“Grave is always late.” I state the obvious.
Bones called an emergency meeting after we got the call about Nick York. All kinds of red flags have now gone up, and we need to discuss our next step.
Cross sits to my right, holding his Zippo in his hand. The sound of him flipping it open and then closing it is grating on my already short nerves. My headache still lingers like a one-night stand refusing to leave after I’m done with them.
“We’ll start without Grave.” Bones slaps the table.
“I say we kill George,” Cross announces, straight to business.
I shake my head. “Dead men can’t pay debts.”
“No, but with Nick and George both dead, we can take the company,” he counters.
I snort. “And exactly what are you going to do with it? You don’t have enough spare time as it is.”
“The company is not up for grabs,” Bones states. “Titan is correct about already being spread too thin. Plus, I don’t want the hassle.”
“I’m sure Nick has left it to Emilee. She would be more than willing to sell it to us.” Cross shrugs.
“How would you know what she would do?” I ask.
“Common sense. She doesn’t even live here. You think she’ll move back here to take it over?” He shakes his head.
Okay, let’s try another way. “What do you know about construction?”
He rolls his eyes. “It can’t be that hard.”
Just then the door opens, and Grave enters the conference room. His blue eyes are red. His dark hair stands up in every direction and his clothes are wrinkled. He looks like he just woke up on the side of the street, which could be a very likely possibility.
Bones stands from his chair and crosses his arms over his chest as his little brother falls into a black leather chair. Lifting his chin, he glares down at him. “Where in the fuck have you been?” Bones demands.
“Don’t start.” He throws back his can of Red Bull like it’s a shot. “You should be glad I even made an appearance.”
Bones slaps his hands down on the table. “This is serious!” he shouts. “We were recently notified that George wasn’t going to pay us, and now his partner is dead. Looks pretty fucking suspicious to me.”
“Hey, I told you that we shouldn’t have loaned George that money,” Grave argues.
Cross lets out a whistle, and I shake my head.
Bones drops his head and runs his hand through his spiked hair. I’m just waiting for him to drag his brother across this conference table. It wouldn’t be the first time. The only difference between Bones and Grave is that Bones is sober enough to actually do some damage at the moment. “He came to us and needed the money. We loaned it. That’s it. Now that it’s time for him to pay up, he wants to back out on his word, and we don’t fucking tolerate that.” Bones is saying all of this through gritted teeth.
I gotta say he’s got more restraint than usual.
“Are we sure the money was for George?” I ask.
Three sets of eyes land on mine.
“Who would it have been for?” Cross asks with a rise of his brow.
“Nick,” Bones answers, knowing what I’m thinking. He falls into his seat.
I sit up straighter. “He’s come to us before, and we helped him out.”
“He also paid us back,” Cross says. “Sooner than we had agreed on.”
Four years ago
“What can we do for you, Nick?” I ask as he enters the conference room. He had called up Bones an hour ago and said he needed to speak to us immediately.
