“Please, don’t hurt her.”
Talon curled his lip. “Are you really going to tell me what to do when it comes to your friend?”
“Yeah, I am,” I said. “I’m her best friend. It’s my job. I will go to war with you, Talon. For the sake of Gia, I will fight you.”
Talon laughed. “You’re going to fight me? You mean like fists?”
“I will cut you. Stab you. Hurt you. I…”
“Can you just focus on tonight?” Talon asked.
“Sure,” I said. “Whatever you say.”
Talon tucked the money into his pocket and pulled his hood back up.
I started to drive again.
Talon and I in Tank Two.
Both of us silent.
Easton flicked his cigarette into the night.
“Come on in, Winter,” he said.
I carefully walked toward the open garage door area.
All the lights were on inside the place, which was good.
Bright was good.
I saw Noah and Xavier as soon as I stepped inside.
Noah sat at a table.
The same table where they had sat to plot trying to kill me.
My mind tried to flash those memories again but I fought them off.
I didn’t need to have those images in my head.
I knew what had happened.
I had lived through it.
Xavier sat on the hood of an old car.
“Are you fixing that up?” I asked him.
“Plan to,” he said. “There’s serious money to be made with this shit. It’s fun to do. Pisses everyone off because it doesn’t match their story for me.”
“Take a seat, Winter,” Noah said.
He kicked a chair.
I shook my head. “I’m fine standing. Let’s get this over with.”
“Fair enough,” Easton said. “You lied to us.”
“I know,” I said.
“Why?” Noah asked.
“I wanted to figure more out,” I said. “I wanted to get as much information as I could about all of you to use against you. I had no choice. I had to protect myself. Hate me all you want, but you’d do the same. Oh, and for the record, when I first woke up from the accident, I did not have any of my memory. So I didn’t plan this out too far in advance.”
“When did you change your mind?” Xavier asked.
“When I saw you three in the hospital room,” I said. “There were so many people there. I was feeling flustered. I knew nothing. I knew nobody. Then I saw you three. And it was like this avalanche of memories. Just attacking me over and over. That’s why I kind of freaked out and kicked everyone out.”
“Then you made your plan?” Noah asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. In the hospital I decided to do it. So I convinced the doctors and nurses and my father I had no memory. I’m supposed to be seeing doctors and getting tests done or whatever, but I obviously don’t need to. It’s been kind of a pain to do.”
“I bet,” Easton said.
There was tension in the room, as expected.
But strangely, it was a calm tension.
I told myself that’s what they wanted. They wanted to lure me in. Make me feel comfortable. Like they did before, right? This was how they did things. To those at BFH they attacked hard and fast. That’s how they built their reputation. For the really bad stuff, they were slow and methodical.
That’s why I stood near the open door.
In case…
I grinned. “Anything else?”
“Oh, we have a lot to talk about,” Noah said. “We have to finish what was started. I think you know that, Winter. Memory or not, things have been a little more than interesting around here.”
“Is there anything to actually finish?” I asked. “I think the line here is pretty clear. We all know what we know. So why not leave it at that?”
“Leave it at that?” Xavier asked. “Not a chance, Winter. It’s too late for that.”
Easton walked toward me. “Tell me everything you remember, Winter.”
“Trust me, Easton, I know we didn’t sleep together,” I said. “Nobody is going to believe you. Nobody is going to convince me otherwise.”
“This has nothing to do with that,” he said. He kept moving closer to me. “I want to know what you know. Every detail. Right now.”
I reached back with my right hand and snapped my fingers.
That was the signal.
I was in trouble.
I needed help.
When I saw the look on Noah’s face, I slowly started to smile.
“Hey, motherfuckers,” Talon said as he stepped up next to me.
“What the fuck is this?” Noah asked.
“This is Talon,” I said.
“Yeah, we know,” Easton said.
“What the fuck is a Troc doing standing in my shop?” Xavier asked.
“Want me to take a step back?” Talon asked.
I grinned.
Talon knew how to turn up the cockiness when needed.
Xavier stepped toward Talon. “Why don’t you just keep going back. All the way to your shithole of a home.”
“Where do you think I’ve been?” I asked.
“Yeah, we know,” Easton repeated.
I looked at Noah.
He was enraged.
His hands balled into fists.
“This is what you want, Winter?” Noah asked. “After everything we’ve been through? This is what you want…”
“It’s not want, it’s need,” I said. “Tell them what I do, Talon.”
“She pays me,” Talon said. “She pays me for protection. Who would have ever thought that, right?”
“Protection from what?” Xavier asked. “Whoever is following you is following us too. We’re in this together.”
“You weren’t in Tank the night I crashed,” I said. “None of you were. Do you really want to keep dancing around it?”
“Dancing?” Noah asked. “You remember everything, Winter. Yet you’re the one dancing around what we were going to do.”
“Tell me this Troc isn’t fucking you,” Easton said. “I just need to know. Before this gets too serious. Did you pay this Troc to sleep with you?”
“If she did, there wasn’t any sleep happening,” Talon said.
Noah punched the table.
“Get the fuck out of here,” Xavier said. “You don’t need to be here, Troc.”
“I’m paid to be here,” Talon said. “I’m not moving.”
“Want to bet?” Xavier asked.
“Stop it,” I yelled. “All of you. Just stop it. This isn’t about the Bumps and the Trocs. This is about us. The truth. What you did to me. What I know about you. We need to figure it out. End this once and for all.”
“End it?” Noah asked. “We were just getting started, Winter. It was… it was your idea…”
“What was my idea?” I asked.
“Talon, please get out of here,” another voice said.
I turned my head and saw Gia.
Gia?
“Gia?” I asked.
She stepped in front of Talon and opened her arms.
“Oh, this just gets better and better,” Easton said.