Let Go: A Bishop Mafia Book 1 Read online

  I breathe out a sigh of relief once I am in a stall. I wait a few minutes allowing the roar of moving and chatting students to move through the building as I stay still in my safety zone. My first day of senior year was not off to the kind of start I imagined and I expel a deep breath and the emotions of embarrassment that Leo and Kane had poured over me. Senior year. I could do this. I had to.

  Chapter 3

  Kane

  First day of senior year was exactly as I imagined. Teachers going over the rules as if we were children, reading to us from a syllabus as if we couldn't do it in our own time. Everyone pouring into the old building talking way too fucking loudly about their summers and where everyone ended in their relationship statuses. Crowding into the cafeteria that smelled like last semester's french fries and desperation as we made our way to our table that everyone knew to go nowhere near. Which is where we currently were.

  "Dude, Clarissa had a whole week's worth of Instagram posts dedicated to you," Joseph said bringing me back to the moment.

  "Ahha yeah!" Leo says, shoving a french fry in his too-big mouth. "I swear to fucking god she thought she had tamed you, man. Like, she legit thought Kane Bishop is settling in for a long ride with her," he laughs shaking his head.

  "He settled in for a ride. Just not a long one," Joseph throws back.

  I scowl at them as I eat silently and they laugh.

  "What's happening?" a soft voice asks as it settles on the other side of Terrance who was across from me.

  "Hey, Lori," Leo sing-songs. The idiot couldn't do anything calmly, I swear. "I hear Terrance got you to go back-dooring this summer," he says with a mischievous grin.

  "Oh stop being crude," she responds, throwing a french fry at him. He laughs and eats the fry. She was pretty with dark blonde hair and though her voice annoyed the hell out of me sometimes, she was good for Terrance. They'd been together for a while now and she was a good balance for him. She threw Terrance a glare to which he raises his hands in mock innocence. She shakes her head and pivots her attention to me. "So Kane, Clarissa gets back from Bali tomorrow."

  I nod my head slowly without saying anything.

  "She's excited to see you," she says easily, casually. But there was nothing casual about it. All attention was on me and the fucker, Leo, has a shit-eating grin splitting his dumb-ass face.

  "Clarissa can feel free to be excited to see any other asshat at this school that she pleases," I respond easily.

  Lori frowns at me. "Come on. You guys were going strong there for a bit this summer before she went on vacation."

  "Yeah, going strong is Kane's specialty," Joseph interjects, "but not for longevity."

  "Oh come on," Lori scolds, "you guys had fun together. We all saw it!" she exclaims looking around the table for support. The guys shake their heads laughing. I remain stoic.

  "No thanks," I say. "We had fun. Then it ended. New chapter."

  "You're a dick," she says pointing her fork at me.

  I nod my head. "Agreed."

  The guys laugh again and she shakes her head as the topic slips to the side as I intended. I don't date. Everyone knows it and I have set a strong expectation of that over the years at Wildwood. I have more important things to worry about than this school and these students and girls who want to try and bang and bag the beast that I am. I've heard it before-Kane Bishop the heartless beast. Some chicks dig the challenge. But I didn't set it out as a challenge, just a full-stop, end of story rule.

  "Dude," Leo turns to me, his voice lowered for just my ears. "my dad says boss has something for us tonight."

  I nod my head and look around then back at him. "We'll talk later but come to the house after school."

  Leo nods, his face serious. The asshat is loud and crazy most of the time, but when it comes to the family business he is that: business. That's something I can appreciate about him.

  He perks, a slow smile crawling up his face and when I turn to see what he's looking at I see Two and her boyfriend Brian walk into the cafeteria together. Brian is a kickass soccer player and a general asshole of a human that I ignore and avoid.

  "Damn, I love fucking with the peasants," Leo says. "Bet I can get in her white, cotton panties before homecoming."

