Page 85 of Tutoring Mr. Hotshot

“Um, no! That’s vital information.” I blink at him a few times. “Where does this uncle live?”

“I second that question,” Bell adds as he shuts the car off.

“He’s back home. There’s an ocean between us. You’re all safe.”

His words do little to settle the unease I feel. Then again, I’d rather befriend someone who has power like that — or their relative at least — than to be on the other end of things.

Bell clears his throat. “Here’s my plan. I think we should have Andry go to the house like it’s a normal thing. He can pretend like he has no clue about Rodney, so we get an idea of where Liam is. Once we have an idea of the situation, we can sneak him out somehow and move the party somewhere else. No witnesses. Got it?”

“Sure do, boss man,” I retort as I salute him.

He rolls his eyes. “You going to be able to do this, Andry?”

My future brother-in-law nods stiffly. “For Rodney, I will.”

“For Rodney,” we all chant.

It’s almost funny enough to laugh about. I don’t, obviously. I have some sort of sense after all.

Andry climbs from the car, and we all sit quietly as we wait for an update of some kind. It takes about five minutes before his text comes to the group chat.

Andry:He’s here. Just him. No witnesses.

I grin. “Looks like we got lucky. How we doing this, Captain?”

Bell shakes his head at what I’m sure is a too happy an expression on my face. He points to me. “You’ll stay here. We’re going to go grab the kid, and we’ll go to the warehouse.”

The warehouse is an actual warehouse we bought for a secret project we’re working on. It’s mostly an idea we had after seeing a blog post about a place up north that was basically an indoor little’s paradise. Thankfully it gives us space to do this.

“Far be it from me to go against you, Cap, but I can’t do that. I’m going in too. You got to let me have this.”

He groans as he nods. “Fine. But keep it together.”

I watch as he gives order through the chat.

Bell:Any neighbors to worry about?

Andry:Not right now. There must be a something happening around campus. What do you want me to do?

Bell:I want you to hold tight. You might hear some noise but don’t check it out. We’ll text when you need to come back out. Be sure to pack a bag of some stuff to make it look legit.

Andry:Understood.

“Time to party, men,” Bell says after that last message comes through. We all get out, then I watch as a switch flips in my best friend.

His expression takes on a feral edge to it. He leads us to the next street over, and then up the front porch of the team house. He opens the door without knocking.

Well, shit.

Captain Give Zero Fucks has arrived.

I like it.

After we pile inside the house, he points for us to split up. “Make sure he doesn’t scream,” is all the instruction he gives us.

I take off down the hall in hopes I get to him first. Maybe if I do, I can get an extra hit in. No one will know if I give a little hate tap to his kidneys, right?

It’s like a love tap but more violent.

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