Page 93 of Boys Who Hunt
“Then I’ll kill ’em too.” I shrug.
His jaw tenses. “It’s not that easy.”
“Yes, it is.” I tilt my head. “They’re your men. If you can’t trust them … why are they near our family?”
He takes another deep drag, staring me down like he’s disappointed in me.
But we both know why I am the way I am.
“Who was it?”
“A nobody,” I respond.
“Where did you find him?”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I need to know if there are any loose ends,” he grits, slamming his fist on the table. “Goddammit, Silas. I told you to be more careful.”
I look away. “I took care of it.”
“And my men had to clean up after the mess you left,” he says. “That’s not going to happen again, do you hear me? You can’t jeopardize your mother like this. What if the cops find out?”
“They won’t,” I retort. “Because you’ll take care of it.”
His nostrils flare and it takes him a while to respond. “No. Not anymore.”
I frown. “What?”
“You.” He points at me. “You will stop.”
I clutch the chair’s elbow rests. “No.”
He can’t ask this of me. He knows why I do this.
“Yes,” he reiterates. “You will.”
I stand and kick the chair away. “The fuck I will!”
“You have no choice.” He takes another drag before marching over to me and grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. “Stop playing around. This isn’t some fucking game, kid. You take the wrong guy, and you’re done for. Over. You don’t know the kind of monsters that live in this fucking city and what they do to protect their own. Your mother and I have been fighting tooth and nail to keep our kids protected, and goddammit, I won’t let you screw this up.”
“Ineedthis,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Take out your anger on something else,” he says, grabbing my shoulders instead. “Go to a shooting range. Go join an axe-throwing group. Fuck, you can even join that dojo that friend of Heath’s father owns. What’s his fucking name … Blaine Navarro. He’ll give you something to take your anger out on and let it go.”
I jerk free of his grip. “I don’t want to fucking let it go.” I laugh out loud. “You think I do this because I’m angry?”
“Silas …”
“No, you don’t get to give me this talk. I fucking know what you and Mom did back in your days.”
Shock riddles his eyes.
“Yeah, Heath told me about his father’s big shoot-out at the Torres casino, one in which you took part. You act like you’re some goddamn good guy, but you’re not.”
“I never said I was, but I did it for the right reasons.”
“Fuck the right reasons,” I spit back. “I don’t need a reason to kill.”