Will didn’t have the time to give him a look as I sprang up from the back seat.
“So let me get this straight—they extort you with the races, they have you by the balls because of your gun . . .”
I saw James take his eyes off the road and shoot his friend a disappointed look.
“How the fuck did she find out?”
An uncomfortable Will gulped and started gesticulating. “Okay, yeah, I told her you owe the Austin family money.”
“With drugs too? Is that why you sell them?” I pressed.
“Shut up.”
James clenched his teeth and concentrated on driving without saying another word.
“What did they do that was so important that you put up with all this?”
“Will, make her shut up. I’m serious.”
Then a strange thought went through my head, and I couldn’t keep it to myself.
“Did they kill someone with your gun?”
James hit the brakes so abruptly that I went flying forward.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” shouted William while James got out of the car, yanked the car door open, and grabbed me forcefully by the arm.
He pulled me out of the back seat and flung me violently against the car body.
“Shut your fucking mouth or I swear I’ll shove my dick down your throat,” he hissed, red with rage.
“Let her go!”
I was frozen, shaken, and incapable of saying another word.
Will yanked his friend away, forcing him to let me go. “Are you okay?” he asked, giving me a hug while he rubbed my back with one hand.
“I’ll just say one thing. Your idea is fucking awful,” spat James, turning on his vape pen.
“Well, I think it’s a great idea. June just has to find an excuse to get out of the club, and we . . .”
I saw the veins in James’s neck swell. “You make it sound so easy. Where the hell are we gonna ambush from? We’re in the fucking desert, don’t you see that? There isn’t shit around here.”
I covered my face with my forearm and tried to focus on the scenery. The sun still wasn’t fully overhead, and the sides of the highway were lined with the typical bleakness of the California desert. The mountains in the distance flattened into arid planes dotted with just a few cacti here and there.
Will seemed to be in denial about a fact so obvious that it was clear even to me. “You’re wrong, James.”
“Am I? Do you think they wouldn’t notice my car parked outside in broad daylight right away?”
William looked like someone who wanted to downplay the logistical problems and remove any obstacles to do something at all costs.
“We’ll park far away, and—”
“And what? That’s bullshit. How are we gonna turn half the place upside down?”
“Do you wanna go at night? With the bodyguards who are twice our size? Why do you have to be so negative?” screamed Will, as James inhaled deeply from the vape pen.
“I’m being realistic.”
