“What do you mean, he’s prospecting for the Satan’s Knights?” he grinds out the question.
I’m not really sure what that entails or how to properly explain, so I just begin with the first thing that comes to mind.
“That apartment you got for him—”
“Hold up. I didn’t get him the apartment, Parrish did. Having him rent from the widow of one of the most notorious mobsters wasn’t ideal, but the parole board approved it. Who was I to argue?”
“I wasn’t finished,” I say, blowing out a breath. “He barely stays there. He checks in for curfew and then he’s out. I didn’t really say anything at first, because most of the time he came here…” My voice fades as I lower my gaze. Schwartz mutters a curse and I flinch. This, admitting I’ve been an accessory to Bishop’s parole violation, is harder than I thought it would be.
“It’s not what you think…he didn’t sleep here.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” he hisses. “You expect me to believe he’s sneaking over here and you two are what…binging Netflix movies?
“I mean we fooled around and last night we came pretty close, but it wasn’t like that. He would come here to tuck Connor in, sometimes he’d read him a bedtime story, other times he just watched him sleep. I couldn’t take that away from him, not when it’s partly the reason I applied for guardianship in the first place. I wanted to give them as much time together as possible and in a somewhat normal environment, without social workers watching them or a time limit.”
I pause, feeling the heat creep into my cheeks. I look away and shrug.
“And, yeah, I liked the time alone with Bishop too. In those stolen moments, I felt like we were a normal couple. We’d watch a movie or pretend to at least. I used to catch him staring at me a lot like he couldn’t believe I was real. I liked the attention. We’d talk about the future and one night he asked me if I wanted kids. The question caught me off guard and I didn’t answer right away, mainly because I never thought too much about having children. I’ve been too occupied with school and work to think about settling down but sitting there with him, I could picture it. I didn’t have to tell him that, though, Bishop looked at me knew I wanted children. He said I was going to be a great mother.”
I smile faintly at the memory before shaking my head.
“I wanted so badly to ask him if he saw himself having more children. I wondered if he possibly wanted a chance to experience all the things he missed with Connor. I worked up enough nerve to ask him, but he suddenly glanced at the clock and said he had to go. It was so abrupt, I figured I had crossed a line and I was embarrassed. I didn’t even walk him to the door like I usually did. He left and about five minutes later I realized he had forgotten his phone. He started getting texts and I swore I wasn’t going to look, but it wouldn’t stop. Text after text and they were all from Parrish. He said he vouched for him and it looked bad on his behalf if he didn’t do as he was told.”
“Fucking Parrish,” Schwartz grunts. “He doesn’t know when to quit. That man has had his hand in every aspect of this situation, from the Bikers Against Child Abuse, to that stunt in the courtroom. I don’t believe for one second he didn’t have something to do with that evidence showing up.”
I won’t argue that. Jack Parrish is a very influential man and for a good while, I thought everyone was wrong about him. Bishop was essentially a stranger to him, and he laid everything on the line to help him and his son. But now, I know he’s also a master manipulator and Jack Parrish did everything he could to help Bishop because he wanted to mold him into his protege. Think about it, it makes perfect sense. His son-in-law, Blackie, the first man he ever sunk his claws into, was away in rehab at the time, he needed new blood.
A new project.
Some of us were too blind to see it and some of us were too hung up on protecting their father’s honor to care.
My mother should’ve taken me to a therapist. Hell, we could’ve gone together. Between losing Bethany and everything with my father, it would’ve been the smart thing to do, but she was too consumed by her grief to come to that realization.
I don’t blame her though.
I could’ve sought a shrink on my own as an adult. Instead, I forced a smile, pretended all was well and made a ton of bad decisions.
“Anyway, go on,” Schwartz encourages, taking a sip of his coffee. My gaze wanders back to him and again, I try to focus on the now.
“Bishop realized he left his phone here a little while later and when he came back for it, I called him out on what I had discovered. He didn’t deny it, nor was he mad I had snooped. He came clean about everything. It was almost as if it was weighing on him and he was happy to have it off his chest. He told me he had two apartments, the one in Grace Pastore’s house and another one upstairs from Big Nose Kate’s. He said he didn’t really stay at Kate’s all that much, that the plan was for him to make that his permanent residence once his probation was complete. Until then, it served as a place he used to meet with the club. I asked him why he needed to meet with the club because it still hadn’t clicked for me, you know? He knew he couldn’t have any contact with criminals, we drilled it into his head before he was even released.”
Schwartz rolls his eyes.
“You know I don’t even know why I’m bothered by this. The more these delinquents fuck the law, the more money they give me to defend them.”
I shoot him a look.
“You’re bothered by it because of Connor,” I tell him softly. “Like it or not, that boy touched us all…even you.”
He doesn’t deny it as he takes another sip of coffee, but when he pulls the cup away from his lips, I spot the scowl. A sure sign I’ve struck a nerve.
“You asked him why and what was his answer?”
“He told me he was prospecting for the Knights, that he felt indebted to them for everything they had done. I tried to reiterate the severity of the situation and what would happen if he got caught, but he said he wasn’t a full-patched member, that it could be years before that happened and he’d be off parole by that time—”
My words get cut off as Schwartz loses his temper and slams his hand roughly on top of the counter.
