The Fallon Brothers: Kinney

by Esther E. Schmidt

  Normally I get assignments where there’s either an undercover angle or a plain and simple go in for the kill. Torture is off the record but not foreign to me. I let my gaze fall on a nipper and sewing kit right next to it. I snatch up the nippers and shove it into my back pocket. With the sewing kit in hand, I stroll to Mario while I grab a needle and thread.

  I glance at Shea. “Mind holding his head for me?”

  Shea grins and takes Mario’s head in a firm grip. Without effort I take Mario’s eyelash between my thumb and forefinger and pull it. I shove the needle through his eyelid and right through his eyebrow. Mario screams loud, but I don’t care and just proceed, repeating the action and pulling the thread to make sure his eyes stay wide open. I treat the other eye the same way.

  Shea lets go of Mario’s head and assesses my handiwork, giving a nod of approval to Kinney. Ugh. Men. I glance around and notice a pile of dust and trash. I grab a handful and stalk back, throwing the mass of dust, gravel, and other tiny shreds into his face.

  He howls out in pain, unable to blink or seek a way to remove it from his eyes and his only option is to endure the pain that keeps slicing through him. Nice way to start. Mario is disorientated, in pain, and without vision.

  I stalk around the guy and get behind him. He tries to turn his head in an effort to expect where my next attack will come from, but his eyes are hurting and won’t give him the visual he needs, so he gives up after a few attempts. He’s not moving and yet I catch the tremor moving through his body.

  Everyone is watching me and I always take pleasure in biding my time. Postponing the inevitable since Kinney mentioned this guy is a dead man. Besides, he mentioned Mira and I cannot let him spill her name or any more information. It’s reason enough to end this quickly instead of letting it drag on.

  I raise the nipper I’m palming and quickly nip a few times in his ear. Treating the other ear the same way—for the sake of my OCD balance. I let the nippers fall to the ground and stalk over to the other stuff to see what to use next.

  The ice pick catches my attention when I hear Shea’s voice. “Tell me more about the woman or I’ll let her continue, maybe end it quickly seeing as you’re not of any use to me. Give me some information and change my mind, it might save your life.”

  Oh, shit.

  My gaze finds Kinney whose face looks pinched. Kier is standing next to him, worry plain on his face, and his hand is moving to his back. His body language is telling me he’s reaching for his gun. I stalk back and right when Mario says the first letter of Mira’s old name, I jam the ice pick into his ear and straight to his brain.

  “What. The. Fuck?” Shea snarls.

  Over Shea’s shoulder I see Kier’s relieved face but now Kinney looks worried and I know I caused trouble.

  Thinking fast I blurt, “I felt no need to let this drag on. I’d rather reserve my time for the girl he mentioned. When we find her, we’ll question her. You know, without the whole torture thing; with the pregnancy and all we wouldn’t want to risk the baby in question, right?”

  Shea still looks pissed, but snaps, “You sure you can find her? This fucker was about to give us her name. You ruined everything instead of making it easy for us to find her.”

  A sly smile spreads my face. “I never liked the easy way. If I did, I’d have a pencil pecker for a husband, not that man right there.”

  Shea shakes his head and I can see the laughter on his face, though I doubt it involves any humor. “You’re more stupid than I thought if you think he’s going to marry you. I bet he put a limit on the old lady title. A favor. A way to tie you to the underworld like how I wanted your ass here to get blood on your hands, proof to keep your mouth shut, and wash our hands clean along with it.”

  I grind my teeth because he’s right. Three months. I should have known Shea knows how Kinney works. And the whole blood on my hands thing to make me an accomplice so I can’t rat on them since I’m the one who did the killing part, it’s the whole reason Kinney ordered to have me delivered here.

  I should have known Kinney would prioritize business over me. And why shouldn’t he? We’ve only known each other for a fragment of time while these two have been connected for years on end.

  “If my old lady wants a ring, she’s gonna get it.” Kinney’s voice breaks the stare down between Shea and I, making my gaze land on him. “Did you recall putting a time stamp on us, darlin’?” His smooth voice has an underlying tone to it.

