AllFreeNovel
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I grit my teeth, but he’s holding all the cards right now. I just need to play along until I figure out a move of my own. “Fine.”
The warehouse is one of those places no one wants to get caught by the police. Shady shit happens in shady places—the kind of places dear Daddy Daniels has always liked best.
I hang up and send a text to Sloan.Go home without me. I’ll be there later. Have a meeting.
It’s basically the truth. Although, somehow, I don’t think she’s going to see it that way. Had she asked me, though, if Bobby Daniels is my father, I would’ve said yes.
But she didn’t ask.
That’s the fucking problem.
When I arrive, Bobby is alone.
He’s dressed in black like always, a little too thin, hair never quite combed but not quite a mess. He has the look of a man who’s been taking and giving shit all his life. His wrinkles are deep, his cigarette an orange glow hanging from his mouth.
He walks toward me like we’re going to do the father/son hug, but we aren’t. In all my years, we haven’t yet.
“How do you know Sloan?” I’m not fucking around here. I’ve come for my information and nothing else.
“We have business.” He smiles and my stomach rolls. Even the look of this fuck, and knowing I a product of his faulty fucking genetics, sickens me.
“What business?” My hands are clenched but they stay at my sides—for now. No promises on if they’ll remain there this whole time, though.
If I have to, I’ll kill him. He knows that as well as I do.
“The kind that’s none of yours, kid.” His voice is raspy as he breathes out a huff of smoke.
Great.He’s playing games. I should’ve known this was a fucking waste of time.
As I’m about to turn and head back to my car, he holds up his hand. “I’m glad you called, Beck.” Not “kid” or “shithead” or “asshole,” but “Beck.”
Which means he wants something.
I have to get out of here before he shows me how far he’s willing to go to get it.
“I’m not.” I shake my head, as disappointed in this meeting with him as I’ve been in every other in my entire life since I was old enough to know that he was a piece of shit.
“‘Fraid I can’t.” He shrugs. “You owe me, remember?”
“Son of a bitch.”
“I’ll tell your grandma you’re thinking of her.”
I roll my eyes. “She spawned you. So, y’know… if the shoe fits.”
He throws his cigarette on the dusty concrete floor and stomps it out with one heel. “Watch your tongue, boy. You owe me.”
“What do you want?”
“Quit with the woe-is-me voice, son. Don’t make it sound like I’m leading you out behind the barn to put two in your head. You ain’t pissed me off that bad. Not yet, at least.”
“There’s still time for someone to eat a bullet.” I crack my knuckles. “Spit it out or I’m out of here.”
He nods and lights up a fresh cigarette, then saunters toward me. I stiffen as he approaches, ready for anything, but he simplybrushes just close enough to bump my shoulder before he keeps on sauntering right to the door. He waves me after him. “Keep up, son. I like to walk ‘n’ talk.”
Sighing, I fall in step beside him as we step through the exit and out into the night. For a little while, as we circle around the huge parking lot, the only sound is gravel crunching underfoot. I don’t breathe a word. Let him break the ice.
When we’re a good distance away from the warehouse, he plucks his cigarette from his lips and looks over at me. “I need you to do some recon for me. Someone in the family isn’t loyal.”
