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I looked over to Renny, wanting to see if he came to the same conclusion as I did- he was being honest with us.
But he was stubbornly keeping his gaze away from me.
"What do you do, Laz?" Renny asked as I felt something akin to regret burrow into my belly.
Why? I wasn't sure. Because distance was what I thought I wanted. I had accomplished that goal by being a bitch. But being faced with the distance, yeah, I found I wasn't a fan.
"Why?" Lazarus surprised me by asking, snapping my attention back to him. So far, he had been nothing but forthcoming. Clamming up about his job seemed odd.
"Hands are covered in bruises and scabs," Renny said and I felt myself stiffen. I moved to the side slightly to look behind him at his hands to find he was right; Laz was covered in injuries in various stages of healing. Really, his observational skills were second to none. While everyone else was freaking out about his declaration earlier, Renny had been cataloging small, seemingly unimportant details about him.
Lazarus sighed, shaking his head. "Not a lot of employers will hire someone with my record."
"So you got inventive," Renny agreed. "Who do you work for?"
"Ross," he supplied, voice a little hollow.
"Ross Ward?" I asked, putting two and two together.
Ross Ward was a different kind of criminal. The genius of his business was that he literally employed three people- guards. And they worked on a contract business, not full-time. His overhead was low and therefore, he never had to worry about dissent in his ranks. He was smart, cold, calculated, and delivered something that no one else in the area did.
Ross Ward led an underground fighting ring.
"Guard or fighter?" Renny went on.
"Depends on the night," Laz said easily. "Someone bitches out or is too hurt to fight, one of us steps in. Either way, it's good money."
It would be very good money. While Ross took a huge cut for providing the venue and the audience to bet on such things, there was enough of a demand for it that even the fighters raked in the big bucks.
Renny gave him a nod and moved toward the stairs without saying a thing to me.
I looked at Laz who was smirking at me. "Lovers spat?" he asked, dark eyes seeming amused.
"He wishes," I countered, moving off toward the stairs as well.
"I bet he does," I heard Lazarus murmur before I was upstairs, going into the main room to listen to Renny interrupt the conversation going on there.
"We can let him go," he said with a shrug. "He works for Ross Ward. There's no way Ross would let him work with the mob and still work for him. She agrees with me," he added when eyes shifted to me as I moved in.
"I didn't say I..." I started to object, though I did agree with him. Ross Ward, as far as anyone was concerned, was the ultimate of careful. He was even picky about the associates of his fighters. He didn't take chances. He didn't get in bed with anyone because he knew that by choosing to stay neutral, that all the local bad guys could come to his little underground club and throw money around, which wouldn't be possible if, say, he picked to associate with the Russians and thereby pissed off the Italians.
"She agrees with me," he cut me off again, tone sharp. "Let him go before Ross gets pissed. We have more important things to focus on right now."
I felt my spine straighten; my shoulders pushed back.
Right then.
My head turned and I found Lo watching me, head tipped to the side slightly. I moved toward her, making my way toward the hall because I had some of my things stashed in the new addition room to the back that had been used mostly as a gym space for the kids. "I'm done here," I said under my breath as I passed, feeling my guts twist slightly and trying my best to ignore it.
I wasn't going to stay around to be silenced by Renny.
And I wasn't going to stay to learn any more ugly things about myself.
I was going to do what was best for myself.
I was going to leave.
The bonus room was a mess, as it usually was. Dolls and monster trucks and blocks and bikes and puzzles were everywhere. I hadn't spent a lot of time around kids until I walked into The Henchmen compound, but I learned quickly that trying to keep a play room neat was a pipe dream. As such, I kept my things on a bookshelf way above arm's reach even for Ferryn.
I reached up and pulled down my backpack that was filled with files and a change of clothes in case I had to crash at the compound. I had just gone down on my flat feet when I realized I wasn't alone.
