After the Dust Settles (California Dreaming Book 3)

by Stacey Johnston

  “I’m not a child, padre. I can see this for myself,” I snipe in return.

  “Watch your tongue, girl,” he growls.

  “Why? What will you do? You failed to silence me before, and him being in this bed is no thanks to you.”

  “Are you insinuating something, child?” his growl asks, deeper than before. “ I had nothing to do with this. Your fratello is in this bed because he overdosed.”

  Fucking Gerrick and his Fucking drugs.

  Closing my eyes tightly, I lower my head. I don’t care what that bastard says, Gerrick is here because of him.

  “Oh, you had something to do with this,” I tightly tell him, opening my eyes again to glare back up at him.

  “What extent will you go to to get rid of us permanently? Are we that much of a threat to you?”

  I have his full attention now, and even though I would rather not do this over my fratello’s sleeping form, I don’t think I’ll get the opportunity again.

  “What did you do to his supply?” my words interrogate. “It had to be part of one of your shipments. Gerrick knows better than to buy from your competition.”

  I can practically see the smoke billowing out of my padre’s ears. He is seething. There is fire burning behind his eyes, threatening to engulf me in his anger. If we were having this conversation in his office I’d be dead. That trigger happy fucker would have shot me point blank range between the eyes.

  How do I know this? I know because I know my padre. We are alike, and it’s something I would have done, especially if someone had disrespected me the same way I just did to him.

  “What you believe means nothing to me, Hadley. Your fratello lays in that bed becaue he is a junkie. A coke sniffing whore who has out worn his usefullness.”

  That may not have been a confession, but it confirms my suspicions and my padre knows it.

  “Both of you have,” he finishes.

  I know I should ignore him, he is just trying to get under my skin, but I can’t.

  “No padre, that’s where you’re wrong. It is you who has worn out your usefullness.”

  At that moment, Gerrick’s grip on my hand tightens, but his eyes stay firmly closed. He is awake, but it’s clear he doesn’t want our padre knowing.

  Playing along, I continue to torment him. “One day very soon, you and nonno will be requainted.”

  Just when I think I see a fleeting moment of fear on his face, it changes.

  “It won’t be me, angelo, who will be joining your nonno. I have no intentions of giving up my seat just yet.”

  Turning to leave the room, he motions for Jimmy to follow and just like the asshole he is, he leaves us with his parting words.

  “Not without a fight.”

  Before I can reply, he’s gone, Jimmy too.

  Sean

  I wanted to resist, to tell Hadley I’d go with her to Gerrick’s room. Regardless of whether she wanted me there or not, I didn’t like the idea of her going alone with one of her father’s captains. I would’ve upset her, so I just nodded. This was something she needed to do by herself. If there was any concern for her safety, my father would never have allowed her to go alone. All of us seated here know what Hadley Alexandria is capable of, thus the reason no one attempted to stop her.

  There’s a deja vu feeling circling as I sit here waiting, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m still in shock from finding Gerrick or my memories of Sherlyn. I can imagine how daunting it would be for anyone who passes by, as there are about ten C.B.I agents, myself, my father and Hawke. That’s a hell of a lot of testosterone in one small room.

  Earlier, when we found Gerrick, I won’t deny I was annoyed finding him passed out on his bed. Until I got closer to him anyway. I’ve never seen a person overdose before, so imagine my shock when we found him. He was going blue, for fuck’s sake. I’m no paramedic, and I’ve never had to perform CPR. Thank god Thomas was with me. I didn’t even have to say anything to him. When I turned, he was already on the phone calling for a medic. Carefully removing the belt and needle from Gerrick’s arm, I threw them to the side to check for a pulse. His lips were already blue and I feared that we had already lost him. I couldn’t believe that he would fucking do that to his sister. She made no secret of her disappoval yesterday. He obviously knew how much she hated him touching that stuff.

