Page 119 of Five Mountain Daddies

“He said it. He told me heknew.”

It takes a second before that sinks in, and he groans. “Oh fucking fuck,” he sayssoftly.

“I’m sosorry.”

“Fuck,” he shouts. He slams his fist into the bed over and over. “Fuck. Fuck.Fuck.”

I come up behind him and hug him tight. Slowly he calms down and he holds me, both of us tremblingtogether.

“It could have been someone else,” he saysquietly.

“Nobody else was around,” I say. “It was at the very end of thenight.”

“He wasn’t sleeping,” Samuel says. “That fuckingbastard.”

“It was a trick the whole time. He must… he must be working forIngram.”

“I’m going to killhim.”

“No,” I say seriously. “You can’t.” I force him to look at me. “Youcan’t.”

“He betrayed us, all ofus.”

“He did,” I agree. “But you can’t kill him. We have to get this contract signed and finished, and then we’ll get rid of Ingram andRoy.”

He takes a sharp breath. I can tell he wants to fight more, but he slowly releases and slumps againstme.

I hug him tight. I don’t now how close he was with Roy, but I’m guessing he really trusted him. This must hurt bad, and it just makes me so fucking mad I can barely standit.

I’m going to finish this contract today, and I’m going to break these guys. I’m not going to let them win, not after all of this. Samuel’s been hurt too much, been put through toomuch.

He doesn’t deserve this. I won’t let himdown.

I kiss him softly and pull away, more determined thanever.

26

Samuel

Ifeel cold as I drive. I hate leaving Amelia right now, but I don’t think Ingram’s going to be back anytime soon, at least not today. His guys are hurt, and Ingram himself got it pretty good from Amelia’s knee to his fuckingnuts.

Ingram’s not the guy I want to hurt right now, though. I clench the steering wheel, mindspinning.

When the fuck did he betray us? I can’t imagine it was from the beginning. Maybe he thought this strike would never end, and so he took matters into his own hands. Maybe he needed money. I don’t understand why he didn’t come to me if he needed help with something, but hedidn’t.

He betrayed me, broke my fucking heart. That’s all I know. Roy is a fucking traitor and a scumbag, and I know I want himdead.

Except I don’t, not really. He’s still a friend, hell, something of a mentor. I used to look up to Roy in a lot of ways. Now that bastard broke me, but I can’t let him keep medown.

I pull up outside the house and kill the engine. I head up to the front door and knockloudly.

Vernon answers a little minute. “Samuel, hey,” he says. “What are you doinghere?”

“We gottatalk.”

He nods, frowning at my expression. “Sure. Come in. Sarah’s just back fromBoone’s.”

I follow Vernon into his place. Sarah’s in the kitchen, washing some dishes when we comein.

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