  I look over at her tilting my head. She has dark brown, curly hair. She's fucking tiny. Brian's not a huge dude but next to her he looks it. She's not hot, not really. She's interesting. Quiet. She's never been on my or anyone else in our group's radar.

  "I'll take that bet," I say easily. "She's not going to fall for you."

  "You guys are gross," Lori says.

  "Oh, I am planning to get gross with her," Leo says suggestively.

  "And Collin is nice. Don't fuck with her," Lori adds.

  "I like nice girls," Leo retorts.

  "You like all girls," she responds as though she's talking to a child.

  "I actually have standards, Lor," he says.

  "Mhmm," she's shoving a bite of salad in her mouth and glaring at him.

  "I think Jeffrey's is a fuckwit," Joseph says. "Glad he went the soccer route instead of football in middle school."

  "Hey, Jeffreys!" Leo suddenly shouts across the noisy cafeteria. He's loud enough that people still and both Brian and Collin look over at us. "You're a fuckwit!" The guys burst out in laughter and I watch as Brian's face hardens, his hands tighten on his lunch tray and when my eyes slide over to Collin, her eyes are narrowed on Leo but then slide over to me and she visibly stiffens. She reaches up a hand to his arm and guides him to a table as far from us as she can get.

  "You're definitely going to lose the bet, Leo," I say shaking my head and giving him a small smile.

  "Nuh-uh. I'm going to totally slide in those cotton panties," he says.

  My mind wanders to this morning when I was leaving for school. My dad, or "boss" as Leo calls him, told me to come straight home. My first guard assignment is due tonight. As a senior, and as the boss's son, it's my turn to do a night walking the lane. I get the fucking privilege of walking the half-mile radius around one of dad's businesses, the club, keeping an eye on traffic, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It's my first initiation. I'm not nervous, but I can't fuck it up. Senior year is going to be one hell of a year.

  Chapter 4

  Collin

  I left Natalie behind a few blocks back at her mega-mansion neighborhood and walked in relative silence the last couple of blocks to my own neighborhood. They juxtaposed in so many ways that I wondered at how such a little distance separated the scarcely lit, cracking asphalt lanes of where I lived to Natalie's black oxford street lighting and streets that barely looked driven on. Hers is a neighborhood where the rolling properties spread out in mapped-out glory leading to a quintessential white chapel at the end where all the picturesque lanes met. The stained glass windows are a sweeping picture of beauty and the houses, magnificent as they are, look as though they are bowing to the simulacra of wealthy religion.

  Everyone goes to that church on the prescribed Sundays that dot throughout the months and even inside of the unconditional doors, there are conditional hierarchies in the form of Chanel, Armani, power, and gold.

  Even time, I have found, can be used to make someone feel less than. It is wielded as currency to denote a certain level of importance...or lack of. Brian's father seems to use time as one of his main forms of currency, even with his children.

  I walk up the sidewalk to our two-story house. It's nothing fancy, but it's clean, a dark blue color with stark white trim and shutters that gives it a crisp look and my dad takes pride in the lawn. I do a quick scan of cars in the driveway and find relief in not seeing anyone home. My parents are fine as parents go on paper. They don't fly off to different corners of the world on extravagant trips-rather, they fly off to different corners of the country as travel nurses. They don't do drugs and they bring in enough to cover our bills and some extra. They also don't seek me out and they tend to be of the widely embraced belief system of burying their heads in the sand with hard issues. And this house has some.

  There are times when I'm alone in our house and I feel as though the unlit corners, closets, and darkened hallways watch me with bated breath. What will the lonely girl do now? What kinds of secrets will she shove in us to let fester and bloom?

  I run up the brown-carpeted stairs and knock lightly then push open the bedroom door that I always check to make sure is empty. Even though it has been for a long time now. It's habit. It's self-preservation. I haven't had a reason to see that car in the driveway for a long time now.

  Finding it empty I let out an easy breath. I always hold it. Until I check his room.

  And then I let it go.

