“Sure thing.”
I gave Kiersten a quick wave, then followed Country out of the bar and down the hall. When we reached the guest room, he opened the door, revealing a small room that reminded me of a tiny hotel room. There was a full-sized bed, a small dresser with a flat-screen TV, and there was an adjoining bathroom. “This is really nice.”
“It’ll do in a pinch... Can I get you anything before I go?”
“No, I’m good.” I stepped into the room for a better look around, then turned to Country and said, “Thank you.”
“No problem.” He started to leave but suddenly stopped and turned back to face me. “Hey, uh, sorry about acting like such an asshole before... You didn’t deserve that shit.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I totally understand.”
“Yeah, well. Sorry just the same.”
He gave me a quick nod, then disappeared down the hall. I closed the door, and without bothering to remove my clothes, I laid down on the bed. I had a sinking feeling as I curled up into one of the pillows and closed my eyes. I just wanted to fall asleep and put this horrible day behind me, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Billy.
I had a feeling that he had his own reasons for staying at Antonio’s, and it had nothing to do with work. It was me.All me.
I feared I’d finally pushed him too far.
And I had no idea what I was going to do about it.
BILLY
“We have a big game tonight.”
“Oh, yeah?” Hop didn’t skip a beat before asking, “Where we playing?”
“Got multiple locations, and I’m gonna need you and Tripp to go by my place and pick up the van.”
“Sure thing. Just need to know where I’m going.”
“I’ll text the address. You and Tripp will handle the first two on your own. I’ll be waiting for you at the third.”
“Three locations?”
“Afraid so.”
“Damn. It’s gonna be a long fucking night.”
“Yeah, it is, so get a move on. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll be done.”
“You got it, boss.”
With that, Hop hung up the phone, and I went to track down the brothers. They all knew I was in for a tough night, so Viper and his boys were doing what they could to help me get started on the cleanup. They’d already gathered most of the casualties and had placed them on a tarp in the garage, and I needed to check in on their progress.
When I walked in, Lynch and Shotgun were bringing in the guard that had shot me in the arm, and from the looks of it, they were struggling. As soon as they got the guy over the tarp, Lynch let go of his feet and let them drop to the ground with a hard thud. “Holy shit. This dude puts new meaning to thick.”
“Yeah, he was one of those who took the whole ‘clean your plate’ thing to heart,” Shotgun grumbled.
“You ain’t kidding.” Lynch looked down at the guy and shook his head. “Billy’s gonna have a time with this one.”
“I’ll manage just fine,” I assured him.
“I don’t know.” Lynch snickered as he said, “Gonna take some maneuvering to get this big fella in that incinerator of yours.”
“It won’t be a problem.” While I was grateful for the help, I was in dire need of some peace and quiet, and there was no way in hell I was going to get that with them around. “I can cover things from here.”
Viper sounded skeptical as he asked, “You sure about that?”