  I damn well know if I say yes, Shea gets his win and all there is between us is the favor we set in place. While if I give into the way we seem to evolve, there might be something for us in the future. Maybe Kinney didn’t have a choice in bringing me here and the dynamics between Shea and him are strained and this whole mess with Mira is putting more pressure on the both of them.

  I know there are bound to be consequences, though right now all my mind screams is, “Forever, stud. Didn’t you grunt the whole ‘you’re mine forever’ while shooting your load down my throat?”

  “Right.” Kinney chuckles. “I’m good at multitasking.”

  “Yes, you are,” I huskily agree.

  Shea rubs a hand over his face. “For fuck’s sake. Get this shit cleaned up, and you.” He points at me. “You get me the information about the woman.”

  I shrug. “I will tell you if she’s indeed pregnant and what her thoughts of involvement with you might be. Seeing as she could have lost it—or still lose it—or might want a grandpa in her kid’s life if she is in fact pregnant.”

  “Just get me the fucking info on the girl,” Shea growls, turns on his heels, and stalks out of the warehouse.

  Once it’s just us Kinney’s voice thunders, “Motherfucker.” He glares at me. “You do realize you can’t keep throwing yourself in front of your friend, right?”

  I perch my fists on my hips. “I can, and I will. But this time he was the reason.” I point at Kier and Kinney glances to his left.

  Kier shrugs. “My trigger-happy-finger was itching.”

  “Motherfucker,” Kinney growls again underneath his breath and steps toward me. “You saw he was gonna shoot him, didn’t you?”

  “This whole situation is screwed up and you said the guy would end up dead anyway, so I figured it was best for me to kill him than explain why Kier would interfere.” I nod at Kier. “Thanks for sticking up for my friend. I owe you one.”

  Kinney rubs a hand over his face and I swear it sounds like he mutters, “Motherfucker,” again underneath his breath.

  It makes me cringe and I let my eyes wander over the warehouse, wondering what to do now.

  “Nics, Byrne, clean the place up and make sure the body is never to be found. Same goes for the stuff that’s used. No prints. And be sure to do as ordered. Got it?” The both of them nod at Kinney’s words. He releases a deep sigh and holds his hand out for me to take. “Come on, let’s head home.”

  I let my fingers entwine with his. He gives a little squeeze and says, “I did like the angle you slipped in there about asking her and telling him. It does give us something to hide behind and I’m not sure he caught your slip of words due to the hard kill you made, throwing him off.”

  I give him a grin. “I’m resourceful.”

  He pulls me close and mutters, “Yes, you are.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  — Kinney —

  It’s deep in the night when we’re still in church talking things through while Mira and Aspen are sitting at the bar. The first few hours we had a meeting with all brothers—getting everyone up to speed about everything—now it’s just me and Kier while my eyes are set on both women.

  “Are we any closer on taking Leon out? I thought you wanted to leave the body on Leon’s doorstep, send him a message and all,” Kier says as he comes to stand next to me.

  “We need to take a step back. The DEA has eyes on him. There’s a lot of shit going on and we can’t dive in full force with our heads up our asses. I mean, look at those two.” I point at Aspen
and Mira. “Before Aspen stalked toward that fucker to torture him, she told me Mira was Leon’s niece and how Leon must have killed Mira’s parents. That shit ain’t normal. And I know it’s fucked up with your balls warm and cozy up this chick’s ass but you do realize we now have something Leon wants, right?”

  Kier’s eyes are spitting fire at me. “We’re not using my woman as bait to get Leon.”

  I tilt my head and ask the question I already know the answer to. “So she’s your old lady completely? No scam of protection? No substitute from what you should have had in the past but was robbed from?”

