68 – Alex
My anger was still bubbling, my jaw aching with tension, as we touched down in Nevada.
How fucking dare Reiji say what he had to Joey. She was more clan than him. He’d been accepted, after he defected i clan in the south. He was lucky Yuka had only demoted him. I would have kicked his ass out and made him crawl out of Takada territory.
Thank fuck Aoto had been there, and now I knew why Joey had such faith in the big man. He was like a bear around her. Protective and scary as fuck. I’d only just managed to get past him, before he had flattened Reiji, he would have made a mess of him too. I’d been smacked in the head by Aoto once and vowed never to be in that position again.
Joey was sitting quietly beside Yuka in the back of the car, while Sola drove us from the airport to the hotel, Aoto was in the car with Yasu and his security, and a third car with more security traveled behind us. It was already a shitty start to an already tense trip, and I really hoped nothing else went wrong
“Are you okay, Jolene?” I turned my head as Joey lifted her gaze to Yuka.
“Yes, sir. Just a tiny bit rauled, that is all. I thought Reiji was a nice guy.”
“We all did.” Yuka replied. “But he isn’t Takada clan.”
Joey’s eyebrows furrowed and I wanted to kiss the little frown which formed between them. “What? I thought he was.”
“No, Reiji is from a clan in Florida. He defected to New York after his boss went a little muts.”
“Do you do that often?”
“What? Pick up strays?” Yuka asked, chuckling. “Yes. We do. That’s how we got Alex and Oliver.”
“Thank you, sir.” I mumbled and Joey giggled. “Don’t forget Soma is a stray too.”
The punch to my arm hurt more than I thought it would and I chuckled as Sota cursed at me in Japanese, as Yuka continued.
“I am known as a benevolent leader who takes in the down and out. But it doesn’t mean I just let anyone in I do background. checks on them and make sure they are not dangerous. I think Reiji just might have lost his way. He wasn’t overly impressed when Jade married Oliver either.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, something about thinning the Takada bloodline with white filth.”
“Oh..”
Joey’s gaze lifted to mine. “And what does he think of Alex? With him being half Japanese?”
“Oh, you have no idea what he thinks of me.” I chuckled. Reiji, while fairly loyal to the Takada line, had always been sore on the fact that 1, a half–cast Japanese reject, could climb the ranks of the Takada clan so quickly, and become one of Yuka’s most trusted. It was why he was always a willing sparring partner. Any excuse to try and better me. “But because I was his boss, he had no choice.”
“But he’s always been so nice to me.” She replied and I could hear the sadness in her voice, and it broke my heart. My Jolene, always wanting someone to like her. “That’s why I chose him.”
“Well, I think you’ll be a lot safer with just Aoto.” Yuka replied. “He will protect you, like Sota protects Alex. With his life.” I turned my head and looked at Sota and grinned. “Hear that, Sota, you’re supposed to protect me with your life, not try and take mine with your shitty driving.”
Ducking the slap that was aimed at me, I laughed as Sota swore at me again. “I’ve already saved you more times than I can count, little shit. And not to mention, I have given my life for you once before.”
The grin faded from my face, as Joey piped in. “What?”
Fuck. I really didn’t want her to know about this. This was part of clan life I didn’t like.
The danger.
“Remember Alex? Three years ago?”
Closing my eyes I sighed, tipping my head back. “Yeah, I remember.”
“What happened?”
“Let’s just say, I took a bullet, meant for Mr. Perfect here and my heart stopped beating”
The silence in the car was palpable and I turned, looking back to Jory. She looked mortified and she looked to Yuka, who nodded. “Alex and Sota were responding to some intel on clan incursions into the Takada territories. They took a couple of extra men and went to investigate.”
“But it was a trap.” Sota added. “They did it to lure Alex out into the open. And they took a shot at him.”
“But as they shot at me, this big idiot stepped forward and the bullet went through the side of his shoulder and lodged just above his heart,” I looked at Sota. “He saved my life.”
“Yeah, but I also technically lost mine.”
“One of your nine.” I chuckled.
“I’m not a fucking cat, Alex.” Sota retorted.
“Definitely not, you’re too fat.”
Another swipe at my head and this time, the car swerved a little.
“Sota, I’d like to get there in one piece.” Yuka chuckled. “Slap him when we stop.”
“Yes sir.” Sota said, looking at me. “See, I have permission.”
I flipped him off and looked back to Joey. “Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “No. H–how
“How did he come back? I did CPR. Managed to get his heart restarted while one of the clan drove us to Yasu and he took the bullet out.
Sota’s arm raised and showed her the bullet which hung off a chain around his neck. “My souvenir. Its name is Alex.” “Ass.” I chuckled. I turned back to Joey, who still looked a little green around the gills. “It’s okay, Joey. We’ve definitely beefed up the security and intel. We don’t go chasing ghosts without proper information.”
“It’s not that.” She said, her gaze lifted, and she looked at Sota, before looking at me again. “That bullet if Sota hadn’t stepped forward and taken that bullet..”
“Yeah, doll. I know.”
She fell silent and so did the rest of the car.
I knew what would have happened.
I had replayed the events of that night over and over in my head since it’d happened.
If Sota hadn’t taken that bullet; with our height difference…
It would have blown my brains out.
