Grog clicked his tongue. “You gonna answer our questions now?”
Max stared at him. “Last night, I was the target of a hit.”
The men started murmuring amongst one another before Max snapped his fingers, silencing them all with the smallest flick of his wrist.
Who are you?
“It wasn’t a concealed hit, either. I was lucky that Bambi here was in close enough proximity to scrape me off the damn pavement.”
One of the guys nodded at me. “That her name?”
I shook my head. “No.”
Max put his hand on my knee. “It’s her nickname, because you won’t call her by her name. Only I do that. You all can call her Bambi.”
I leaned toward Max. “Do they really have to call me that?”
He lowered his voice. “Just because you don’t understand the nickname yet doesn’t mean it doesn’t suit you.”
I had no idea what he could’ve possibly meant by that. But we weren’t in a position to be able to discuss it. I let it slide as my hand draped over his on my knee.
“I was at her campus. Dropping her off. They jumped me, three of them. The fourth was in a black SUV that sped off into the night. They were wearing gold rings that dug into the back of my neck. John got pictures of the bruised insignias on my skin.”
I saw some of the guys clenching their fists while others clenched their jaws.
“Whoever took this hit out made it clear to me that this is only the beginning. An appetizer, they called it.”
Grog spoke up. “So you heard their voices.”
Max nodded. “Yes.”
My voice lowered to a whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
He squeezed my knee, attempting to keep me silent, I guessed. It wouldn't work. He didn’t get to control when I spoke with him and when I didn’t.
“How bad is it?”
I looked over toward the voice and noticed the redhead sitting there. Oh, what was his name? Robert? Roland?
“What ‘it’ are you talking about, Rupert?” Max asked.
Rupert! That’s it.
“The fuck you think I’m talking about? How bad are your damn injuries? What else happened?”
Max sighed. “You don’t need a rundown of my wounds. All you need is--”
Benji cleared his throat. “Actually, a rundown might be nice. You know those kinds of injuries tells us how those guys moved. Pivoted. Where their strengths and weaknesses are. What they target on a person. That’s valuable information.”
I didn’t even realize that slimy little jerk was here until he spoke up. And when he did, my eyes whipped over to him. He stared at me with a cool expression. One that was virtually unreadable. His eyes stayed locked with mine. As if he were somehow attempting to command me to get up and walk out. I held my head up high, though, trying not to show Benji how shaken I still was from our personal encounter.
“I wanted to call this meeting not to give you a rundown of what happened to me, play by play, but to warn you. As a crew. Whoever took this hit out on me not only has balls, but deep pockets. Those were expensive guys. Or stupid. I’m not sure yet. Either way, there’s a chance this person could be targeting other members of this crew. I wanted to bring you guys together and inform you of that.”
Rupert shot up from his chair. “You got any idea who this might be from? Because I’m gunning for a fight.”
Some of the other guys stood up and nodded their heads with the man as Max sighed.
“I know you’re all upset. Trust me, no one is more upset than I am. I have no theories as to who’s behind this right now. We have many enemies, and just as many friends. Until I’ve got something to start narrowing the playing field, we all keep an eye over our shoulders and on our loved ones.”