Rock Chick Reawakening (Rock Chick 0.5)(50)

He was young.

He was good at what he did, but he was young.

He’d learn.

Rage had no place in what they did, Nightingale’s place skirting the edges of it, Marcus’s right in the middle of it.

You gave in to your rage, you got sloppy.

In their game, sloppy men didn’t survive.

You planned.

You executed.

Then you moved on.

“Let me protect you,” Marcus urged.

They locked eyes and it took some time but eventually Nightingale proved he wasn’t only good, he was smart. He did this jerking up his chin, cutting his gaze through Stark, and he dropped his hands from his hips before he cast a glance at Tucker and strode away.

Stark stared at Marcus another beat before he dropped his arms from his chest and followed Nightingale.

Marcus waited until the sound of the heavy door closing echoed through the room and only then did he look at Darius.

“It’s arranged?” he asked.

“Zano and Townsend are both on board.” Darius walked to Marcus, pulling a gun out of the back of his jeans and offering it Marcus’s way.

Marcus took it.

Darius continued, “They find anything, it’ll be linked to the House of Shade. Everyone wants Shade out. He’s sliding, somethin’ surfaces with this, things’ll get a lot more slippery.”

“Is something going to surface?” Marcus asked.

Darius shrugged. Then he smiled.

Christ.

Cold as stone.

A long time ago, Shirleen’s now-dead husband made things very difficult for Vincent Shade. He was holding on mostly because there was always enough crime to go around, and even stupid and completely insane, Shade managed to find his share.

He’d been a nuisance for some time.

Darius was correct, everyone wanted him gone. It was just that, considering he was only a nuisance, no one felt any need to expend much effort to see to that task.

Marcus could not know if Shirleen and Darius had reason to lose patience and intended to deal a killing blow.

And he didn’t care.

He looked to the man on his knees.

“Vincetti’s clean up,” Darius muttered and Marcus knew he was on the move. “Dom and his boys’re en route. Ren is not in the know on this and Vito wants it kept that way.”

“Thank you,” Marcus replied.

“Serious, this piece of shit, don’t mention it,” Darius said as his farewell.

Marcus waited again until he heard the door close.

Then he focused on the man’s eyes.

He was looking up at Marcus.

“Why?” Marcus asked.

“Just finish it,” the guy mumbled.

“Why?” Marcus repeated.

“Fuck!” the man exploded, the force of it making him veer forward so he had to put a hand out to catch his fall. He didn’t right himself but tipped his head back and shouted, “Just finish it!”

Louie pulled him back up to his knees by his hair.

“Fucking finish it!” he screamed, ripping his head from Louie’s hold, listing again but keeping his knees.

“Why?” Marcus asked again.

“We gonna play this game?” the man asked snidely.

“I’m thinking you might not have absorbed this, but this is my game, so yes, we’re going to play it.”

The man glared at him then spat, “Had me ejected.”

“It’s my understanding you put your hands on her during a private dance. That’s not allowed at Smithie’s.”

“She’s a f*ckin’ stripper,” he hissed.

Marcus ignored that and he could because he’d learned early how to control his rage.

“You broke the rules, she had you ejected, so you raped her?”

“I know she’s yours. I’ve heard your name. Didn’t know it at the time but I sure as f*ck know it now. I also know nothin’ I say is gonna stop what you’re gonna do. Maybe just make it last longer and be less fun, and serious, man, that guy with a beard and his Indian friend weren’t a barrel of laughs. So not that I’m invitin’ that shit, but just sayin’, to top the joyride I had with those f*ckin’ guys, you’d have to get creative. But how about we skip this bullshit and you just f*cking finish it?”

Interesting.

Shirleen and Darius hadn’t played with him at all.

Only Stark and Nightingale’s tracker.

This meant Nightingale and his team had no qualms with a variety of aspects of their business.

Marcus set these thoughts aside, studied the man before him for some time, and then whispered, “You can’t answer me.”

The man looked away and Louie used his hair to make him look back.

“Fuck,” he bit out.

“Do you have a mother?” Marcus asked.

“Fuck you,” the man spat.

“Sisters?”

“Fuck…you!” he leaned forward and shouted.

Louie pulled him back.

“You do, so why?” Marcus pressed.

“Because I could, all right?” he yelled. “Because I f*ckin’ could and she couldn’t f*ckin’ stop me that time, could she?”

Marcus tilted his head to the side. “That’s it? Because you could?”