“I’m okay,” I whispered.
“No, you’re not.”
I wanted to argue.I didn’t have the energy.
The back door opened before anyone even reached it.
Tempi stepped outside first, Britta right behind her.Both of them took one look at us and stopped.
Tempi’s eyes went to Twister.Britta’s went to Swift.
Whatever they saw on their faces was enough to wipe every question away for half a second.
Then Tempi moved.She came down the steps toward Twister.“What happened?”
Twister didn’t answer right away.That scared me more than yelling would have.
Swift slid an arm around Britta before she could ask anything.His face was blank, but his jaw was tight enough to crack stone.
Hodge stalked past everyone and into the clubhouse without a word.
Magnum stayed by the alley entrance, scanning the street behind us like the shooter might have somehow followed.
Wheels kept one arm around me and guided me toward the door.
Tempi looked at me, then her face changed.“Oh, Goldie,” she whispered.
I shook my head, not because I didn’t want comfort, but because if she hugged me, I might fall apart.I couldn’t fall apart yet.
We stepped inside the clubhouse, and the familiar noise hit wrong.
Gramps was at the bar with a cup of coffee.Nugget was near the pool table.Plug and Cord were by the front windows.Podge sat at the table with his laptop open.Rev stood near the office door with a stack of papers in his hands.
Everyone looked up.Everyone knew before anyone said it.
The room went quiet.
Twister shut the back door behind us.“Gene’s dead,” he said.
No one moved.
Podge’s face went pale.“What?”
“Sniper,” Swift said, his voice clipped.“One shot through the front window.”
“Jesus,” Plug muttered.
Nugget’s mouth opened, then closed again.For once, he didn’t have anything stupid to say.
Podge slowly pushed back from the laptop.“But he talked?”
Twister walked to the table and rested both hands on the back of a chair.“Some.”
Rev set the papers down.“How much?”
“Not enough.”
I stood beside Wheels while the conversation moved around me.
