Page 1 of Crooked Crows (Boys of Briar Hall 1)

Randy’s bodyhadn’t begun to smell yet, and judging by the still-tacky smears of blood around the carving on his chest, I’d say he’d only been dead an hour. Maybe less.

“You idiot,”I seethed, glaring at his prone form as I drew my blade, giving a short, sharp whistle to alert the others that we may not be alone.

Rook and Grey’s quiet footfalls sounded behind me as they jogged down the alley, slowing to a walk as they approached.

Rook cursed, rocking back on his heels when he saw the body half-laying, half-sitting against the side of a rusted green dumpster. He scrubbed a wide palm over his jaw. “The tip was legit.”

No shit.

A chick from the after-hours stocking crew at the Valley-Mart was the one who tipped off the Saints about the body. Damn near the whole town knew better than to call the cops first, and the ones who didn’t...they’d learn.

If there’s blood in the streets, you don’t want the useless rent-a-cops from Thorn Valley PD on the case. They don’t care about you. They won’t protect you. The Saints will.

I knelt to drag my red-stained fingertips over Randy’s eyelids and bowed my head. Grey crouched next to me, reaching two digits to the hollow beneath Randy’s chin, feeling for a pulse. As if someone this pale, thisstillcould possibly be living.

His hand dropped not two seconds later, his head with it.

“I’ll call it in,” Grey said, dutifully drawing out his phone and rising from his crouch.

“Stay close,” I growled when he moved to walk away.

“He was supposed to be made a full member at the next meeting,” Rook mused aloud, biting on his lip ring. A habit he knew annoyed the absolute fuck out of me.

I stood, pushing off from my knees. “Not anymore.” I held out a hand for the bag slung over Rook’s shoulder. “Give me the tarp. Let’s get this shit over with. I need a fucking shower.”

Rook tossed me the bag, and I pulled out the folded blue square, wincing when the sound of it crinkling echoed back to us from the tall brick walls of the alley. The whole place smelled like trash, but there was an undercurrent of something out of place, too. Cologne. Or just some really terrible aftershave. Like a pinecone got ass fucked by a lime. My nose wrinkled at the reek of it.

“Keep an eye out.”

Rook nodded, drawing his blade and hissing at Grey to get off the damned phone and help me.

“The carving,” Grey stated as he ended the call, helping me lay out the tarp to roll the poor bastard’s body onto it. “It was the Aces?”

The letter ‘A’ brutally carved into the pale flesh of Randy’s chest would make anyone think so, but I wasn’t convinced.

“We haven’t had beef with the Iron Aces in months,” I hissed. “There’s no reason for this. Doesn’t make sense.”

“But the carving—”

“I knowwhat it looks like, Winters.”

At that, both of my brothers fell silent, and we wrapped Randy’s body tightly in the tarp, binding him like a fucking sausage with half a roll of duct tape.

He was only twenty-four. Didn’t have a family. No kids. Not even a girlfriend. Without any of those things, Randy would be given a whiskey-fueled farewell by the Thorn Valley Saints and then sent to a watery grave. It was the best many of us could hope for.

“Diesel’s orders are to bring him to the Crow’s Nest for now. Said he’d deal with it later,” Grey told me as we finished, and I stuffed the rest of the duct tape back into the bag and tossed it to Rook.

When I didn’t reply, still trying to work through the puzzle that was Randy’s mangled corpse, Rook stepped to my side. “Want me to bring the Rover ’round?”

I nodded, jerking my chin for Grey to follow. “Go with him.”

At least it was a cool night for early October in Northern Cali. Hopefully, his corpse wouldn’t stink up the Rover too much before Diesel sent the cleaners to deal with it. Nothing worse than the smell of dead guy in the morning.

They turned to leave, but the roar of an engine coming to a stuttering, screeching stop at the mouth of the alley had me throwing an arm out to shield them, gun drawn, finger resting next to the trigger.

The sleek black sedan hadn’t even come to a full stop before a body jumped out of the backseat.

I took aim.

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