Page 23 of Up in a Blaze (Polished P & P #4)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

BLAZE

A s soon as the door closed, I shook the guy by his tee, banging his head into the wall. “You need to listen to what I say?—”

“I have more people?—”

Loyal clicked the safety off. “Listen, fucker.”

The guy shut his mouth and glared out of his good eye. The other one was already swelling shut.

I pressed him against the wall, holding him there with a hand to the chest. “Whatever debt Sawyer’s parents had ends today.

The boy owes you and your cronies nothing.

If you come for him or the old lady, you’ll have me and the Diamond MC to deal with again.

” I moved in close. “And believe me, you don’t want to see us again. ”

“You don’t even know who I work for.”

“Yeah? Who?”

“He’ll kill you all.”

“Give us a name,” Loyal demanded, digging his gun into the guy’s temple more.

“Adrick Hail. He owns half of Vegas with all his clubs and casinos. It’s his money that fucker’s parents—Christ,” he barked when Loyal hit him on the top of his head with the back of the gun.

“Adrick Hail?” I asked, sharing an amused look with Loyal.

“Yeah.”

I pulled my phone out and scrolled through my contacts, found the one I needed, and placed the cell to my ear. It rang three times before the Russian voice clipped through the phone. “Why would you be calling me? West and I were about to climb into bed.”

“Adrick, I have a guy here saying he’s collecting money from Sawyer because of what his deceased parents owe you.”

The guy paled.

“Say again?”

“Loyal and I took out a group of guys that’ve been collecting Sawyer’s wage off him for months because his parents owed you money. Sawyer had to sell the family home because of their parents’ debt. He’s living in the wrong part of town in a beat-up apartment building where nothing fuckin’ works.”

Shit . I didn’t need to tell him all that, but the burning anger got the best of me for a second.

“ You know the men who work for me, and I know the debt owed to me. Whoever you have is lying. What is his name?”

“Name,” I ordered.

He shook his head.

“Give me your fuckin’ name before I break your fingers,” Loyal snarled.

“Stop,” Adrick said, hearing Loyal.

“Wait,” I told Loyal.

“Tell me where you are. I will send my men. They will deal with these people. You have all been through enough. Let me finish this.”

“Agreed.”

“Wait for my men. They will not be long. But my advice, in case these people are bigger fools than they have been, take Sawyer and his brother away from there while I get this sorted.”

“Done,” I said, and the call ended. “Adrick’s sending his men.”

Loyal chuckled. “You really should start shittin’ yourself.” His gaze landed on me. “You go in and sit with them. I’ll watch these fuckers and knock when it’s clear.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, brother.”

With a nod, I released the soon-to-be dead man and went for the door to the apartment.

“Thanks, brother,” I said. Fuck me, that sounded weird coming from my mouth, but I couldn’t deny the connection Henri and I had to the club.

And since I’d started working for them, that link had grown, and they’d become important in our lives.

We were a damn family.

But Henri would always come first, and since I knew my French firecracker, our smaller household had just grown to add Sawyer and Arlo.

We were gonna need a bigger house.

I knocked once before I opened the door and entered straight into the living room where they were all seated drinking tea.

“Miss Cora, this is my other half, Blaze.”

“Well, slap me silly and call me Mary, he’s a giant.”

Jesus.

“Miss Cora,” Sawyer muttered.

“Arlo said he was big, but I didn’t realize how big he’d be.”

Arlo jumped up and ran over, taking my hand. “Come and sit down. Have some tea.” He tugged me over.

“Mon amour, do we have time?”

I nodded as I sat in a chair, and Arlo took his seat next to Henri on the couch. Sawyer sat on Henri’s other side while Miss Cora was in her own chair at the other end of the coffee table to me.

“I missed seeing you in the hallway, and now I wished I’d seen you in action against those pimple-dick assholes.”

Sawyer sighed. “Miss Cora.”

“What? You think Arlo hasn’t heard swear words at school? I bet he has. The boy knows he can’t use them until he’s old enough or I’ll wash his mouth out with soap. But I’m an adult. I can swear all I like in my own home.”

“Okay, Miss Cora.”

“I won’t swear. I promise,” Arlo added as he poured me a mug of tea and handed it to me.

I didn’t drink tea, but the kid was looking at me expectantly.

“Arlo made that tea himself. He’s been practicing,” Miss Cora said.

Shit. Now all the attention was on me, and I was gonna have to try it.

Henri smirked over at me while I glowered back. “Yes, try the tea, mon amour.”

His ass was gonna get an extra spank for that.

I lifted the cup to my lips and took a small sip.

Straight face. Straight fuckin’ face.

But the stuff was bitter. I hummed and nodded. “Good.”

Arlo beamed.

Hell, did I do the right thing by lying?

Henri snickered silently behind his hand, and Sawyer looked away to hide his mirth while Miss Cora grinned like a maniac.

She nodded. “Yeah, you’ll do.” Her gaze dipped to my clothes. “You want some clean stuff? My dear late husband, God rest his pain-in-the-ass soul, wasn’t as big as you, but I’m sure I can find something.”

I shook my head. “We’ll head off soon.” I looked at Henri and Sawyer. “We’re just waiting in here until Adrick’s men come to… tidy up.”

“Why are they coming?” Henri asked.

I glanced down at Arlo.

