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“Fuck your fucking deal!” Joey shouted, stalking forward and slamming his fists on the desk. “It wasn’t Craig’s to fucking make. It wasmine, and I say it’s not fucking good enough.”

Az pushed his seat back from the desk and stood slowly, a thunderous look on his face. “That is enough. We may generally make decisions together, butIwas the second in command. That means thatIam in charge with Rich gone, whether you like it or not.” his voice was like steel as he continued to speak. “Furthermore, Joseph, Rich didn’t even want you in this life in the first fucking place. You forced your way in against that better judgement, and now here you sit. But do not forget, Craig was here first andevenLeighton outranks you. You have one of two choices. You hit the streets with Leighton or you stay. Either way, one more outburst from you and youwillbe taking licks as punishment like the petulant child you’re behaving as.”

I looked at Az momentarily, unsure when the last time I saw him like this, if ever. It was like looking at Rich reincarnated, right down to the hard stare and how he pinched his nose to ward off the headache in his eyes. My mouth opened as if I was going to tease him about it the same way I'd done Rich so often before I caught myself and snapped it shut.

Joey bared his teeth at Az, his fists curling tighter until his knuckles were white. “Fine.” he gritted out. “I'll hit the streets, I need some fresh air anyway.”

“Good,” Az replied, holding Joey’s gaze until Joey finally stepped back. “I expect regular reports and check-ins. We need to know exactly what we’re working with so we can right this ship.” He paused and flicked his eyes to me. “I don’t like the idea of sending anyone in blind, so get your list together. Phil will get what you need and bring it to me at our drop point. Once you’vehad a chance to scope out what you can, Leighton and Joey can head out.”

Leighton moved first, grabbing Joey by the arm and pulling him further away from the desk. “Come on, Pookie, let’s go to work.” Leighton’s words were light, but the look he gave was hard. He didn’t give Joey a chance to respond before pulling him from the room.

Once they were clear of the door, I turned to study Az. He had settled back into his chair and had his elbows propped on the desk, head in his hands. Exhaustion deeper than any I'd seen on him was evident in how he held himself.

“How are you holding up?” I asked, causing him to startle and jerk his head up.

“Figuring out why Rich was always so goddamn tired…” He said softly, “That man had stronger shoulders than we realized.”

“I think we knew, we were just grateful he carried that weight for us. He didn’t have to deal with this infighting going on either. We fought, but.. Not like this. We always knew we had each other’s backs at the end of the day.” I trailed off, considering my next words. “Was he like that the whole time we were gone?”

Az was quiet for a moment, looking like he was sorting through memories he could barely recall. “No. He was mostly just… quiet. This started the moment he laid eyes on Victoria again.”

“He’s just looking for someone to blame. Something to do with the shit he’s not working out.” I offered, though it didn’t mean the hatefulness was any less grating.

“Fuck, I hope you’re right.” Az puffed out a breath. “He’s trying damned hard to force us to choose, and I’m not sure I can stop Leighton if Joey keeps pushing.” Az raked a hand over his face and into his hair, tugging at the blond strands. “I don’t knowhow to stop it. Rich would have known exactly what to say to make him see sense, but I’m completely at a loss here. I’m afraidnoneof us will be able to make him see sense before it’s too late and he’s done damage to our family he can’t undo.”

Chapter Seven

Leighton

Joey shrugged off my hold and stomped to his room to sulk the moment I pulled him out of the office. We had time to kill before we could hit the streets, and I spent a good chunk of it wandering the house until I ended up in the garage with Ian. He was under the hood of a ’57 Chevy Bel Air, an array of tools and greasy rags spread out on a rolling cart beside him. At the sound of my approach, he grabbed a wrench, holding it out to me.

An unsettling sense of relief washed over me as I accepted the tool and settled beside him. Ian had been a quiet man as long as I’d known him, but it never ceased to catch me off guard just how well he seemed to know when I needed something to do. It used to have me preparing for an attack, but now I was grateful for it. Ian knew I didn’t have feelings I needed to talk out; so we tinkered silently for hours before Dawn appeared in the garage doorway.

“Lunch is ready. You boys clean up.” She said softly before turning back into the house.

I washed up quickly in the downstairs bathroom before making quick work of the sandwich left on the kitchen island for me. It was weird that Dawn hadn’t wrangled everyone around the dining room table for the simple meal, but I barely had achance to ponder it. Az strolled into the kitchen looking haggard as I swallowed down the last bite of my food.

“Craig has pulled what he could. We already knew the Tenth, Lotus, and Union were gone, but we’ve lost the safehouses on Vermillion and Parkside. There are cars that aren’t ours patrolling our neighborhood, Temptat!on, the warehouse on Cathedral, my office on Third, and the entire area around our drop site on North Twenty-Fifth. It doesn’t look like they know where that drop site is and are hoping to catch one of ours out.”

“So we start east and work our way through,” I replied, mentally mapping out the locations he’d mentioned.

“Maybe… West,” Az hesitated. “We’ve completely lost eyes to the east. Craig hasn’t been able to access the city’s systems yet, but the coverage on the east side of the city has always been shit.”

“West…” I replied slowly, “That’s awful close to Jackal territory, you sure it’s a good call?”

Az raked his hands through his hair and tugged at the strands in frustration. “I don’t know. From what Craig can gather, the criminal underground is crawling damn near all over the city like cockroaches looking for us. I don’t like the idea of you and Joey being so close to enemy territory, but it seems like the only fucking place nobody is actually looking right now.”

“Sounds like a solid plan to me.” I shrugged. I wasn’t against the idea of a run-in with some Jackals. If anything, taking some of them out would give me something useful to do.

Az frowned at me, digging into his jeans pocket to pull out a set of keys. “Don’t do anything stupid, Leighton.” he drawled as he handed me the keys. “These are for a silver minivan, the best Phil could do on short notice, but I looked it over, and it won’t draw attention.”

“Me, do something stupid?” I gasped in mock offense as I snagged the keys. “I wouldnever.”

He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. I smirked at him as he shook his head and muttered something unintelligible. Snagging my paper plate from the counter, I tossed it in the trash and clapped him on the shoulder.

“I’ll grab Joey and we can go do some Danger Duck bullshit.” I grinned as I strolled away. I couldn’t suppress the chuckle as I heard Az silently curse under his breath.

Joey was where I left him—holed up in his bedroom, reliving his emo phase. “Yo. My chemical imbalance, it’s time to roll.” I almost had to yell to be heard over the sappy ass music he was listening to.