“And were they from Gambler’s club?” I didn’t want to say their name. Simply thinking it made my lip curl in distaste.
“Oh yeah,” he replied.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because the dumb fuckers were wearing their cuts.”
I swore under my breath. “Where are they now?”
“Gator bait.” He chuckled. “And the bikes they left by the landing like morons are deep in the swamps.” Relief lifted a load of worry off my shoulders. If they were dinner for the gators, they obviously wouldn’t be running back to their club to tell tales.
“Do you think they were telling the truth? About Gambler?”
“Son, I don’t know. Your grandfather said he’d been taken care of, so I don’t have a good answer for that.” Frustration laced his voice.
“Where the hell would he have been for the last twenty-some years?”
“Don’t know that either. Jameson hasn’t been back all that long, but he’s got his boys looking into it too. Hold on, he wants to talk to you.” There was some rustling before I heard Jameson’s voice on the line.
“Voodoo, brother, I’m sorry this shit happened. If we’d known any of this was going to happen, we would’ve had someone out here to keep an eye on her.”
I scoffed. “Don’t feel bad, she wouldn’t have allowed it. Stubborn woman,” I grumbled.
He snorted. “She might be stubborn, but she’s fierce. I just wish we could get her to realize she’s not immortal.”
I heard my grandmother shout in the background, “Beau diable!You quit telling tales! You don’t know. Maybe I shall live forever!”
Her outburst had me shaking my head with a wry grin. “Ask Hawk to keep Mama and Granmé safe. I need to finish up with work. The boys are waiting on me.”
The huffed sigh that he let loose was followed with, “You know I will, and I’ll also put a prospect out here in the swamps too. Get to work—you’re not getting paid to stand around talking on the phone. Hawk and I will call Venom and fill him in on what happened down here.”
“Roger that,” I said with a smile. “Thanks, bro.”
The waning sun told me I’d been in the temple longer than I realized. It often happened, but that day, I had a job to do and someplace to be afterward.
Cutting through the trees that concealed my temple, I emerged on the other side of the main farm site. An odd feeling of being watched hit me, and I scanned my surroundings. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be moving. It wasn’t the first time I’d experienced that. Reminding myself to read my cards, I approached the slaughterhouse.
“Voodoo, you ready?” Squirrel asked as he leaned on the outside of the building. His head cocked to the side and down, he watched me through raised eyes as he inhaled deeply from the joint held to his lips.
I nodded and stepped inside the slaughterhouse with Squirrel on my heels. Phoenix and Blade were waiting for us.
“I still don’t understand that weird-ass shit you do,” Squirrel murmured, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You have room to talk,” I replied.
“Chill, bro. Didn’t mean nuthin’ by it.”
I was used to people not having a grasp on my beliefs and abilities, which was why I kept those abilities to myself unless I was with those I trusted. Squirrel, I trusted, or I’d have never voted him in as a brother, but he had a habit of getting on my nerves.
“Let’s get this over with. Venom called church for that De Luca job,” Ghost said as he came out of the shadows.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Ghost. Stop that shit,” Phoenix muttered as he ran a hand over his face. Ghost chuckled as he shrugged unapologetically.
Stepping up to the battered man staked spread eagle on the floor, I tried to find a shred of compassion for his human life, but I couldn’t. He was the worst kind of scum. We’d been paid extra to make him suffer. Every sick thing he’d done to the children he’d messed with was to be done to him—and then some.
Taking in the giant dildo shoved up his ass, I raised a brow to Ghost, who shrugged. “Seemed only fair. I sure as shit wasn’t stickingmydick up there.”
Despite the situation, I snickered.