Duke raised his voice. “Boys.”
As if Dillon and I were teenagers again, we snapped our attention to Duke, ready to obey him.
“The only thing we can do for now is listen to Tito,” Duke said.
I bounced my knee. “The Feds were very specific on getting info on a gun shipment.”
Duke bit his lip. “Chill. I’m sure if Tito wants in as bad as he says, he’ll deliver that. It might not be within a week. All you need to do, Denim, is keep the Feds informed. If they know there’s a big carrot at the end of the road, they’ll wait.”
Duke’s patience was admirable. Mine, on the other hand, sucked the big one at the moment. “Why are you so calm?”
“I’m five steps ahead of the Feds. I know they’ve been watching me. I’m just as anxious to get Tito off my back as you are. If I don’t, there’ll be an all-out war on the streets between the Colombian and Mexican cartels. The Colombians don’t like when anyone moves in on their territory, and they’ve carved out one in this city. I, for one, don’t want to see that happen. So we need to practice patience.”
“I don’t care about a war. I care about Jade and Grace and staying alive.” I wanted to say I was in this predicament because of Duke. The bullet Jade had taken was because of Duke. But pissing Duke off any further would only alienate him, and I needed him.
Duke’s face darkened. “I’m well aware of the stakes. But going off half-cocked isn’t going to accomplish anything. How many times have I taught you that?”
I didn’t have a comeback, and frankly, he was in charge and had been at the criminal game longer than I had.
Silence bounced around the room until Dillon spoke. “Do you think Tito had Savannah killed?”
Duke’s hardcore exterior crumbled into a look I couldn’t put my finger on.
Tito had hired Costa to kill me. So it was possible he’d hired someone to kill Savannah.
“You loved her,” Dillon said as a matter of fact. Of course Dillon would see what I couldn’t.
Duke skirted the island and slowly walked in the direction of the bar as though his legs were trembling.
Dillon and I looked at each other, and I shrugged. Dillon nodded, confirming he was right.
A minute or two ticked by before Duke returned with a full glass of bourbon. Whatever emotions we’d seen in him a moment ago had been banked. I zeroed in on his eyes, but they were clear. I’d never seen my brother shed a tear in his life, and true to form, he wasn’t now. But he was wrestling with something heavy. Our reunion the other night was beginning to make sense.
Duke had never been one to tell us his feelings. Even when he was dating Savannah, he’d never displayed affection toward her around me. He wasn’t one to show how jealous he was or how in love he was. He always kept women at arm’s length.
I wasn’t a doctor, but I would guess his women issues might stem from our mother abandoning us. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if our old man was rubbing off on him too. I’d been at Duke’s twice since getting out of prison, and both times, he was sucking down the alcohol like it was water.
Duke set his glass down on the island, drilling his gaze into me.
“What?” I asked.
He sighed as he shoved his hands through his hair. “You’re not going to like what I have to say.”
I wasn’t sure how the love he had for Savannah would upset me unless he was about to tell me he was in love with Jade. Come to think of it, that look he’d had a moment ago was the same look he’d had when Jade stormed in the other night to tear him a new one.
Without breaking eye contact with me, he said, “I think I know who killed Hector.”
Well, fuck me.I had things all wrong.
My jaw practically slammed onto the counter. My brain suddenly froze into one solid piece of ice with one thought—I had spent six fucking years in the joint, and my brother knew who’d killed Hector. A sharp pain ricocheted through my chest.
Dillon swung his gaze like lightning from me to Duke. “Talk, man. Or Denim is going to use your head as a punching bag. I might too.”
I hopped off the stool, ready to send my eldest brother through the fucking window. Instead, I took a breath and blinked several times to get rid of that vision as I clenched my hands into fists. I was seething, breathing hard, and began pacing.
“Savannah was at Hector’s the night he was killed,” Duke said evenly.
My pulse pounded in my ears.Savannah?I knew she’d done drugs, but I didn’t know she’d bought from Hector. I sure as hell hadn’t sold to her. When I’d dated Jade, I had promised her I wouldn’t sell to Savannah, and I never had.
