Crossing my arms over my chest, I watched the chaos from behind, the same thought running through my head. Trent tugged on my elbow, pulling my attention from the uproar that had continued to escalate by the second, and gestured his head with a slight tilt back toward the locker room.
Without a word, I followed his lead, ducking into an empty administration office at the far end of the lounge. Silas was already waiting for us when we stepped inside, shutting the door behind us and effectively muffling the rage-filled chaos from the bar.
Trent dragged a hand down his face, tugging at his jaw before turning to face Silas with hands on his hips and a perplexed expression on his face.
“Alright, so let’s start with you telling us what wedon’tknow, Silas. Becausethatdid not just fucking happen. We didnotjust get involuntarily inducted into a secret society against our fucking will.”
“Believe it, Trent, because we did. Wealldid.” Silas gave a long-winded sigh; more denial than relief. “Here’s what I gathered from everything he said before you two showed up… We are the first in their expansion. You know those three revue shows in Vegas?” He paused to check that we were all on the same page before continuing. “Well, they’ve been running this organization for fucking decades—decades... However, it sounds as though they don’t murder simply for the fuck of it; there’s a clear-cut reasonfor every death, and the compensation Dustin was explaining right before you two showed up…” Silas blew a low whistle as he slid his hands into the front pockets of his wranglers. “I’m… not entirely opposed to this…”
A quiet moment passed over the three of us as we all processed, considered, and tested the idea.
“I guess… if I’m being honest—” Trent broke the silence first, his eyes wandering from the floor to the ceiling before connecting with mine. “I’m not either.”Un-fucking-believable.
“And so that’s just it?” I held my palms out, hoping that one of them would come out and tell me that this was all some fucking joke at my expense. “We’re all just going to go along with this? Killing for our paychecks?”
“While continuing to moonlight as Kerosene Cowboys? Yeah. We are.” Trent confirmed without a single hint of doubt in his tone. “Rhy, I know you’re already working to justify doing this, and I can already tell you that Silas and I are going to see it through. What could be better than being set for life while enjoying what we do?”
“What about our morals?”
“Fuck ‘em.” A short shrug was all he gave in cold-blooded answer. “With the kind of cash we’ll be rolling in, we don’t need a clear definition of right and wrong. And as long as what Silas said holds true—that our targets deserve their deaths, I don’t see any other reason to question the decision.”
What the fuck do you say to that?
How do you respond to something likethat? And I was struggling to justify his reasoning, butgoddamn. The word‘no’drifted further away from my vocabulary the longer we stood there.
Trent had been working for Kerosene since it opened around ten years ago, and Silas started a year before I did. Both were in their early thirties, and if they, of all people, were open to the idea of becoming contract killers, then who was I to be the odd one out?
“So we’re doing this?” At least at the end of the day, I wouldn’t be alone; none of us were. Seventeen dancers and I fucking hoped that every single one of us would still be here by the end of the last test.
“Oh, we’re fuckin’ doing this.” Trent laughed, bringing Silas and me in for a group hug.
These two had become my closest friends since the day I started working at Kerosene, so knowing we had each other’s backs was already a massive weight off my shoulders.
If we were going to cross a line of moral boundaries, we might as well do it together.
I did, however, wonder how the rest of the team was handling the news; their muffled shouts from the other side of the door had quieted to nothing, hopefully due to agreement and not resistance.
“I guess the only thing left now is to figure out a method of murder while I wait for my text.” Never in a million years did I think that those exact words would ever leave my mouth.
“You’re welcome to join Silas and me at the gun range for target practice. I’m more than familiar with a 9mm and willing to teach.”I considered Trent’s offer, a sly smile pulling at the corner of my lips as an idea suddenly popped into my head.
“Nah... I’ve got a better idea.”
Time to make my father proud.
Chapter 3
Rhylan
JUSTIFICATION.
It’s been five weeks since Dustin Slate stepped through the doors of Kerosene, and as far as I could tell, every single one of us was still standing—alive. Ten had completed their tests without issue, and now only seven remained, including me.
Even with the extended offer, I never joined Trent and Silas at the shooting range; still working through the moral implications that were holding me back from accepting the inevitable.
While I’m no stranger to pushing boundaries under normal circumstances—blurring lines since birth—this decision was life-altering. Any sane man would question where they acknowledged their limits when it came to committing the unthinkable.
Slowly but surely, I was starting to agree with the rest of the Cowboys; those who’ve taken their tests at least. Not one of them had batted an eye at completing their assigned task, and I wasbeginning to see the unity the rings were symbolizing, a brotherly bond that was unlike any of our relationships from before.
