“It’s about the winter festival.”
Did he hear about everyone who is interested in the job? No one would approach him.
“My old lady doesn’t want to step back from the winter festival planning. She knows how important it is…but she just doesn’t have it in her to do it.” Berzerker hands me a file folder filled with paperwork for the event.
“Completely understandable. I will find someone else to take care of it. She doesn’t have to worry about a thing. Is there anything else we can do?”
Berzerker shakes his head. “No. I’m going to take her somewhere sunny for a few months. Seasonal blues aren’t helping with her grief.”
“Whatever you need, brother.”
“The one thing I want, you can’t give.” Berzerker shakes his head and wanders away.
I wish I could, but at least we’ll find the man who caused this.
“Havoc…” Fly walks up. “Are you sure Fiona is taken? That woman could bring a man to his knees, and not just because of how she looks.”
“How much do you value your skin? The Vincenti Family might take it if you so much as look at Max Rage’s woman.”
“Just checking…though she might be worth risking it.” Fly is a nut.
“Find someone else.” Don’t get us all killed.
“Good women aren’t that easy to find.”
“The bad ones certainly are.” My hot neighbor fits the latter category. Why are there so many selfish women in the world?
“Do you think she has any friends that are available?”
“Getting anywhere near Fiona is playing with fire. The Vincentis aren’t known for their reasonableness.”
“I’ll avoid getting flayed alive. Oh, I have some good news for you. A dealer made contact with Vandal already. He isn’t our normal type, though. Vandal’s going to explore this lead a little bit, but I don’t think he’s part of the ring we’re looking for. Vandal’s guess is he’s a science nerd using his lab access to make money for his tuition.”
“There’s got to be a better way to pay for an education.” Though at the prices colleges charge, I can see the need to get creative. Drugs aren’t the answer. “We’ll figure out his situation after we deal with our drug dealer. Vandal is doing well. How are the other two?”
“Ryot’s cold a lot, but so far hasn’t made any contact yet. He’s going to go looking for a job as a bouncer at a club in town. One that’s known for drug activity.”
Cold is a relative term. Riding your bike in the fall and winter is cold. Living outside with nowhere to recover from the weather is a whole different level of cold. “Do you think he’s going to try going in over his head?”
“All of them are determined. Ryot…it’s a whole different level for him.”
That’s what I’m worried about. “Pull him if he starts going off book.”
Fly nods. “Oh yeah. I warned him several times that we would.”
The question is, can we stop him? “Have you seen Bram today?”
“Nope. He’s probably still at work or on his way to have coffee with his new lady. She’s smoking hot. Do you think Bram would mind if I stole her from him?”
I know Fly isn’t serious, but this woman must be something special. “I'd better go give him the good news. His lady is going to be running the winter festival. She’s got a lot to do to get all of it done in time. We should get some old ladiesto support her.” Bram can arrange that. It’ll help her to get comfortable with the club if she’s going to be his old lady.
Bram might have an old lady soon…
***
I need to come to Bram’s bookstore more often. It’s not one of those frilly, girly bookstores that cater to women looking for book boyfriends. It’s for readers. For people looking for classics as well as comics, histories as well as manga. Creed developed a love of reading here.
“Havoc, haven’t seen you in here in a while.”
