Page 65 of Havoc

“And if you need me, I’m a call away, but if you’re anything like our family, you won’t have a need.”

Nodding, I stood up. “Nice to meet you, Viking.”

“Please…call me King.”

~

“How did it go?” Pierce asked me as we got in the car.

“Better than I expected. Now, we just need to find the one sibling I haven’t been able to get in front of me.”

“Caelan found something,” Pierce said. “He’s tracking down the lead from the club, so I’ll take you back to the apartment until we know for sure it’s real.”

“What is it?”

“A lead on Hendrix and where he’s been hiding out.”

“Rudie said the Park Hyatt.”

“That’s one place, mostly just his men, not him or the girl he’s with on the video.”

“Lennon knows Talia, maybe he can reach out to her and find something out,” I said. Pierce nodded and we continued on in silence.

14 years ago

“Get it!” I screamed at my brother as he darted around the grass. “It’s just a lizard!”

Hendrix ran around like a lunatic to get away from the water dragon. It was so rare we saw these, usually only up in the mountains, but not here in suburbia. It had to be a pet.

I realised my brother was too chicken to grab it so I walked up to it. He eyed me suspiciously but he didn’t move.

“Presley! Don’t get bit!”

“Shut up, you coward,” I yelled back. “Look, he’s just as scared as you are.”

I edged closer and he took off, running so fast I could barely keep up. Hendrix called out after me but I continued to run until he ran out of sight. Disappointed, I really wanted to see what he felt like. Instead, I turned tail and headed back up to Hendrix who was staring at the grass. Once I got closer, I realised what he was looking at.

A large, black and gold coloured snake was looking up at him, his mouth open a little.

“Don’t move, Hendrix!”

“I’m not,” he sobbed. “It just came out of nowhere.”

I remembered something my older brother Chance had said. If you stay perfectly still, they’ll get bored and go away.

“Wait…I don’t think he’s a dangerous snake,” I said.

“Are you kidding me, Pres? It’s a freakin’ snake.”

“No…see the markings, I think it’s a python. They don’t have venom.”

“They still have fangs!”

Rolling my eyes, I moved a little closer. The snake turned its face to me and hissed. It was only a slight hiss, not at all like I thought it would sound.

“See, he’s looking at me now because he thinks I’m going to hurt him.”

Hendrix didn’t look relieved. In fact, he looked terrified still. A dark stain making its way down his light coloured school pants. He was crying and frozen in place.

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