Page 32 of Property of Chaos

I can fucking envision her bottom lip dragging as I flick up my stand and gun away from the house. “Stop fucking sulking.” The rear tire slides out, leaving a wide arc in the dirt. “I’ll be there in fifteen and take you to school. But this is the last time. You hear me?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Go check that you’ve packed your bag right, and get your gear ready. Put Loki back on.”

The phone scratches again as I blaze past the cottage, my enigma’s curtains still closed.

“Boss,” my enforcer asks.

“Next time she fucking throws a tantrum because I’m not there, lie, for fuck’s sake. Tell her you know where I am and get her ass off to school.”

“She’s just scared, man.”

“We’re all scared. All the time. She can’t let it rule her life.” Otherwise, she’ll start making stupid decisions like her mom did. “I’ll be there soon. Round everyone up. We’re sitting down this afternoon to go through the details of the new property.”

“Sure.” He hesitates. “You’ll see it when you get to the loading dock later, but just a heads up, the truck is still there.”

The fuck?“Why?”

“Crow can tell you.” He makes a hissing sound. “I’m staying the fuck out of this mess.”

“For how long?” I smirk. “It’s your job to get involved.”

“When you tell me to,” he clarifies. “You ain’t told me to get into this fuckup yet.”

“Make the most of it, asshole, because I bet tomorrow it’ll be the first thing on your fucking agenda.”

“Can’t wait,” he sasses. “Also, you owe me ten dollars.”

“What the fuck for?”

“Selena’s lunch money.”

“The hell?” I slam the shifter down through the gears, getting satisfaction from the screaming engine as it slows me for the corner. “Is there not any food in the fucking kitchen again?”

“There’s plenty. She just refuses to make herself anything, saying the other kids make fun of her for bringing food from home.”

“Kids are assholes.”

“You don’t say.”

I sigh. “Can you ask Crow to set her up with a bank card?”

“Sure.”

I draw a deep breath, relishing the clean, open air as I tear past fields of green and yellow.

“Something else?” Loki hesitates on the other end of the line.

Am I doing a good job? Do you trust me? Was my father better…“Nah, man. I’ll see you in fifteen. Make sure Selena has her gear ready because we’ll turn tail the second I get in.”

“No problem. Catch you in ten.”

I disconnect the call and settle into the seat, twisting the throttle a little harder.

Dancing with death that bit closer.

Enough that for a fleeting moment, I feel alive.

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