Page 90 of Coup De Grâce
“Technically, I think it would be the right time to use it, but the wrong meaning,” Thumper joined in. “If you think about it, it’s like the boss built a bridge over troubled water. Therefore, it’s correct.”
“How the fuck do you figure?” IRIS snapped.
“What? The phrase or the timing?”
“Both!”
“Well, Kavanaugh and the boss have all these troubled waters because of—” He stopped and his eyes swung to me, widening as if he thought he was about to step in it. “Uh…because of the thing that we won’t mention that happened between them.”
“You mean when I pushed him to get the information from his old man, pretty much putting all of us at risk and threatening everyone’s lives, but I justified it with my brother’s death and my need for revenge?” I asked, quirking a smile at him.
FNG cleared his throat. “Uh…yeah. Pretty much. So, anyway, those are the troubled waters. And since we haven’t actually found a solution or forgiveness to move forward, we have a temporary bridge over those troubled waters. Hence, the saying makes sense.”
“Hence?” Kavanaugh grunted. “I would have used therefore.”
“Hence works, too,” FNG argued.
Kavanaugh shrugged with his eyes still firmly shut as he pretended to snooze. “It might work, but not as well.”
“What is this? Fucking grammar school?” I snapped, already irritated, though secretly enjoying the banter.
“Grammar school would be the wrong terminology,” FNG grinned. “I don’t think they discuss the difference betweenhenceandthereforein grammar school.”
“How the fuck would you know?”
“Well, call me crazy, but I was a kid who once attended grammar school. Though I’m not as old as you. In my day, they called it elementary school.” He shot me a wide, shit-eating grin that made me want to slam my fist into his face.
“What was the point of this?” Thumper asked, shooting all of us a deadly glare. “Because I thought we were about to break into a building, but instead, we’re having an English debate.”
FNG opened his mouth to most likely say something snarky, but with a single look from Thumper, he wisely shut it.
“There he is,” Kavanaugh said, sitting up to slide open the passenger-side door. Unlocking it, he flung the door open, but Dash wasn’t there.
The back door opened and Dash grinned at us. “Miss me?”
“Get in,” I snapped, slamming the door closed behind him before anyone watching could see what we were up to.
“Geez, that’s not quite the welcome I had been hoping for, boss. I thought maybe I would get a hug, or at the very least, a thank you for flying halfway around the world to save your ass.”
“Where the fuck have you been? Your flight landed hours ago.”
“Well,boss, after flying halfway around the world, as I said, I had to go through this pesky little thing called customs. Then, after it was determined that I was a terrorist, I was hauled into a room for questioning, where I was strip-searched by a lovely lady named Beatrice, who turned out to be a man. I’m pretty sure she tried to give me a cavity search, and would have if her boss hadn’t been standing there.
“So, after that very uncomfortable experience, I headed to the bathroom where I nearly puked. It was only because of the tabs Rae gave me that I managed to pull it together. Then, I had to get a cab, but every old woman and her mother was out, smacking me with canes to get the cab before me.
“And being the gentleman I am, I decided against ending up with massive bruising and instead let the old ladies have their way.”
“You almost puked because you were strip-searched?” FNG asked. “Dude, I’ve been through worse than that.”
“No,” Dash said slowly. “I almost puked because I ate something Fox left in the fridge and I’m pretty sure it gave me food poisoning.”
“If you had food poisoning, you wouldn’t be standing here,” Thumper argued.
“Mind over matter,” Dash argued.
“Not when it comes to food literally killing off everything good in your body,” Thumper snapped.
“I have an amazing body,” Dash cut in. “I willed myself not to get sick, and that mind power is strong shit.”
