Dare To Run (The Sons of Steel Row #1)(68)

Hell, neither could I.

But I’d been summoned, and so here I was.

“The crew in Center City is having a hard time locking down sales. They keep getting busted and think we need to move away from the high school,” Tate said, rubbing his forehead. “So we need to come up with a better place to deliver.”

Chris smirked at me. I stiffened, knowing this wasn’t gonna go anywhere good. “You got any thoughts on this, Luc?”

“Uh . . . yeah.” I sat up straighter and tapped the fingers of my good hand on the table. “Center City is heavily policed. We need to move away from it.”

Brian nodded. “That’s what we just said. So what do you suggest?”

“Yeah.” Chris leaned back and crossed his arms. “Whatcha got, Luc?”

I shrugged, not liking the way my blood brother put me on the spot like that. This was obviously some sort of test, and the stubborn * part of me didn’t want to fail it. An earlier conversation with Heidi came to mind, and I sat up straighter. “I don’t know. Maybe . . . maybe we throw the badge for a loop and move closer to Steel Row High rather than farther from it. There’s an alley near it, right?”

Tate leaned forward, his lips parted. “Yeah. It’s got a few. And there’s a deserted Laundromat, too, only a block out.”

“So what if we use those alleys to our advantage?”

Brian shook his head. “Too dangerous. We’d be vulnerable to an ambush.”

“Agreed,” Tommy said quickly.

“But the police usually avoid the alleys if the homeless are in them. They don’t waste their time with them, since all they want is a place to sleep.” I leaned on the table and locked gazes with Tate. “A few wads of cash and a couple prepaid phones here and there, and we can not only have that alley empty and waiting for us, but we’ll have people who can warn us if the Boys are coming.”

Brian shook his head. “I don’t know. Too many risks.”

“It could work, though,” Tommy said, eyeing me with new respect. He rubbed his jaw and slapped his hand on the table. “It could actually f*cking work. He’s right. The Boys avoid the usual homeless haunts.”

Tate cracked a smile. “All right. Then I say we should case the place, see how it looks. Take a few days to make sure we’re right, and then we make the move, if all the pieces line up the way I like.”

Chris nodded once. “Seconded.”

“Third,” Brian said.

Tommy nodded. “Fourth.”

They all stared at me. I shifted in my seat. “I came up with the idea, so obviously . . . fifth . . . or whatever the hell I’m supposed to say.”

Tate laughed, his blue eyes shining like sapphires. The guy could be a ruthless killer, but there was no denying his charismatic charm. It was a dangerous combination, if you were on his shit list. “You’ll get the hang of it. Don’t worry.”

“The hang of what, exactly?” I tugged on my collar and picked up my whiskey, which had been previously untouched. “Why am I here?”

“That’s a conversation we’re going to have alone.” Tate nodded at the other men. “If you’ll excuse us, gentlemen?”

The other three men grabbed their drinks and left without another word. As Chris passed, he winked at me. I flipped him off under the table. He laughed. As soon as the door shut, I set my glass down. “Is there something I can do for you, sir?”

Tate shoved a hand through his red hair. “You’ve been loyal to us for over thirteen years now. A member since before you were old enough to grow hair on your chest.”

I laughed. “With all due respect, you’re only two years older than me.”

“Yeah.” Tate smiled slightly. “But I was born into this life. You weren’t. You chose it, embraced it, lived it.”

I stared down at my glass. “Really? Most of the time, it feels like it chose me.”

“Which is the sign I needed to know I made the right choice.” Tate leaned back and steepled his fingers, watching me over them like a hawk about to pounce on its prey. “You did your time, and when you came out, you integrated back into our life without a hitch. Some might even say you’ve shone like a f*cking lightbulb.”

“Call me Rudolph, if you must,” I said, smirking.

“Call yourself whatever the hell you want, but I call it ambition. Street smarts. Success.” He stood and went to the window, pulling the blinds apart to look outside. It was a sunny day in Steel Row, and the light reflected off the tip of the cathedral. There were birds singing out the window, telling of the coming spring, but I wasn’t holding my breath. Mother Nature was a major bitch this year, and there was still snow on the ground. “I’d be a fool not to reward that.”

I also stood, smoothing my button-up shirt over my abs. “What are you saying, sir?”

“You know, I haven’t been on a date with a normal girl in ten years.” Tate dropped his hold on the blinds and turned to me. He ran his hand over the buttons of his suit jacket. “I feel like I’ve been in this life too long sometimes, you know. Like it’s changed me, but not for the better. Do you ever get that feeling? Like normal life is something beyond your reach?”

I swallowed. “Yeah. I know the feeling very well.”