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ChapterTwelve
NYX
Onyx
“So you thinkRojascould be the real culprit behind this?” Blue asked from the other side of the pool table, no trace of amusement in his face. After Tati left her mother’s house, we’d taken off too, with me trailing him so we could talk about what Teo and I had found.
Now we were at the clubhouse; a meeting place that worked out well for me, since once this was done, I could find an empty bedroom here and pass out. I really hadn’t had time to fully process my run-in with Alicia yet and couldn’t say with any confidence that I truly understood her angle.
There were too many possibilities in the air for me to sleep anywhere with nobody watching my back.
To answer Blue’s question, I shook my head. “Nah, I don’t want to have you looking at theRenegadossideways without cause, so we’ll get more information before we make that kind of assessment. I’m just saying… it’s possible.”
“Heard you,” he said, frowning when his phone started ringing. He gestured for me to give him a second as he slid the device from his pocket.
Once he’d looked at the screen, that frown softened as he answered. “Tati, you know it’s way past your old lady bedtime,” he joked with her like he usually did. But then, suddenly his expression shifted to one of profound concern. “Tati, what’s wrong?” he asked, straightening from the slouched position he’d been in and dropping his stick on the table. “Talk to me. Stop playing.”
I glanced at Teo, then Ozzy across the room in front of the TV, wondering if they might know what was going on. Both shrugged, so my eyes went back to Blue, watching his face go through a lot of changes.
“You’re serious?” As he listened to whatever was being relayed, he scrubbed a hand over his chin before his expression landed on something I could only describe as homicidal. “I’m coming,” he said, and then pulled the phone away from his ear for a moment like he was putting it in his pocket before pulling it back to his ear. “Do you need me to stay on the phone?” he asked. “You sure? You’resure? Okay. I’ll be right there.”
His arms dropped to his sides after the call had presumably ended, and he just stood there for a moment, eyes closed, fists clenched.
Only for a moment, though.
“We gotta go,” he said, pointing to me even though he was already halfway across the room, and I was already right behind him.
“What’s going on?” I asked but didn’t get an answer for that.
“Ozzy, spread the word, we’re on lockdown. I need everybody accounted for, including the OGs—you understand?”
“Yessir,” he nodded, already putting his bottle down and grabbing the remote.
“Teo, find Ghost for me. I need him on high alert, and get Retta up too, in case we need the armory,” Blue said, doling out more instructions. “And uh… Keira. Call her and tell her to meet me at Tati’s in an hour. You got that?”
“Consider it done,” Teo assured, and then Blue looked at me.
“Let’s go.”
Instead of his car, which he’d used earlier because he was chauffeuring his mom around, he went straight for his bike—it would be faster. I hopped on mine and followed him, paying no mind to the pouring rain as we traveled the now-familiar path to Tati’s house.
What the fuck was going on?
It had to be serious for Blue to institute a lockdown, mobilizing weapons and shit. My first thought was my worst thought –Predatorsvs the formerGarden– and ifthatwas it…
Shit.
My allegiance would fall with thePredatorsuntil there was no one left to backup. I didn’t even have to think about it very hard. But… there was really no question of who would win that mashup; thePredatorshad numbers and brute force, butRosesandThornswere bred killers, who you wouldn’t know were coming until they’d already had a knife to your throat.
But there was no reason – nogoodreason – for a clash like that to ever happen.
At least none that I could think of.
As far as I could tell, Alicia and her orphaned soldiers had been in Vegas for years; thePredatorshad been here longer. Throughout that time, they’d peacefully coexisted.
The only apparent change was my presence.
But we were approaching the last turn onto Tati’s street, so I’d have to think through those implications another time.Nowwas the time to figure out what the fuck was going on.
