Page 62 of Hell In A Handbasket
“We took out that whole fleet of dealers who drove up from Mexico,” Jay says anyway. “They thought they were safe in numbers, creating a convoy of pricks we didn’t like.”
“Pop.” Troy brings his arms up, mimicking the action of holding a rifle. “Pop.”
“Pop,” Jay snorts. “You’d think, after seeing a dude’s head blow straight off, I’d have nightmares or something.”
Fletch shakes his head. “You’d think.”
“I hardly sleep, though, and when I do, I’ve always got Soph wrapped up with me.” He shrugs. “I guess my brain focuses on the more important stuff.”
“Sleep?”
“A beautiful woman,” he laughs. “If you’re in bed with the right one, her skin is touching yours, and you’renotthinking about her…” He comes to a stop and frowns. “Then you ain’t paying enough attention. The fuck are they doing?”
“What?” I dart forward, only to skid to a stop when I see what he sees. I gulp and groan, because Jess and Soph crouch face-to-face, their hands webbed together, while Minka stands on their palms and scales the side of a fucking building. “Seriously? Of all of their options—they could put Soph or Jen and even Aubree on the fucking roof—they chose the one who will bleed to death if she falls?”
“Can’t do Jen,” Corey rumbles. “She’s already wounded.”
“Can’t do Christabelle,” Felix growls. “For obvious reasons.”
“And you trade Aubree just because she bleeds less,” Tim stalks forward to get a look at the circus ahead of us, “I’ll be forced to hurt you.”
“I’m gonna tell them the dare is off.” I cup my mouth and draw a long breath. “He?—”
“No.” Troy slaps my hands away. “A dare is a dare, and winning matters.”
“Winning doesn’t fucking matter when the payoff is a couple of broken legs and my wife in the hospital! This town is so small, they probably don’t even have a doctor on duty at nighttime.”
“They do.” Jay bites a chunk of his candy. “Soph already looked into it all, seeing as how she figured Chief Mayet would try to hurt her.”
“Pain in my ass,” I sigh. “Sophknewthis stunt would piss Minka off, but she did it anyway. Have you no control over your household, Bishop?”
Snorting, he gestures toward Minka, swinging onto the roof. “About as much as you, Detective. Remind me. Are you cool with the vigilante shit? Or do you fall in line, because you have no other choice?”
“Aww. Look, it’s Ava.” Spence shoves his phone in my face, a goofy grin wrinkling his lips. “Ain’t she the prettiest little girl you ever saw?”
“That your daughter?” Fletch softens, tilting his head to the side as he studies the baby’s pigtails. The cute dress. “I didn’t know you had a kid.”
“Not just any kid.” He brings the phone back and quickly types a text. “Thebestkid. She’s my whole fucking world, Detective. She and Abby are the reason we’re not going to prison. I’ll make sure of it.” He hits send and lowers the phone. “Stop stressing so much.”
“Minka’s gonna kill herself.” I scrub my hand through my hair and growl. Because she literally fucking runs along the rooftop like she thinks she’s Spiderman. “Dammit, Bishop. This is your fault.”
Jay points back at himself. “Mine?”
“No.” I hit Kane with a feral glare. “Yours. Because this whole fucking dare was Jess’ idea.”
“Well, hold up.” He points to Corey. “Playing truth or dare was Jen’s idea.”
“Don’t bring Jen into this. She’s already wounded.”
MINKA
Ilean over the edge of the rooftop and grab onto Soph’s hand, so when Jess and Jen boost her up, I pull on my end and help. “Jesus. You’re heavier than you look.” I dig my heels in and pull, and when she has one leg over the lip of the roof, I snag the waistband of her shorts and yank.
“Ouch! Shit.” She slaps my hands away and tugs her underwear out of her ass, contorting in all sorts of uncomfortable angles to clear the fabric from her crevices. “I didn’t need to taste denim today, Mayet. Fuck.” She pushes up straight and picks at the front of her shorts. “You did that on purpose.”
“So?” With our plan in mind, I move away from the roof’s edge and wander out of sight of the street.Gotta remain invisible in case a police cruiser rolls by. “You’re lucky that’s the worst I did to you.”
“But we’re friends again, right?” She jogs along the steel roof and hip bumps me just as soon as she catches up. “We don’t have to do the weird heart to heart shit, right? TheI love yous. TheI’m sorrys.”
