Page 57 of Devious Gambit

“Strange how?”

“Vague. I don’t know. Anyway, she’s booked in to see her crim daddy Friday next week.”

“Good. Now you’ve got to convince her to ask him for the location.”

There was nothing satisfying about what I was doing. In fact, the whole situation was leaving a bad taste in my mouth. “You owe me fucking big time for this,” I told him.

“I’ll shout you a cocktail in Maui.”

“A week’s worth of cocktails, dude.”

“Still fucking her?”

I raised my eyebrows.

“What are you complaining about then? Unless she’s a real bad fuck.”

“Nah, she’s a great fuck.”

As he buttered his toast, a ball of anger stewed in my stomach. I had to use every ounce of strength not to punch him in the face. He couldn’t give rat’s ass about Gallagher, but it pissed me off even more that I did care about Gallagher. That wasn’t the plan. I thought I could go into this jaunt faking my way through, without feeling anything for her. I thought she’d be an easy target, and a piece of cake to remain detached from. I couldn’t be more wrong. Damn that Gallagher and her poetry books and dreamy green eyes.

“Greene is a fucking mess,” Cody mumbled, just as Ridge walked in looking for some breakfast.

“He’s burning the midnight oil,” Ridge informed us. “Hardly ever sleeps, because he’s always fucking high. Turning into a maniac, ranting and raving.”

“For real?” I asked.

Ridge explained, “I heard him last night in the living room, off his fucking head. Going on about Sweeney in the bottom of the lake. Anyway, Josh is thinking about telling coach to stand him down for this weekend’s game.”

“Fuck, don’t tell coach he’s spun out on drugs, he might drug test all of us,” Cody warned.

“Someone needs to break his leg, so he’s not match fit,” I suggested.

Cody pondered on that idea for a few seconds and said, “Good idea, bro. That would solve two problems. It’ll get him out of the team for the rest of the season and maybe he’d stop harassing Gallagher. She’s already uptight, we don’t want her turning into a paranoid nutcase. You’ll get nothing out of her if she’s on her nerves and distrustful.”

“Who’s volunteering to break his leg?” I asked.

“It’ll be a team effort,” Cody stated, smugly.

“Can we break his face as well?” I suggested, eager to make it happen.

“What are you girls talking about?” Josh asked, swigging down an energy drink as he strode in.

“Breaking Greene’s leg and maybe his face,” Ridge told him.

“I’m in,” Josh offered. “He’s been psycho since Sweeney vanished.”

“Sweeney probably topped himself,” Ridge said, “’cos his sick as fuck daddy is dead.”

Cody pointed his thumb at me, “Accused Luxon’s ruca of killing him.”

“Gallagher’s not my ruca,” I corrected.

“The bookhugger virgin?” Josh clarified and cracked up laughing. “Yeah, right.”

Ridge rubbed his hands together, getting pumped. “When do we do it?”

“The captains decide,” I announced, pointing to Josh and Cody.

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