His mouth opened and closed like a fish.
His eyes went bloodshot.
And I released.
Just long enough for him to suck in a sharp, greedy breath.
Then I lifted again, holding, squeezing, choking, letting him really think through his life choices, come to terms with his death.
Then I released.
“Where is he?” I growled.
“The… he’s… the…”
“Wait,” Fallon demanded when my hand started to tighten again, a voice of reason when I had none left. “Gotta let him catch his breath.”
“Where the fuck is he?”
“The old… spot…”
Fuck.
Of course.
Of fucking course.
Cameron had never been any sort of leader. Not a unique thought in his puny, follower brain.
Of course he was still usingmyold hangout as his own.
I shoved Davy toward the others, turned, and fucking booked it toward my bike, ripping the gun out of Voss’s waistband as I went.
I didn’t stop to tell them where I was going.
I didn’t need fucking backup for this.
I was going to get Gracie safe.
Then I was going to make Cameron pay for every goddamn second of fear he made her feel because he wanted to punish me.
I didn’t grow up far from Navesink Bank, in one of the few parts of the area that hadn’t started to get bulldozed and gentrified.
As far as I could tell, since I never visited anymore, it was just as economically depressed as it had been back then, with crime climbing and local crews running the joint.
Including, it seemed, weak-ass Cameron. So fucking threatened by my existence that he still wanted to snuff me out. Even though I’d made no move to take the crew back from him. Even though I was clearly linked up with a new organization. The lifelong kind.
Pussy-ass man with a weak fucking ego.
I flew down the highway, flipping off the speed limits and the cops I knew loved to lay in wait on the sides of the road, lazily speed-trapping people.
They could chase me for all I cared. Draw their guns and shoot me while I bashed Cameron’s head into the fucking ground.
So long as Gracie was okay.
I didn’t ride my bike straight into town. Cameron might be a dumbass, but I figured he was smart enough to panic when he heard a bike rumbling close. And weak men did stupid shit when they panicked.
So I parked several blocks off and hoofed it.
