Page 49 of Three Little Words

“Yes, that Dak.”

“What the hell did you do that for?”

“Because he’s my friend.”

She blinked in shock. “Your friend?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I do all his work.”

“His tattoo work? Or are you tied up in the club shit, too? Because if you are—” Bryn shook her head. “I can’t deal with that. Bryan’s bad enough.”

“No, no. No. I do his tattoos. I have for years. My dad did all of his dad’s. Like, we go way back. But I’m not mixed up with their business. I don’t want to be. I tell him that all the time. Whatever the club’s up to, I don’t want to know.”

Slowly, Bryn nodded. “Okay. So, what happened?”

“I talked to him.”

“All right. And?”

“And he worked things out.”

She sighed. “Will you quit being mysterious and tell me what the hell is going on?”

“Okay.” I nodded. “The King’s Devils held a vote. On whether to let Bryan out or not.”

Bryn bit her lower lip, hands clasped tight on her desk. “Okay.”

“He’s good. They’re letting him go nomad. He can leave Richland and still technically be a King’s Devil. Nobody will come after him.”

She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned forward, putting her head in her hands. “Benny, oh my god.”

“He needs to go west.” I leaned forward, too.

I wanted to be close.

I wanted to comfort her.

“He needs to go into Ohio. Maybe further. If he stays in Malone, he’ll get the Raven’s Blood guys looking for him.”

Bryn nodded. “Okay. Okay. Yeah. Um, I’ll tell him. Does he…did they…what about the money?”

I had hoped she wouldn’t bring that up.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Benny, I have to worry about it. I need to know these guys aren’t going to come trash my shop.”

“They won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I handled it.”

Bryn’s brows furrowed. “What?”

“I handled it. Don’t worry.”

“Well, how much was it?”

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