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My two nerds chuckle and high five each other. Neil winces and cradles his broken hand as he gives his boyfriend a kiss. “Nice, Keys.”
Kendrick spares a glance at them before turning his gaze back to Ramsey, who is still in full meltdown mode. “What did you do, anyway?”
“Let’s just say Bunny’s even more loaded now.”
“Huh?” I look at Keys, who hands me the phone he’s carrying. It’s not our usual brand of burner, so it must have belonged to a dead Viper. I check out the screen and burst into laughter.
The Viper’s banking app is open … to an empty account.
With Samson Ramsey’s name as the account holder.
Keys steps forward—between me and the guns—and stands with his hands behind his back. “Your move, Samson. Now that you’re broke, how are you gonna take us down? Think your ‘loyal’ men will still stand with you now that you have nothing?” He nods at the closest Vipers. “By the way, guys, I can totally pay you what he was and then some. Bunny has plenty to share, and unlike Samson here, we don’t kill our own.”
Did Keys just offer to turn me into a Mafiosa? Sweet. I can definitely play this game.
“It’s up to you guys,” I say, standing next to Keys and smiling at Ramsey. “I mean, if you still wanna stay loyal, that’s totally cool with me. I’ll just clean house right here and now. So, y’know, everyone who’s still with Ramsey take a step forward, or something.”
No one steps forward.
I suck in a sharp breath and shake my head. “Ooh, sorry, man. Looks like you’re out.”
“You can’t fucking touch me!” A blood vessel in Ramsey’s eye bursts as he screams at us. “I am the Cobra! I’ll get it all back, and then you’ll have to answer to me.”
This is boring. I yawn and turn my back on Ramsey. “First one to shoot him get an extra hundred thou.”
From the number of gunshots that follow, I reckon Doc will have to run forensics to find the winner. Oh, well. At least none of them are shooting at me anymore.
Chapter 35
Neil
Bunny falls into the role of mafia queen like it was made for her. Once Ramsey is dead, she orders his men to clear out the penthouse and wipe it clean of all the evidence. Then, like it’s nothing at all, she talks Keys through purchasing another apartment building in town right out from under its rich inhabitants. A few anonymous phone calls later, she’s got a new Burrow, courtesy of the former residents of the apartments.
Bunny’s a smart girl. All the people she kicked out either had ties to Ramsey or had their own dirty laundry they didn’t want hung out to dry. Turns out Keys’ flash drive held more than banking information; it had a decade of dirt on it, and Bunny knew how to use that dirt to clean up.
Some of the stuff Kendrick was privy to, from his shakedown days. Some information, though, was new to even him. I sense a newfound respect for Keys from him, like he never realized before how influential Keys was to Bunny’s success. The majority of the data on the drive had been compiled by Keys from dark web searches he’d done while bored at the Burrow. Some of it was hard evidence collected by Kendrick, photos and the like, but most of it came from good, old-fashioned cyber-attacks and hacking.
I beam with pride as we set up our new penthouse in the new Burrow. My guy did this for us. It’s still a little weird to think that I have a “guy,” but I find that I like it.
“Hey, Neil, can you hand me that box of stuff from the old Burrow?” Kendrick holds out his hands, and I heft the thing into his arms.
“Geez, what’s in it?” I ask, panting from the effort.
Kendrick has no such problems with lifting it. He tosses it onto the bed and starts digging through the box. “Mementos. Bunny’s original suit, photos of us from before Instagram was big, news clippings of the Hare … Y’know, stuff.”
I pull out an old, bent photograph and marvel at how much Bunny has changed in ten years. Young Bunny is a skinny thing, barely any meat on her, with dark hair and eyes. I know her eyes aren’t really pink, and I know that’s not her real hair color, but I’ve never known Bunny as anything other than what she is now: perfection.
“Wow. Like a Burrow time capsule, huh?”
“I guess you could call it that. Bunny doesn’t like looking back on the past much, but I always treasured this stuff.” He chuckles. “God, I was a goof, wasn’t I? Look at that afro!”
For a second I had thought it was an old photo of Doc, but sure enough, Kendrick once had a full head of tight curls. I laugh along with him as we pull out more mementos. Bunny had started her time as the Hare with a legitimate, official Playboy Bunny outfit, complete with fluffy tail. That tail now has old, brown bloodstains on it, and Kendrick won’t tell me if it’s hers or someone else’s blood. I’m not sure I want to know, really.
Bunny walks in as we’re reminiscing, and she sidles up to Kendrick and me with a grin. “Aw, c’mon guys! Enough of this. This is all old stuff.” She smacks my ass. “We need to make new memories, with Neil here.”
At first I’m not sure what she means, until Kendrick shoves the box on the floor when Doc and Keys come in. He waves Doc over and starts kissing him while Keys slides behind me and grinds his hips against mine. He’s already hard, and when Bunny takes my hand and brings it to her crotch, I feel how ready she is, too.
I wouldn’t have thought a few weeks ago that I’d ever be in this situation: surrounded by hot men and a hot woman, all ready and waiting for me. Now, though, it’s almost commonplace. Not enough to diminish the novelty, the specialness of it, but enough that I’m not terrified anymore.
