I put my hand on the hilt of my weapon, uncertain as to how many people might actually be inside.
Grudge slams him down into a plastic chair. “Sit still, and I might not blow your fucking brains out.”
“Where’s Isla’s cousin?” I ask.
Kevin sneers, but Grudge pulls his favorite Glock out of his pocket and puts it up against Kevin’s temple. “This is an unregistered firearm. I could shoot you with it, and nobody would ever know. So, talk, motherfucker.”
“Work.Work!He left to see a friend about a job in Cleveland three days ago.”
Fuck!So, even if one of them was in the truck that hit us, the other couldn’t be the one who smashed the window. “You’ve got five seconds to explain to me why you keep harassing us.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not harassing anybody,” he says.
I pull my hand back and punch him so hard, a tooth flies out as his head spins.
“Motherfucker,” he yells as bloodied spit dribbles down his chin.
I flex my fingers. “You want to keep pretending? Because I can do this all fucking day. Why do you keep harassing us?”
“Fine, so I painted your window, then smashed it,” he admits.
“Why?” Grudge asks.
Kevin shrugs. “Figured if you two assholes moved out, would be easier to convince Isla to give me her place. You know, without your protection and all.”
“Ballsy move,” Atom mutters.
“Who helped you?” I ask.
Kevin shakes his head. “No one. Did it on my own.”
Grudge steps forward. “Can’t be in two places at once. So, answer the man’s question before I break your teeth.”
His eyes widen, surprisingly, not with guilt but confusion. “What else do you think I did?” he asks.
“Running Shade off the road in that truck of your cousin Jared’s.”
I see nothing but confusion. “Wait. Jared told you I borrowed his truck? Haven’t seen that son of a bitch since he…”
“Since he what?” Atom asks.
“Him and my wife. Well, ex. The two of them were hooking up here whenever I was away. Used to drive long distance but lost my license after a crash last year.”
It seems too detailed an excuse, one that is easily verifiable, for him to have come up with it on the spot as a lie.
“And why are you harassing Isla?”
He has the audacity to look a little ashamed. “My mom promised me that house. Knew I was trying to get away from this one with all its memories. Can’t even afford to replace the bed my ex and Jared slept in. I crashed because I was drunk. Killed a kid. Mom disowned me. Next thing I know, at the will reading, I’m no longer getting the fucking house. Isla knows well and good that it’s mine.”
Grudge looks at me, eyebrow raised, silently asking me what I want to do next.
“You stay away from us. You see an Outlaw coming your way, you turn around and go back where you came from. And you stay away from Isla.”
He huffs at that. “I don’t give a shit what that girl does anymore. She made her bed and plenty of other men’s beds too.” He chuckles at his own joke. “Fucking slut she is.”
And that’s it.
I swing so fucking hard, my fist cracks his jaw and sends him sprawling off the chair into a heap of filthy laundry. When he groans, I’m on him again.
