“That sums it up well.”He didn’t say right away that he had an idea of how to get around that, but he was going to keep it to himself, at least for now.If the brothers got wind of it before it was a done deal they’d find a way to screw with them.It wasn’t that the brothers were assholes, well, they were, but they weren’t doing this shit to be mean.Demon knew they were trying to get the prospects to ring out.He thought of it as the Souls version of the Crucible.It was something he needed to endure, something he had to get through and succeed at, in order to get where he wanted to be.He’d managed the Crucible to become a Marine, and he would survive being a prospect to become a Demented Soul.
It wasn’t like prospecting was nearly as grueling as the Crucible, and that was a good thing because the Crucible was only two and a half days, compared to the year or more for a prospect.Still, neither was pleasant, and they were both something you had to do in order to prove yourself.
Demon drained the soda, grabbed a second from the cooler and tilted his head toward the door.
“Might as well get started, or we’ll likely end up going hungry tonight.”He didn’t bother to check if the others were following, but went out to his truck, climbed into the driver’s seat, and took off.Once they got whatever was left loaded, he’d order food for the group, then he and the others could figure out who was picking up what on their way back to Selina and Sackett’s place.They would eat while the food was hot, then finish unloading and getting them all settled.
4
Ronniesatbehindthewheel of her SUV and pinched the bridge of her nose.Thankfully, Jack had an appointment this afternoon.Not that he told her what it was for, only that he had an appointment so they couldn’t go out after skips this afternoon.
Not that she planned to let that stop her.
After the not quite epic failure of trying to pick up Jennings, she and Jack had come back to the office because he needed to get to his appointment.Unfortunately, that didn’t mean he didn’t have time to stop and tattle to her dad about her failure, tailing the wrong man through traffic before confronting him.Of course, he didn’t tell the part that she had things handled.Only that he’d ‘protected’ her while she’d discovered her folly.
The satisfied smirk he’d shot her way when he informed her that her father wanted to see her had made her want to scratch his eyes out or maybe cut off his balls and feed them to one of the wild javelina she saw sometimes early in the mornings.That thought was the only upside to what had happened today.
After Jack left, she’d gone in to see what Dad had wanted, then had to sit through a half hour lecture on how she needed to listen to Jack.He was there to make sure she didn’t get into trouble.Blah.Blah.Blah.She tuned Dad out after that.She’d heard this lecture before, at least a dozen times.Ronnie was convinced the lectures were part of Dad’s plan to make her give up on her determination to take over the business.
No.He’d chosen Jack to be his successor as if she wasn’t capable of taking over.She’d spent the last five years trying to convince him she could do it, and that she wanted it.Had he seen her effort or appreciated it?No.All he’d done was push Jack at her.She realized a few weeks ago that not only was he wanting to leave his bonds business to Jack, but he wanted to leave him her too.As if she was a possession.
The mere idea had steam rolling out her ears, but she hadn’t bothered to say anything.There was no point, and she knew it.He would dismiss any protest as her being overly emotional or that she was rebelling.No.she wasn’t rebelling she wanted to live her own life and choose her own husband.
If she ever got married that was.
And from the last half dozen men she’d dated, that wouldn’t be happening any time soon.It wasn’t that she was giving up on the idea, but between trying to prove herself to her dad and the amount of time she spent trying to get better at her job, it didn’t leave much time for going out and meeting people.The only place she really met people these days was as she picked them up to re-schedule their hearings.She really didn’t see the people she dealt with in her job as people she might want to date.
Though, thinking back to this morning and her encounter with Demon, there’s one man she might not mind getting involved with.Even if she had met him while doing her job.It wasn’t like he was one of the people she dealt with on the daily.People who’d done something wrong, gotten caught and tried to skip out on their bail.Granted, some of them had likely genuinely forgotten the hearing.Several she was sure hadn’t only forgotten that they had a hearing or when it was, but also what day it was, and sometimes what month or what year.
She took a deep breath and pushed the pointless thoughts from her head before starting the truck.A quick double check of the address in the file of one Brenda Bittner, who had failed to make her hearing for shoplifting, and she was on the road.If she could get Brenda back to court for re-booking, then she’d get a check.Granted, it wouldn’t be as big a check as the one she’d been hoping for from Jennings, but every little bit helped.
At the address in the file, Ronnie sat in the car and watched the house for several minutes.It was an older house, in one of the oldest neighborhoods in town.Many of the yards of the surrounding houses had overgrown grass or cars parked in the lawn, grass growing up through the frame, but not this one.
The house where Brenda Bittner lived, at least according to the file Ronnie had and those weren’t infallible, was the cleanest, most well-kept place on either side of the street.While watching, Ronnie saw the curtain in the front window move, so someone was home, though it didn’t look like someone was looking out then dropping the curtain back in place, but more like someone was brushing up against them.
Not willing to make excuses to herself any longer, Ronnie made sure she had her cuffs and got out of the truck.Voices seemed to echo around her as she approached the front door, it took a second to realize they were coming from inside.And there were a lot of them.But there was something off about it.Something she couldn’t place right away.Still, she was determined to have at least a little cash to show for today’s efforts, so she knocked anyway.
There was movement and scuffling on the other side of the door.She stood patiently, hoping Brenda wasn’t headed out the back door, but from what she could hear, she didn’t think that was what was happening.
There was the familiar thump of a lock being thrown, or maybe that was unlocked, then a couple more odd sounds that were maybe one of the old chain locks being removed or maybe put in place, she didn’t know.It had been so long since she’d seen one of those that she wasn’t sure what it would sound like against a door.After all that, the door opened a crack.
The first thing Ronnie saw was a tiny face a little above knee level.Then she realized there was something between her and the child, it looked like some kind of screen, but it seemed attached to the door somehow.How did that work?
“Can I help you?”
Ronnie shook her head and looked up from the round cheeked face into one that looked much older than the thirty-one listed in the file.Even though her hair was pulled on top of her head into a messy bun and her shirt pulled to one side as the kid on her hip had a death grip of the cloth in one fist, Ronnie had no doubt that this was Brenda.
“Hi, I’m Ronnie Darq from Darq Side Bail Bonds.You missed your hearing and I’m here to take you in to get it rescheduled.”
Brenda’s eyes went wide.Ronnie wondered for a moment if she was going to run or burst into tears.She blinked several times.Behind her, it was impossible for Ronnie to miss that there were at least three more kids running wild from what Ronnie could see.
“Oh.Dear.Did I miss my court date?I guess I just forgot.Give me a minute.Can I make a couple of calls to get someone to come take care of the kids?Then I’ll need to grab my bag.Maybe five minutes?Can you wait for that?”
“Um,” Ronnie glanced around, wondering if she really wanted to get involved in this, but then she remembered she needed the money if she didn’t want end up sleeping in her truck.“Sure.Want me to wait here?”
“You’re welcome to come inside, it’s a bit of a madhouse, but you’re welcome if you want to brave it.”Brenda stepped back, holding the door open so Ronnie could come in, except there was still that weird netting thing blocking the bottom two or three feet of the opening.
“Um.I’ll wait out here, if you don’t mind.”She knew it was giving Brenda a chance to run, but oddly she didn’t think the woman was looking for a chance to escape being taken in.This was strange, even for her.
