by Monica James
The walls begin closing in on me, and my skin is suddenly alight. I can’t breathe. There has to be some mistake.
But there isn’t, and Bull confirms this when he brings this entire shitshow full circle. “Jaws,” he concludes, while I gasp, desperate for air.
“Tiger?”
I attempt to pull from his hold, but he grasps me tightly. In a way, I’m thankful because the room begins to spin violently, and nausea rises. But I quash it down. I have one more question. One question which is the reason I felt so connected to Bull this entire time. I just didn’t know it…until now. “That’s th-three,” I whisper, begging there is some mistake. “Who was the fourth?”
Bull arches a brow, but I slap my hand over his, squeezing his fingers. “Who was the other m-man you killed? The man you went to prison for?”
Everything comes down to this. Please, god, let there be some mistake. Please, don’t let it be him. But deep down, I always knew he would never leave me. He would never leave us by choice. His choices were taken away from him. And now, I know why…
“His name was Lachlan…Hero was his nickname,” Bull confesses, cementing the fact the universe is a cruel, sadistic bitch who was just biding her time, waiting for me to pay my dues.
A single tear trickles down my cheek. What have I done? I’ve slept with the enemy, the man who destroyed my life…and I liked it…a lot.
“Tiger? What’s wrong? Talk to me.” But I can’t. It’s too late for talking. The damage has already been done.
Or so I thought, as it seems this is merely the beginning…of the end.
Bull looks over my head, his eyes sparking with fire. “You,” he manages to grit out between clenched teeth.
I don’t need to turn around to know who stands behind me. But this is my punishment for all that I’ve done.
Bull loosens his hold on me, and I slowly look over my shoulder, stitching together the lies. Before me stands the man who left, left because I betrayed him.
Before me stands my brother…Christopher…or, as most know him…Jaws.
Bull
It’s too much, too fast, and I need a moment, one fucking moment, because standing just a few feet away from me is the man who ruined my life. He looks a lot different from when I saw him last. Gone are the gangster threads. He’s now decked in an expensive suit and gold. He always reeked of power, but now, he is on top of the fucking food chain.
I can’t do anything but stare him down, envisioning the ways I’m going to kill him…and kill him slowly.
But my murderous thoughts come to a screeching halt when Tiger sways, reaching for the top of a chair to stop herself from falling on her ass.
What the fuck is going on?
“I missed you,” the motherfucker sweetly says. He sure as shit isn’t speaking to me, which means…he knows Tiger. But how? “I’m glad you like the earrings I bought you.”
Her fingers flutter to her ears in surprise.
I launch forward, ready to rip out his spleen and ask questions later, but Tiger snares my bicep, stopping me. Inhaling, I peer down at her vise-like grip. She has three seconds to let me go. But when I look into her heartbroken eyes, I realize I’m going to need a lot longer than three seconds.
“Don’t,” she whispers, shaking her head.
I don’t understand what’s going on. She soon brings me up to speed.
“He’s my…m-my…”
“Brother,” the asshole fills in the blanks with a grin.
Although I’ve heard them both loud and clear, it’s like they’ve spoken to me in another language. This motherfucker, the man who took everything away from me, is her own flesh and blood? Surely, life isn’t this cruel?
But I shouldn’t have expected anything less.
“He’s your brother?” I ask her, unable to accept this as truth. When she doesn’t reply, I grip her wrist. “Answer me!”
Lowering her chin, she slowly nods, hiding behind her hair.
My heart does something I’ve only felt once before—it was when Damian died in my arms. It breaks. Breaks because, once again, someone I care for is taken away from me.
“Your brother? Your motherfucking brother!” I cry, suddenly needing to put as much distance between us as possible. I recoil from her hold because it’s burning me alive.
She rubs her arms, tiny shivers wracking her. She appears to have shut down. I want to console her, but I can’t. How can I?
“Tiger, goddammit! Talk to me!”
“Please,” she whimpers, shaking her head, unable to look at me. I’m scaring her, which is what I’ve always wanted. I don’t want that now, but it’s too late. Too fucking late.
“Lillian, go to my office,” Jaws softly says, reaching into his pocket and producing a set of keys. I watch with wide eyes as he slowly walks toward her and unwraps her arms from around herself before placing the keys into her palm.
“It’s upstairs. Tell security to take you.”
A ferocious possessiveness comes over me. I want her to tell him to go to hell. To fight like the strong woman I know that she is. But she doesn’t. She sniffs with a nod, and on autopilot, she walks out the door.
Jaws waits a few moments, then closes the door, sealing us in a cage. I want to kill him, choke him with my bare hands, but he’s packing heat. I wouldn’t get within three feet before he put a bullet in me…just as I did to his friend.
“You’ve grown, kid.”
Suddenly, death is a price I’m willing to pay. The last time he called me kid was when his hands were stained with my brother’s blood.
“Yes, I have,” I reply, barely holding on. “Your friend, Kong, saw just how much. That was the last thing he saw before I stabbed him through the heart.”
Jaws’s lips twitch before he breaks out into a husky laugh. “I should thank you for taking out my trash,” he states calmly.
I’m not surprised he doesn’t shed a tear for his once friend.
