The Pain That Grows Us

Chapter Twenty-Four

"What the fuck do you mean Samuel Sanchez was there this morning?" Ryan asks, and I wish I could punch him in the face for being so fucking stupid.

"What the fuck do I mean? How many different ways do I have to tell you Ryan? He was at the fucking house. Apparently Amara has been dating him for a fucking while." I snap at him as I wave at her. She has been watching me pace the backyard for the past two hours, not that I have been very graceful with my pacing.

"Shit."

"Yeah, I know, but get this. She wants him dead." not that she really had a choice in the matter, he was going to die one way or another. This fucking turf war isn't going to end very well for Sanchez or his gang.

"Fuck." and I can hear the questions running through his head, because they are the same ones that have been going through mine. What the fuck did he do to her? "Does she know anything?"

"Careful, you are starting to sound like me." I can't hold back the smirk, maybe he has been okay on his own these past few weeks. "I have to talk to her some more, but from what she told me earlier, she knows something."

"Do we need to take her?" I hear the door of the garage squeak, and the voices of the men in the garage on his end of the phone. "We can have guys there in minutes."

"No. Not yet. I want to know what she wants first. But I want someone outside the house. I don't need a fucking drive by, now that Sanchez knows I am here."

"Does he know?" the voices fade as he makes his way to my office no doubt, it's the only place there that doesn't have a single person listening.

"No."

"Are you sure?" he asks.

"No. If I was fucking sure of anything I would be telling you what to do. Not telling you to have Max pick up Justin and move him to a fucking safe house tonight."

"It's a good thing you were there." he sighs into the phone.

"I want Danny here tonight, there are some things I need to do." I stare at that fucking tree again. "Someone needs to be here all day everyday. They aren't going to take this place from us. They take this place, they might as well take the whole fucking street, and I am not letting that happen."

"Yeah, I'll get Danny there tonight. Or..."

"Use your fucking words Ryan."

"Max could stay there with Justin. It's safer than taking him some place we can't get to in time. Besides if Sanchez is going to attack us, he is going to attack somewhere else first. Why would he put Amara at risk?"

"You are a fucking romantic. You know that? He doesn't give two shits about her. Not anymore." I saw it in his eyes. He is done with her, she fought back just enough to make her point clear and he doesn't need her anymore. Not that he has ever needed her, or been faithful to her. The number of women he has been with while they have been dating. The fucking disrespect he has for her.

"Women aren't meant to be touched."

"Yeah? Well I saw it in his eyes this morning, he doesn't care. Not anymore, if he ever did." I turn around and find Amara still staring out the kitchen window, watching me. "Max is here tonight with Justin, but that's only for tonight. We might need to ship Justin to Washington, let him hide out with Aunt Martha for a while."

"Max won't ever go for that. Not with the hit still on her."

"I fucking know that." But I can't lose Justin, not because of some fucking turf war. "I don't want him here for this. Shit is going to get ugly."