He started with, “I read your file last night.”

Lovely.

His voice was smooth, too smooth. “Your mother died when you were young. Your dad went to prison. Your brother is fast making a reputation for himself in our circles. Saw the first episode of that documentary, too.” He was turning right, but glanced at me from the corner of his eye. See. Smooth. He knew exactly what he was doing. “I reached out to a friend of mine. Know her from school. She teaches in Roussou now.”

I glanced at him, surprised.

He gave me a knowing grin. “Small world, right?” He looked back to the street. “I called my friend up last night and she gave me a bit of history about that school, the crew system. Your crew. You. She knows your brother, because the only one of us who has actually met your brother is Gramps. The rest of us only know of Monroe. My friend told me that to her knowledge, a Bren Monroe was never planning on attending college.”

What the fuck?

I kept a mask on my face, but I was frowning. I was frowning a whole bunch on the inside. I was scowling, actually.

“So, here I am. I’m the one who makes sure everything and everyone runs smoothly in our group. I take into account weaknesses, strengths, personalities. I don’t like having outliers or someone going off-book. You know what that means?”

This guy was starting to get on my nerves.

I answered, “I told my spiel to Hawk–-”

“Yeah. She told me.”

And he didn’t sound happy by my response.

Too bad.

I kept on, “The teacher I stabbed came at me and put his hands on my friend. But I did my time, and I’m rehabilitated.”

“You also have an extensive history of violence, which you just referenced.”

Well, crap.

“I can handle myself.”

“We ain’t the cops. We don’t have the authority they have, and even then, they get mouthed back. People don’t like getting hauled in to jail by us. If they miss a court date, there’s a reason. They’re avoiding going back, and they’re either stupid and running or they’re stupid and thinking they’ll fall through the cracks. We pick them up and they don’t roll out the red carpet for us. I need to know that if a guy says the wrong thing to you you’re not going to go maverick on us. Put a knife in someone as payback.”

Shit. That was my reputation?

I fought back if I was attacked, or if someone went after my loved ones. That was my rule.

Right?

But I was embarrassed.

I was shriveling up inside.