Page 20 of Brick

No, the best way to do this would be to make this as diplomatic as possible. I'll need to sit down with them and talk this shit out. If they do know where Wendy is, I'm hoping that we can work out a solution where they'll tell us where she is without too much more to it than that. I'm doing a lot of hopeful wishing right now. That's not usually the case when it comes to this type of thing.

"We can't do it tonight. This is going to be tricky. I know these guys. If they even think we are trying to offend them or something like that, they won't hesitate to try and hurt any of us." I watch as Luna's face gets harder and harder. She's about to blow a fucking gasket.

"Tell me you don't really think I give a damn about offending anyone."

"You should. These aren't the type of people that you play around with. If it was just some random asshole breaking into your place, it might be different, but this is a whole gang. We don't know what's really going on here, unless, of course, there's something more that you have to tell us."

She shakes her head again, but this time she crosses her arms over her chest. "I already told you I don't know anyone in that group. I don't even know how my sister would know them."

"Most of their people are known dealers."

"So you think they have her because of something drug-related?" Luna tilts her head at me and squints her eyes.

I already know she's adamant that her sister is clean, but more and more it's starting to look like maybe Wendy fell off the wagon. "I don't know anything right now. None of us do. I'll set up a meet with them tomorrow afternoon."

Luna huffs out a breath before she turns and walks out of the room, leaving Hook, Light, and myself alone.

"Yeah, you're screwed," Hook says but doesn't look in my direction.

"I've had just about enough of this shit. I already told you what she's doing here. You can see it for yourself. Shit is off."

Hook finally turns to look at me. "Yeah, what I see is another victim. Brother, there are victims all over the place. I don't see you breaking any rules for anyone else who gets on the bad side of one of these drug deals. Are we just going to run around saving everyone?"

"I don't know everyone."

Light finally chimes in, "You don't know her. She could be playing you. For all you know, she could be put here just so we can get into a beef with the Seven-Oh-Sevens." He raises his hand when he sees me flinching in his direction. "I'm not saying she is, but you need to make sure you're careful. Don't fall so deep you can't see what's right in front of you."

"I hear you."

I didn't want to. In all my life, things never went well where there was a woman involved. I didn't want to think that Luna could be playing me for a fool, but what if she was? Am I too taken by how she makes me feel to keep myself and the rest of my family safe? Is she blinding me like everyone seems to think she is?

Nine

Luna

It seemslike every time I get one step closer to finding my sister, I'm stopped for some asinine reason. To be fair, maybe what Brick was saying wasn't so very asinine. If this group of men was enough to give Brick and the rest of the Brutal Chains a reason to pause, maybe it's better for me not to go in guns blazing—metaphorically, of course.

Still, I hate having to sit here on my hands and just wait for something to happen. I'm tired of having to stay in Brick's room like some kind of captive. I pace back and forth in the large room, every once in a while picking up one of his items just to put it back down. It's not like I'm really paying attention to what I'm looking at. In fact, I could've picked up a genuine diamond, and it wouldn't have made much of a difference to me. I'm just trying to keep busy.

Finally, Brick walks back in, and I see the grim look on his face.

"Did something else happen?" I question right away. Maybe they figured something else out while I was in here? I don't know much about the people in this club, but it did seem like they were knowledgeable about a lot of things I had no idea about.

"No, we only know the same things that we told you." He looks me up and down, but something about the way he's staring at me has changed. Before, when he looked at me, it was almost as if he wanted to rip my clothes off right then and there, but now he's looking at me like I'm the enemy.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I'm just trying to figure some things out." He shrugs, but his body barely moves. I can see the tension from here.

"What are you trying to figure out, and what does it have to do with me?"

"Tell me something: how is it you know so much about your sister and her fight with addiction, but you don't know the people she bought her rocks from? You trying to tell me that in all the time you were so-called watching over her, you didn't know that she was a buyer from the Seven-Oh-Seven gang?"

"What the hell? How would I know that? I mean, it's not like I'm on a first-name basis with any of them." I bristle at the thought. Why now, all of a sudden, is he thinking I'd have anything to do with my sister going missing? And what would I get out of someone coming into my apartment and trying to steal from me?

"So you say, but I just find it strange that all this is happening, and instead of them focusing on your sister, they come for you? Do you think your sister would set you up?"

"No," I answer right away. There's no chance in hell that would ever happen. My sister would go to her grave before she turned on me, the same way I would for her.

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