Wed to the Bad Boy(107)

I just shook my head.

The old geezer wasn’t strong enough anymore to carry a child, much less young man.

“Anyone else?” I asked. No answers.

“What the hell happened?” Ah, the motherfucking police chief was here.

“What happened was you assholes took your fucking time getting over here and one of our men got killed. Fucking gangs are running this place, George, and you can’t even keep it under control.” I was livid. Spewing my venom at him.

“Fuck.” George radioed the crew.

“Call it in as a drive-by, George. Don’t tell them shit. We were just out here getting ready for a run. Nothing more just a drive-by.” Bones stepped in, doing exactly what he was supposed to.

George was Mick’s cousin. The man was securely in our pockets, and Bones knew just how to handle him.

“All right. You fire back?”

“We did, but just out of self-defense,” he said.

“Kill anyone?” George knew exactly what to ask to make it all go away.

“No.”

“Then it sounds like anyone else who got shot may have gotten a dose of friendly fire, right? Because you all didn’t fire back.” Contrary to the smell of sulfur still the air.

“Yeah, sounds about right.”

“You going to take care of this?” I asked him, looking him in the eyes. It was difficult because the dust was still wafting up from the aftereffects of whatever kind of crude bomb the gang used.

“Yeah, we’ll take care of this. Keep Caputo out of it. Motherfucker would have a field day.”

“Fucking cops.” I snorted, but George narrowed his eyes at me. It was then that I realized Troy’s blood was still on my hands, the sticky liquid drying hard, pulling at my skin.

“Still, have to get someone to come examine your boy.”

Fuck. The last thing I wanted was another funeral.

“You got any reason for me to search the place?” That asshole was still passed out in the office. Fuck.

“No. And no, we don’t know who it was. Just some gang,” I was quick to say, but I shot a look to Bones.

“All right, well, I’ll send for backup.”

We were able to get that motherfucker in the basement of the garage before anyone else arrived, and they scooped up Troy before we could protest, carting him off to examine him. If it was anything like Sean, he’d be released just in time for the funeral. Another one dead at the hands of these motherfuckers.

“What the hell happened?” I asked, looking at Bones.

“They must’ve gotten wind of the dry up of supply. Figured it was us, thought they’d pay us a little visit.”

“Oh, I’ll pay them a visit, all right.” Mick sucked in a breath, but I cut him off.

“We have to be smart about this shit. We have to do it right. Right now, we have this motherfucker. Let’s send a little message to his friends, right?”

We waited for him. He was responsive, so just a few more minutes and he should have been awake. Almost felt bad for what he was about to endure. Almost.

This motherfucker could’ve been the one who killed Sean. He’d almost gotten to Layla. He was going to pay for his sins, and the sins of his brothers. We wouldn’t kill him, just send him home as the messenger. One with our initials carved into his skin.

***

“What do you know, you stupid motherfucker?”

“N-Nothing, I swear.” He was tied to a chair in the basement while we questioned him. The lights bounced off the workbench filled with knives, daggers, switchblades and clubs. We kept them there to intimidate, but also because it was practical. It was shared storage, and it seemed to work. Old blood was the only color in the place, the streams of it heading towards the floor drain where it ultimately dried.

“Oh yeah, that’s why you were about to kill a woman, you piece of shit?” I was on edge, the rage ready to take over. Layla. She could’ve been killed. It was too much to think about.

“I wasn’t going to kill her, honest. Just wanted to scare her.”

“Yeah, and I’m going to let you walk out of here completely unscathed.” I punched him right in the face, hard. Not enough to knock him out, but enough that he’d feel it. That was for Layla. My Layla.

He spit out a tooth.

“You stupid motherfuck—” He didn’t get through the word. Bones was there with another hit.

And then he held up the knife to his throat.

“You are going to tell us everything we want to know, or we are going to drain you right here and let the dogs eat what’s left of you. You got that?” There was something in Bones’ eyes, something wild. Like he really meant it. Hell, I meant it.

“I don’t know anything. Just that we were to come and send a message. You don’t fuck with our suppliers, we don’t fuck with you.” The kid spit out a tooth and grinned, a small trickle of laughter turning into an eruption.