Read Online Liam: Branded Brothers by Raen Smith - Free Book Online Page B

trip back to the station. They usually kicked the doors or steel
barrier. There was one who even tried to kick out his window. He’d had to pull
over and tie the guy’s feet and hands together. If he had a partner, he could
drive in peace while his partner made sure the collections didn’t do anything
crazy. The problem was that he didn’t trust anyone else.
    “Well, I hope your brothers ain’t assholes like mine. You
know they say blood is thicker than water, but that ain’t always the case. That
line is a load of crap. I’d be happy without that damn brother of mine. He’s
always getting me into trouble.”
    “Are you sure he isn’t just trying to help you?” Liam asked,
turning at the first stop sign. Luckily, the station was only five minutes
away. He wasn’t too worried about Rich anyway. After Rich let up his struggle
the first time, he conceded and rode begrudgingly in the back with no fight. He
just talked the whole damn way. Liam considered getting earplugs along with the
new partner.
    “Help? You got to be kidding me. He’s done nothing but hurt
me. I’ve got nothing but low-life traitors in my life. Loyalty is a thing of
the past, my friend. Loyalty doesn’t exist, so don’t even think twice about
trying to find it.”
    Rich slid up to the steel barrier, just a foot away from
Liam’s ear. “What’s that tattoo you got on your chest?”
    “I’ve got a lot of tattoos,” Liam said, looking down at his
unbuttoned Henley. His shirt must have come undone when he was taking down
Rich. He buttoned the first two shut.
    “On your chest,” Rich said. “I saw something like it on a
guy I met in county.”
    “Oh yeah?” Liam tried to hide the trepidation in his voice.
    “Yeah, he was some tattoo artist or something. In for
disorderly conduct or something.”
    “He still there?” Liam asked.
    “Nah, he was gone before I got out. I don’t remember his
name or anything. Just remember his tattoos. Never seen anyone like that
before.”
    “A tattoo artist, huh?” Liam voice trailed off, thinking
about the possibilities of the tattoo artist being one of his brothers. He had
the perfect person to go to if Rich’s lead had an ounce of credibility. That
was a big if . But he didn’t have any other leads, so Rich’s was better
than nothing.
    “Yeah, you meet all sorts of guys in prison, half of them
don’t belong. Most of them wouldn’t hurt a fly. You know, they’re just doing
their thing. Making ends meet. You know, guys like me…”
    Liam reached forward and turned up the beat of the Dropkick
Murphys to drown out the sound of the mumbling naked criminal in his ear.
     
    ***
     
    “Sorry I’m late,” Jill gushed as she
slid into the chair across from Charla at Tigerwood Cafe.
    “No worries,” Charla replied, glancing up from her laptop screen.
She closed her web browser before closing the laptop. “I was just looking for
jobs, which is probably going to take me longer than I anticipated.”
    “Find anything good?” Jill grabbed a menu from the holder on
the edge of the table.
    “Not really. I thought there was supposed to be a national
shortage of nurses…”
    “I guess everyone in Blackwell is healthy as a horse.” Jill
snorted. She was a physical trainer at a large health club in the city
notorious for its well-to-do members. They were mostly wealthy businessmen and
their trophy wives. Jill had her fair share of fat, sloppy men whose wives
dragged them to her sessions. “Did you order yet?”
    “Not yet, I was waiting for you,” Charla said, pressing her
hands on her laptop. She’d been waiting for Jill for the last year. She was
used to it. She stopped asking Jill what always took her so long. It was a
different excuse every time. The worst was that Jill claimed she hated
waiting for people, so that’s why she was always late. Jill was late to every
Anatomy class they had together, until the professor threatened to fail her. After
the threat, Charla called Jill before every