  “No, you fucking asshole. This is different. She’s mine and nothing compared to the whore who stole my jizz to get some kind of claim on me. Hell, this kid inside Mira isn’t my blood but since it’s a part of her I consider it mine too, okay? Twisted but I can’t explain it. It just feels right when I have her in my arms and I’ve decided that’s enough to explore whatever it is between us. I can’t do that if Shea takes her. She’s mine and that’s all there is to it.” His chest is rising and falling while his eyes stay locked on Mira.

  “How did these two waltz into our lives and have everything shift into an altered version of life and yet the wrong thing suddenly seems right?” I mutter and let a deep sigh rip from my chest.

  “Yeah,” Kier says and smacks my back. “But as with everything, we regroup and deal. The way I see it, your woman brilliantly intercepted a shitty situation and gave us some leeway. They are a grand prize, Kinney. Not just their skills, though the whole cooking homemade meals each day thing brings all the brothers closer together. Your woman sticking up for a brother, taking care of all the brothers. Former government assassin or not, I’d say she’s loyal to us and the woman sitting next to her is the reason. Along with that asshole supervisor of hers I’ve heard stories about. She didn’t have it easy while all she wanted was what she fought for and he ruined it for her. Their loss, our gain.”

  He’s right. And I can’t help but snicker at his words about the homemade meals. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, huh?”

  Kier shrugs. “I always function better on a full stomach.”

  I point at Aspen and Mira. “Get those two in here. I think it’s time they put all the cards on the table. If we’re fully invested, they should be too. We need to voice that shit out loud so they know. I don’t want any more surprises about family twists and shit like that.”

  Kier nods in agreement and opens the door. “Giggles, get in here and bring Aspen.”

  “Giggles?” I question. “I’ve never even seen the woman so much as smile and you call her Giggles?”

  “See?” Kier says with a huge fucking grin on his face. “She’s happiness to me. You should hear her giggle when we talk about everyday things, or watch movies, or when I fart, whatever.”

  “Dude.” A chuckle slips past my lips and I shake my head right when the women enter church.

  “Everything okay?” Aspen’s gaze slides over both me and Kier as if she’s trying to assess the situation.

  I hold out my hand for her because I need to feel her close. This woman’s body language is easier for me to understand when I have her plastered against me. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know the way she tenses up or seeks my comfort when questions are thrown back and forth.

  She takes my offer without a second thought and when I tuck her underneath my arm, I murmur, “Kier explained why he calls her Giggles. It was something about his farts and her laughing about it.”

  Aspen snorts and shakes her head.

  Kier points at a chair and in a soft tone he says, “Have a seat and tell us about your family. We need to know all the details so we’re not blindsided. By now you must know you’re not getting rid of me and all my intentions are good. Spill, and don’t leave anything out.” That last line has a bit of a snap to it and I can feel Aspen tense up.

  I lean in close to her ear and murmur, “Let them be. Kier wouldn’t hurt her even if she kicked him in the balls.”

  “I know,” she whispers back. “But she already told me some and she’s hurting inside. Her background is painful and it’s not as easy as you think to let words flow.”

  We both watch as Kier squats in front of the chair Mira is sitting on.

  Her gaze is solely focused on Kier when she starts, “My father grew up in a world where he had no other choice but to follow orders and step into his father’s footsteps. Dealing drugs was their family legacy. As the oldest son of the head of the gang he was brought up to take over one day. He loved my mother and tried to keep her and his work separate, though there is no safe place where I come from. Even if my parents sent me away to boarding school. Not only because of the danger of my father’s work but because of my uncle’s unhealthy interests when he first saw me when I was sixteen.”

  Mira gulps and her eyes go to Aspen, without words reaching out and asking in a silent request for advice.

  “Go on, Mira, look at Kier. He won’t see you differently. Just tell him what happened.” Aspen’s words are gentle, supportive and yet they hold a little push to get Mira to continue.

  “There was a family gathering. We all needed to be present and I very vividly remember my parents arguing over me being there. I will never forget my father’s pain filled voice talking about how there was no choice in the matter. My grandfather demanded the whole family was required to attend. I received a long speech from my father about how I wasn’t allowed to stray and needed to stick with my mother but—” Mira swallows a sob and wipes her tears away with the back of her hand. “My stupid teenage brain thought I could handle myself. I went to boarding school, away from everything, and in my mind nothing was as drastic and dangerous as they made it sound. I thought it was all blown out of proportion to scare me. My father wasn’t a ruthless man who killed people at every turn, he was…loving…caring.”

