I sighed and covered my eyes with my arm to block out the light. “And what about everyone else? Are they coming around to the same idea?”
“Eh. Not everyone. There are definitely some that are pissed that we didn’t protect Reid, but they don’t have much of a choice. Cap told everyone that they can get on board or jump ship. And since our whole lives are wrapped up in this place, they don’t have much of a choice but to fall in line.”
“Great. So basically, I’m going to have a bunch of pissed off coworkers for a while.”
“It looks that way. I don’t know how it’s all going to work. Teams are divided right now. There’s not a single fucking team not affected by this. Well, aside from Knight and Lola. They’re both on your side.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Can’t say I’ve ever been so happy to have Knight on my side.”
“We’re all on your side. The lines are just blurred right now.”
“Rocco, Chris held a fucking gun to my head after Florrie beat the shit out of me. I’m not seeing how he’s on my side at all.”
“Yeah, I’m not gonna lie. I would feel a little threatened if I were you.”
“Why?”
“Because Florrie handed you your ass. I’m a little worried about the state of your man card right now.”
I smirked, though nothing was funny. “Hey, I was taking it easy on her because I didn’t want to hurt her.”
“Sure you did.”
“And besides, you know Florrie is just as good as the rest of us. It’s not like it’s offensive to be beat up by her. If anything, it’s an honor. I feel safer knowing that she can do that shit so easily.”
“Wow. You really are fucked up over her. I mean, I knew you loved her, especially after all the sneaking around, but I didn’t realize how deep you were in.”
“She’s everything,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do if she leaves me.”
“If? Did you not hear her? She hates you. She knocked you out with her gun. You’re just lucky that she didn’t shoot you too.”
“There were too many other people in the room. And a cop right outside. I’m not sure he would have looked past that.”
“But you think we would have?”
I shrugged. “I think it’s a tossup at this point.”
“Yeah, well, Cap called a team meeting. He said as soon as you’re awake, and you’re awake, so let’s get a move on.”
I groaned as he took my hand and pulled me up. My head was wobbling on my neck, but I managed to stand up and not fall over, so I took that as a good sign. Based on the size of the knot on top of my head, I was going to be hurting for at least a few days.
We walked into the conference room a few minutes later. All the seats were taken, mostly from the people that sided with Florrie. She was standing in the corner of the room, not even sparing me a glance as I walked in. Sinner stood and shoved the chair toward me.
“Shit, let’s all be a dick to the man with a head injury,” he snarled at the others that just sat there staring at me like I was a piece of shit. Yeah, this was gonna be fun. I sat down and closed my eyes for a few minutes.
“Alright,” Cap said, walking in the room to his place at the head of the table. “Let’s get this meeting started. As you all know, we’re in a bit of a civil war right now. That needs to stop right this fucking minute and we need to start working together like we always do.”
“Kind of hard to do when you’re sending one of us off to fend for himself,” Chris muttered.
“Let me make one thing perfectly fucking clear right now,” Cap said loudly. “I did not send Reid off to fend for himself. He has a phone with all our numbers in it. If he calls, you fucking answer. He also has the number for OPS if he gets into trouble. He has their card in case he loses his phone. Sean has contacts in the police department watching out for him. I talked with Cash and he’s going to send a team to keep an eye on Reid for as long as he can. We are doing everything we can right now to keep that kid safe.”
“He was safe with me,” Florrie snarled.
“He wasn’t your kid,” Cap reminded her.
“He was mine in every way that counted.”
She just didn’t get it. I pinned her with my gaze, but only received anger in return. “Florrie, we have to-”
“I’m not asking for your opinion,” she snapped at me.
“It’s not an opinion. I’m trying to protect all of us, especially you.”
“Yeah, funny how protection looks different on everyone,” Craig said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Well, it just seems there are different rules for everyone around here. Chris’s kid is in trouble and we go to war with two fucking gangs. We lose our homes and our women are hurt. Chance is taken and we all go on the run, taking on the fucking cartels. No one has any trouble using force to fight for Morgan and her kid. Coop’s daughter is attacked and he kills the man responsible in the basement. Nobody blinks an eye. Knight goes on a rampage and again, no one says a word. Not to mention that he shouldn’t even be with us to begin with because he’s a fucking assassin, but instead, he’s got a whole new life that Cap laid out for him.”
“Stop right there,” Cap yelled. “You’re talking about situations where we could avoid being caught. And everyone always knew the risks going in. There was a choice! With Knight, we did everything possible to cover our asses before we brought him in here. I’m not
