Page 147 of Driftwood Daffodil

I stepped up to him and puffed my chest out, “Ask again and see how that goes.”

I really wanted to hit something, and Atlee was more than happy to oblige.

“If you wanna go a couple of rounds, I’m down,” he pushed off the wall and got right in my face. “But don’t start shit with me because you can’t find Simon.”

Simon was just the icing on the cake of a shitty fucking day that started with Novalee Ford. Though the morning wasn’t all bad. I kind of enjoyed the way Nova squirmed under my hold, and the way she squealed…

Atlee tipped his head to look in my eyes, “You okay?”

Not in the slightest.

Sucking in a deep breath, I stepped away from Atlee and shook my head. “Just… find that little weasel.”

“We’ll find him.” Atlee reassured, “Though, I can’t say I’m surprised he’s hiding.”

Neither could I. Simon had to know his little stunt wouldn’t go unnoticed. Either he had bigger balls than I thought, or he was stupid. I was going with the latter. He knew Nova was of some interest to us, and his answer to that was to drug her?

“What do you think he was going to do with her?”

I looked at Atlee and ground out, “That’s a good fucking question.”

It was also one I planned on getting an answer to.

Atlee threw his arm over my shoulder and leaned in, “What did you do to her?”

Did he want to get punched?

“Come on,” a smirk spread across his face. “You tapped that ass, didn’t you?”

More like smacked the shit out of that ass. I bet Novalee had some nice bruises. Those I wouldn’t mind seeing. But that wasn’t why we were here.

“Don’t you think we have more important things to discuss.”

“Ugh,” he took his arm off my shoulder. “Why’s it always business with you?”

I had many reasons for that. The main one being, I didn’t want to hear about Atlee’s exploits. I didn’t want his tips, or explanation of how much some bitch gushed and what he did after. In fact, I’d die a happy man if I never heard another word about his junk or what he did with it.

“Fine,” Atlee sighed when I threw open the door. “But don’t think I’m dropping this.”

One could only wish.

“How about you just tell me what you found?” I said and walked in the school.

My ears instantly perked as the sound of cheering vibrated down the hall. The crowd was pumped up. That was a good sign, that meant more money for us. No one wanted to bet on a game they didn’t care about.

“Darry’s in there scoping him out, but I did find out a few things,” Atlee skipped up behind me and flipped open a notepad. “Chuck Neilson is a senior, he lives in the east part of town,has mediocre grades, his father is a banker and his mother is a hairdresser…”

I cut him off, “Did you find anything useful?”

Those things were all fine to know, but not exactly something we could use.

“Well, there is one thing.”

I didn’t like the twinkle in Atlee’s eye. That usually meant annoyance for me.

“You’re going to love this.”

I doubted that.

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