Page 65 of Effortless

He did end up helping the guy up. Another one of the guys working to help load up the smuggled guns starting tossing a salt and gravel mixture over the ground. It would help a little bit, but not a whole lot.

“Shit, can we get out of this cold for five minutes?”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Tom agreed.

The group headed inside the warehouse, and Tom pulled down the bay door. It effectively closed the cold outdoors off, and left them inside the heated warehouse. Up above their heads, the heaters turned on full blast.

“Warm up for a bit,” Tom told the guys, “and then we’ll finish up, okay?”

“Sounds good.”

“Sure, Tom.”

He waved two fingers over his shoulder, and headed for the back of the warehouse. He knew exactly where he would find Cross, and he wasn’t wrong.

At a metal table, Cross had a map spread out. The guy was meticulous on the details when it came to his gun runs. Every single thing was planned out to the finest of details. He planned for anything, and everything.

When something went wrong, Cross had three backups on hand to fix it. Tom respected that, and frankly, he had learned a lot from his friend’s ways when it came to gunrunning. It was just too bad he would likely never get to put it to use.

Cross glanced up from his work as Tom approached. “Still not up for going with me on this run?”

“After that mess last week, you should know I really can’t leave my crew for too long.”

“It’d only be a week, maybe. I’m sure you’ve got someone to handle them for that long.”

He did.

Lou. Adriano.

Plus, Tom could delegate tasks. The guys on the crew would be kept busy, and then they wouldn’t have even a second to find themselves in shit. Still, he heard his father in the back of his mind warning him, and drawing clear lines in the sand.

Gunrunning was one of those lines.

“Not this time,” Tom said.

Cross nodded at the guys near the front of the warehouse. “Thanks for helping them, anyway. An extra pair of hands is always needed.”

“It was good—like old times. You know, back when we first learned how to do some of this shit with Theo.”

“You think? It’s definitely not my favorite part of the job.”

“Hey, you’re the bigwig gunrunner now, Cross. You don’t have to worry about dismantling weapons or packing up guns. You get all the money and glory while they do the grunt work.”

Cross cocked a brow. “And put my ass on the line every time I make a run, Tom.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m fucking with you.” Tom shoved his hands in his pockets, finally feeling warm enough to maybe open the bay doors and finish packing in the last few cases of guns. “Besides, I’m starting to realize I needed something like this.”

Cross’s attention was already back down on the map. “What’s that?”

“Just … being around people I actually like, and don’t want to kill.”

A laugh echoed from his friend. “Yeah, that makes all the difference when you’re working, doesn’t it?”

“Makes it less of a chore.”

And all his crew felt like was one big, useless fucking chore added to his daily life.

Tom didn’t admit it out loud, though.