Miss Cora noticed. “Arlo, come into the kitchen, and we’ll find some cookies.”

“But—”

“Come, child.” She stood with a groan and made her way out of the room with a pouting Arlo following.

“What is it?” Sawyer asked.

“The guy lied about who his boss is when he used Adrick’s name.

” Their gazes went wide. I nodded. “Adrick doesn’t know who these thugs are.

So, I think they used Adrick’s name to try and instill fear in me and Loyal because their own names wouldn’t be a deterrent to stop us.

Obviously, they’ve heard of how Adrick runs things and thought it’d be good to drop his name.

” I shrugged. “We’ll have answers in the end, but I’m guessing your parents did owe these guys money, and they saw how far you’d go to protect your brother, so they used that to get what they want. But it’ll stop from now on.”

Tears filled his eyes. “Really?”

I nodded. “Still….” I started, already hoping Sawyer wasn’t put out by this.

“What?” he asked softly.

There was a knock before Loyal stepped in. He waited by the door and said, “All cleared. Dimitri will be in touch.”

Dimitri was Adrick’s right-hand man. He’d definitely get the answers we needed.

I tipped my chin his way just as Sawyer asked, “Blaze, what were you going to say?”

“I think it’s best if you and Arlo come stay at our place for a while, and we’ll need to get Miss Cora somewhere too in case these guys are stupid or have other idiot friends that’ll come here.”

“We… we need to leave?”

“Chéri, Blaze and I would love to have you and Arlo with us. You’ll only have to share the room at our place for a little while until we get a bigger house where we’ll all fit.”

Knew I’d guessed right.

Sawyer jerked his head back and sat straighter. “You’re asking us to move in with you guys?”

“Oui. It’ll be cramped for a little while, but between all of us, we can work around everyone’s schedule to make sure someone is home with Arlo all the time.”

Loyal cleared his throat. “While you guys find a bigger place, I have room at mine. I even have a self-contained unit out the back that the old lady could use. My house has two living rooms and three bedrooms, so the brothers don’t have to share.”

Sawyer stared up at him, mouth gaping, eyes wide. “N-No?—”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Miss Cora announced as she walked back in. “Thank you, young man. The kids and I will move in until Henri and Blaze have a bigger house for the boys to go to. Then once things are settled, I’ll come back here.”

“Don’t feel you have to,” Loyal said. “The unit is yours to use for however long. Used to be my dad’s, but he passed away a couple of years ago.”

Sawyer let out a strangled sound. “Miss Cora?—”

“Hush, child. These are good people. They want to help, and we’re going to let them. Too many nights I lose sleep worrying about you and Arlo. I know you’ll be safe with them. These apartments are too easy to break into.”

Tears filled Sawyer’s eyes, but he wiped at them and sniffed. “Okay, Miss Cora.” He looked at Henri, Loyal, and me. “Thank you.”

Henri clapped and cheered, reaching out to hug Sawyer.

“This will be wonderful, chéri. Come, let us go pack a few bags. Blaze and Loyal can assist Miss Cora.” He stood, dragging Sawyer up with him.

“Arlo, come with us,” he called. Arlo zoomed in, stopping at Henri’s side.

“Arlo, that is Loyal. He’s a friend of ours.

Someone you can trust. You, Sawyer, and Miss Cora will be staying with him until Blaze and I find a bigger house, and then”—he cupped the boy’s cheeks—“you’ll move in with me and Blaze. ”

The kid’s face screwed up before a sob tore out of him. He pushed into Henri, who tipped back to sit on the couch, and Arlo followed him, sinking to his knees, hugging Henri tightly.

“Chéri, what is it? Why are you upset?”

Sawyer whimpered as he watched his brother. I stood and went over to him. As soon as I was close, he turned to me and dropped his face to my chest. I cupped the back of his head, holding him to me.

“My sweet boy, please tell me what is wrong. Do you not want to move? Blaze, we will buy this building and live in it, making it secure for Arlo if he wishes to stay.”

The kid let out another wail, clinging harder to Henri.

When I nodded, I heard a sniff close by and saw a teary Miss Cora.

Hell.

What the fuck was going on?

I ground my teeth together.

“Arlo, chéri,” Henri cooed, rubbing at the boy’s back and hair. “Talk to me, please.”

Loyal moved closer and sat on the chair I’d been on. “Kid, you’re feelin’ a lot at the moment, right?” Arlo managed a nod against Henri. “Yeah, I would be to. And I bet you appreciate everything Sawyer has done for you, but you’ve been worried about him as much as he has for you.”

Arlo pulled back. “H-He does so much for me. There’ve been so many horrible people around us, except for Miss Cora, and no one wants to help.

Not even my teachers. They think my brother is no good.

But he is. He’s the best brother there is in the world.

I just want him safe and to have people who care about us.

” He stared up at a misty-eyed Henri. “You care, right?”

Sawyer’s hold on my tee tightened as he whimpered.

“I absolutely care, sweet boy. Blaze and I care so much about you and Sawyer. Loyal cares about you all too. We are here in your lives from now on, Arlo. This I promise you. Your brother is safe, and so are you and Miss Cora.”

He hiccupped through a sob and hugged Henri again.

My French firecracker stared up at me. The love he had for these boys was clear in his gaze. He was ready to go above and beyond for them, which meant I’d better start looking for a damn big house.