Page 54 of When It Reins
“David, buddy.” Mick shakes his head, disappointment written on his features. I would find it funny if I wasn’t so pissed off. “You can’t keep hiding out.”
“I’m not fucking hiding!” he yells, acting brave now that he realizes he’s in deep shit.
“Oh, but you are.” Mick takes another drag. “You are hiding.” His eyes turn dark as he nails David with a look. “What’s your company doing with that development?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He spits on the ground, and it’s my fucking turn. The angle is off, so I let go of his arm momentarily to throw a jab at his eye. It’s enough to bruise but not break.
It’s enough to keep him from acting out of line, though.
“Ooh.” Mick winces as if he really feels sorry for the guy. “That’s gonna bruise.”
“I don’t know anything. They’ve cut me out.”
I don’t believe his words for a second, but I let it go in case he’ll keep talking.
“They have been trying to buy up the houses with the tax liens or buy out the houses from the owners directly.”
“We know all of this, David. Tell me something else, something worth…Oh, I don’t know…” Mick shrugs casually, then lifts a brow at him. “Your life?”
“My life?” He scoffs, then spits on the ground, narrowly missing Loki’s boot. “You’re not going to kill me.”
Mick looks to Loki, who already looks like he wants to murder someone, and says, “I don’t know. We’re awfully close to that border. I’m sure there’s a ditch we could dump you in.”
“I’ve got a shovel in the car,” Loki supplies.
“Ground should be soft this time of year,” I add.
This makes David look at me and scoff. “Your girlfriend know who you really are? Huh? I bet Juniper has no idea what you get up to when you’re not home.”
“Oh, well, that sucks for you,” Loki says, and before David can see it coming, he punches him in the nose, making immediate spurts of blood spew from it. “Never talk aboutanother man’s woman. Especially when you’re in a position to get your ass kicked.”
I’m grateful to Loki for his assistance and don’t let his words go to heart. Does Juniper know where I am? No. Does she know I’m on club business? Yes. Did she ask questions? Thankfully, no.
If she ever finds out, or I end up telling her, I can’t help but think she would probably be okay with it.
Especially if it means never having this waste of life in our lives again. I would do anything for her, including getting rid of her ex, so she doesn’t have to face him.
“David, this can go one of two ways for you. Either give us the information we want, or don’t wake up in the morning. Your choice.” Mick’s blasé attitude has David crumbling. It is something everyone loves about Mick. Nothing ruffles the guy. He is as cool as a cucumber, even when he is threatening a man within an inch of his life.
“Fine! Fuck,” David says, eyeballing the fist Loki is clenching. “I’m about to be out my entire life savings. I invested all I had into the last six months because I was promised that it would come back to me tenfold.”
“What’d you invest it in?” Mick asks, looking more curious as the douche speaks.
“All sorts of ventures.” His evasive look makes me wonder what he’s not telling us.
“Yeah, you’re gonna have to do a little better than that, asshole,” Loki growls, reaching behind David and grabbing a handful of his hair, tilting his head back. “Fucking tell us what they’re doing.”
“I don’t know! They’re trying to push me out, even though I fucking found the loopholes in the first place.”
“What do they want to put there?”
“I don’t know. It’s some millionaire tech guy. He’s even got some stuff moving into Wyoming because it’s cheaper than California. He’s pushing here because he doesn’t want to fucking live in Wyoming.”
I scoff. “So what? He wants to build a mansion in place of a hundred families?”
“No,” he says, spitting again. Hell, does this guy do drugs or something? What is with the spitting? I watch in disgust, memories of my father’s own addictions haunting me and threatening to pull my attention.
But then I remember that this asshole touched Juniper when he knew better. He had to have. Had to have known that what he was doing was disgusting, pushing innocent people and families out of their homes to pursue some rich guy’s fantasies.
