Witchy Sour(50)
Gus grumbled something, and despite the severity of the moment, I almost smiled. I’d thought he’d only needed to have the last word when it came to me, but apparently his habit extended to everyone else on The Isle, too.
“I’m just saying,” Harpin said coolly. “If Gus is unable to act objectively, we may have a problem.”
“Gus has not given us any reason to believe he cannot act objectively,” the second voice said. “Until he does, we’ll no longer discuss the matter.”
“I think that’s the reason he doesn’t want her to see us together,” Harpin continued. “Gus doesn’t trust himself to lie to her.”
“Gus will lie if he needs to lie,” the mediator said. “Won’t you, Gus?”
“How about you don’t blow my cover?” Gus growled. “Then I won’t need a reason to lie. All it takes is a bit of careful planning. Is that so much to ask?”
“I’m not exposing us,” Harpin said. “I’m just expressing my concerns.”
“I’ll express my concerns up your arse—” Gus wasn’t done with his insults, but the smooth-talking peacekeeper broke up the fight anyway.
“Stop it, gentlemen, or we will forget this whole thing if you can’t get along. I thought your differences would have been forgotten by now, but I can see that past transgressions have long memories...”
“We’re fine,” Gus said. “I’m fine, at least.”
“I can be professional,” Harpin said. “As long as he doesn’t let his feelings for the girl get in the way.”
“I don’t have any sort of feelings for her,” Gus said. “She’s my trainee, and that’s all. The way you’re talkin’ it sounds like you think I’m about to ask her out on a date.”
“I didn’t mean those sort of feelings, I meant...” Harpin trailed off. “As if she’s your daughter. Or better yet, your granddaughter, old man.”
“I’m her hired help, and that’s the end of it,” Gus said. “Thomas, can we finish our conversation before I shove my finger so far up this man’s nose it comes out his ear?”
Next to me, Ranger X’s shoulders shook quietly in the night.
“Are you laughing?” I whispered. “This isn’t funny.”
X swiped a hand underneath one of his eyes. “Gus is a firecracker.”
I started to respond, but something was wrong.
Listening closely, I shut my mouth and waited. The conversation on the path in front of the ice cream hut had halted and the footsteps stopped. I shot Ranger X a wild-eyed expression, but he just leaned back against the wall and looked up to the sky, his breathing silent and his body stilled. I copied him as best I could, but my heart sounded like a jackhammer against my ribs, and if the three men in front of the shack didn’t start walking soon, I was afraid my palms would sweat enough to flood the entire island.
Thankfully, the man named Thomas spoke up again. “We’ll need to bring her in at some point.”
“Then we do it on my terms,” Gus said. “When I say, where I say, and how I say.”
“That’s not how this works,” Harpin said. “We don’t do what’s best for Gus, we do what’s best for all of us.”
“All of us?” I mouthed to Ranger X. “Who?”
He gave a brief shake of his head, but I couldn’t tell if he had no idea, or if he wanted me to be quiet.
“Do you want my help or not?” Gus asked. “I’m in this all the way, but if you still doubt me after everything...if you need more proof, then maybe I should just get out while the gettin’s good.”
“That’s not what Harpin was saying,” Thomas said, once again ironing things over. “What he’s trying to say is that we’ll have to bring her in eventually, and that there’ll be a narrow window of time to do it.”
“Fine,” Gus said. “I can work with that. But you have to give me warning, and you have to give me a chance to talk to her first. I’m going to be the one to tell her everything and that is final. If that deal can’t be made, then consider me done.”
“Not a problem,” Thomas said. “You’ll receive at minimum twenty-four hours warning. Will that suffice?”
After a beat, Gus replied grudgingly. “Fine.”
“Does she suspect anything?” Thomas asked. “You said she’s smart.”
“She is damn smart, but I don’t think she suspects anything yet. We haven’t given her a reason to, but I can’t be seen with you any more in public. It’s only a matter of time.”