  I enter my haven. Last summer I painted my room a dark grey, nearly black, with warm wooden bookshelves and matching floating shelves with old, antique metal brackets. I have books tiptoeing the edges of nearly every shelf and my desk pressed up against the far wall is full of knicks in the dark wood, thinly wiped away accidental spills of nail polish, and my space for building my future. Away from here. From this house, this town, away from the line drawn between norms and wealth. Away from those secrets shoved inside our house's shadows.

  My phone chirps and I look down to find a group text from Caleb.

  Caleb: Norms hang out tonight at my place. I get to pick a movie but you guys can pick food.

  I smile and briefly think of Brian, how he isn't really a part of this piece of me and it doesn't bother me as much as it maybe should. Or maybe not. I don't really know. There are complicated rules for relationships and then there are more rules for relationships that straddle the different sides of the social tracks.

  Natalie: Fine. Collin, will you grab wings from Solos? And I'll bring pie. June, you bring the sweet tea. You better not pick a fucking slasher

  Caleb: I have the southern comfort too. and slasher it is

  Natalie: I hate you

  Caleb: You only wish you did, Nat

  June: Do we even need to be a part of this group chat? Collin and I are basically voyeurs here

  Natalie: ew.

  Caleb: you only wish you were grossed out by that, Nat

  Natalie: omg

  Collin: I'm with June on this

  I laugh, throwing my phone on the bed as I dig through my closet to put on leggings and an oversized t shirt, hanging my uniform up with care. I leave a note on the counter for mom or dad-more likely neither of them- letting them know I will be at Caleb's with friends and then I head out for the short walk to Solo's for wings.

  One thing about our small beach town is that it is exactly that: small. I don't have a car and walking to just about anywhere doesn't take too long.

  I wait for our large order of wings and realize as I am walking that the road I would normally take to Caleb's from here is closed off for construction, the sidewalk unusable so I cut over a couple of streets and find myself in the business district. I look around, the sun having started its farewell for the day casting the shadows longer and the spike of awareness more fragile. The business district is a part of our town I don't visit often. It's not unsafe, per se. Our town is, for the most part, a fairly safe town even given the mafia presence. Maybe even because of it.

  There was one case of an elementary girl going missing years ago, her poster stuck around town like flapping pink and blue post-it notes. There were still some you could find here and there; some old and some fresh. There was drug activity, like any town, and the Bishops owned that. But other than that, we didn't have much in the way of terror and crime. But even so, as I walk alone along these streets I can count how many times I've been on one hand, I am aware that I'm alone.

  There is a club of questionable reputation and goings-on that stands six stories tall owned by Kane's dad and family. And across from it is the largest building in our downtown which is an enterprise of sorts that has all kinds of business no one really knows the ins and outs of. There are a few smaller restaurants speckled along the streets mostly owned by Terrance Smith's family, who deals with the Bishops. Brian's father's law firm is also down here on an adjacent street but that's far less mysterious in nature.

  I shoot off a text letting the group know I am on my way with the wings when suddenly I am jolted and I hear a loud gunshot that stops me like I walked into a wall.

  "Get down!" a deep voice rings out and I don't have time to wonder who they're talking to because then I am down. Someone tackles me to the concrete, huge arms around me, the scent of sun-warmed concrete and cedar surrounds me and I close my eyes, hold my breath, as everything shifts and stops.

  Chapter 5

  Kane

  I'm walking out of the club wearing fatigues and a black long-sleeved thermal. When I see Leo leaning against the brick building I nod my head signaling him to catch up to me as I make my way down the sidewalk, leaving behind the tinted windows and low bumping music.

  The club isn't a place I go often. The boss doesn't dissuade me like he probably should, but if I do go, I head straight to the sixth floor where the offices are. My future office.

  "You think someone is going to fuck with you just cuz you're baby boss now?" Leo asks as he falls into step next to me.

