Better When He's Bold
Page 84
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He lifted his hands up in surrender and gripped his head in his hands.
“She hangs around this guy named Drew Donner. He follows her around like a puppy. It’s pretty obvious he wants out of the friend zone, but Brysen isn’t budging. The guy is kind of intense and a little off. He transferred here a year ago and hasn’t made any attempt to hang out or party. All he does is tag along after Brysen. There was even a rumor going around for a while that he had some kind of breakdown when he couldn’t get himself into all of the same classes she was enrolled in because he didn’t have the right prerequisites. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t get all worked up over some chick that doesn’t put out.”
I just stared at him for a minute, trying to weigh the validity of his statements against everything I already knew. Brysen hadn’t mentioned this Drew guy at all.
I was going to ask the frat guy where I could find Drew when Bax’s hand landed on my shoulder. When I turned to look at him, my heart sank because his dark eyes were even blacker than normal. That meant bad news—really bad news.
“We have to go. Now.” His tone left no room for argument.
I dipped my chin down to indicate that I understood his unspoken urgency. I pointed at the college kid still sprawled at my feet.
“If you notice anything off, anything out of the ordinary with this Drew kid, you call me and let me know.” I turned on my heel and followed Bax back through the throng of drunken partygoers.
When we got to the Hemi, Bax looked at me over the roof of the car as we both pulled the doors open.
“That was Nassir. He’s been trying to call you for an hour.”
I bit off a string of dirty words. “Fight night was last night. He’s probably waiting for the payout. I had other things on my mind.”
“No. That’s not what he wants.” Bax arched an eyebrow until it almost reached his hairline. “The Pit exploded.”
I just stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “What?”
“Nassir said the entire place just went up in flames. The cops are on the scene and so is fire and emergency. He said the place was packed since it’s Saturday night.” He sighed and shook his head. “They’re pulling bodies out.”
Holy shit! That was majorly stepping up the game to show Nassir and myself that we didn’t have control of anything. That was making a point in a deadly and drastic way that couldn’t be ignored.
“How did someone get by all the security Nassir has surrounding that place?”
We both got into the car and the engine roared to life with the ferocity of a wild animal. Soon the manicured lawns and expensive houses that dotted the Hill were nothing but a blur as we raced back into the heart of the city.
“He doesn’t know. Early reports are indicating that heavy-duty explosives were used. Nassir said the entire place is nothing but a fireball and ashes.”
“How did he get out in one piece?” I didn’t like Nassir, but I was glad he was okay if the destruction was as bad as Bax was describing.
“He was at Spanky’s.”
I looked at Bax across the dark interior of the car. He had one hand on the wheel and was tucking an unlit cigarette between his lips with the other. His heavy brows were lowered in concern and there was a telltale tick behind that black ink by his eye.
“Why was he at Spanky’s instead of the club on a Saturday night?” Belatedly I wondered if all the hundreds of thousands of dollars we had been funneling through the club had managed to survive the inferno.
Bax cut me a hard look and lit his smoke.
“I imagine he was there for the same reasons you were kicking the shit out of some dumb-ass college kid instead of being at home with your lady.”
“He’s worried about the girls.”
“Yeah, more like one girl in particular. No one wants all of this shit to land on the girls, our girls in particular. We need to figure out who’s behind it. No one is coming forward, no one is making moves on the Point, it’s just like they want you guys to know they can get to you, they can mess with you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It seems like it’s all one, big, seriously fucked-up game.”
It didn’t feel like a game. It felt like life and death. It felt like rocks in my gut and fury in my blood. The Point wasn’t much, it was hard to justify wanting to fight for it, to keep it alive after all the misery and pain it had brought to so many. But it was mine. It was home. It might be a kingdom no one else wanted to reign over—but I was going to do it until it killed me, and I wasn’t going to let some unknown intruder tear it apart from the inside out. Not if I could help it.
“She hangs around this guy named Drew Donner. He follows her around like a puppy. It’s pretty obvious he wants out of the friend zone, but Brysen isn’t budging. The guy is kind of intense and a little off. He transferred here a year ago and hasn’t made any attempt to hang out or party. All he does is tag along after Brysen. There was even a rumor going around for a while that he had some kind of breakdown when he couldn’t get himself into all of the same classes she was enrolled in because he didn’t have the right prerequisites. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t get all worked up over some chick that doesn’t put out.”
I just stared at him for a minute, trying to weigh the validity of his statements against everything I already knew. Brysen hadn’t mentioned this Drew guy at all.
I was going to ask the frat guy where I could find Drew when Bax’s hand landed on my shoulder. When I turned to look at him, my heart sank because his dark eyes were even blacker than normal. That meant bad news—really bad news.
“We have to go. Now.” His tone left no room for argument.
I dipped my chin down to indicate that I understood his unspoken urgency. I pointed at the college kid still sprawled at my feet.
“If you notice anything off, anything out of the ordinary with this Drew kid, you call me and let me know.” I turned on my heel and followed Bax back through the throng of drunken partygoers.
When we got to the Hemi, Bax looked at me over the roof of the car as we both pulled the doors open.
“That was Nassir. He’s been trying to call you for an hour.”
I bit off a string of dirty words. “Fight night was last night. He’s probably waiting for the payout. I had other things on my mind.”
“No. That’s not what he wants.” Bax arched an eyebrow until it almost reached his hairline. “The Pit exploded.”
I just stared at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “What?”
“Nassir said the entire place just went up in flames. The cops are on the scene and so is fire and emergency. He said the place was packed since it’s Saturday night.” He sighed and shook his head. “They’re pulling bodies out.”
Holy shit! That was majorly stepping up the game to show Nassir and myself that we didn’t have control of anything. That was making a point in a deadly and drastic way that couldn’t be ignored.
“How did someone get by all the security Nassir has surrounding that place?”
We both got into the car and the engine roared to life with the ferocity of a wild animal. Soon the manicured lawns and expensive houses that dotted the Hill were nothing but a blur as we raced back into the heart of the city.
“He doesn’t know. Early reports are indicating that heavy-duty explosives were used. Nassir said the entire place is nothing but a fireball and ashes.”
“How did he get out in one piece?” I didn’t like Nassir, but I was glad he was okay if the destruction was as bad as Bax was describing.
“He was at Spanky’s.”
I looked at Bax across the dark interior of the car. He had one hand on the wheel and was tucking an unlit cigarette between his lips with the other. His heavy brows were lowered in concern and there was a telltale tick behind that black ink by his eye.
“Why was he at Spanky’s instead of the club on a Saturday night?” Belatedly I wondered if all the hundreds of thousands of dollars we had been funneling through the club had managed to survive the inferno.
Bax cut me a hard look and lit his smoke.
“I imagine he was there for the same reasons you were kicking the shit out of some dumb-ass college kid instead of being at home with your lady.”
“He’s worried about the girls.”
“Yeah, more like one girl in particular. No one wants all of this shit to land on the girls, our girls in particular. We need to figure out who’s behind it. No one is coming forward, no one is making moves on the Point, it’s just like they want you guys to know they can get to you, they can mess with you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It seems like it’s all one, big, seriously fucked-up game.”
It didn’t feel like a game. It felt like life and death. It felt like rocks in my gut and fury in my blood. The Point wasn’t much, it was hard to justify wanting to fight for it, to keep it alive after all the misery and pain it had brought to so many. But it was mine. It was home. It might be a kingdom no one else wanted to reign over—but I was going to do it until it killed me, and I wasn’t going to let some unknown intruder tear it apart from the inside out. Not if I could help it.
