Page 253 of Affair
There was silence, and then, he heard him.
“Gamble?” came his voice.
Oh, shit.
It was crystal clear that Poe sounded stressed.
To.
The.
Max.
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m back. I didn’t want you to jump out and club me to death,” he joked.
What were the chances?
Probably, slim to none, but in the dark, he didn’t want to get shanked by a knife either, and he’d armed him when he left.
When he walked into the grotto, his man was sitting by the fire, and he looked like he was about to lose his shit.
As in cry.
The second Poe saw him, he was up, and heading toward him.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Gamble was, but he knew Poe wouldn’t be shortly. He was going to have to tell him about what he’d found out about his parents and brother.
That was going to suck for both of them, but more so, Poe.
“Yeah, I’m good, Baby,” he said, not realizing what he’d even called him.
When Poe went to say something, that’s when he saw what Gamble was carrying in his arms.
Their dog.
“What happened to Rufus?” he asked.
Unwrapping him from his flannel jacket, Gamble told him.
“They had him tied to a post and were going to burn him alive,” he stated.
Poe gasped.
“What? Who does sick shit like that?” he asked in absolute horror at hearing that. Rufus was a living thing, and he couldn’t imagine.
As for Gamble, well, he knew what kind of animal would do that.
Mercenaries.
Gamble went there.
“Well, you tell me. You deal with the crazy, Poe. That’s pretty high up on the list for me.”
That it was.
Psychopaths did shit like that, and now, they’d hurt his dog.
