Page 42 of Bidding War

But I sit next to another beast, and he left a declaration hanging. So, I confirm, “I love her.”

He cheerfully nudges my thigh. “Love is a good thing, Anderson. It makes all the things we do worthy of doing them.”

“Is that how you justify your line of work?” I can’t take the sting of judgment out of my words. It’s there. And I don’t have it in me to care right now. He helped me tonight, but Moss was there on the second worst day of my life. He made me complicit in the murders of three people. I won’t forget that.

He takes a moment to respond. “I do what I do because I am good at what I do. It is why you called me.”

Not wrong at all on that score. “But the rest of it … the killing in my dad’s name. What makes that okay in your mind?”

He shrugs. “Some people need killing.”

I want to argue, but considering we’re hauling a corpse I made, I don’t have much of a leg to stand on. “Yes, some people do. But people who merely owe money? That seems like a flimsy reason.”

“You ask these things like your father is the first man to employ me. Is that what you think?”

I’ve never considered it. “I don’t know.”

“He is not. I have worked for others. Others who were … less scrupulous than your father. Men and women who wanted me to punish people for slights. Whether or not they were real slights, it did not matter to them, only that their enemies were punished. Brutally.” He pauses. “I became good at what I do. Word got around. Your father … he is not a good man. But he is better than some. I came to work for him because the people I hunt for him have done wrong by him. Yes, even just money. Money is a resource. Would you hit a man who stole your food?”

“Only if I were starving, and my father is certainly not starving.”

He shrugs again. “Resources are resources. But he has never sent me out for someone because he thought they insulted him. He has never sent me out to attack an innocent. It has been over ten years since I was sent out for no reason at all. I have your father to thank for this.”

He used to attack innocents? Fuck. I don’t want to think of that on top of what happened tonight.

“I know you love her because you would not have done this otherwise, Anderson. You are measured. Careful. You think before you act. This is why I come to help you tonight. If you were hotheaded, I would not have. He attacked her, did he not?”

Numbly, I nod. “Bastard had her by the throat. He was going to do worse to her.”

“I saw the bruise.” He looks like he wants to spit. “A man who attacks a woman that way, he is a coward. A weakling. If you have to force yourself on her, you never had her. A woman must give willingly.” His hands grip the steering wheel tighter. “If any man touches my daughters that way … ”

“I’d prefer not to try to imagine what you’d do, Moss.”

He huffs a bitter laugh. “You and I are of the same mind, I think. But once I got a hold of him, it would last for weeks if his heart was strong.”

And again, I am filled with the urge to never fall on his bad side.

The dock is on the outskirts of town and empty for now. It won’t be for long, though. Hobby fishers start early, even in this frigid weather. This isn’t a commercial dock, thankfully, or it would be swamped by now.

He parks, and we get out, each taking an end of our Green Sweater roll to carry it to his boat. It’s at the end of the dock, so by the time we get there, my muscles burn with fatigue. It has been a long fucking night, and dead weight really is somehow heavier than living weight.

We toss him over the side into the boat, then climb in. Within moments, Moss has us on the water, tooling out deeper. We’re both quiet, and I know why I am, but I’m not sure why he is. I’m wiped out from the night and thinking about the fact we’re about to dump a body I made. But Moss isn’t usually silent. It’s eerie.

When I make eye contact, I almost expect an attack from him. But he’s smiling. So, I ask, “What is it?”

“I did not need your help with the body.”

The words are jarring. Of course, he didn’t. He hoisted Green Sweater’s body over his shoulder like it was nothing back in June’s building. He knows how to dispose of a body. Why the fuck am I here instead of with her?

Is he going to kill me?

I look for any kind of weapon while not making any fast moves. “So, why am I here, Moss?”

“A test. To see how far gone you were when this happened.”

That might have been the last thing I expected to hear. I give up my search for a weapon to look him in the eyes. “Huh?”

He chuckles. “When I came, you let me take control. Let me handle things, let me tell you and her what to do. You both needed tasks. You were not ready to handle this on your own. You came with me willingly, even though you wished to stay at her side because you knew someone else knew more than you. It was to show you that you still have things to learn, and I still have things to teach you.” All mirth drains from his face. “So do not think to cut me off anytime soon, understand?”

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