Page 24 of Crow
Ripper climbed up on the bar, cupped his hands to his mouth. His shout of “Shut it!” echoed off the Tavern’s walls. I saw Jenny flinch, and my frown deepened.
“That brick came through the Tavern’s window when Jenny was setting up for her shift,” Tank said, nodding at the brick lying on the bar. “Scared her shitless. There was another note on it, a real warning this time.”
Jenny let out a small sob. Evelyn hushed her, guiding her away from the Rebels and up the stairs. Knowing Evelyn, it was to make her some tea.
“What did their note say this time?” Vegas asked quietly.
“‘We’re coming’,” Tank read darkly.
“This taunt is the final straw,” Claymore growled. “I’ve said from the very beginning we should take the fight to them. These bastards think we’re pussies, that they can get away with walking all over us, because we’ve been fucking letting them!”
“Mind your mouth, Claymore,” Tank warned. Claymore looked away, a muscle ticking in his jaw, but he didn’t say anything else.
“So what are we going to do, Tank?” Archer asked. His serious expression looked out of place on his usually cheerful face.
“We’re going to show them that they can’t walk all over us,” Tank said firmly. “We’re going to make them regret coming for the Rebels and wipe them out of Mascid for good.”
A cheer went up. Tank pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the safe he kept behind the bar, pulling out a couple of handguns.
“Vegas, get the van,” he instructed. “We’ll need it if anyone gets hurt. The rest of you, gear up and get on your bikes.”
Tank shoved the guns into the waistband of his jeans and went upstairs to say “See you later” to Evelyn. They had a thing about saying goodbye, thought it was bad luck. Like the rest of the Rebels, I took a gun from the safe, shoving it into my waistband and heading for the bikes.
It wasn’t long before Tank rejoined us, straddling his bike. He put his helmet on and looked at me.
“So, Crow, where’re we headed?”
Chapter Twelve
Jade
“You ready to talk about it yet?” Jess asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Hmm?” I asked around the cigarette I was holding between my lips as I struggled to get my lighter to catch.
“Why you’ve been actin’ so off lately,” she said, twisting the lid off a beer. “You haven’t snuck off to see your boy in a while, did ya have a fight?”
I inhaled sharply just as I got my lighter to work, and stumbled back, coughing around the lungful of smoke.
“Oop.” Jess darted forward to pat me on the back as I sputtered. Panic raced through me, and I scrambled for excuses that weren’t there.
“You knew?” I wheezed as soon as I had calmed down a little, and Jess snorted.
“’Course I knew,” she said. “I’m your best fuckin’ friend. Not to mention your excuse is Cameron needin’ to talk to ya, and Cameron had no fuckin’ clue what I was on about when I asked him. Just a tip?” She arched her brow at me. “Don’t go makin’ lies that people can easily check. We work at the same fuckin’ place, dipshit.”
“Right,” I muttered numbly. I took a drag on the cigarette to steady myself. Now that the smoke filling my lungs was deliberate, the burn was soothing.
“So I’ll ask again,” Jess said, leaning back against the counter and picking up her beer again. “You ready to talk about it?”
I stared at her. I wanted to talk about it, I had since it happened. I never used to keep things from Jess, and having to go through all of this without her had been torture. I quickly glanced around the kitchen to make sure we wouldn’t be overheard, and then I leaned in close to her. She straightened up slightly, looking eager.
“I think I messed up, Jess,” I told her quietly. “I think I messed up so fuckin’ bad. We were just friends, I swear, we were just hanging out, and then… fuck…” I hung my head low.
“And then?” she urged.
“I’m not sure what happened; I just…” I mumbled the end of the sentence. She leaned forward, frowning.
“What?”