  You’d think I’d be used to it now, the stuff I see, but it hasn’t gotten any easier. I’m not even a god damned agent yet, I’m just a wannabe – a kid who was dragged into this life willingly by his father. I was the computer nerd, the one who dug up shit on people no one else could. It’s only been in the last twelve months that I’ve really been trying to be more, especially since I do more field work now.

  The only fucking reason I was in Gerrick’s apartment was because of Hadley. She made me promise that I would bring him to the hospital. I know she’s worried about her brother, but he’s a no good fucking junkie. A coke snorting fucking criminal. Well that’s what I believe he’s using, anyway. We’ll know for sure when the results come back now that Hawke has organized the clean up. He sent in some of our guys to bag everything up. We are expecting the results on the tests Hawke ordered soon. There was a lot of fucking powder in that kitchen for just one person, which makes us believe this was no random act. Even my father agrees with that. Both him and Hawke feel that Hadley’s father has something to do with it, but once again, they are hiding shit from me. They are hiding the truth about what happened to Hadley that put her in hospital as well. This is the kind of shit that they pull that eats at me inside The lack of trust in me is evident. I’m growing tired of everything always being a need to know basis thing. I’ve found that I’m being kept in the dark more often.

  Distracted, I don’t see my girl approach, I feel her touch instead. Her hand in my hair soothes where my thoughts are heading. Pulling her onto my lap, I cuddle into her, not caring who is in the room with us. Placing her head on my shoulder, she buries her face into my neck while twisting her arms around the back of me. Her warm breath on my neck turns me on and my cock stirs. The timing couldn’t be any fucking worse.

  “I can feel you, babe. Do you need help with that,” she teases, whispering in my ear.

  I refrain from smiling or laughing when I catch sight of my father moving toward us from the other side of the room.

  “How is your brother doing, Hadley?” my father inquires, stopping just in front of the two of us.

  Standing, Hadley puts me in an awkward position and she fucking knows it too. A sly grin in my direction before turning to face my father, indicates that this litte vixen is enjoying my discomfort. Refusing to move, I stay seated, my body hidden from my father, but not Hawke. Obviously catching onto my predicament, Hawke throws a jacket in my direction as discreetly as he can. Another one with a sly smile, he just nods when I thank him before standing beside Hadley.

  “He’s okay. I spoke to him after my father left the room. He will be in for a few days but will make a full recovery,” Hadley directs at my father and Hawke.

  Using the jacket, I hide the fact that my cock is fucking harder than the unfortable plastic chair I’ve been sitting in for the past hour.

  “We have also spoken about my father and as much as I love his initative, we need to deal with this problem ourselves,” she continues.

  “This is not the time nor place for this discussion. We have men stationed here in the hospital that will watch Gerrick, but we need to move. This location is not safe for any of us,” my father replies, his stern voice returning when business is put on the table.

  “Lead the way,” Hadley directs, motioning for my father to move.

  Gerrick

  I love my sorella, sometimes more than myself, but fuck she can be a righteous bitch when she wants to. My life is fucked up, and I know I’m a screwup, but what I don’t need is Hadley reminding me. It’s something I’ve been aware of for a long time. I’ve never been as strong as my sorella, it’s been made very clear over
the years that I am the weaker of the two. My padre and his crew have always made it clear exactly where I sit on the food chain. It’s one of the reasons I have worked so hard to prove myself this last year. Only just recently did I finally open up to Hadley and tell her about the drugs and what happened to me. I’m good at hiding my pain. I’ve found it easy to fool people except those closest to me. Regardless of what Hadley says to me or thinks, I did not set out to overdose. I’m not heartless enough to ever put Hadley through that. She is the only family I actually give a shit about, and I know that it would kill her if anything happened to me.

