Page 55 of Between Brothers

“I handled my business, was there ever a doubt?”

“No,” he hesitantly mumbled, “No, of course not. Not in you anyways.”

He patted my back and shook his head, “Your brother is different. He spends too much time with that soft-hearted mother of his. I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to put Pacman down. It’s better that you did it and left him the girl. She’ll be easier to handle if he fumbles it.”

I grunted, not seeing any flaw in his logic.

“What time is that broad expected to be home? The one whose house you did it in?”

“She works six to six, over in Centralia. I was going to head back around midnight, wrap him up and get him the fuck out of there. I can sprawl his ass out at his own damn house and let Sabrina find him in the driveway.”

“Nice.” He gave a throaty laugh and nodded, “After you do that, I want you to linger around Forty’s place, make him think you came to see Kennedy in the morning.”

Oh, I’d definitely be at Forty’s in the morning, if for no other reason than to reap the rewards of my hard work. Hell, yeah, I was going to be there when they broke the news to him.

I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Chapter Twenty-One

If You Love Her

Royal

I couldn’t believe I said the quiet part out loud.

I’d been in love with that girl since High School. She was Forty’s daughter, though. So, I’d never spoken up or betrayed how I felt. Not until I came home from college and had a few too many.

At least she hadn’t caught my little slip of tongue. I convinced her that we’d go see her friend, Bootsie, and even had her arrange things in advance. Poor Bootsie was under the impression that we were about to pull a nasty prank on my brother and was completely on board.

For now, Kennedy was faintly snoring on my mother’s sofa. The blanket she had wasn’t long enough for her tall build, but she didn’t seem to mind sleeping in a fetal position.

I stalked the clock and obsessively checked my phone. The minutes choked by right along with my thoughts and fears. By the time dawn approached, I was more than ready to find out if our plan would work.

She’d made me promise I’d wake her, but how the hell could I?

If it went wrong, and I wasn’t convincing enough, she’d be the one to suffer. And, what if they saw her? It was too great a risk. She had to stay here and let me handle this alone. I stood up as slowly as I could, preventing the aged chair from making any noise to betray my movement.

When the sound of her snoring never wavered, I quietly made my way to my mother’s medicine cabinet.

My father had done a number on her. She was a life coach now, and spent her days helping women navigate high-conflict divorces with men like him. But that didn’t mean she did it alone. She had an arsenal of medications that helped her function as well as she did these days.

I’d learned in my teenage years which ones were worth a damn when you wanted a buzz. I wasn’t interested in checking out tonight, but I trusted Kennedy wasn’t a regular consumer of Seroquel. Which meant that she’d likely feel like she was drunker than she’d ever been in her life, if I could get one in her.

She’d be lucky if she could get off the sofa without spinning, let alone place herself in any more danger than she was already in.

I fingered a tiny tablet out of the container and carefully looked through her cabinets. She didn’t smoke, so cellophane was out of the question. A box of hair dye caught my attention near the back. I triumphantly pulled it out and carefully peeled the plastic wrap away.

It was large enough to do the trick. I folded it around the pill, took my license out and went to work crushing it.

“Roy?” Kennedy faintly called, from the other side of the bathroom door.

“Yeah, I’m here.” I stuffed the prized plastic and my license into my pocket, and opened the door.

“Oh.” She weakly smiled, “I thought maybe you snuck off or something.”

I shook my head, offering a sympathetic smile, “No. I’m here. I’m about to get some coffee and try to wake up. You want some?”

She moved her lips around her face like she was contemplating and hesitantly nodded, “With sugar?”