“Brick”—FromAshestoNew
“Did you know they make a fucking machine?” Phoenix asked me as we drove to the crime scene in Des Moines. The Royal Bastards operated a legit biohazard cleanup business that specialized in crime and trauma cleanup. It made a good cover for our other business, and there was a crazy amount of money in it.
“I’m sure they make lots of machines.” I spoke to him as if he was a child and gawked at him like he was nuts.
He rolled his eyes. “No. I mean a machine that fucks.”
“Like an artificial intelligence sex doll?” I asked, confused as to where he was going with this shit.
“No, like a piston machine you can hook a dildo to.”
“They do not,” Blade piped in from the back.
I scoffed. “You’ve been hanging around Squirrel too much.”
“No, for real. I saw it on the internet. Squirrel’s dildo contraption has nothing on it,” Phoenix insisted.
“Holy shit. They do!” Blade said as he held his phone up between the seats for us to see.
Phoenix gave it a quick glance before returning his attention to the road. “Told you!”
“I’m ordering it,” said Blade with a dark chuckle.
“For what?” I asked with wide-eyed disbelief at what the fuck kind of kink he might be into.
He shrugged. “I bet we can rig something up that works better than Squirrel’s dildo rack. Can you imagine if we put a sword at the end or something?”
“Jesus,” I muttered as I shook my head. “You need your head read.”
Blade shrugged as his eyes stayed glued to his phone he was busy tapping on.
“I told Laila about my gift,” I said, changing the subject.
“No shit?” Blade paused to look at me in surprise.
“How did she take it?” Phoenix asked.
“Better than I thought,” I said, running a hand through my hair as I looked out the side window. I told them I’d actually showed Laila what I could do. “I also told her that her parents’ killers were dead, but I didn’t tell her it was our chapter that killed them. It sucks, because Rowdy handled it himself and didn’t leave much info behind about it. With him being gone, the answers died with him.”
“Damn,” he said.
“I know.”
“Venom contacted Khatri?” he asked as we took a turn into the older neighborhood. He had been on a job when we finalized all the plans. Venom had told me to give him the rundown today.
“Meet is set for next week. He promised them we had her locked up in a cell awaiting transport,” I said with a curl of my lip. Though it was a lie, the thought alone made me sick.
“And you said we meet with her case agent tomorrow?” Phoenix asked.
“She does,” I clarified.
“But we’re still gonna be there, right?” Blade’s question was surprised.
“Of course.”
They both gave relieved sighs.
We pulled up to the address we’d been given by the insurance company and parked the unmarked van in the driveway. Some of the jobs were absolutely disgusting, and I had a strong stomach. This one was particularly bad. It was a murder-suicide in the home of a hoarder.