Page 60 of Zeus

"Let's get what we came for and hit that other cabin. Besides," Zayne says, taking a step back to ease the tension between the two of them. "You got other shit to do, right?"

Scott's throat works on a swallow, and it seems like a millennium passes before he dips his head in agreement.

I know better than to feel completely relieved, but my pulse slows as we gather the loot we came to get. Zayne works on tying the men up, never dropping the repulsed look from his face. The men give him complete compliance, knowing what they could be facing if they fight or argue with him.

I can tell by how loose the restraints are that he's well aware they can be pulled off with minimal effort once we're gone. I also know that, given what they've been up to here, there's very little chance these men will even call the cops to report the burglary, knowing that if they report us and we're caught, their actions could be called to light. That's how victims who don't report crimes against them are made.

I push back the nearly debilitating sadness, knowing there was a time in my life that I might've acted the same way. My biggest fear growing up was my parents discovering what I was doing, and I would've put up with God only knows what to keep from being discovered.

Scott turns back to the men, a rifle case slung over his shoulder, right before exiting the cabin.

"Don’t let me catch the two of you on my mountain again," he warns before walking outside.

I gather the rest of their gear, not bothering to look back because these two men aren't a threat to me. The real threat is headed to the car, and I'd be a fool to take my eyes off of him before we're clear of this place.

The second cabin is thankfully empty of people, but we make a decent enough score on their gear that I let myself believe Scott has given up on the idea of verifying he's a real man by assaulting a couple of gay guys to prove it.

"Bobby is going to be really happy with this," Scott says, an excited giddiness in his tone as he drops the stolen gear into the trunk before pulling his phone from his pocket. "But we still have time to go back and take care of those other guys."

"I have no doubt they've already made contact with the police," Zayne mutters. "Plus, I'm fucking exhausted."

As if controlled by words, Scott opens his mouth to yawn, his arms lifting over his head, stretching with a grunt that just rubs me the wrong way.

I'm pulled from my consideration of how easy it would be to hide a fucking body in the woods when he speaks again.

"Yeah," Scott agrees. "Jail isn't on my agenda tonight."

He closes the car's trunk before heading back to the driver's seat.

"Bobby is going to be really excited about that AR-15 we just scored," he says.

I climb into the back seat, my ass hitting the stained cloth as he drops in behind the wheel.

"You don't think he'll be mad we went off script?"

"Naw," Scott says, shaking his head as he cranks the car. "Like I was saying earlier, the guns are great, but that's not where we make the most money."

Instead of questioning or even engaging, I sit back and watch the trees roll by as we make our way off the mountain, taking the same path we took on the way up here because one of the most frustrating things about Tennessee roads is that there's usually only one way in and one way out of any given location.

He doesn't slow down as we drive past the first cabin we hit tonight, and I do my best to keep my breath of relief from being heard as we turn left off that road and continue toward town.

"The most money we make is with the women and girls," he continues. Riding the high of breaking the law is clearly making him less worried about giving us too much information, but that's how criminals' minds work. When you do something illegal with someone, they see you as part of a brotherhood, and then the chance of secrets between you and them is lessened. It's no different fighting in a war alongside other Marines. Even thinking of the similarities between myself as a soldier and these degenerates makes my skin crawl.

"We could go back and grab those guys," Scott offers, making me snap my eyes in his direction. "But our clients aren't really into watching two guys fuck, and Bobby said last week that the demand for snuff films is on the decline."

He reveals the group's involvement in murder for entertainment, just as he would if he were explaining why the price of cheese on burgers at The Garage has gone up.

"Yeah," Zayne says, his eyes focused on the passenger side window. "I'm not really into wasting time and resources on shit that doesn't further our cause."

Chapter 23

Zayne

The ride back to The Garage seemed to go on forever.

I have a million things to say to Zeus, but words aren't something we have the privilege of knowing the truck is bugged.

If anyone is listening or monitoring what we say in the vehicle, they may find it strange that neither of us says a word on the way back to that shitty little house we're calling home right now. But I just don't have the energy after what happened tonight to make small talk, even if it means making whoever's listening suspicious.