“You can thank me by telling me where your other friend is.”
Jaws coolly places his hands into his pockets. “You found me, or should I say, we found one another. You clearly don’t need my help.”
He’s right. The element of surprise is gone, thanks to the fact I’m sleeping with his sister. Of all the women, why her?
“What do you want?” I’m done with pretenses. This asshole is here for a reason. I’m of value to him. If I wasn’t, I’d already be dead.
“No foreplay?” he quips, his straight white teeth gleaming with a sarcastic smirk.
“Your sister already scratched that itch,” I counter quickly, relishing in his sudden change of demeanor.
He wanted his nephew dead because he has some sick obsession with Tiger, but why did he wait so long to come back into her life?
“Careful,” he warns, clenching his jaw. I can’t believe I didn’t see the similarities between Tiger and him. I was off my A game because I was too busy…feeling.
Goddammit. This can’t happen again.
“Regardless of the fact she can’t seem to keep her legs closed, she’s still my sister.”
“The sister you abandoned,” I spit, jumping to her defense.
“She had that coming,” he counters without feeling. “That’s her punishment for fucking my best friend.”
So it appears he knows.
Tiger thought he was oblivious to her sneaking around, but he wasn’t. He was always two steps ahead. “You knew?”
“Of course, I knew,” he mocks angrily. “I also know what happened to her Prince Charming.”
There is so much more to this complex story. And I’m about to find out just how much.
“Lillian’s problem is that she’s a hopeless romantic. She is also naïve. But it seems you’ve been doing my dirty work for quite some time now.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I should end this asshole. Now. But I can’t. What does Tiger have to do with this?
“It means,” Jaws says, tonguing his cheek. “The man you s
hot…that was my best friend. The best friend who was fucking my little sister and didn’t have the sense to wrap his shit up and got her pregnant with that little bastard.”
The blood drains from my body. I can’t speak.
“You didn’t put two and two together?” he mocks with a smirk. “You killed her soul mate.” A phrase has never sounded so dirty. “You did me a favor. I would have killed him myself the moment I found out she was pregnant. But you beat me to the punch.”
“He was my hero. My Prince Charming.” I now realize Tiger meant that in the literal sense because the man I shot was Hero…Jordy’s father and the love of her life.
I am the reason her life turned to shit. Oh, my fucking god. And she knows. She knows I was the one who shot and killed the man she loved. I robbed Jordy of his father. She also knows I have no remorse for my actions. Our paths crossed long ago. We just didn’t know it. Until now.
I need to explain. But what do I say? She knows the truth. Where do we go from here?
“I told her he split because that traitor didn’t deserve a hero’s farewell. I wanted her to think he was the lying, cheating scumbag that he, in fact, was.
“I knew she was fucking Hero. I just didn’t want to believe either would betray me that way. But the gig was up when she grew big with his child.” He hums, steadying himself. “How dare he put his hands, his cock in what’s mine!”
“Motherfucker, if you cared so much about her, why the fuck did you leave her?” I yell, prepared to kill him over and over again for all that he’s done.
“That’s her punishment for loving him, loving them, more than me. She wanted to be an adult, so I treated her like one. She clearly didn’t need me when she was sleeping around behind my back,” he cruelly replies, while I hold back my vomit. He is sick. “But I want her back. She’s paid her dues. I want her by my side, where she belongs.”
Over my dead fucking body…
“That comes a little too late. She’s fucking stripping to support herself and her son, your nephew, who you wanted dead,” I reveal, because he’s not the only one with an ace up his sleeve.
“Ah, it seems Kong remained a little pussy right until the very end.” Jaws isn’t bothered by what I know.
“Let’s wrap this up, shall we?” I spit, not interested in small talk. I need to find Tiger and explain. It bothers me that she is my main priority right now; however, I can question my motives later.
“We both want something,” Jaws says evenly. “We can benefit from the other.”
I highly doubt that. But I’m listening.
“Word on the street is that you’re tight with Stevie, so it’s simple. You’re going to work for me now. This is the in I’ve been waiting for.”
Scoffing, I shake my head incredulously. “I’ve heard some bullshit in my time, but this is fucking rich. Why the fuck would I work for you? I want you dead, asshole. And I plan on delivering as soon as you stop boring me with your riddles.”
Jaws has the audacity to laugh. This is just a game to him. “You can try, but I have something you want.”
“Oh, yeah, and what’s that?”
“My sister’s love.”
Clenching my fists, I inhale slowly. “I’m listening.” This is why I didn’t want to get involved with anyone. Emotional ties mean collateral, and Jaws has a shitload of it. I’ve hurt Tiger once before, how can I do it again?
“Stevie trusts you, and now that Kong is dead, he’ll need someone to fill his shoes. That someone will be you.”
It’s like my equilibrium is off balance. Every time Jaws speaks, it drifts further and further away from the natural order of the world.
“You will get close to him and learn everything there is to know about his business. This town only has room for one alpha, and that’s me. I want his drugs, his fighting ring, and the club. The Pink Oyster is competition, lousy competition, seeing as my club is a 7-Up Factory, but competition nonetheless, with my investment. Not to mention, it’s in prime real estate. I’ve been looking at that place for a while now. I think it’s time for Blue Bloods to expand.
