“Yes, Gavin.”
A pause. “Yeah.”
“That’s it? Yeah?”
“Yeah, Linwood. I’ve handled bigger guys in worse situations.” He shifts. “Don’t worry about my end.”
“I’m not worried aboutyourend.”
“Then what?”
I tighten my hands on the wheel. “I just —”
“Linwood.” He turns his head now, finally, and looks at me from the passenger seat. “I’ll handle him.”
I keep my eyes on the road. We don’t talk again until I’m pulling up at Hawthorne House. He puts his hand on the door handle and stops.
“Linwood.”
I look over at his stupid grin.
“Thanks for the interesting night.”
“Get out of my car.”
He grins wider and steps out. He shuts the door, hands in his pockets, and walks up the path toward his house. Three steps from the porch, he stops. He turns his head and looks back at me. I don’t know what to do or why I’m watching him, so I put my car in drive and drive three doors down to my garage. I parkinside and close the door behind me. Then I sit in the dark with my hands still on the wheel.
I haven’t done a lot of stupid or reckless things in my twenty-one years.
Tonight, I broke my streak.
Chapter 11
Stanley
Behind me, I hear her pull away, the engine fading off down the street toward her garage, three doors down, gone. I stand on the porch for a second in the cold with my hand on the door.
Costume on, eleven.
I open it.
Benson’s already home. He’s at the kitchen table with a glass of water. Blue’s on the couch, looking at his phone. Percy’s leaning in the doorway to the hall with his arms crossed, because Percy doesn’t run ambushes. He only attends them. Rowan’s walks out of the kitchen and stops when he sees me. And Gavin walks out of the kitchen with a beer in his hand. When he sees me, he grins.
Five sets of eyes hit me at once.
I take my jacket off and hang it on the hook by the door. I take my time with it because my mind needs a second to load.
Five grown men sitting up in a dark house at one in the morning to ambush me is a brand new thing in my book. I hope that it’s a five-star experience. I’ve walked into a thousandrooms like this in my life and won every one of them. The only difference tonight is that I’ve got a story to sell.
I turn around and grin. Wide. They all know this face. I spread my arms.
“Gentlemen. Why are we awake?”
Gavin Carroll goes first because Gavin has missed my 2.0 personality these past few years, and he doesn’t know who I’ve grown into or what he’s dealing with.
“Brother.” He leans on the wall. “We need to talk about Linwood.”
The house stills. Benson stares at me.
