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Luke’s gaze raked over Aldon lying there so pathetically. Both of his eyes swelling shut. Crooked nose gushing blood onto a busted lip. He was a pitiful mess. Possibly an innocent one.
But did Luke feel remorse for what he’d done?
The scary answer to that question was not entirely.
Not entirely because this man was no angel. Aldonhadbeen harassing Andy at work. Hehadput his touchy-feely hands on her. Hehadtalked shit about her and gone after the job that should have been hers.
So, no, Luke didn’t feel a whole lot of remorse for what he’d done.
But he did hate being anything like the bully his father had been.
And he hated this motherfucker for making him feel that way.
Kneeling down, Luke cocked his head so Aldon could see him through the puffy slits of his eyelids. “You don’t go anywhere near Andy or Kory again.” Aldon nodded, another moan escaping. “If you do,” Luke continued with a growl, “I really will bury you in the Pacific. We clear?”
“C-clear.”
Luke rose and turned to Gray. “We done here or you want to search the place?”
“Nah,” he said, snatching up the crumbled invoice. “Let’s g—”
The front door opened, and they turned to see three men file into the entryway. Three men who appeared equally dangerous. Probably more so.
“Aw, sh-shit,” Aldon groaned, clearly recognizing them.
Heavily inked and lethally muscled, the most commanding of the group wore a vest like his buddies only with far more patches. A toothpick bobbed at the corner of his mouth, and something like amusement flickered in his black eyes as he took in Aldon’s crumpled form in the shipping box. “It would appear our friend is about to be Flat Stanley-ed somewhere.”
The guys flanking him — one with a buzz cut, the other sporting a grizzly black ZZ Top beard — laughed at this.
“My kid digs those books,” Buzz Cut said.
ZZ Top snorted. “Probably the only books you ever read, Bob-o.”
“True dat.”
Toothpick Guy ignored them, gaze sliding from Dylan to Luke to Gray before he gestured to Aldon. “This man owes you money too? I was unaware he had other outstanding debts.”
“Nah. We thought he might have taken something from us,” Dylan said. “Guess we were wrong. We were just heading out.”
Toothpick Guy shifted the pick to the other side of his mouth as he scanned Aldon’s injuries. “Must have been something valuable.”
“It was.”
The man’s searching gaze slid to Luke, then dropped to his bloodied knuckles. “Ah. Very valuable indeed. Tell me, what was this thing you thought Aldon had taken from you?”
His faint Spanish accent made Aldon’s name sound more likeAll-done.Or maybe the guy was just being macabre.
“A necklace,” Gray told him. “It belonged to my girlfriend.”
Toothpick nodded at this, but his eyes remained fixed on Luke. “What else?” he pressed, clearly sensing there was more. “Perhaps we will find what you are missing while we are searching for our money.”
Luke shook his head. “It was a bird. We thought he might have killed my girl’s bird.”
The toothpick stopped moving as the man shot Aldon a dark look. “You killed un pajarito?”
ZZ Top shook his head in disgust. “Man, what’s wrong with you?”
“No,” Aldon groaned. “D-didn’t do it. I swear.”
