Page 113 of Carson

“Hey, wasn’t there a stripper named Luna down in Stockton?” another asshole asks.

The guy looks back at me. “Your girl ain’t the stripper from Stockton, is she? If so, that would make sense. She’s probably used to a little tag-teaming.”

Next thing I know, I’m beating the fuck out of him. Elijah dances around. “Fuck yeah. Kick his ass, Cole!”

I look over and my brother is throwing punches beside me. Carver next to him.

Eventually, the two clubs pull us apart.

“I hear you say anything about my brother’s old lady again and I’ll fucking kill you,” I yell at the asshole who started it all.

Jackson starts clapping, stepping between us. “Aw, you fuckers are still on the same team.”

He looks at Elijah. “Pay the men.”

Elijah walks over and begins handing the group of assholes who started shit hundred-dollar bills.

“Fuck, if I would have known he had a punch like that, I wouldn’t have accepted your offer,” the man I pummeled says, spitting blood and a tooth out onto the parking lot.

My brother looks at the guy, then at me, before coming over and hugging me.

“All right, all right, everybody move it over to the lounge. We’ve got some beer to drink!” Jackson cheers. And that’s all it takes to clear the parking lot.

I hug Carson back, holding onto him.

“Fuck, I’ve missed you,” he says.

“I’m sorry,” I choke out, adrenaline still coursing through my veins. “I wanted to kill that fucker,” I tell him.

“I know. I was going to let you.” He laughs, pulling away from me.

Carver drops an arm around each of us. “Thank fuck. Now, listen, I need you guys to back me up on this.” He doesn’t tell us what this is until we’re sitting across from Jackson.

“Are you telling me two women that look like Nyx and her sister just vanished off the fucking planet?”

Jackson leans back in his chair. “I don’t know what you want me to do. Nobody’s talking.”

Carson sits forward. “There’s got to be something we can do. I feel bad they helped me and then fucking disappeared.”

“They helped you?”

Carson goes on to tell us about his drunkenness the night we found out about our mother’s condition. Thinking about it now, it doesn’t seem all that scary as it once was.

Thanks to Luna.

“Fuck, I do remember bumping into that one guy that worked with Luna at the Pizza Hut in Cheyenne. I forgot to tell her.” He looks down at his phone. He sighs in disappointment before pocketing it.

“You saw him in Trap?” I ask. That’s weird.

“Yeah. He said he got fired from Pizza Hut.”

“And he ended up in Trap?”

Elijah walks up to our table. He whispers in Jackson’s ear.

“Yeah, that’s a little odd, don’t you think?” I ask, ignoring them.

Carver sits forward. “Maybe this dude knows something about Nyx.”