait, what?!” Mayhem hissed. “I didn’t know shit about that.”

“Shhh.” Ink hushed him as the eulogy ended.

“Norman was a good man,” Edward concluded. “We knew him as a brother, uncle, a trusted friend. But he was also a man of immense humanity, compassion, and vision. We didn’t see eye-to-eye, but it no way detracts from my whole-hearted respect and admiration for the way he chose to live his life. Rest forever in peace, my brother.”

The casket fell slowly into the earth, and everyone threw a rose onto it in turn. The crowd began to break, and I walked out of the graveyard with Rev, Ink, and Mayhem. The dark limousines waited outside.

Rev turned to me, the same blunt look on his face. “I can’t see you anymore Winter.”

And that was it. He pivoted in the other direction and left, walking towards the black car at the front of the line of parked vehicles.

“Rev… Come on.” I began to follow, but a calm, direct voice called me back.

“Winter,” Ink insisted, “give him time.”

I watched Rev go. I knew he meant it. He was off in his own world and our brief involvement was at an end. Maybe it was just bad timing. Maybe if all of this hadn’t happened, we’d still have a chance. But right now, his family needed him. We’d only been seeing each other for a week. He had a million things on his mind, and I doubt I was one of them.

Head bent low, I made my way to the end of the line of limos. I called a car and stood waiting, watching the throng of black suits and dresses dissipate.

“Winter.”

I turned to find Helen Gryffin standing behind me. She was about to get into the last limo after the last few funeral attendees left the cemetery. Her husband Edward was shaking hands with them now.

“I saw what happened. Rev was very close to his uncle. He’s hurting.”

“I understand.”

“You two will work it out,” Helen said encouragingly. “Love always finds a way.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry for your loss.”

She stretched out her arms and I stepped in for a hug. “Thank you for coming.”

My car came and I ducked in, giving the address to my Aunt Sylvia’s. It was probably time to start thinking about packing up and heading home. All adventures come to an end.

Chapter Twenty

REV

“I can’t believe we’re even discussing this!” I shouted. “It’s Uncle Norman, for Christ sakes. We should be out there running down the guys that killed him. Him and Derek and Stefan and Adrian. We should be getting after this Roman Carmichael guy.”

“Are you fucking stupid?” my dad asked, his eyes cutting across the office room. “Because it sounds like it.”

“So we’re going to sit around doing nothing?”

“We’re going to get more information before doing something stupid.” My dad sat down, sweat running across his brow. “Look Revon, I need you cut it out with the hot headed vengeance garbage.”

“Why should I? Why am I the only one who wants to do anything about this?”

“You’re not,” Ink cut in. “Listen, Roman Carmichael’s a powerful guy. He murdered your whole crew and Uncle Norman in one fell swoop. He knew exactly who came after his shipment and where they’d be and when. We need more information going into this.”

“And how the hell do you intend to do that?” I asked. “We don’t know anything about this guy.”

Of course, I was ignoring the fact that my dad clearly knew something we didn’t about Roman Carmichael. Apparently, Mayhem discovered that Gryffin Transportation knew cocaine was stuffed in those cars, but chose to transport them anyway. Maybe my dad was scared. Maybe he played stupid and ran the shipment, knowing who’d come looking if he reported it. But that just wasn’t my father. I had a feeling there was something more to it.

“I’m reaching out to a good friend,” Mayhem said, in response to my question. “We used to spar together back in the Marine Corps. Best damn operations expert in the whole service.”

“What the hell does that have to do with it?” I asked hurriedly. “Look, I’m all for working out a plan to take down Roman Carmichael. But I thought you said we were waiting on information, not tactical help. Why the hell should we wait on some ex-marine and lose the element of surprise?”

My dad clutched at his chest and then ran his hand over his shoulder, still sweating even in the air-conditioned office. “Shut up, Revon! Will you let Cage finish his damn point?”

“This guy used to work for Roman Carmichael over in North Carolina. Last I heard he’s out in the Northeast somewhere with some girl living the simple life. Rumor has it, he made a deal with Roman to get out of the organization after exposing a plot to overthrow him.”

“Alright, so what?” I said impatiently. “He made a deal with the devil. Good for him. Now we have to wait doing nothing until he comes out of hiding? How are you even going to find this guy?”