“What about us, you know what, no, forget me, what about you? Does he feel the slightest bit indebted to you? You took his kid in for fuck’s sake.”
“Stop it,” I scold. “I don’t want Connor to hear you. He already feels like he has to repay me for caring for him and I hate that.”
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, swiping a hand over his face. “It just burns my ass after all the hours we put into this, all the sacrifices you made—”
“I didn’t sacrifice anything,” I interject, reaching for my coffee cup.
“Bullshit, Charlotte. You’re young, single and fucking gorgeous.”
Lucky for me he says that before I take a sip, had he not I’m sure the coffee would’ve come flying out my nose.
“Ah, don’t look at me like that. I’m not hitting on you or anything like that. I’m just stating facts. I know you love the kid, and you don’t think taking him into your home is doing anything special, but Charlotte, let’s face facts. You went and applied for guardianship before the sentence modification.”
“I knew it would take some time for them to look into my background.”
“Did you ever think what would happen if the judge didn’t grant him the sentence modification? Because I have, and so has your cousin Gabriella. He’d still be in jail and you’d be raising his son. No social life, no dating…nothing.”
“I don’t care about any of that.”
“You just said you wanted kids of your own…”
My throat suddenly tightens and a dull ache spreads across my chest, one that might be mistaken for a sense of longing. I do want children. Two, maybe even three, but I didn’t know I wanted them until I had Bishop.
“Ah,” Schwartz says. “I see…you only want children if they’re his.”
Tormented by
my confusing emotions, I lift my hands and roughly thread my fingers through my hair.
“Look, I know this all sounds crazy and I’m trying to make sense of everything but somehow my life has turned into a goddamn mini-series and I can’t even sell the rights to Lifetime,” I explode, clearly at the end of my rope.
“You should’ve just let me fire you,” he says smartly, and I shoot him a glare.
“Then you would’ve never met my cousin.”
“You mean the cousin who stood me up last night? Thanks for the concern, but I think I would’ve survived.”
Pulling my fingers out of my hair, I look at him in shock. As far as I knew, Gab was into him. Sure, the suit really isn’t her type, (she’s more of a blue-collar guy kind of girl) but there was definitely something there between them. I make a mental note to call her when my life isn’t in shambles to get the scoop…you know…in like six months.
“Charlotte?”
Connor’s voice interrupts my thoughts and I spin around to see him standing in the entryway of the kitchen.
“Can we call dad, now?”
I look to Schwartz.
“Can we finish this later?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you for what you did.”
“Don’t mention it,” he says, stomping the leather sole of his ridiculously overpriced Italian loafers against the pedal of the garbage can. Connor runs to get my phone as Schwartz chucks the empty cup into the trash.
“I didn’t just come here this morning to be your therapist,” he says evenly as he slices his gaze towards me. “Bishop made it perfectly clear he had no intention of letting you cancel this trip to the zoo, so I also paid you a visit to tell you to take the day tomorrow. You know how big I am on mental health days.”
Oh, do I ever and you can bet the house I’m taking it this time.
-Seventeen-
Bishop
The alarm on my phone goes off, waking me from a shitty sleep. I open my eyes and roll onto my side, groaning as I reach around the coffee table for my phone. I hit the snooze button and silently will myself to get moving when someone pounds on the door. Muttering a curse, I drag my ass towards the door, but my hand pauses on the knob.
Staying here was a risk I shouldn’t have taken. For all I know my parole officer is on the other end of this door with a pair of blue and whites ready to drag me back to Rikers. With all the enemies the Satan’s Knights have, you think they would have installed peepholes, but I guess they like the element of surprise.
“Open the door, Bishop,” Parrish bellows.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I pull open the door and stare into the menacing face of the man I once considered a hero. He rolls a toothpick between his teeth, a signature move of his, and lifts his right hand, producing the leather kutte he and Wolf presented to me the day the club agreed to let me prospect.
“Lose something?” he questions, shoving the vest against my chest.
Before it falls, I take the kutte from him and he pushes past me, entering the apartment. Biting the inside of my cheek, I close the door and turn around, watching as he takes a seat on the couch. He kicks his dirty boots on top of the coffee table and tosses the gun I gave Schwartz next to them, making me realize this visit is unlike any of the ones he paid me in Rikers. Then, he was a man eager to help. Now, he’s a man who wants answers.
“Funny thing happened when I got home last night. A Range Rover pulled into my driveway and not just any Range Rover, but the one that belongs to our friend Davey. Apparently, he has no trouble making house calls at four in the morning when he’s delivering weapons,” he marvels. There’s a bite to his tone and an unmistakable tick to his jaw.
I immediately start to put together a timeline in my head, trying to figure if he had enough time to take out Pete and be home by four. I suppose it’s doable for a seasoned professional like himself.
“Oh, look, the wheels are turning…” he taunts. “Careful, there’s a bit of smoke coming out of your ears,” he sneers, spitting the chewed toothpick out of his mouth.