  "Probably," I say nonchalantly. But this is what I am trained for. Have been trained for since I was a kid. If I ever was one. When you see people killed as a child, and steadily throughout childhood, pieces of your childhood get called into question.

  "So what's the deal tonight?"

  "Just patrol," I say.

  "Yeah, but like, what's boss's business tonight?"

  "Not my, or your, business to ask. You know that," I say barely keeping the sneer out of my voice. Sometimes Leo's curiosity can be a sonofabitch and if he is going to be my second in command when I take over, I am going to need to beat some of that out of him.

  I actually did know what was going down tonight. Why my assignment for patrol was imperative and not just a shitty waste of time and me as a resource. There was a shipment coming in and our neighboring crew that we are on very tenuous allied terms with at the moment could easily decide they don't want to be allies anymore. It could take one asshole to get greedy or dumb or both to break our fragile peace between our family businesses. So I am here, walking the streets looking for anything out of the ordinary.

  "Go to Third street and stay inside of that quadrant for the night. Text me with anything weird and stay out of fucking trouble."

  "Aye aye, captain," Leo says with an over-the-top salute and I almost punch him in the fucking face for it. But then he's off and I can breathe in silence for a bit. I know the business. Boss had brought me into it over the years in layers as his dad did for him. I run a hand over the concealed holster in my pocket absently as I watch the sun dip behind buildings, allowing for a cool breeze to weave itself through the now shadowed streets.

  My phone buzzes and I expect it to be Leo being an asshole but when I pull it out I inwardly groan.

  Clarissa: Just landed. Tanned from the tropics and excited to catch up

  I pull in a deep breath and ignore her. I'd have to tell her what is up when I see her tomorrow. She's hot. In a moneyed, pampered way. Pretty much fake everything, though. A fun distraction for a while. She was truly the cliche rich girl. I made it clear I don't do relationships and she had been fine with that. In my experience, girls were actually fine with that fifty percent of the time. Guys lie to get in girls' pants? Fair enough. But girls lie too.

  A black and tinted SUV turns the corner and I lift my chin, body at full attention as it makes its way to the parking lot next to the club. My phone buzzes again and this time it's dad.

  Boss: Keep watch. Shipment is here.

  I hear the metal back door of the club open but keep my back to what is going down behind me, my eyes and body fully alert.

  But then someone rounds the corner. My eyes narrow as I take in a kid in an oversized t-shirt and leggings and then I realize when my eyes catch on the pile of dark hair on their head it's not a kid, but that tiny chick, Two, walking down the sidewalk. She's carrying a huge carryout bag and looking down at her phone and no one walks down this fucking sidewalk behind the club and businesses ever, but especially once the sun has set. What the fuck is she doing?

  I narrow my eyes and start walking toward her when a smaller, black SUV slinks down the street. It isn't one of ours. Every cell in my body is buzzing because something is wrong. Something is off. I don't have time to reach for my phone but I reach for my glock as their window rolls down just enough.

  A shot is fired.

  "Get down!" I yell out to our men, to her, to anyone.

  I run at the girl and she stops. The shot was like ice water on her movements and then I'm on her, taking her to the ground. I still have the glock in my hand but I don't have time to think. I roll with her in my arms, trying to take the brunt of impact. I'm fairly aware of everything in the background:

  A car screeching away.

  Another shot fired.

  Our SUV booking it out of the parking lot.

  But I'm suddenly up and moving with her in my arms, running the fifty feet to the alley, shoving us into the darkness between buildings and I push her body behind me, sandwiched between the brick wall and my back as I look around frantically, controlling my deep breathing as I hold my gun steady and take stock of our surroundings.

  "What-"

  I suddenly turn around and instead of my back holding her against the wall my front now is and my hand not holding the gun is shoved against her mouth. I look into her shocked, wide eyes and lean in close.

  "Shut the fuck up," I hiss at her. "Do not move, do not say anything, do not breathe too loud. Got it?"