  A shudder flows through her body and her eyes land on Kier.

  “I went to the bathroom. My mother was looking the other way when I got back out and I decided I could explore on my own. The house was owned by my uncle, who I’ve only heard about because my father used to say he’s ruthless and not the kind of people he wanted around me.”

  Mira wrings her hands and all my mind is thinking is how fucked up this shit is. How can the head of a drug gang downplay everything for his daughter and keep her out of everything and yet put her right in the middle of it?

  I rub my chin on Aspen’s head and she leans in closer. Her arms wrap around me and it makes warmth spread through my body. Maybe we were connected through a bad timing moment or just at the right time and place because we do fit very well together. There’s a foundation, an underlying form of mutual respect. And needless to say, our bodies crave each other on a deep level.

  I don’t have time to think about me and Aspen because Kier gently cups Mira’s face but she rips away and yells, “No. Don’t. I brought this on myself, don’t you get it? I didn’t listen. I wandered out the back where I saw Leon kill a man while he stood there smiling, a body at his feet with the neck at an odd angle. He stepped closer and dared me to say something. I was so scared but I knew in that instant my father’s long speech wasn’t for nothing. I swallowed down the bile rising in my throat and steeled my shoulders. I told him...I said...‘I hope you clean up after yourself before the guests find trash littering the floor.’ Leon laughed.”

  Mira wipes away the tears streaming down her face.

  “He laughed so hard with his head tipped back until he stopped and pierced me with his gaze and stepped closer. He cupped the side of my face and leaned in close, making me feel really uncomfortable. It was that moment my father came up behind me. Leon said something about my father hiding something so precious from him. And if he would have known he would have talked to their father sooner about me. He...he wanted me as his wife. My father, he wasn’t the real Mornchez firstborn. My father was the son of a soldier who was a day old when his parents died. Leon’s mother had a
miscarriage and wasn’t doing well and the baby pulled her through. My father had no other option but to explain it to me and my mother later that night how Leon wasn’t his blood. And how Leon...how he always saw the gap in their family and the way Mornchez favored my father as a firstborn while that title belonged to Leon. It’s why Leon eventually killed my father. He thought the head of the family should be him and not someone who wasn’t Mornchez blood. Having me as his wife was supposed to be the biggest of fuck yous. But he couldn’t find me. Somehow Luigi knew about my family and how Leon wanted me. I didn’t know Luigi. He seemed like just a guy who wanted to show me a good time. He must have put something in my drink. I remember stuff but I couldn’t do anything. I’m sure he drugged me. And when I woke up, I tried to reach Aspen, but she was out of the country. I didn’t have anyone and I had nowhere to go. I locked myself up for weeks and didn’t know what to do. Luigi took my ID, knew where I lived, who I was—”

  She wrings her hands and her shoulders sag. “Luigi came back a few weeks later. He made me take a pregnancy test. He knew I was a virgin and it was why he didn’t wear a condom. He said he was fixed but some of his swimmers were still active when he got tested. He didn’t want any surprises and made me take the test. I was shocked it showed I was pregnant. I locked myself up in the bathroom, called Aspen and she picked up, but Luigi went nuts. It shouldn’t have been possible…he…Luigi…he was so twistedly satisfied with himself. He did all of it on purpose to bait Leon. I don’t know why. I don’t—” A sob rips from her and Kier scoops her up in his arms, turning to sit on the chair so he can cradle her in his arms while gently rocking them back and forth.

  “It’s okay, Giggles,” he murmurs softly. “It’s all over now. No one is going to dictate your life or fucking drug you, or blame you for shit you had no influence on. You hear me? It all ended the day you met me. You’re mine now, and there’s no damn way Leon will ever come near you.”