Page 129 of Insidious Heart
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“Well,the one good thing about your dumbass leaving his clothes in that trailer was the fact that the bug was still attached to his cut,” the Goliath Birdeater says over speaker phone. “Unfortunately, now I have to wade through a good chunk of dead air where you’re either monologuing so hard I could use it as white noise to put James to sleep, or Beau is snoring and/or puking. Thanks for that.”
I roll my eyes as Little John exits the highway and starts creeping through Rolling Meadows, searching for the swine bastard. “I did it all for you, you fuzzy little arachnid.”
“Was his phone in his jeans?”
“Yes…” I hesitantly respond but only because I’d prefer not to get shit for that too, even though it’s unavoidable. I knew Stevie would make me sloppy, I knew it, I just didn’t think it would be like this. “I turned it off though.”
Spider mumbles something under his breath before we hear, “Gotcha, fucker. He just turned it on. Won’t have a location for a few but we can hear what the bastard has to say.”
The line goes silent for an ungodly amount of time, probably seconds but it feels like forever because I’m terrified for Stevie. I’m so fucking worried about my little dove that it’s making me sick to my stomach.
There’s no way Beau won’t go home, no way he won’t lose his shit on her when he does, and a huge part of that is my fault. Not just because I saved her from him, but because I flapped my fucking gums to Beau the entire time I had him locked up, and he now knows damn near everything about what I was doing to and with his daughter right under his nose.
If he touches one hair on her head, so help me…
“Are you going to share any of that with us or do I need to swing by and give your pickle a tickle before you do?” I bark, my nerves getting the better of me.
I was definitely not made for this shit, not at all.
“He’s talking to Jesus,” Spider whispers as if they’re in the room with him. “Oh, shit.”
“What?”
“Shit.”
“What!” I grip the phone in my hands and give it a shake. “What the fuck is going on?”
“Beau called off their deal. He doesn’t want to wait around anymore. He’s gonna… Christ, he says he’s gonna cancel the auction and take out the Cons, but not until he comes after us and…” Spider’s words trail off and my pulse skyrockets.
“He’s going towhat,you gigantic eight legged—”
“Beau’s going after Stevie. Right now.”
John slams on the gas and makes a u-turn, my dumbass flying through the front seat right into the back of my trusty station wagon, still trying to hold a goddamn conversation. “Where is everyone? Can you get the rest of the Kings in transit? Who’s closest?”
I hear the clicking of keys for a beat before Spider comes back over the line. “You and John are. Marbles is thirty minutes out, Chop and Brick are thirty-five. Jackal is maybe fifteen minutes away but it’s backroads and I’m not sure he’ll get the message in time.”
“Where’s Pope?” My head bounces off the ceiling as John hits a curb. “He should—”
“He’s picking up Doc just in case.”
Fuck.
Fuck, ok. Things are getting a little intense right now and I really don’t fucking like it.
“We should be there in”—I look at Little John who mouthsten minutes—“ten. Can you hear anything else? Anything to indicate where Beau is exactly?”
“Fuck,” Spider grunts. “Fuck, he’s there, man. He’s at the house, he—shots fired! Two rounds! Go! Go now!”
A few minutes later, John is whipping the car in the driveway behind Cal’s Dodge, and I’m out before it even stops moving.
“Tor, hang on.”
I turn mid-sprint, facing my mentor with rage in my eyes. “What!”
“You need someone on your ass.”
