“Let’s sit,” I said.
Robin took her spot and I sat next to her. Owain sat on my right, Des sat on Robin’s left.
Larry brought over drinks. Wine for Robin, whiskey for the rest of us.
“How’d you convince Hedeon to let this girl out here?” Owain asked. “I thought she was some sort of special secret.”
“She proved herself,” I said. “I trust her.”
“Must be serious then,” Des said. “If you trust her. Robin, I’ve never seen this guy give a shit about anyone or anything as long as I’ve known him.”
“Yeah? And how long’s that been?”
“Eight years?” Des frowned. “I’m not sure, something like that.”
“Too long,” I said.
“So he’s a selfish prick then?” she asked.
Des laughed. “Exactly. Except for when it comes to the crew, at least.”
“Oh, we’ll do anything for the crew,” Owain said. “But not for anyone else.”
“It’s really great to see you two, fucking pricks.” I sipped my whiskey as they laughed.
“Seriously, I talked to Oleg this morning. He told me about your little job.” Owain’s eyebrows waggled. “Sounds like it was fun.”
“Dangerous, more like. How’s he doing? Last I saw, he was hurt.”
“He’s fine,” Owain said. “He’s taken worse.”
“Good.” I held my drink up. “To Oleg recovering.”
“And to our newest member.” Des grinned and looked at Robin. “When’s she going through initiation?”
“Never,” I said, and drank.
The other two laughed. Robin frowned at us.
“There’s an initiation?”
I groaned. “Don’t listen to me.”
“Oh, there sure as fuck is,” Des said. “He didn’t tell you about it?”
“There are all kinds of rituals,” Owain said.
“No, there aren’t.” I gave her a look and grimaced. “Hedeon was really into Freemasonry early on and he sort of… borrowed some ideas from them.”
She looked amused. “So there’s really an initiation ritual?”
“We don’t do it anymore,” I said. “But back when these two joined up, yeah, Hedeon had a ritual.”
“Let me tell her about it,” Des said. “Please? I want to see her face.”
“Fine.” I waved my hand. “But it’s stupid.”
“So they blindfolded me, right?” Des sipped his whiskey and leaned forward. “I couldn’t see jack shit. They led me into some room. I heard dripping water. Smelled piss or some shit. It was damp and awful. And they led me into the middle, made me kneel down. Read some weird shit about angels and demons and crap. Made me swear something with my hand on a book. Then when that was over, they took off my blindfold, and I was kneeling in the middle of a circle of these huge candles in an old cemetery, in one of those big grave things. It was kind of cool, actually.”
“Yeah,” Owain said. “But then they beat the fuck out of you.”
Des laughed and nodded. “Yep. Beat the fuck out of me. Seriously, cracked a rib. Didn’t go easy at all.”
“I went through it,” Owain said. “Chipped a tooth.” He grinned proudly and pointed at an incisor.
Robin looked horrified. “That’s… kind of sick.”
“We don’t do the candle shit anymore,” I said.
“That’s not the sick part. The beating… it’s barbaric.”
I stared at her. “We still do that. Everyone gets a beating before they come in.”
“Why?” She leaned back, eyes wide.
“It’s a rite of passage,” Des said. “We need to prove that our new members give a shit about us enough to let us break them down. So we beat them within an inch of their lives… and we know they’ll do it to the next guy. And when it’s over, we lift them up and help them, and make them a brother.”
“That’s absolutely insane,” Robin said. “My family doesn’t do anything like that.”
“Your family’s soft,” I said. “They’re only interested in money. We’re interested in blood and power.”
Robin stared at me and I couldn’t quite read her expression.
“Fuck, it’s not as bad as all that,” Owain said. “I kind of liked it, honestly. Made me feel special while they kicked me in the face. I’m pretty sure Hedeon was the one that knocked my tooth loose. Him or Enrico, I’m not totally sure.”
Des laughed. “Might’ve been me.”
“Doubt it. You’re way too weak, you little manling.”
“Get over here, you big fuck. I’ll arm wrestle you right now. Show you who the manling is.”
Owain got up with a laugh and sat next to Des. They started to arm wrestle, making absurd faces, and laughing.
I leaned closer to Robin. “You good?”
“I’m fine. Just trying to picture how beating the crap out of someone bonds you all together. Doesn’t it just make you resentful?”
“You’d think, but no. It’s strange… knowing we’ve all gone through it.”
“Did you go through it?”
“I did. The original ten kicked the shit out of me. Nearly killed me, too. Hedeon says it’s the worst beating they’ve ever given.”
“You sound proud of that.”
“I survived. That’s important. Makes me stronger now. I know I can take a lot of punishment.”
She let out a breath and sipped her wine. “I don’t know. Sounds a lot like a bunch of macho bullshit.”