Jack groaned. “Don’t give me that beaten puppy look. It’s not working.”
“What do you want me to say? It’s not like I can take it back!”
“Shut it for now. We’re going to Sam. I’ll get a prospect to take that piece of trash to a hospital.” Jack pointed to Richard and already turned to the door.
Loki exhaled and looked at Richard’s legs curling behind the sofa. He stormed that way and kicked the bastard in the ribs.
Richard turned his bloodied face away. “Stop! Just go back to the hospital. You can still die if it’s untreated!”
Loki inhaled air that seemed to burn his nose. “Fuck you. Couldn’t you fucking text me? Fuck!”
“I wanted to apologize in person,” Richard whined and Loki was pretty sure the fucker now wished he’d texted.
“Loki, let’s go,” Jack said in a stern voice, but Loki kicked Richard again, this time with all the strength he had.
His throat was clenched. “Because your feelings are so fucking important! Afraid to break up? Tell them they have cancer. Afraid to feel like the bad guy? Keep them in the fucking dark! Congratulations! I can’t even afford the surgery!”
“This is too much drama for me. I’ll be waiting in the van,” Monster said and left the room without waiting for an answer.
Loki didn’t even look back at Monster, too focused on the mix of pain and fury that was pumping through his veins. But as he was about to kick Richard again, his foot dangled in the air when Jack picked him up from behind. “We’re going. You’ll have enough money if you clean the jizz, sweat, and coke off it.”
Loki growled and spat toward Richard. “I hope someone cuts off your legs and arms, and leaves you to die!”
Jack kissed the side of Loki’s head as he carried him out of the room.
Loki grabbed Jack’s hands where they held him around the waist, taking deep, heavy breaths. “Oh, fuck... I’m gonna live...”
Chapter 30
Sam’s face was the color of an intensely fruity strawberry shake. “Why am I always the last one to find out? Tell me, Red, huh?” he asked, pacing around his living room. “Paxton grabs you by the balls, and you just take it like a sissy? And what the fuck did you do to your eyebrows?”
“It’s a long story.” Red Jack groaned as he nursed himself from the coke comedown with a beer. “What the fuck was I supposed to do? I knew I’d be listening to this kinda shit if I told you, and here I am, doing just that.”
Candy walked into the cozy living room with two large plates of cookies and crushed chocolate, which she placed on the coffee table next to the box of assorted teas, a can of instant coffee, and a big pot of hot water. No wonder Sam had gotten slightly rounder since he got together with his old lady. Eager to shield her sensitive ears, as he always did, Sam shut his mouth until Candy left for the kitchen.
“Maybe we’d have come up with something sooner,” he hissed in the end.
Loki, who was sitting cross-legged in one of the cream-colored armchairs, took a whole fistful of small cookies and started feeding his blood-stained face.
“Oh yeah, maybe I should call Borg for advice?” Red Jack grumbled, but couldn’t help the tenderness overflowing in him at the knowledge that Loki’s illness wasn’t terminal. Would Loki want to stay with him now that it wasn’t just a few months of crazy love? Red Jack was pretty sure he would, but everything was on shaky legs. What if Loki now got the chance to live, but Red Jack ended up killed because of Paxton’s stupid blackmail.
Sam sighed and massaged his head. “Considering what she has on you - no. We’re not letting him know.”
“What could put her job at risk?” Monster drank some tea, relaxing into the seat.
Sam slammed his fist into the table. “I know! If she fucked Jack, it would seriously damage her career. She wouldn’t be believable as an investigator working against the Coffin Nails.”
Loki blinked, straightening up. “He is not fucking anyone!”
Red Jack rolled his eyes. “Seriously? If that’s what it takes, it’s just a dick and pussy. But she wouldn’t do it. Not with this blackmail going on. But maybe if we drugged her, I could pretend I’m eating her out, and we could film that. Give her a taste of her own medicine.”
Loki squinted at him from across the coffee table but didn’t say anything, apparently content that the plan involved fake sex.
Sam leaned forward. “That could work, but we don’t have that much time.”
“We could have someone pretend they want to confess something about the club. They could slip her the drug,” said Monster.