The Boss

Chapter 27

There was a fine line between business and family, for me those lines were forever blurred. The backbone it took to be who I was supposed to be was tarnished. The person I had always wanted to be was lost a long time ago.

The family comes before anything else, the family is life. There will be nothing else for you, this is who you were born to be. Forget all the notions of being something else, forget about friends, forget about love.

Enemies will come, enemies will go. As life passes by, you will stand and be who you are. There is no room for anything else, you will breathe this, you will fight for this and you will bleed for this.

Love is a fairytale, tales told to those who need hope for something better. To you nothing is better than the family, to you nothing will come above the family. Love is a weakness you cannot afford, weakness is everything that will be used against you.

You are of my blood, you are of my bone. Weakness does not run in our family, weakness will get you killed. Family is sacred, family is loyalty, family is blood. The family is forever.

Family was shit, that's what it was. This life, the meaningless alliances the constant looking over your shoulder, the constant worry. I flung my blankets off my legs as I walked to my punching bag.

I punched, one, two, tap, tap. Sweat began to run down my spine as I worked my bag, one, two hit combos. Jason was alive, had been this whole time.

Part of me was grateful and the other part was hurt beyond repair. My brother, my best friend had disappeared and I had looked for him for years. There was no trace, nothing to follow.

I wouldn't have cared if he wanted out, hell I had wanted the same thing but when he disappeared all thoughts of leaving had left with him.

Hit, jab, hit. "Claire?" I paused at Bellamy's voice but continued to hit the bag reguardless.

"We need to talk," he spoke as if I had spoken.

"We have new information, the two men who killed Marcos and the lover have been found." His voice had lowered but I kept hitting the bag

"Claire, they work here." I stopped hitting the bag and spun on my heel to look at him.

"Excuse me?" I snapped.

"Jason confirmed it when Nick asked him to look into all of our employees." Jace had walked in behind him, always standing by the silent but alert companion.

"Here," he handed me an envelope. I opened it to see the records and the photos as realization set in.

"They are on shift tonight, when the club closes we will take care of it," he whispered stepping closer.

"Your not going to do anything without me there," I told him my eyes raising to meet his.

"I know," he responded.

"How did this happen?" I asked him and moved my gaze to Jace when he cleared his throat.

"I went to our contact and he proved that was all the information he could gather. I don't know how Jason was able to get everything that he did but I'm glad he was able." He told me.

I nodded and dropped the folder on the table in my room, like I said this life sucked.

"Is he still here?" I asked them before they could leave the room.

"Yes," Bellamy whispered pausing in the doorway.

"Where's Nick?" I asked heading for the closet.

"Downstairs I think," Jace responded.

I remained silent as I went through my clothes, when I emerged from my closet the two of them were gone. I took a shower and got dressed in some work out clothes, feeling my emotions weighing down on me.

After all this time, my brother was here and I honestly didn't know how to handle all that.

Walking out of my room and to the elevator I made my way to the workout room, between watching the club and the last few encounters I needed to let off some steam.

Slipping behind the bar and nodding at the bartender who was stocking, grabbing a glass and pouring some water I waited for him to break down a box before disappearing down the hall.

Slipping my hand to the button and opening the doorway to the corridor before slipping inside. I waited for it to shut before continuing down the hall.

There were several rooms designed for holding people who disrespected the family, you could say torture rooms but mainly they remained empty unless we had a major issue.

Walking down the hall and rounding the corner I heard grunts coming from the small gym. Opening the door I paused at the wide expanse of tan skin my eyes landed on the moment I entered.

His sweat covered skin glistened under the florescent lighting and I bit my lip to try and suppress the moan that bubbled up within me.

He was a fine specimen of male, broad shoulders defined with muscle, tapering to a narrow waist that met with an amazing ass. Lean legs that knew how to hold a woman in just the right spot as he rammed himself deep inside her.

He must have noticed my arrival cause he turned around to meet my gaze, I let my eyes travel across his handsome face before eating up his wide muscled chest to the nice four pack bordering on a six.

At his waist I could drool over the nice v-lines that disappeared into the low slung sweats that hid his more than profound dick. I closed my eyes at the memories that assaulted me at what exactly that piece of equipment could do.

"Claire," his husky voice cascaded over my skin.

"Nick," I responded before opening my eyes and meeting his gaze.

"What brings you here?" I asked him.

"Well," he started as he moved to grab a towel hanging near by to wipe the sweat off his forhead. "I asked if you had a place to work out and Jace told me about this place. I haven't worked out in a few days and needed the release."

I smirked, "same here." I told him before moving to the treadmill set off to the side.

I could feel his gaze as I got into my run but chose to ignore the need to glance back at him. There were at lot of things that I wish I could say to him, things that were left unsaid 10 years ago but I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

10 years was a long time ago and we both were different people, playing indifference had it's high and low points. I didn't know the truth as to why he was really here, I know what they had all said but there was this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that said there was more.

Glancing over at him as he settled into another workout routine, so many things that I wish I had said, so many things that I wish I had done.

There is no room for error, no room for anything that had the potential to become more important than the family. Family is life. Family is everything.

Those words haunted me, dictated my way of life. There was only one time in my life that I had wanted to challenge that, one thing that I would have given it all up for.