“Why don’t you do us both a favor and cut to the chase, Parrish. You got questions, fire away. I’ll answer them all, but my son is waiting for me and I won’t be late for him.”
He drops his boots to the floor and leans forward, a wicked smile twists on his lips.
“So, that’s how it goes, huh? You got your kid, you got the girl…fuck everything else?” He asks, standing from the couch.
Standing tall, I chuck the kutte onto the armchair and cross my arms against my chest. My eyes narrow in response to his question.
Stupid me, I thought that was the plan all along.
“Isn’t that why you helped me?”
“I helped you because Blackie asked me to, but the plans changed along the way and someone seems to need reminding of that,” Parrish hisses, stepping towards me. “It’s time you and I got a few things straight, Bishop,” he sneers my name and his eyes go dark.
This is the Bulldog.
The persona of Jack Parrish you hope never to meet.
It’s quite the contrast from the man I first met in the visitor’s room of Riker’s.
“You wanted your son, I made that happen. I got the best fucking organization in the world to take your boy’s back and that shit is for life. No matter how old he is or where he goes, he’ll always have a place with his BACA family. You wanted a chance to be his father, I did that too. Got you the best fucking attorney in all of New York. Then you wanted the girl and before you try to deny it, I saw the way you clenched your jaw any time she was mentioned. At first, I thought you got your hands on some coke, but I quickly realized your jaw wasn’t jerking because you were high, you were just a poor bastard with a hard-on for something you couldn’t have. I took pity on you and guess what, Bishop, I gave you the girl too. Saw her hurting, begging to find her place in the world, and I took her generous heart and aligned it with yours.”
Until now, I didn’t fully believe all the rumors. I thought everyone had it wrong, that Jack Parrish was a good man with a dark mind. He was a man who couldn’t be held accountable for his actions, but I was wrong. We’re all pawns in his game that he moves across the board to fit his needs.
“Do you fucking hear yourself?” I fire back.
“Do you hear me is the fucking question? You think any of that was left to chance? She didn’t need to be at that first intervention. Sure, bringing her along was Six-Pack’s idea, but that’s only because he had his eye on her too. Then I saw what she did at the birthday party and it all just kind of clicked for me. I planted the seed in her head, and the next thing you knew, she was applying for guardianship of your kid. It was perfect, really. You were released and while fighting the legal system for your son, you saw your kid anytime you wanted. On top of that you got cozy with Charlotte.”
I knew he had a fucking hand in swaying Charlotte’s decision to take Connor in. I even called her out on it when she visited me after Connor’s court date and asked me if I would be okay with her applying for guardianship. She said it was her idea, but I’d bet my life this son of a bitch manipulated her into thinking that.
“You’re a sick fuck, you know that?”
He grins.
“So I’ve been told,” he says, completely unbothered.
“I get it, Parrish, I owe you my fucking life.”
He shakes his head.
“I never asked you for a fucking thing. No one did. Not Blackie when he got out or Wolf when he gave you that fucking kutte. Six-Pack didn’t ask you for anything and neither did fucking Schwartz. Everything that was done for you, was done out of the goodness of our hearts.”
He can’t be serious.
“You might not have asked for anything in return, but you sure as fuck don’t have a problem throwing all your good deeds in my face.”
“You think that’s what this is about?” He shouts.
“Sure fucking sounds that way to me,” I volley, crossing my arms against my ch
est. “I tell you what, Parrish, I don’t like being indebted to anyone for what I’ve got. I never took a handout in my life until I met you people, but desperation will make you do some crazy shit. I will pay back every cent; all the legal fees, the money you put in my commissary account and the rent on these two fucking apartments. Every fucking cent even if it takes me years to do it.”
“Yeah, and how the fuck do you plan on doing that? With your earnings from the bowling alley?” he scoffs. “It would take you two lifetimes.”
Clenching my jaw, I ball my fists and arch my shoulders back. Taking that minimum wage job wasn’t ideal, after taxes I was making chump change, but I was still grateful to be making an honest living for once in my fucking life and every week I gave Charlotte money to help with Connor’s expenses. Besides, it was never supposed to be a permanent thing. Once I finished parole, the plan was for me to work at Pipe’s garage. Wolf was eager to put me on the books, but Parrish never looked enthused by any of it. I’m starting to think the guy wants me to go out and rob a fucking bank to prove I’m capable of the goddamn patch he so desperately wants me to wear.
“If that’s what it takes, so be it,” I respond.
He shakes his head.
“This isn’t about money, Bishop. “That’s just paper and it don’t mean shit, if you ain’t got heart.”
“What does that mean?”
“If you gotta ask that question, you’re not the man I thought you were,” he sneers, glaring at me. “What happened to the man who wanted to skin Uncle Petey alive?”
Unsure how to respond, I look away from him. Parrish doesn’t strike me as a man who would understand what I’m going through. The man kissed his family goodbye and turned himself in to the authorities to save his fucking club. How do I tell him I’m terrified of going back to prison, that I’d rather cut my dick off than miss another second of Connor’s life?
Breaking The Chains (Satan's Knights Prospect Trilogy) Page 13
