Page 8 of Monsters in the Dark

“Whatcha got over there?” Porgy asked as he eyed me pouring the tequila.

“Cheating boyfriend, and the guy with the whiskey has a teething baby at home,” I told him. “What do you have?”

“The guy in the blue tie didn’t get a promotion, and the woman in the white shirt hates her boss enough to want to set the man’s home on fire,” he replied.

Now, while not everyone at Miller’s did this, Porgy and I shared the stories of our customers for safety reasons. If our patrons were here for your everyday variety bullshit, then that was okay. However, if someone was here for something deeper, then this was our way of being on guard. Emotions were a funny thing, and it only took a second for a fight to break out in a place like this.

After taking the women their wine and tequila, we toasted to the ex and his future journey with herpes, and then the place started getting packed enough that Porgy and I were both grateful when Leah showed up for her shift. Though the pay was good, the people were entertaining, and I was good at what I did, my breaks and lunch were still welcomed pauses to my work night.

It was also my Monday.

Chapter 5

Declan~

As soon as I walked into Lir, Desmond was waiting for me, which had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up almost immediately. If I had to describe my brothers, James was the quiet one, Desmond was the clown, Kevin was the smart one, Cathal was the violent one, and since I was the oldest, I was all that blended into one person. At any rate, with Desmond being the jackhole of the family, he was usually already in his cup when we had poker night.

“What’s up?” I asked as soon as I was close enough.

“Kenneth Swanson isn’t returning my calls,” he informed me, making me have to crack my neck as we made our way to the back of the bar. “He never not picks up.”

“Did something happen to him?”

Desmond shook his head. “Nope,” he answered, popping the ‘p’. “Rumor has it that he can’t pay, so his plan is to avoid us entirely.”

I stopped, then looked over at my brother. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s his plan?”

“Noah thinks that he might be trying to make a break for it,” he said. “He might already be heading out of town as we speak.”

My feet started moving again. “Do we have anyone on his house yet?”

Desmond nodded. “We have Harland doing periodical checks, but no one sitting on it around the clock.”

When I pushed the door open to the backroom, I asked, “What about his job?”

“Same thing,” he answered.

“There’s the man,” Aran greeted. “Ready to part with your coins, old man?”

I flipped him off, and he just laughed as all the guys were already taking their places at the table. For whatever reason, we always sat with the relations at every other seat with an O’Brien, then a Murphy, then another O’Brien, then a Murphy, and then so on. Our dealer was also a man, so that no one got distracted by anyone’s impressive chest. It was one thing for the servers to have their tits hanging out, but we didn’t play for pocket change at this game, so our dealer needed to be here for the game and nothing more. Plus, I’d rather kill a male dealer with loose lips than a woman.

Instead of taking his seat like the rest of them, Noah had already been making his way towards me when I had walked in the room, and he got right down to business. “He owes a hundred.”

It was moments like this one that a gifted hacker on the payroll would be beneficial. Now, while Kevin was smart as fuck and a wiz on computers, he didn’t have the hacking skills that could get us what we needed and stay out of prison. There was no way for him to be able to look into Kenneth Swanson’s bank accounts without alerting someone.

“Where did you guys hear that he doesn’t plan on paying?” I asked, because you really did have to consider the source when dealing with rumors.

“Lonnie Parker,” Desmond answered. “He said that Kenneth was playing at the tables last week, and when Lonnie remarked about his losses, Kenneth said that he had a plan to win it all back, and if he couldn’t, then all he had to do was avoid us until he figured it out.”

“That’s not the same as not paying us at all,” I pointed out.

“When Lonnie finally cut him off, that’s when Kenneth got testy and told Lonnie to go fuck himself, and that he didn’t have to pay us shit because we were the criminals, not him,” Desmond continued.

“Certain people’s level o’ stupidity really is astoundin’ a’ times,” Noah remarked dryly.

“Well, we’re not going to let him run off with our fucking money,” I said, trusting the source as much as I’d trust anyone that wasn’t family.

Lonnie Parker ran an underground casino, and the man didn’t fuck around when it came to his little enterprise. A three-time felon, working a cushy office job was not in the cards for him, even if those felonies had taken place in his early twenties, nearly thirty years ago. Society only gave second chances to those that they wanted to, and not everyone was afforded that same grace.

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