Family Business

Today sucked. That’s it, no sugar coating or any of that nonsense. That’s how I’ve always been, that’s how my whole family has always been; it kind of comes with the territory. I woke up to my brother yelling on the phone, my breakfast was interrupted by my brother’s best friend yelling and my lunch was interrupted by my brother and all of his friends yelling. When that yelling match started I threw my plate on the counter and stormed out with a huff. That caused Frankie, my brother, to yell at me as I walked out the door.
I had come down to the barn, it was my place. No one else in my family, besides my mother, had any interest in anything to do with horses. I, however, loved riding. It was one of the only things that relieved my stress. My horse, Southern Gentleman, was completely black, like someone had spilt ink all over his powerful body. Gentleman was a gift from my father, and that made him even more special.
After my ride I was leading Gentleman back to his stall when I heard my brother calling my name. I looked up towards the house and I saw five men, all dressed in various black articles of clothing, striding across the lawn toward the stable. I looked back, shook my head, and continued leading Gentleman to his stall. As I was sliding the door closed, I heard it again.
“Graceyn, we have to talk to you,” Frankie said as they leaned up against the fence just outside the barn.
“Oh, Frankie I would love to talk to you, well except that you and you’re goon squad have set out to make this day horrible. If you don’t mind, I’m going back to the house where you are not,” I said making a move to walk past them.
“This is serious, Gracie,” Frankie’s best friend Gerard sighed.
“Then talk, because right now you’re all just wasting my time,” I quipped while crossing my arms over my chest.
“Just like you’re father,” Mikey smirked.
I smiled to myself as my mind wandered to my father. I missed him and my mother dearly. It was a year ago last month that they were murdered, shot in cold blood while they were on vacation in Aruba. As much as it hurt me to think about it I knew that my father knew the risks of being in the business. I remember the fights that my brother and he had right before he went on that vacation. As my father’s right hand man, Frankie, knew the risks he was taking by going on an out of country vacation with no protection. I remember Frankie waking me up that night, crying. He never cried. I knew what he was going to say before he even said it.
With the fall of the “infamous” Alessandro Iero the business fell to the hands of Frankie and his friends. Gerard Way, Frankie’s best friend since the first grade, became his right hand man. The ever beefy Bob was the muscle of the inner circle. Mikey Way worked mostly with the underbosses and did the dirty work for Frankie. Finally there was Ray, oh Ray. Ray was one of my best friends, and he held the group together. By blood I had one older brother but in reality I had five.
“The Haner’s are in town,” Frankie said as he checked his i-phone.
“What Frank’s trying to say is, if you wanna leave the house let one of us know and we’ll go with you,” Bob finished as Frankie stepped away to take a call.
“Are you kidding me?” I scoffed, causing Ray to laugh.
“Kiddo, we just don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re important to all of us,” Ray said, wrapping his arm around me.
“No thanks Raymundo. I don’t need the goon squad following me around,” I said picking up his arm and dropping it at his side.
“Graceyn, don’t fight me on this. If you leave, one of us goes with you,” Frank said as he rejoined the group.
“You are ridiculous, the Haner’s aren’t dumb enough to try to start something on our land,” I said walking back toward the house.
“You heard what I said,” Frankie called after me.
“Whatever,” I called over my shoulder as I slammed the door behind me.
Laying on my bed several hours after Frankie imposed his newest rule upon me I heard my door swing open and turned to see the don himself standing in the doorway.
“You’re staying home tonight, right?” Frankie asked as crossed my floor and checked out his hair in the mirror.
“For the fifteenth time, yes,” I sighed snuggling into my blankets.
“Alright, you have our numbers and Benny’s in the guest house if you need him,” he said pulling his keys out of his pocket.
“Alright, be quiet when you assholes come in, I’m gonna catch up on some much needed sleep,” I said, followed by a fake yawn.
As soon as Frank was out of my room I ran too my window and watched as they all clamored into the Escalade. As I saw their taillights pass through the gates I ran up to my room. I grabbed the dress that was lying over the back over my desk chair and hurriedly put my make up on. So, I lied a little but I didn’t feel like having a goon in my shadow the whole night. Just as I let my hair down out of the pony tail I had been wearing to fool the guys my phone began to vibrate.
As I ran down the stairs I answered the incoming call.
“Coming Tavi,” I breathed.
“Gotcha,” she said just before the line went dead.
As I crossed the driveway and let myself out of the gate I entered Tavi’s Lexus convertible.
“Where’s goons?” She giggled as she pulled out of my driveway.
“You just want to know where Gerard is,” I laughed.
“I can’t help that he is hunky,” she smiled.
“They went out to conduct business,” I said.
Tavi had been my best friend since preschool and the only one that I had told about the family business, although everyone ‘knew’ anyway.
As we pulled up in front of Scene Tavi tossed her keys to the valet and smiled, “Don’t scratch the paint”.
Walking into the club the lights and the energy from all the people sent a shock through me, it invigorated me. I told Tavi I’d meet her at the booth we always sit at in the VIP section as she made her way to the bar and cute guy she’d just spotted.
As I entered the roped off VIP section I noticed a table of five guys and three girls who I’d never seen before, and I know everyone in this town. There was one guy on the end, one that caught my eye. I sat down at the booth across from theirs and got out my phone, so far so good. I had no missed calls from any of the guys and I prayed it stayed that way. As I was looking at my phone movement to the side of me caught my eye. I turned to see the cute guy from the booth across from get up and make his way over to my booth.
He sat down and stared at me. He just sat there, his brown eyes boring into my green ones, this black hair spiked every direction on his head.
“I’m Brian,” He said smirking.
“Graceyn,” I said, remaining calm and collected, even though I felt like my heart was about to explode.
“Pretty name,” Brian smiled.
“I guess, so Brian, what’re you doing here?”
“Just out with a couple friends, what’s a pretty girl like you doing here all alone?”
“I’m not alone, my friend is at the bar getting drinks,” I said motioning to Tavi who was now sitting in a guy’s lap.
“I see,” Brian said laughing.
“You must be new to town,” I said, reaching for his beer and taking a swig.
“What makes you say that,” he asked before playfully taking his beer back.
“I don’t know you,” I said simply.
With a laugh Brian responded, “Oh and am I to guess that you know everyone.”
“I do,” I smiled, “or everyone knows who I am.”
“Conceited,” he laughed.
Watching the way Brian moved and spoke it was as if we were old friends out for a drink, but in actuality we had never met. There was something about him though that made me feel comfortable, that made me trust him.
“I’m not a narcissist, people just know my family,” I said.
“Is your father the mayor?”
“Nope,” I giggled, the thought of Alessandro Iero as a public servant was almost too much.
“A rock star?”
“Wrong again, Brian,” I smiled.
“Tell me then,” He laughed smiling and handing me his beer.
“What if I were to tell you…” I began.
Just as I was about to continue I saw Tavi hurriedly pushing through the crowd. As she approach I could tell by the look on her face that something wasn’t right.
“We’ve got a problem Graceyn!”