  When I left her hospital room yesterday, I was desperate. It would have been obvious to everyone that I was coming down off of something. Seeing Hadley in that state and being in a room full of federal agents only made me more agitated than I already was. I knew what I was about to do was wrong and the moment I entered my padre’s home, I knew I’d made a mistake. The problem was, if I’d bought the coke off the streets, or from one of our sellers, he would have suspected something. When I walked through the door, it became obvious he was entertaining. He welcomed me, pulling me into his embrace to hug me against himself, but he was far too friendly. At the time, I thought nothing of it. My mind was on a mission, directing my body in one direction, toward my padre’s stash of blow. Cocaine and Hadley are my only weaknesses and that fucking monster knew it. Looking back, I should have been suspicious when I caught sight of those fuckers from Columbia. They were sitting in the living room talking to some half dressed, drugged up underage girls. Them being in Brooklyn had to be my padre’s doing, but at the time, I didn’t pick up on the suspiciousness of it.

  By the time I walked through the door, my padre’s party was in full swing. There were half naked bodies strewn all over the place, with all kinds of drugs littering the tables alongside the bottles of Jack Daniels. I must have looked like shit because I remember allowing my padre to lead me to the living room, where our Columbian friends were. What’s disturbing me right now is that it only comes to me in flashes. I can remember bits and pieces of the night, but nothing solid.

  I’m not delusional, I can see it for what it really was... a setup. I should have recognised it straight away, but I wasn’t interested, all I cared about was forgetting. I’ve seen some fucked up shit since I started working for my padre, but the visions of Hadley tied to that desk by Luca were ones I’ve struggled to erase. When I arrived at the one place I should feel safe, I was strung out and in desperate need of a fix. My fucking padre knew I’d come crawling, apparently, I have become predictable. Looking back now, there was nothing sponataneous or coincidental about what happened to me. My padre knew exactly what to expect and he used it against me, arranging for Andres and Seb to be there. Obviously, he contracted them to kill me.

  When I awoke in that hospital room, I heard Hadley’s and our padre’s voices. There was nothing civil about their conversation and that sorella of mine was confronting him, her voice was tight. You could tell she was struggling to contain her temper, only calming when I squeezed her hand. I wanted to let her know I was awake, but I left my eyes closed to give her the hint that I didn’t want our padre knowing. She played along, continuing to provoke him with her words.

  I really have to get out of this bed before she gets to him. If Hadley loses control, Padre dearest will be cut up into tiny little pieces. Her skills with a knife are beyond anything I’ve ever seen, but it’s a dark place she slips into to become that person. What worries me is that one day she will be lost completely, unable to find her way out. Killing our padre will take her deeper into that darkness than she’s ever been before. He will not make it easy for her, his taunts will have a purpose. He wants her to break, to finally be that person he has been molding her into all these years.

  He will have to kill me before I’ll allow him to break her. I can’t let him succeed, not now that Hadley has a chance at happiness and escaping this family. This whole experience has definitely opened my eyes and I won’t be allowing anything like that to ever happen to me again. I need to be stronger, if not for myself and the family, then for Hadley. She wants out, and I will do everything in my power to make sure she gets what she wants. She deserves happiness more than I do. Unlike my sorella, I love this lifestyle. What I need to rid myself of is the drugs. Selling and distributing is one thing, snorting the shit – another. Especially after it nearly cost me my life.

  *****

  What started out as a headache whilst partying with Andres and Seb, quickly turned into something I was in no way prepared for. But then again, who does prepare themselves for an overdose? I should have realized something was wrong and I know I keep repeating that, but I’m not normally that stupid. Maybe I was blinded and it made me an easy target.

  Andres and Seb were way too keen to take what I believed was our last hit. Andres had been overzealous with his hands, stroking my cock through my jeans. He was whispering in my ear what he was going to do to it with his tongue. His touch and words were putting me in a state of bliss that I was really getting into.

