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Her panicked eyes whipped to mine. “We have to go.”
I took a step toward her. “What is it?”
“Trouble.”
“What?” Panic coursed through me as I thought about Sylvie.
Kate swiped a frustrated hand through the air. “No.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. But something’s going down at King Tattoo. It’s bad. Wyatt texted me that there’s a crowd—a fight or something.”
A frustrated growl tore through my throat as I turned and stomped toward the front of the bookstore.
“Wait!” Aunt Tootie called out, but I ignored her, and Kate hustled next to me, typing out a text on her phone while Lark shoved Kate’s coat into her arms and slipped on her own.
“What’s going on?” I didn’t need Kate to answer, because as soon as we exited Bluebird Books, shouts rang out from the direction of Royal’s tattoo shop. A small crowd had gathered in a semicircle—a sure sign of a fight as a tangle of bodies in the center pushed, shoved, and shouted in each other’s faces.
I recognized my little cousin Matty in the middle of the fray. He was being held back by Wyatt as he pointed and screamed something at Royal King, who looked like he was about to explode. Spit bubbled at the corner of Matty’s mouth as he spewed obscenities in Royal’s direction.
Adrenaline coursed through me as I shouldered my way through the growing crowd. Through the chaos, it looked as though a shoving match had broken out between Kings and Sullivans. While Matty screamed at Royal, Royal simply looked on, irate as he began rolling up his shirtsleeves, exposing the intricate designs of tattoos that covered him from his knuckles up.
Matty was a fucking idiot. Royal could lay him out flat with one punch if he wanted to, but he was young and a hothead.
“Hey!” My deep voice rumbled above the crowd. “The hell is going on?”
“Why don’t you ask your shithead family?” Royal tipped his chin in my cousin’s direction, which incited a fresh slew of colorful language from Matty.
I turned toward my idiot cousin. “Shut it.”
His nostrils flared, but his jaw clamped shut. The crowd pulsed behind us, disappointed to not see Matty and Royal tussle.
I held my arms out to my sides, palms up in hopes of proving to Royal I wasn’t looking to fight. “What’s going on?”
Anger rolled off Royal. “Matty and his friends thought it would be fucking hilarious to soap the storefront.”
I glanced over Royal’s shoulder, and sure enough someone had taken a bar of soap to the storefront window, obscuring the meticulous paint job.
I looked back to Royal and scoffed. “Come on. It’s a harmless prank. You can’t say we haven’t each done stupid shit.” I gestured toward Matty. “He was dumb enough to get caught. That’s on us.”
Royal pointed at my chest. “Get more creative, more stealthy, or grow the fuck up.”
I clenched my jaw as I stared at him, but nodded. He was right. The prank was pretty dumb and childish, and not all thatcreative—would definitely be a disappointment in Lee’s eyes, that was for damn sure.
Sensing the situation was defused, I turned my back to Royal, even though the crowd still egged their respective sides on, hoping for more of an argument. I stomped toward Matty, whose eyes were still wild.
I had put my hand against his chest to move him back a few steps when he sidestepped me, leaning down to pick something up off the planter box near the edge of the sidewalk. “How’s this for creative, asshole?”
Time slowed.
From the corner of my eye I didn’t register the brick in Matty’s hand until it was too late. I could only turn and stare as his arm reared back. The brick sailed in the air over Royal’s shoulder and nearly grazed his ear. He flinched and ducked before it had the chance to land squarely against his temple.
Instead, the brick crashed directly into the King Tattoo storefront window. Glass shattered. Screaming rang out.
“The fuck!” Fury coursed through Royal’s voice as he charged forward, tackling Matty.
Wyatt and I had moved to pull him off our idiot cousin when I heard a scream. “Oh my god!”
My heart stopped. I knew that voice, though I had never heard it laced with such panic.
Sylvie.