“Drugs, strippers, it’s all easy money for me. The more I have, the more I get paid. This is smart business.”
Jaws owns Blue Bloods? This means he would have known where Tiger was the entire time. And he’s only now coming out of hiding. Carlos wasn’t behind her attack—it was fucking Jaws. He wants his sister to work here, not because he wants to rekindle their relationship, but because she’ll make him money.
This is a new low. He could have helped her financially as well as emotionally, but instead, he continued to punish her for something she did when she was a teenager. He has always been lurking in the shadows, but he’s now emerged because he wants something from us both.
Tiger said she felt as if someone had been watching her. I now know who.
“I want it all,” he states without pause. “And when I get it all…I want his head on a fucking platter.”
“I work for no one, especially not you,” I spit, charging forward, not caring when he draws his gun. “I’m no snitch, so better you kill me now.”
“Who said anything about being a snitch? It’s simple. Just earn their trust and infiltrate their operation. That’s all.”
I grip the barrel and press the muzzle over my heart. But I’m calling his bluff. He needs me. He wants to get rid of the competition, and seeing as Kong wasn’t man enough to do it, he’s now recruiting.
“I would, but at the moment, you’re of more value to me alive than dead. Besides, you don’t leave empty-handed.”
“You have nothing, nothing I want!” I scream, blinded by my rage.
“I actually do,” he contradicts, slowly removing the gun from my chest.
Is this supposed to be a sign of…trust?
Hell. To. The. Fuck. No.
This ends now.
I strike out and punch him square in the jaw. The sickening crack fuels my inner fury, and I elbow him in the nose. He stumbles backward, which is all I need. I dive on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Over and over, my fists connect with his face, but no matter how much I hit him, it’s still not enough.
If I end him now, what will that do to Tiger? I already ruined her life by killing the man she loved. My need for revenge is the reason she’s stripping, the reason her life didn’t turn out the way she wanted, the way she deserved.
And Jaws knows it.
His gargled snickers ridicule me. “What’s so funny, motherfucker?” I yank him up by the collar of his bloody dress shirt, pressing us nose to nose.
“You think you’re big game, but you’re still the scared little kid I knew.”
I raise my fist, ready to end this once and for all, but stop when Jaws puts something I want more than revenge on the line.
Tiger.
“You work for me. Otherwise, I think it’s time I got to know my nephew.”
My fist trembles midair.
“He’s already halfway to becoming a delinquent, so all he needs is a little guidance by his beloved uncle. It won’t take much. He believed me when I told him his mom was a hooker. There is no loyalty there. He resents her.”
The mystery of who told Jordy Tiger was a hooker has been revealed. Jaws has been a lot closer than we knew.
“I told him not to tell his mom I was back, and he didn’t. It wouldn’t take much for me to take him away from her for good.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I challenge, but it’s apparent he would and has.
“Do you really think I want a snot nose kid who is the spitting image of his two-timing father around me? No. But he’s a means to an end.”
Unable to stand the sight of him, I throw him to the floor and stand abruptly. He snickers, wiping his bloody lip with the back of his hand.
“What did she ever do to you?” I question, unbelieving this tangled web I’m caught in. “She fucked your best friend? Get over it.”
And there it is, I see it. A tic beneath his right ey
e. It appears Tiger is both our weaknesses.
“I won’t allow you to blackmail me with her. I’ll tell her everything. I’m sure she’ll be interested to know you’ve lied to her this entire time. How long have you been watching her?”
He’s not bothered by my threat. “At first, I couldn’t give a fuck what she did. She made her choices. It was time she lived with them. But when she started stripping, she interfered with my business. And I can’t allow that to happen.
“She was hot shit, but when I saw her…let’s just say, nostalgia struck. I missed my little sister. But she wasn’t so”—he licks his lips—“little anymore.”
I clench my fists.
“So tell her what you want, but we both know she won’t believe you. You did kill her son’s father and, in turn, destroyed her life,” he states flippantly.
“When she asks why I didn’t tell her the truth, I’ll tell her what she wants to hear. I was just playing the role of big brother, trying to protect her from the pain of knowing the love of her life was dead.”
“She isn’t stupid. She’ll see through your bullshit.” My claim lacks conviction because I can’t be too sure.
“Maybe she will, which is why I have a backup plan. Her son.” Sitting up, he clutches his side, wincing. “You can either do what I want, or I will make him pay for your lack of cooperation. The cops wouldn’t think twice if a punk ass kid went missing. Imagine what that would do to my sister? She’d need the shoulder of her big brother to cry on, no doubt.”
This asshole has thought of everything. I either do what he says, or I destroy Tiger’s life—again. He has collateral in the way of her and Jordy.
“If I do what you want, what do I get?”
His eyes light up a devious green. “My word that no harm comes to my sister and her bastard.”
“That’s not enough.” I shake my head firmly. I know this makes me a selfish motherfucker, but I need reassurance these cunts will pay. “I want you and Scrooge to pay your dues. Only then will I…” God forgive me, “agree.”