  Fuck it, I thought. That’s all I wanted anyway, was to relax. The thing about those two is that they’re familiar. What Andres could do with his hands and mouth normally had me coming quicker than a champagne cork popping. It was just what I needed – and desperately wanted. With both my arms placed firmly behind my head, I sank further into the comfort of the chair I was lounging on, with Andres and Seb on either side of me. My rock solid cock was being roughly caressed by Andres, and Seb was whispering sexy words in my ear. I thought for sure I was going to fucking explode. I was that horny.

  It was then that the anxiousness kicked in and I could feel my body trembling slightly. I remember brushing it off, because I was high and trying to focus on what Seb and Andres were doing to my body. Big – fucking – mistake!

  I know now that it had to have been those two who spiked my supply, and that my padre ordered it.

  Flashes of memories from last night have been pouring back in, yet I’m having trouble piecing those fragments back together to form a more stable timeline. More disturbingly, being told that I was found with a needle hanging out of my arm kind of freaked me out as well. I have never injected myself there, everyone who knows me well, knows that’s out of character for me. The simple fact that I don’t have any track marks is enough to colloberate my story.

  I’m more the conspicuous type when using, and prefer the gaps between my toes. The last thing I ever wanted was for Hadley to discover I used at all, let alone consider me a junkie. Snorting ‘White Ghost’, a term for Cocaine that Andres uses, has always been easier, but I didn’t want to end up looking like all the other coke freaks. I can always tell what people are using just from the little mannerisms they develop after a while. Long term use of Cocaine causes a constant sniffling or runny nose, which is why I alternate and inject between my toes as well.

  For me, coke has always been my drug of choice... well, it became my drug of choice. In the beginning, when my padre whored me out, I needed it so that I could deal with what those men were forcing me to do. Andres and Seb were the worst. Those two assholes did things to my body the first time that physically took a few months to heal. Mentally, though, well I’m still working on that. I can’t honestly say for sure that I’ve always been bi-curious, or if I just grew to love it. Over the last year, I’ve wondered if I would’ve wandered down the same path if given the choice. Hadley, on the other hand, has always enjoyed the company of both men and women. She owns her sexuality, always has. I’ve always been jealous of her strength and courage.

  Another thing I remember is being in bed with Seb, whilst Andres stood by the foot of it – watching us, his hand firmly grasping his cock. He was stroking himself, as he watched Seb sucking my cock. Those memories are vivid, but so is the memory of my head pounding like a freight train running through it. Come to think of it, my body was shaking uncontrollably as well.

  Shit! I really need to get out of this hos
pital room. I’m not safe in here. It won’t matter how many federal agents are guarding me, if my pardre wants to try and kill me again, he will find a way. I have to get to him first and more importantly, before Hadley does.

  Everyone knows it should be that sorella of mine who succeeds our padre, but she doesn’t want it. She wants out, a life away from the violence. I don’t blame her because she’s trying to exorcise that evilness buried deep inside her. Hadley is craving a normal life and as much as I hate law enforcement, Sean is her ticket out of here. After everything our padre has forced her to do, if she can grab at that happiness, who am I to try and take it away from her?

  Our padre, though, would rather see her dead. He will never allow her to disappear, especially after he got a glimpse of what Hadley was capable of, years ago with Andres fratello. He recognized the evilness, one similiar to his own, and has been trying to control her ever since.

  That girl has never been controllable – until Sean Valentine.

  As much as I hate to admit it, that boy is good for Hadley. I’ve never seen her as happy as what she is when he is around. He brings out the girl she should be, and I love that. There’s no hardness behind her eyes, just laughter and love. I would sacifrice everything to see my sorella happy, which is why we need to take down our padre, and soon.

  When she was here earlier, we spoke about what happened. Hadley was upset with me, she had every right to be, but in the end, she understood. Will she be so understanding if she catches me using again? Probably not, but that’s something I’ll face when the time comes. Removing the cocaine from my life isn’t going to be as easy as that sorella of mine thinks it will be, but for her and her only, I will do it. I plan to take over and lead the family, but I can’t do that if I’m a drug fucked cocaine addict. One problem at a time, though.