Page 26 of Hard Ruck

Right now, I felt as far from gentlemanly as a guy could get.

“Are you going to tell Chelsea?” I asked.

“You should tell her.” He got into the driver’s seat. “She won’t be surprised.”

I shut the door behind me and stared at him, the seatbelt in my hand. “What do you mean by that?”

Had I misheard him? It sounded as though he said she wouldn’t be surprised that I took a life. She was a doctor, shouldn’t she be horrified?

He started the engine. “Like I said, this is Dusk Bay. Chelsea knows all about it. Like most of us who grew up here. I’m surprised you didn’t know already.”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re saying,” I said slowly.

“Dusk Bay is ruled by organised crime,” he said as though that was no big deal.

“Isn’t every city?” I asked.

You couldn’t turn on the news without hearing about some criminal being involved in something from bribery to extortionor whatever other shit they got up to. Someone was always trying to do something to someone else. Humans had been doing it since the dawn of time. It wasn’t going to end anytime soon.

He glanced over and grinned. “Yeah, but not like this. I can’t remember who said it, but this place is shady shit central. Most of the businesses here are owned by, you could call them the Australian mafia. That includes Hazards and the Dusk Bay Demons, to name a couple.”

“The Smashers?” Did I want the answer to that?

“Probably,” he agreed. “If not directly, then indirectly.”

“And Chelsea knows all of this?” I couldn’t get my head around it.

“All her life,” Ice said. “She even went to Brutham Academy, where they train us in careers that serve our families. She deviated a bit, of course.”

“Of course,” I echoed. “What do you do?” Did I want to know that either?

“For tax purposes, I’m a pathologist. I spent a lot of my time encouraging my boss’ enemies to give me information. By any means necessary. That means I torture them,” he added lightly. “It’s a lot of fun.”

“You pay tax?” I asked.

He laughed. “Yes,that’sthe takeaway here. I pay tax like you do. Probably not as much as you, though. I gather rugby is pretty lucrative, until you get too old to play. I know that won’t be for a while for you, but if you enjoyed strangling Ivy, you might have a future working with me when you retire.”

That should not have made my balls throb, but it did. The idea of being in control like that again… It was addictive. How long would it be before I needed another hit?

Shit, I was as bad as Dallas, just in a more dangerous way.

“I think I might like that,” I said softly.

“I thought you might,” he said. “Just don’t practice on my sister. You wouldn’t like what I’d have to do to you if I did.”

I believed him when he said that. Someone who didn’t blink upon walking into the aftermath of a murder was probably down for just about anything.

“I’d never harm her,” I insisted. “I love her.” After a moment I added, “What’s wrong with me that I enjoyed doing that?”

He glanced over at me again before pulling the car into a shadowed driveway. “People like us are in touch with our darker side. Some people suppress that part of themselves. Some go into politics. Some of us kill people. I’ll help you channel it in the right direction. I have a feeling you’re going to learn a lot about yourself.”

I had a feeling he was right and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it.

Chapter Eleven

Chelsea

After Frost leftHazards so suddenly, I couldn’t sleep.

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