Page 131 of Wrench

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on, talk to me.¡±

I pressed my palms to my eyes, and said, ¡°Can¡­ we meet tonight? Please?¡±

¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll make something work for sure,¡± he said, and I appreciated the softness of

his voice. ¡°Actually, if you give me an hour I can meet up. We can¡¯t come to my place.

Does the park work again?¡±

¡°Yeah¡­¡± I muttered into the phone. ¡°Thank you.¡±

¡°You¡¯re scaring me, Samantha. Are you okay?¡±

¡°I don¡¯t know¡­¡±

¡°All right, well, I¡¯ll see you soon. Okay? Hang tight.¡±

I hung up the phone and drove directly to the park, not making a stop home to change

out of my scrubs. I wasn¡¯t ready to face my dad like this, bawling and shaking. The

playground was empty, but I locked my doors and sat in the parking lot, waiting for

Isaac¡¯s motorbike to drive in.

Chapter Seventeen

Wrench

Around seven, I was sitting with Ripper, having a beer after our club meeting in the

Tavern. Dark circles traced his eyes which stared straight into the distance when he said,

¡°When you think we¡¯ll strike?¡±

¡°When we need to,¡± I offered with a shrug. ¡°When Tank says so.¡±

Ripper narrowed his eyes, before rolling them and throwing his hands with defeat.

¡°Basically, wait until something bad happens?¡±

¡°Tank said¡ª¡±

¡°Bullshit. We should be getting reinforcement from our brothers in Hoppa! Why

aren¡¯t we calling the Knights? We need allies!¡±

¡°They¡¯re busy with their own problems.¡±

¡°What¡¯s the point of allies if they don¡¯t help with anything?¡±

¡°We don¡¯t need them.¡±

Ripper smashed his fist on the table, his beer sloshing over its rim. ¡°Then we still need

to strike first, without them.¡±

I bit the inside of my cheek, unable to admit that I agreed with him. We were wasting

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