Takedown Teague (Caged #1)(4)

The smells brought back memories, and they weren’t pleasant ones. At the time, I didn’t care. I had other ways of masking the odors. Now I had to make do with the cigarette, and it wasn’t nearly as effective.

My earlier thought of needing to get laid came back again, but I dismissed it. I hadn’t hooked up with anyone in months, and even though my cock was starting to cringe from my hand out of sheer boredom, I really didn’t want to just randomly f*ck another fangirl.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“A C-note, maybe,” I responded to the man with the sleek black hair. I forced my muscles to relax. I was not going to let him get to me, not this time. I glanced at him briefly and then looked back to the street. The bare bulb hanging just outside the door to the bar glinted off the silver earrings in his left ear. “What brings you here, Michael?”

“Just checking up on my favorite nephew.”

“I’m your only nephew.”

“Technicalities.”

I took another long draw on my cigarette and focused on the four guys across the street with their cheap bottle of booze and ratty clothes. One of them laughed loudly and shoved the guy next to him on the shoulder, which toppled the drunk over and onto the sidewalk. They all laughed as he tried to right himself again.

“Always loved this neighborhood,” Michael said. His voice was completely flat and emotionless, but I still recognized sarcasm when I heard it.

“Well, housing is cheap,” I said with a shrug.

“You still in that dump down the block?”

“It’s convenient to work,” I retorted. “Don’t play games, Michael—what the f*ck do you want?”

“Just your yearly reminder that you don’t have to live like this.” My uncle walked up behind me and placed his hand on my bare shoulder. “Just talk to him, Liam.”

“No.”

“It’s been almost ten years.”

“Fuck him,” I replied. I could feel all my muscles tense from top to bottom—my shoulders, my arms, my back, my legs—all in a ripple down my body.

“You were a kid then.”

“Old enough to be thrown out on the street, apparently.”

“He regrets that,” Michael stated.

“My ass,” I growled. “He’s pissed off he couldn’t see into the future. That’s his only regret.”

Michael went silent, but I could hear his breath as he huffed it out through his nose.

“Your mother misses you.”

That was a low blow, but I swallowed hard and clenched my fingers through the chain-link, refusing to respond. It didn’t stop her face from popping up in my head, of course. Wavy brown hair covered her shoulders, and her bright smile made me feel loved and wanted.

Ultimately, she still took his side.

Michael stepped a few feet away from me and smoothed out his hair.

“Fuck her, too,” I muttered under my breath. I didn’t think Michael actually heard me, though. Even after all this time, I felt like shit for saying it and wanted to take it back.

“Ryan says hello.” It was a slightly better topic.

“Haven’t seen him in a while.” My cousin was a big-ass motherf*cker. He would have made a great fighter, but he went into the family business with the rest of them. No room for that kind of shit in his life. Michael wasn’t actually his father. He had married a woman about fifteen years older than he was, and she came with a son. It was cool though, because up until then, I had been the only kid my age in the family.

Ryan and Michael were the only ones I still talked to at all.

“He’s been pretty busy,” Michael said. “Did he tell you he was going to marry Amanda?”

“I figured,” I said, feeling myself tense up a bit.

“Well, she’s planning the wedding to end all weddings, apparently.”

“There’s a shock,” I snorted.

Michael laughed, which quickly turned into a sigh.

“Not going to change your mind?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Not this year,” I replied. “I don’t see ‘daddy dearest’ making the trek down here to talk to me. What makes him think I’m going to take the f*cking subway all the way over to his office? He can park the f*cking Porsche back here and come have a beer if he cares so much.”

“Liam…”

“You done?” I snapped.

“I guess so,” he said. He let out another long breath. “It was good to see you.”

“You, too.” I didn’t turn around and watch him walk back inside. His appearance brought up too many shitty memories, and though I did love my uncle, his presence left me feeling uneasy.

After a few more cigarettes, I tossed the last butt toward the street and headed back inside for a bit. It wasn’t long before I determined getting laid was not going to happen, given my mood and the general lack of teeth in the mouths of some of the patrons still left at Feet First come closing time. I untangled myself from one of the hornier ones by telling her I had to take a piss, went back to the locker room to grab my gym bag, and headed out the back door. Once outside, I dropped the bag, fished around for my pack of Marlboros, and lit one.

A lone car crawled by, momentarily obscuring my view of the drunk-fest that was still going on across the street. They were pretty f*cking loud, which was disturbing my final smoke of the evening before walking home. Usually this was my peaceful time, the only real quiet of the night I would get before returning home and trying to sleep through the car alarms and gunshots. At least the idiots who used to fight at all hours of the night in the apartment below me finally moved out. Maybe they were evicted. Whatever it was, I didn’t have to listen to that shit anymore.