“Feckinquiring about Camdyn’s activities, we need to buy ‘em a lifetime-supply of protection at this rate.”
“Heh. Mam’ll take a knife to his throat for getting any, auld bitch pregnant.” Brody climbs out of the Chevelle SS. Camdyn lifts the passenger seat, then slides into the backseat. As I drive away, I narrow an eye at thenedshe’s kept close to him.
“You look like the po-po, Leith.” Camdyn jokes.
“Dinna let thoseladdiesget ye into trouble.”
“I’m almost eighteen, bro. I assure you, nobody can force me to do anything against my fucking will.” He shifts around in the back. “Anyway, that’s rich coming from a guy who needs help fighting some nerd—”
I press the breaks, nudging my chin to the wind. “Get thefeckout.”
Camdyn snorts. “Nah, I’ll pass. Besides, I’ve finished shit talking. We good?”
After a few beats, I navigate around morearsesin string bikinis toward the parking lot exit. I bring them up to speed with the little I’ve learned about Douglas Yates. “I have a few things goin’. I need to draw Yates out. Thatarseholehas so many bloody back door—”
Brody chokes on an inhale. “Back door?”
“Notthatback door. Fuck off.” Camdyn explains, “It’s computer lingo.”
“Sounds likeAmericantalk to me.”
“Wheesht!” I growl for them to be quiet while merging into traffic on Pacific Coast Highway. “Ye think that I dinna want the two of ya in my business for the clan’s sake? Nae! Ye bloody can’t shut thefeckup. We never get along.”
Camdyn groans. “What do you mean?”
“Aye, Leith. We get along well enough,” Brody says.
I sniff. “Brody, ye and I are good over a pint. Cam, if ye’re not playing immortal behind a sports car or a motorcycle, then ye’re at my house, using my pool tofecka new girl. I’m an Airbnb for ye.”
“You’re right.” Camdyn claps my shoulder. “We don’t engage in the shit that brothers engage in. Let’s do this. Let’s bond.”
“Nae. Ye’re mybrathairs,” Brody says, leaning against the door so that he can get a better look at the two of us. “We’re MacKenzie clan. We’re bound.”
Chin high, I wait for Brody to finish rationalizing things. Camdyn gives him the same look. In the end, our olderbrathairfrowns in agreement.
“Alright.” He shuts hisgeggiefor a second. “We haven’t had a simple conversation without arguing in a few months.”
“Try years,bawbag!” I sneer, picking up speed after a red light. “That shoddy bachelor partyye had for me, Brody. We’ve not been close since then. Ye almost cost me my wife!”
“Yup, that happened,” Cam offers. “Brody, you’ve gotta learn to finesse our sis.”
Brody mutters. “Chevelle won’t even let me call her that.”
“Sob story.” Rubbing his hands together, Camdyn says, “Back to the matter at hand. Should we head to the woods with beers and fishing rods for a male-bonding experience?”
“Nae,” I say, “Stop being sarcastic.”
“So what? I’m conveying how juvenile this all sounds. I prefer a macabre connection. Correct me if I’m wrong. We were on the same wavelength killing those guys the other day, right?”
I roll my eyes. “Feckye, Cam. We’re notbawbagsclapping each other’s backs over my issues!”
“Then let me have at ‘em,” Brody avows. “I’ll chop thenedup, feed him to the sharks for ye. Then ye tell Chevelle to get off myfeckin’bawsabout my mistake. Aye!”
“First of all,” my eyes track from the road to glower at him, “Yates’ death certificate has my name all over it. Second, it’s complicated.”I still need to find him.
“Och, see,” Brody gripes. “That’s what Da prides in ye. The complicated part. Our world isn’t complicated. There’s black, and there’s white. Kill orfeckin’be killed. Leith, ye’re the golden boy. Let it stay that way. Give me an address—”
“Yeah, give it tous,” Camdyn chimes in.