Page 37 of Property of Max
“Fuck,” Spike mutters, dragging a hand down his face. “My wife won’t speak to me because of another fucking woman. And I didn’t even do anything.”
“That’s precisely why she won’t speak with you,” Skip says. His tone is flat, his usual shit-eating grin nowhere in sight. For once, he looks just as pissed as the women.
The room sinks into uneasy silence. For all their power, their money, their guns…not one of these men has a clue what to do when the women turn their backs.
“Max,” Skip says suddenly, his eyes narrowing on me. “You looked at Lila like you might have feelings for her.”
“What?” Knuckles barks out a laugh. “We share fucking feelings now?”
Skip’s voice drops, cold as steel. “You are on very thin ice with me, brother.”
Knuckles sneers. “What the fuck are you gonna do?”
He shouldn’t ask that. None of us should. Skip may run his mouth, may crack jokes that get under your skin, but I’ve seen what that scary bastard is capable of when someone pushes him too far. It isn’t funny. It isn’t loud. It’s quiet, efficient, and bloody.
And Knuckles is too stupid to realize he’s a breath away from finding that out the hard way.
Skip leans forward, elbows on his knees, his voice so soft it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“What am I gonna do?” he repeats, almost thoughtful. “Nothing… unless you give me a reason. And trust me, brother, if youdogive me one? You won’t see it coming. You won’t hear it. One second you’ll be running your mouth, and the next you’ll be choking on your own blood, wondering how fast it all went wrong.”
He smiles then, small and cold. “So go ahead, Knuckles. Keep testing me. I’ll even let you pick the moment.”
Then his gaze shifts back to me, waiting.
“Well,” I say slowly, choosing each word with care. “I do feel a pull toward her. But she’s got a kid and a disabled brother depending on her. She doesn’t need my kind of trouble in her life. Why do you ask?”
Skip’s eyes narrow, his mouth twisting like he’s tasted something sour. “First off, that’s a load of bullshit and you know it.”
He leans forward, voice soft but sharp enough to gut me. “She doesn’t need your trouble? Brother, life’s already handed her more trouble than most of us could handle. And yet she’s stillstanding. Still fighting. What shedoesn’tneed is another coward making excuses about why she isn’t worth the risk. You think pushing her away protects her? It doesn’t. It just tells her she was right not to trust anybody in the first place.”
The words sink in like knives, and the worst part is. I know he’s right.
“Doesn’t matter in the end, I guess,” Skip says, leaning back in his chair like the conversation never touched him. “You didn’t so much as speak up for her while she was here. I saw it in your eyes. You wanted to, but you didn’t. And now?” He shrugs, casual as ever, but the bite is still there. “Looks like she went and found her own way to fix everything. Might as well drop it and get back to the real problem at hand. The important stuff. Any updates for us, Prez?”
“Okay,” Spike sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “Let’s get this over with so I can go grovel to my wife. Cortez is in the wind. His orders are being passed down to Los Fantasmas, but no one’s seen him in person for weeks.”
“So, nothing’s changed then?” Maverick asks. “Same way he ran it with Muerte.”
“Except they’ve moved,” Foster says.
My gut tightens. “Don’t tell me.”
“In the past week, five young women have vanished,” Spike says flatly. “All in Palm Springs.”
“Why isn’t it on the news?” Skip asks, voice sharp.
“Because they’re from Whispering Palms Trail,” Foster answers.
Whispering Palms Trail. The stretch of downtown we warn tourists away from. Run-down houses. Families poorer than poor.
“The Shadows don’t keep up with Whispering Palms,” Tank reminds us. “We avoid that place, same as everyone else. If we’d had a team there, this might not have happened.”
“This isn’t on us, Tank,” Spike says, but his voice isn’t as hard as it should be.
“Isn’t it?” Tank fires back. “The only reason Palm Springs is even on that asshole’s radar is because of how much control we’ve got here. And now women kids are gone while we sit around picking and choosing who’s worth protecting. What parts of this city are worth our time?”
The words hit like a gut punch. The room goes still.
