“Uh-huh. So then I guess you’ll be giving us ten grand.” Closing the cooler lid, he placed it next to his feet.
I had no way of knowing if these guys knew anything about organ sales. That kidney was worth two hundred grand. I had a bad feeling about this.
That feeling was confirmed when one of the other men spoke up. “He’s lying, Garrett. Those things fetch six figures on the black market.”
Motherfucker.
“Is that so?” Garrett eyed Casper and me curiously. “Then I guess we’ll be keeping it for ourselves.”
“They don’t last long on ice,” I said. “If it’s not handed off to the buyer right away, it’s useless.”
“Your buyer should be here soon, shouldn’t they? We’ll be here to meet them. You guys can leave.” Garrett smirked, revealing a missing tooth.
Now I was getting pissed off. “We’re not leaving without our kidney or our cash.”
Garrett pressed his lips together, nodding thoughtfully. “Let’s see what we can do to change your mind about that.”
All the fucker had to do was snap his fingers. His men were on us. Six on two while Garrett watched.
Despite our efforts to defend ourselves, Casper and I became human punching bags. Several fists hit me at once, colliding with my face, stomach, and back. I was thrown up against the SUV and held in place while my face was punched repeatedly. I was still sore from the scrap with Noah a few nights ago. My face would never heal at this rate.
A few feet away, one man hit Casper over the head with his gun, knocking him to his knees. Since he was a bigger guy, these assholes were going harder on him. Hitting him with their weapons, kicking him in the ribs once he was down.
My instinct was to fight to the death. To go down swinging. I may have had nothing to lose, but Casper certainly did. Tasting blood, I knew I had to make it stop.
“All right. Fuck. Fine, keep the kidney,” I shouted. “It’s yours. We’ll leave.”
Not knowing how far these guys would take it, we had no choice but to surrender the kidney and get the hell out of there with our lives. An especially hard punch to my spine stole my breath.
I hit the ground, reaching out to brace myself against the ice and snow. At Garrett’s command, the men stepped back, allowing me to get up.
“I don’t want to have this conversation with you again,” Garrett said. “Next time we catch you dealing in our territory, you die. Make sure the rest of your group knows that as well. I’m not in the business of giving second chances.”
The seven of them gathered together, standing there and watching as Casper and I dragged ourselves back into the SUV. I started the engine with one hand, using the other to fumble my burner phone from my pocket. I needed to alert the buyer and tell them not to come.
While the Project X assholes stared us down, I peeled out of the parking lot, trying not to slide on the ice. I’d been expecting a basic handoff. So much for that.
Once we left Elmwood behind, I pulled over on the side of the road. “Are you all right, Casper?”
He gently touched a large lump forming on his forehead, wincing as he signed, “I think so. Are you all good?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
The drive home was especially quiet. I wasn’t sure I’d ever been so frustrated. Having to take that bullshit from those dicks.
Project X was a known street gang in Elmwood. Dealing drugs, weapons, and even humans from what we’d heard. They tended to stay in their own domain, not bothering with the rest of us. Until now.
I wasn’t sure what this meant for the Kings. How did they even know we were coming? Unless they’d been paying more attention to our activity than we realized.
Hopefully, it was one bad encounter. It was probably for the best to stay out of Elmwood and keep our business closer to home. Otherwise, we were going to have a serious problem.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
DOM
After returning the rental, Casper and I got into my car and headed for his place. I felt awful about bringing him home all beat up. He and Luna didn’t deserve this crap.
I’d already called Rebel to give him a heads up. Understandably, he was pissed. Not with us, of course, but with the entire situation. If Project X made another appearance in our business, we were going to have a serious problem. One that we would have to take care of before it took care of us.
