A few minutes later the deal was done, but Fergal didn’t move back.
“Well, shit,” I muttered under my breath wondering what the hell was going on.
Fergal’s arm went around Elliot’s shoulder as he spoke in his ear.
“Where are ye, boy? Show my boy what he needs to be aware of,” Fergal called out but he didn’t look around.
I mentally shook my head. Of course, he knew I was there. I had always wondered if he did.
I moved my aim to the side and down a little. My finger rested on the trigger and I knew, just knew, this was what he wanted.
With a slow breath out, I calmly pulled my finger back against the trigger. The pop rang out and as quick as I could, I regained my scope vision.
As intended, I hit the dirt about a foot away from Elliot’s feet.
I shifted my focus to Fergal and the fucker had his head thrown back as he laughed. I gave up the scope for a second so I could look at Elliot. He was far away, but not far away enough to where I couldn’t tell that he was frozen with fear, his eyes as wide as saucers.
I almost felt bad for the guy.
I wasn’t all that thrilled about being part of the lesson, but I had indulged him anyway.
I got it, he was grooming Elliot for something bigger than what he was right now. And hell, I didn’t mind if they knew I was there. Truth was, they probably never knew exactly where I was, just that we had someone ready and waiting in case shit went down. It wasn’t like it would take away from how fucking good I was when I did pull the trigger.
“Thanks for that,” I heard Fergal say only in my ear as he stepped up to shake Knight’s hand. “He needs to learn that things aren’t always as simple as they might seem.”
“Yep,” Knight replied and I could tell that he wasn’t all that pissed about it. I did wonder for a split second if I’d fucked up, that maybe I should have just stayed unmoving instead.
I stayed high a few minutes after they’d driven out of sight. Just to be on the safe side and all. Then I hopped down and met my waiting brothers.
“Sorry,” I said looking at Knight as I approached them.
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “That shit was funny.”
“I thought the kid was going to piss himself,” B-ry added with a loud laugh.
“Be a lot funnier if he had,” Blade added but his face was a mask of stone. Not even a hint of amusement there. “Bet he won’t sleep tonight.”
“What do you think was up with that?” I asked, looking at Knight.
“Crew’s getting old.” He gave a little shrug and I knew this was just his best guess. “He’s probably moving things into play so he can step back one day. Maybe Connor taking over. Elliot becoming second. I don’t know.”
I saw how it made sense. Elliot was Fergal’s nephew but it was clear the guy wasn’t cut out for leadership, at least not at this stage in his life. Fergal was smart for seeing that, if that was his plan, anyway.
“Let’s get this shit back to the compound,” Knight said and I moved to pack my rifle up into the back of the SUV.
B-ry headed to the gym while Blade took off for the tattoo shop. Knight and I went to fill in Iron and talk about the change-up that we saw with the Irish today. Iron thought the same thing that Knight was thinking, though he figured it was a while off.
I noted the time.
“Need anything else from me?” I asked Iron as I got to my feet.
“No, you’re good to go.” He sent me a chin jerk.
“Got somewhere to be?” Knight asked, a hint of humor in his tone.
“Yeah, I got some plans with someone. Real cute. About this tall and likes to get applesauce everywhere.” I held my hand out next to my leg about the height that Chry came up to.
They both laughed at me as I walked out of the room.
