Page 58 of Bourbon & Blood

“Where did you get this?” she asked. In her hands was the fine gold ring, the black cord I’d hung it on dangling from it.

“Oh, thanks.” I went to her and tried to take it.

“No,” she said, pulling it away from my grasp, and I turned a look on her. She quailed at first and then she puffed up and stood her ground despite her shaking.

“I asked you a question. Where did you get this?” Her voice was stronger than she looked and before she could blink or even think to keep it out of my grasp a second time, I snatched the ring from her by its dangling cord; and I do mean lightning quick. She gasped and took a step back. Calmly, I put it on over my head.

“That’s my great-grandmother’s ring,” she said, and she was visibly upset.

“Finder’s keeper’s, baby,” I told her. “Found it in the patch o’ dead grass outside your old place after you’d gone. The day you moved out.”

“It was my great-grandmother’s ring,” she repeated, shifting from foot to foot as if that alone would get me to change my mind and just hand it over. “It’s all I have left of her aside from some books.” I hated doing it, but this was a lesson she’d need to learn about how things needed to be different in front of my boys.

What I said had to go in front of the club but it didn’t mean we couldn’t revisit it when we were alone. She just needed to know, there was a time and a place for everything.

“I said, finder’s keepers.” My tone was final and I wouldn’t have any argument. I gave her another stern look that should have conveyed it was the end of the conversation for now, and she calmed, but didn’t look none too happy. That was fine. She could be unhappy. What she couldn’t do was make me look bad in front of my boys with any disrespect. This little bit right now? It was alright because things were still new, but I would have to talk with her about how things needed to go, and soon.

When she didn’t look like she was gonna fight me on it anymore, I changed the subject.

“What’d you boys find out?” I asked, cutting the bullshit and getting right to the point. I hadn’t anticipated my girl being such an anxious little thing, and I wasn’t keen on dragging things out and feeding that anxiousness any more than was necessary. The ring aside, I wanted to get her the answers she wanted and fulfill my end of the bargain and ensure she kept hers.

“You all know about this?” Hex asked. He pulled a sheaf of computer papers printed off a printer and slapped it against my shoulder. I jerked my head at my girl, indicating he should give ‘em to her, seein’ as I was still busy. I went back to fillin’ the coffee pot with water to get it goin’.

He held them out to Alina who came forward and took them from him, but the look of betrayal she was givin’ me?Boy howdy.

She opened them up and started to read. I was relieved to have those wounded eyes off me.

“Councilman Bashaw has designs on running for governor,” she mused aloud, reading through what was on the top sheet.

“That he does,” Hex agreed.

“I don’t understand,” Alina said. “You would think this would be aterribletime for Maya to disappear.”

“Not if nobody knows about it,” Cypress said.

“Nobodydoesknow about it,” she said, her moon-kissed eyes widening. “The police like to act like she doesn’t even exist.”

“No humans involved,” I grated and clenched my jaw.

“That’s about the size of it,” Hex agreed.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t follow,” Alina murmured, and the strain in her voice made me turn and look as I hit the switch to get the coffee to brewin’.

“It’s what they say when folks like us disappear or die,” Cypress explained.

“Your friend’s extracurricular activities put her in the ‘no humans involved’ category. Known problems like drug addiction and hooking, be it high-class hooking or not… when it comes to folks like us that don’t tow the company line or fall all over ourselves to choke on authoritarian cock? Well, we ain’t considered human to the people in charge,” Hex explained.

“But Maya’s hisdaughter,” she tried to argue.

Cypress snorted, and I sighed, trying to be as gentle as possibe when it came to explaining people like what we was dealing with.

“Not according to the political machine,” I said. “When it comes to people like Councilman Bashaw, all his little girl is, is a liability.”

Hex grunted in agreement and Alina’s eyes flickered from me to Cypress, to Hex and back to me.

“Okay, I understand the point,” she said. “But can we please not talk about her that way?” she asked and she looked hurt.

“No, cher. We ain’t judging her,” I promised her. “An’ we’ll keep the disrespect out of our mouths when it comes to her from now on,” I said as gently as I could.

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