“You go, I got this,” Lettie promises, pressing her hand to my shoulder and looking confident.
“It’s appreciated,” I tell her, rushing toward the pool table so I can bear all my weight on one of Sasquatch’s shoulders. Pollydrenches his wound in alcohol, and he hisses through his teeth like a wild fuckin’ beast.
“I know it hurts, but it’s gotta be done,” she tells him, and he thrashes and bellows in agony when she does it again. I yell over to Tawk to bring a fresh bottle of whiskey when I see him hovering around by the bar.
Lifting one from over the counter, he trudges over with his face covered in splats of blood. His hands are still sticky from it, too. Thankfully, the feral look in his eyes seems to have dimmed. Tonight’s ambush was brutal and savage, but something tells me it’s exactly what Tawk needed.
“Keep him steady,” Quinn reminds us, as I tip back the bottle and keep my buddy fueled.
“Didn’t you bring anything to knock him out?” Raze asks, pacing the floor with his phone pressed to his ear.
“I’m not used to tacking up the living, Raze,” she reminds him as she looks at what she’s dealing with.
“But you can fix it. Right?” Wrath looks scared.
“I can fix it, but I can’t promise it’s gonna look pretty when I’m done. What the hell happened?”
“Fuckin’ maschete,” Sasquatch manages, flaring his nostrils.
“Just hang tight, buddy. Quinn here will fix it,” Raze promises, tapping him on the arm before disappearing into his office. I can see what happened tonight has Raze spooked. Those vans came outta nowhere while we were making our exchange, and the men that piled out of ‘em were ruthless. Whatever their cause was, a lot of ‘em died for it tonight, and we’ll be sure to get the ones that got away.
“Who the hell were those fuckers? They weren’t bikers, that’s for sure.” Vike looks rattled.
“Dead men fuckin’ walkin’, that’s who they are,” Sasquatch grunts, before throwing his head back in more pain.
“I’m sorry, I’m doing my best to be careful.” Quinn looks up at him, trying to stop her hands from shaking as she stitches him back up.
“Here.” I hand her the bottle, “Knock some of that back, steady yourself up,” I instruct her, and she smiles gratefully as she takes it from my hands.
“It’s never a dull day here, is it?” She knocks some back before handing it back to me and getting back to work.
It’s four am by the time I get home, and I’m looking forward to hitting the sack and shutting the world out. I pull my bike up next to Corey's car, and when I see the living room light on, I pray that it don’t mean his girlfriend’s here too.
It ain’t that Millie Dawson ain’t a nice girl, in fact, she’s fuckin’ perfect. I have nothing against her, except the way she makes me feel.
I open the door to let myself inside, and when I see Corey, sitting in the corner chair, with a half-empty bottle of vodka in his hand, I can see straight away that something’s wrong.
“What happened?” I drop my keys on the side table and head straight for him.
“You smell like death.” Corey looks up at me with blank, red-rimmed eyes.
“Run didn’t quite go as planned,” I explain, still wondering what the hell’s happened here. Corey doesn’t drink, especially not on a fuckin school night.
“Well, if it’s any consolation, my night didn’t go as planned either.” He laughs bitterly, lifting the blunt to his mouth and sucking it back.
“What the—? C’mon, you know this shit kills your brain cells.” I snatch it from him and stub it out. “Corey, what the fuck happened?” I take the bottle from his hand, too. I’m not a patient person at the best of times, and with my head throbbing and my muscles aching, I don’t have time for fuckin’ guessing games.
“Millie ended it.” He makes that laugh again, then looks up at me real seriously while he waits for a reaction. “I asked her to marry me, and she fuckin’ ended it.”
“You asked her to wha—? Corey, you're eighteen years old!” I can’t believe I’m hearing this.
“I know how old I am, but I also know that she’s the one,” he tells me.
“Corey, you don’t know that, how can you? Millie’s the only girl you’ve ever been with.” I take a long drink from the bottle before taking the chair beside him. “Listen, kid, I get that you love her, and that you're feeling scared about the future, but trying to tie her down like that ain’t the way to go about it.”
“You don’t get shit, Dev. You're checked out. You don’t care about a single person but yourself.” He shakes his head and snatches the bottle back outta my hand.
“How dare you fuckin’ say that.” I stare back at him. “Corey, I’ve been taking care of you for twelve years. Everything I do, I do with you in fuckin’ mind.”
