The three of us shared a short laugh.
“How’s that going, by the way?” I said. “Two of you in charge of that?”
“Yep, we’re just having a celebratory smoke,” Connor said.
“Loosely speaking,” Mason said. “We’ve been doing some recon in the area. We’ve figured out the two Brock wants to kill the most. I want to kill them now, but Brock says to wait until more weaponry comes in from California.”
“Makes sense,” I said. “I saw Cole on a little bit ago. Said they were shipping them in. But then, why the celebratory smokes?”
Connor smirked.
“We ran into some Bandits at Buckhead Saloon,” he said. “And they ran into our fists.”
“Ah, bar fight?”
“Not quite,” Mason said. “We cornered one on the outskirts of Buckhead after his buddy left. That’s how we got names. Damian and Eduardo.”
“Gotcha,” I said.
“Funny thing, the bitch we beat last night kept talking about how we’d better strike while we have our chance. I assume he was just posturing, but the asshole we killed at Tara’s office said something similar. Remember?”
I honestly couldn’t. The moment was such a blur and I was so concerned with protecting her that only someone not as emotionally tied in could have given a shit.
“Well, I’m not worried about it,” I said. “We will fucking crush them. And I will get Sheriff Davis at least to stop fondling them.”
“Good man,” Connor said as he stomped his cigarette out on the ground. “But now that we’ve told you what’s up, we’re going to sleep.”
“So this was the end of your day?”
“Of course,” Mason said. “Not all of us got to sleep in a jail cell.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know getting a bullshit charge of public indecency was something to mock.”
“Oh, so you were getting laid?” Mason said, a sly smile forming on his face.
“No, that’s the fucked-up part. We were just making out, and ol’ Davis comes in and arrests me. Almost took in Elizabeth, too.”
“Motherfuck,” Connor said. “Well, hey, look at you, making the rounds with the Rogers girls. Maybe you can go for the mom next.”
“No, that’s Garrett’s job.”
“Maybe they can tag team!”
I groaned as the two laughed and headed for their bikes.
“All right, fuckers, at least I’m getting some.”
“We’ll see you around, Steele,” Mason said. “Don’t get too horny for Mrs. Rogers!”
He chuckled again as he and Connor pulled out on their bikes, leaving me on my own at the shop, which was still not set to open for another couple of hours. I took the moment to take stock of where things stood.
Elizabeth was gone. That sucked. But I felt confident from the accumulation of experiences that Sheriff Davis was just a pussy who could easily be controlled, given enough manpower. Cole said we had guns coming in. Mason and Connor had gotten some intel on the Bandits.
Shit, life seemed pretty good.
Elizabeth is gone.
That doesn’t matter. You’ll find someone else. You will.
