“No. I hope he turns on Benny and the rest of the crew and they have their people shank him while he’s locked up. He’ll never make it to a trial date, he’s too soft.”
“What if the feds try and put him in witness protection like they did to that bitch who sold Dovie out?”
If they put him in witness protection—WITSEC—then I would track him down and let Bax have at him and there would be no guilt when I did it; at least that’s what I tried to convince myself I would do.
“If that happens I’ll find him and you can do what you need to do.”
His dark eyes took measure to see if what I was saying was true. I hated that it was there, the distrust he couldn’t shake. I didn’t regret the choices I had made that had sent him to prison, it had saved his life after all, gotten him free of Novak the only way possible. I did, however, hate that it had broken the ironclad bond we had always had.
“What I need to do won’t be pretty.”
“I know that. Speaking of doing things that aren’t pretty, you think you can take a few hours one day next week and swing by the university with me?”
One of his jet-black eyebrows winged up.
“For?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I think it’s time someone had a chat with the TA giving Brysen a hard time.”
He chuckled a little and walked to the Hemi. “She gonna appreciate you getting involved?”
“Probably not. But I’m going to do it anyway.”
He put a hand on the polished fender of the car and looked at me steadily.
“Do you think the reason you are so hooked into this girl is because she reminds you of what you lost? She’s all glossy and shiny, kind of like you used to be before I dragged you down into the gutter.”
I prodded at the cut in the center of my lip with a finger and thought about what he asked. She was glossy and shiny, but inside she was tough and kind of gritty.
“She had to move home to take care of her kid sister. She has some lunatic stalking her. She’s works a shit job with shit hours, but she’s committed to it. She’s getting screwed over at school because she won’t put out for some loser. She just found out her dad owes the guy she’s screwing a ton of money, and that I took the family ride for collateral. On the outside she might look like my old life, but on the inside I think she is completely full of my new life.”
He dipped his head in a slight nod and I reached out to shove him on the shoulder. It was like pushing against a brick wall.
“Besides, there was no dragging into the gutter involved. I chased you into the streets, Bax. I guess at the time, I always thought there would be a way out if I needed one.”
He grunted. “Is that what you’re doing? This business with Nassir, the money and the risk? You still looking for a way out?”
Was that what I was doing? Sometimes I didn’t even know anymore, but I did know two things that were crystal clear in my mind.
“You’re here. Dovie is here. That means if I have any kind of say in the matter, I’m going to make this a survivable place to be.”
“You think you’re going to single-handedly pull the Point out of the fire, Race?”
I turned away and started back toward the stairs.
“No. But I do think I can control the burn, Bax, and that’s all I really want to do.”
I didn’t wait to see what his response was. I hurt and needed to find some kind of painkiller. I needed to call Titus and see if he could find out what the deal with my father was, and more importantly, I needed to figure out what I was going to do about Brysen.
I had always thought I could take care of myself, that I was smarter than this awful place that I called home. Now I wasn’t so sure. The Point had been around for a long time, had seen all variations of evil come and go. The only thing that ever seemed to change here was the seasons.
Chapter 11
Brysen
I WAS SO ANGRY when I got home, I had to take a minute before I went inside. I was furious at Race, furious at my dad, furious at myself for not realizing sooner that something else was going on besides my father turning a blind eye to what was happening at home. More than all of that, though, I was livid at the fact that both of my parents had watched me walk away from my life to come home and try and piece everything back together when it was now crystal clear neither one of them had any intention of trying to stop the downward spiral. My mom had no interest in rehab or in seeking counseling, and evidently, my dad had addiction issues of his own that were just as bad and just as devastating to this family. The unjustness of it all made my blood boil and had fury so bright and sharp on the tip of my tongue, it was all I could taste.