“Diner tonight?” I suggest. “I’m getting tacos.”
“Sure.” He rears back. “Fuck, you stink.”
I sniff my shirt. “I rinsed myself with a hose.”
“Not good enough.”
“Shit. Anyone got some deodorant?” I look around the laundromat at all the hopeful recruits. All of them shake their heads. We are not the type to carry around supplies in our backpacks.
“You could use some detergent.” A recruit holds up one small trial packet.
I don’t laugh him off, but before I can stick my head in a washing machine, Clark’s bodyguard waves me over. Inside the inner sanctum where Emile, the money man, sits in the corner, is my guy from the Patton property. I give him a head nod. Clark wrinkles his nose but only straightens his school blazer before sitting down behind his ugly metal desk.
“You vouch for this guy?”
I look over the boy, who has an old scar across his gaunt cheek. He’s lanky and tall, probably a couple inches taller than me. His hands are big enough to palm a basketball or slap you into next week. His eyes are cold and hungry.
“Hell, no,” I laugh. “I don’t know even know his name.”
Clark frowns. “He says you sent him here.”
“I did.”
“But you won’t vouch for him?” Clark repeats.
Vouching for this stranger means his fuckups are mine. I don’t know if he’s trustworthy or competent. All I know is that he had enough willpower to survive in that cellar for weeks. He was the only one who could climb out on his own. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t need a brotherhood.
I make a snap decision. “I’ll vouch for him.”
So slightly that I almost miss it, some of the tension in the boy leaks out. Clark hands over a piece of paper. “A few chores, then. To test him.”
I hand the paper to the boy. “Memorize the names and addresses. We don’t leave any evidence around.”
He nods and stares at the slip.
“I’m Bam, by the way. You?”
“Teddy.” He hesitates like he’s about to reveal a secret. “Short for Theodore.”
Teddy. Not Todd. “Got it. Let’s go. I’ve got dinner plans.”
Chapter Forty
JOSIE
“How are you feeling?” I ask my dad, dropping down on the couch. He’s in the recliner.
“Pretty good.” He’s relaxed. It’s enjoyable seeing him this way. The man is always working. It sucks he had to break his leg to get time off, but it’s given us all a chance to settle in together in this new dynamic.
It also helps that he’s union, and they have given him time off, a chunk of it paid. There was also a GoFundMe that a bunch of truckers donated to. They started it all on their own. Bam is also here, and I think he might make more than my father. He’s always got a lot of cash on hand, but Dad’s got our health insurance, and that’s worth a million bucks.
“How about you?” he asks, pausing the old black and white Western he’d been watching.
“I’m great.” I give a small bounce on my seat.
“You got something to tell me? I can tell because you’re wiggling around like you got ants in your pants.” I was never really good at hiding stuff from him. He may have been gone a ton over the past year, but this man knows me better than I know myself sometimes.
“I might, but I want to save it for dinner. It’s good news.”
