Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Drake sat opposite them, tense and muttering mean answers to Boar’s jokes. Boar must have been able to sense that Drake was in a foul mood because he wouldn’t give it a rest. Tank wasn’t chattier, mostly silent and in the world of his own mind, behind tall walls Clover wasn’t able to climb over.
“Did we miss out on a lot of money?” Clover tried in the game of ‘what’s-wrong bingo’. He’d been surprised to hear Tank grew up dirt poor, considering the house he owned now, but maybe his past was the reason behind his obsession with earning more than he needed? For him, poverty might always lurk behind the corner.
Tank rubbed his eyes, ignoring Drake and Boar. It was as if he wanted to be on his own yet unwilling to leave everyone else to their own devices. “There’s no point discussing this. We’re not getting any.”
Boar sighed. “There will be another job.”
“Well, this one was a real fuck-up. There’s no taking back what happened,” Tank snapped in response.
Drake spread his arms with a scowl. “Can this stop? We need to regroup, not blame each other for something that can no longer be reversed.”
“I told you this was a bad idea, but you decided to go against my advice.”
Drake crooked his head. “Whatever you might think, Tank, you’re not our boss.”
Tank frowned and sat up straight. “Since when?”
Boar raised his hands. “What Drake means is that it’s not just you who is responsible for tonight. We’ve all agreed to—”
Drake stopped Boar with a gesture. “What I mean is that we’re partners. That’s why we share everything equally. You don’t get to make important decisions for us.”
Tank’s entire body stiffened at Clover’s side. “Do you see what happens when you make your own decisions? Their eyes are now back on Clover. How are you gonna keep him safe, Einstein?”
Clover swallowed and stroked Tank’s arm, gently taking the phone he’d been swinging around. “I’ll just stay with you at all times?” he asked, daring to smile.
“It’s not a time for being cute, boy!”
Clover took Tank’s mood in stride and kept his fingers on the muscular arm, but shut up. There was nothing he could say to make things better. Tank’s attitude came from a place of care, but it was still a struggle to deal with him when he lost his cool like this.
“We’ll just have to smoke them out, like before,” Boar suggested, but Tank shook his head even before he was done talking.
“Whoever is looking for him now likely has some kind of connection to that bitch. So my guess is he has an idea what we did last time. The same strategy won’t work. It’s not a computer game.”
Clover opened the message that contained his photo again. There was no answer from the mysterious ‘Darwin’. “What if we call them?” he suggested, with his slouched over the screen with helplessness growing in his stomach.
Tank snorted. “Sure, why not let them know the lion’s on the loose while we’re at it?”
Drake reached out for the phone though. “Do you want me to do it?”
Boar’s eyes widened. “We could go on speakerphone!”
Tank shook his head, but at least he wasn’t outright throwing a fit, so that was an improvement. Clover turned his head to give Tank’s bicep a kiss. Despite this continuous argument, Clover had no doubt his man would be a wall between him and a freaking bazooka if need be.
“Wait,” Clover said, frowning at the details of Darwin’s number. How had he not noticed it before? It had been over a year, but it finally hit him. He got up. “I know this number. It’s Jerry. It actually is fucking Jerry!”
Hot air filled his head, lifting him and muting the questions thrown at him. Tank was moving his lips as he squeezed Clover’s wrist, gently tugging him back down. It was only once Clover slumped into his arms that reality fell back into place.
Jerry, his old boss, his ex-friend, was still after him, as if it hadn’t been enough that he sold Clover off to a human trafficking agent.
“Are you sure? I thought he wasn’t a big player,” Drake said, his mouth set.
“He doesn’t have to be. He might be the middleman again. Whoever is behind this might be using him to protect their identity,” Boar added, unusually serious.
Clover nodded, stewing in a soup of anger and bitterness. “Un-fucking-believable.” The hurt bled into his voice, so he bit his lips hard in an attempt to suppress his emotions. “Looks like I had no idea who I was actually dealing with.”
Tank didn’t have any more chastising for him and pulled him close, his thick arm like armor protecting Clover’s soft insides. “We’ll investigate. He must know something.”
“I can’t wait to get my hands on him,” Clover growled, his teeth itching for blood. When he trained, the goals were abstract, as were the enemies. This time, the slight was personal, and it boiled in him with a whole new intensity.