Page 14 of Bound by Family
With the vehicles in the lot, I clock there are ten, maybe more, if they had passengers. A lone bartender is behind the bar so that would be five people. Two older men sit at poker machines, slipping coins into the slot. That’s seven. There are at least three more.
I grab my father’s attention and angle my head to the left.
“Just gonna check things out,” Pops says when Tommy looks over at me as I move to the kitchen door.
“What, don’t trust me?” he says on a laugh.
“Only men I trust are the ones at my back,” Pops replies as I make my way to the door with the window.
Peering in, I see one older male with a pot belly stirring something in a pot. That leaves two guys unaccounted for.
Entering the space, the older man’s head pops up. “Can I help you?”
“Who else is back here with you?”
“Who the fuck are you?” he retorts.
Not wanting to pull my gun out just yet, I say, “I’m just checkin’ shit out. Need to know if anyone’s back here with you.”
“And I don’t give a fuck.”
Having enough of the man’s shit—hell, I gave him more chances than most of the guys would—I pull out my gun and point it at him. “See this, motherfucker? Tell me who’s back here with you.”
He drops the ladle into the pot and puts his hands up in the air. “Now, now, calm down.”
“Don’t fuckin’ tell me what I don’t want to hear. Answer the damn question.”
“Brother?” I hear Ryker behind me as he steps into the room. “Everything okay in here?”
“We’ve got at least two people unaccounted for, judging from the vehicles outside. Trying to get Boiler Bob here to tell me if there’s anyone back here, but I guess we’re gonna have to check the coolers.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Boiler Bob says, looking at the deep freezer that could totally have a person inside of it. What the ever-loving fuck?
Ryker steps toward the freezer while I keep my eye on the guy. Gun extended, he opens the freezer.
I glance at him.
“Nothing.”
“There’s nobody in here. Don’t know why you’ve come in here with all the metal. If you saw an old black four-by-four, that’s Willard’s. His wife had to come get his drunk-ass and take him home. There’s no one back here.”
“Why the fuck couldn’t you have just said that, asshole?”
Ryker pulls out some cheese and starts eating it. He shrugs. “I’m fuckin’ hungry.”
“There’s one left.” The gun is aimed directly at Boiler Bob’s head.
“That’s probably Sally’s car. A beat-up Honda Civic? It breaks down all the damn time, I swear. She uses this place for storage. She’s one of the waitresses on the weekend,” he responds.
Thinking back to the cars, he’s right. One of them was a piece of shit Civic that needs serious help.
“Thanks.”
Entering the main room, Ryker goes to check the bathroom, finding no one.
Pops and Tommy are in discussions with Becs, GT, Rhys, Dagger, and Tug, sitting in chairs, while everyone else is either behind them or at the bar.
Me, I order a damn beer and breathe for a moment, keeping my ear on the conversation as I sit next to Ryker, who seems to be doing the same thing. Being in the know is a must in this business.
