“The Kevlar did its job, Tommy.”
Thomas tried to ignore Avi when he said, “Who gets to start?”
“I’m older,” Asa reminded.
“By, like, minutes at best,” Avi shot back. “Besides, it was my idea.”
Thomas had half a mind to snap at them, tell them to get it together, but before he could say anything, Felix stepped between them, his voice soothing. “Why don’t you just do it at the same time. There are two sides of him.”
“You’re right, kitten,” Avi said. “He’s always the voice of reason.” He turned to Asa. “Should we take the ice pick out of his mouth?”
“No,” Aiden said. “He wants to talk. He’ll use his last rattling breath to brag about his kills. No matter how much you torture him, he still thinks he’s won. He had some grand idea that he was going to go out in some kind of blaze of glory, leave bits of files and photos of dead girls like confetti, create some grand mystery of who killed Thomas Mulvaney and why.”
Thomas smiled. Aiden really could read people.
“Can we do it fast, then?” Noah said. “The weird gurgling sound he’s making is kind of making me want to barf.”
“No,” Avi said. “We’re going to savor this. Think we could get his skin off in one solid piece?”
“And do what with it?” Felix asked, frowning.
“Yeah, you’re not bringing it home,” Zane said, pointing a finger in Asa’s face.
Asa kissed Zane’s cheek. “Easy, Lois, nobody wants to take this guy’s skin home. Look at it. It’s not even a good color. Besides, like Felix said, what would we even do with it? We’re not into arts and crafts like Ed Gein. We just like to try new things.”
“Is this what they do at every job?” Thomas asked Felix and Zane.
“Yeah,” they said in unison.
“No wonder they always take so much time getting home,” Thomas muttered, shaking his head. To Aiden, he said, “I told you he was no match for the Mulvaneys.”
“I’ll feel better when we’re no longer sitting on a fucking powder keg.” Aiden winced as Jeffries started emitting a sound like some kind of supernatural creature, letting them know the twins had begun.
Thomas grimaced at the sound of something heavy and wet hitting the floor. “Fuck,” Avi whined. “I fucked up already.”
“Oh, no,” Atticus said, affect flat. “Whatever shall we do.”
Jericho chuckled. “Easy, Freckles. Let them have their fun. Why don’t you go sit over there? I brought you a granola bar. It’s in my bag.”
“You treat him like a toddler,” Adam said.
“Your boyfriend still has to remind you to say please and thank you, pretty boy, so who’s the real toddler?” Jericho shot back.
Adam shot him the bird. Jericho pretended to catch it and stuff it in his pocket. Christ. What the hell was he going to do with these boys?
Archer and Mac appeared from somewhere deep within the house, dirty and sweaty. “So, do you want the good news or bad news?” Mac asked.
“Good?” Thomas said, feeling like neither was going to be encouraging.
“We found the explosives,” Archer announced, a huge fake smile on his face.
Thomas’s heart sank. “And the bad news?”
“We cannot touch them without blowing us all up in the process.” Archer fell back onto the couch dramatically, causing Aiden to list into his side.
“Shit,” Aiden muttered. “What do we do, Tommy?”
Thomas looked at Jeffries. Even writhing in pain, his eyes gleamed with triumph. He thought he was going to get his wish. He thought he was going to end up famous one way or another. They either had to alert the bomb squad to the threat or detonate it themselves and give him the show he wanted.
