They do clean up quite a few for us and The Devil.
“No later than 2 McCoy. She's a little too young to die, don't you think?”
“You're not gonna kill her,” Drew argues immediately regretting it.
“Nope,” he smiles so slickly, vomit in my stomach surges upward. “Merrick is.”
My eyes widen. “No the fuck I'm not.” The Devil strokes the side of Jovi's face and I growl, “Don't you fucking touch her.”
Proud he's ruffled me up as much as he has he says, “Killing the Commissioner's daughter is not on my to-do list and if it needs to be done, I'm not stupid enough to leave a trail back to me. I am smart enough to leave one that they'll trace back to you Mr. Merrick McCoy. I suggest you don't fuck me over on this one. Oh! Might wanna act quickly. Cops hunt for their own twice as hard as they do anyone else and there may be clues to hint them your direction.”
Without giving me the opportunity to say anything else the screen goes black. The new sight frees the gate for me heave the contents of my stomach all over the side of the couch closest to Daniel.
“Damn it!” he shouts shooting up. “Aim!”
Coughing up the remains of the emotions I swallowed, I start to choke on it.
Seems like a fitting death sentence. Don't you fucking save me. Don't encourage anyone else to either.
Madden pounds me on the back releasing the last of the vomit onto the couch. Once it's free, I cough and cough as I turn around to slide my back against the backside of the couch. Tears start pouring out of me uncontrollably. The combination of the two actions seems to be ripping me apart as the misery tries to murder me.
For a few minutes no one moves. No one asks any questions. No one scolds me. No one even tries. For just a moment I'm allowed to feel like the piece of shit I've become.
And I have. I am nothing to be proud of. Not even fucking sure if I ever was.
Suddenly I feel a coolness on my forehead, which lifts my eyes to Knoxie who's squatting in front of me. “I'll clean up the other mess too, but you owe me new sweats.”
“If I make it out of this alive, I'll buy you anything you want.”
“When.” Madden squats down beside her. “I am not losing another fucking family member. Not to The Devil and damn sure not to the cops.”
Surprised at his calmness I try to apologize, “I'm sorry-”
“Fuck that,” he bites. “Start fucking talking. And start at the fucking beginning.”
Suddenly Triple D appears behind him, all three with their arms folded across their chest.
There's a certain fear meets security when Triple D unites with Madden like this. Most of the time, Drew has his side, Destin gets mine and Daniel lands wherever he does, but right now, division doesn't even look like a word in their vocab.
Clearing my throat, I gently nudge Knox's hand away. “When I met Jovi, something happened to me. I don't know exactly how else to explain it other than love at first sight.” My jaw trembles to smile. “And she's all I've been able to see since. Not cars. Not the job. Not working for The Devil. Hell, I should've taken Ben's explosion at me as a wake-up call, but I didn't. The only thing I was concerned about was Jovi.”
“We know all this,” Drew states. “We were there.”
“Yeah, but...” My voice fades as I look back down at my shoes. “There's something about Jovi. Being with her. Being around her. It doesn't just make me wanna be a different guy. It makes me wanna change my whole fucking life. I don't wanna be a street racer any more. I don't wanna work at the shop. I wanna go away with her to school. I wanna start college. I wanna live with her. Have a future with her. I wanna leave this Devil bullshit behind, so...so I asked Jovi to marry me.”
Madden grinds his teeth before turning to Knox. “That's what you went to the mall for that day.”
Knox hesitates before he answers, “Yeah but-”
“You knew my baby brother was about to run away and didn't fucking think to tell me.”
“I-”
“How could you fucking do that to me, Knox?”
“To you?” She shrieks standing up. “All the bullshit you put me through and you have the balls to ask me why I didn't tell you your youngest brother isn't a complete moron like you?”
Madden stands up sharply. “I swear-”
“Enough!” Daniel raises his hand. “One Maury episode at a time. This episode is all about the bad-ass criminal who was dumb enough to fall for the cop's daughter. Now that we've had a sneak peak of next week's episode...finish Merrick.”
Leave it to Daniel to try to lighten the situation. Daniel...or Ben. Fuck, I miss Ben.
Swallowing the new anxiety from fucking up their relationship I continue, “She said yes.”
“Of course she said yes,” Drew mumbles.
“But I didn't want to be still involved with The Devil, so I went to him and made him an offer.” Seeing Madden's face pale I finish with, “One job. Just me. He agreed with the stipulation I had to do it in broad daylight with no mask.”
“To ruin you,” Drew sighs.
“To put you away,” Destin adds.
“To end you,” Daniel follows.
“Yeah, well that shit wasn't easy. I was shot at-”
“Where?” Madden interrupts. “Where did you go?”
“Some property in the middle of nowhere. The dude was a complete lunatic. He had his guard hunt me like a fucking deer-”
“Snake's Ranch? You went to Snake's Ranch?” Madden grumbles and starts to shake his head. “Are you fucking insane?”
I think given all the shit I've done lately, the answer to that is yes. Don't...don't agree.
Clenching his fists he grouses, “You took something from Snake? Fuck...”
“Why do you know who that is?”
“Because unlike you I actually know some shit about the enemy,” Madden growls. “What did you steal?”
“Nothing! All I had to do was get the keys and bring it back. Mind you, I had to find the keys in the maze of bullets being sprayed at me, before I could do that.”
“You don't know how lucky you are you didn't get shot. Snake's right hand is ex special forces.”
Explains the precision.
“I don't know how lucky I am? Are you fucking joking? I was the one hunted like Bambi!”
“At least Bambi was adorable,” Knox adds.
“He's adorable,” Destin defends me. “You know, it's funny how much in common you have with that cartoon deer.”
“Can we fucking focus please?” Drew snaps. “What happened after you left Snake's Ranch?”
“I had to bring the Hot Tottie back to The Devil, which I almost did except I got caught on the way back for having no tags. That kind of lead to a...man hunt for me.”
“That news report,” Destin says slowly. “They were hunting you?” When I nod he rolls his eyes. “Oh this is bad. So fucking bad.”
“My fiance is on a fucking timer to live. I know this is fucking bad!”
“Don't yell at me,” Destin demands. “I didn't fuck up!”
Before I can snip back Madden shakes his head. “All this bullshit for some girl...”
Feeling an anxiety clench in my chest, I try to not to launch at my brother. “She's not just some girl! That's like saying a Van Gogh painting is just some piece of art instead of a Masterpiece.”
Madden shakes his head again. “It is.”
I take a deep breath and shut my eyes.
Hitting him in the face once fucking hurt. Not real sure if that's what stopping me from hitting him again or if it's the fact I don't wanna make this situation any goddamn worse. Though I'm honestly at a point I'm not sure things can get any goddamn worse.
When I open my eyes I look at Knox. “Saying Jovi is just some girl is like calling Louboutins just shoes.” She shudders at the thought and I look at Triple D. “Or saying a Confederate Motorcycle is just a bike.”