Page 74 of Unhinged
“Okay. If that’s what you want, we’ll do it.”
“Your father won’t like it.”
Adam shrugged. “My father didn’t like this plan either. But he respected your decision.”
Noah chewed on his lip for a minute before saying, “Why is that? He doesn’t even know me. I have no training, no experience. This almost blew up in our faces. Why would he just let me call the shots like that?”
That was a good question, but it was one Adam suspected he could answer. “You know, I always wondered what would happen to us if my father died. Atticus thinks he’d just take over as head of household, but that would be a lot like the inmates taking over the asylum, you know? As much as he tries to pretend he’s the level-headed one, it's all an act. You put a weapon in his hand and he’s just as lethal as the rest of us. Maybe more so.”
Noah frowned. “Okay?”
“And I think my father sees a lot of himself in you. I think he’s seeing if you’re…groomable.”
“Groomable isn’t a word,” Noah said, irritated. “What do you mean?
“I mean, I think he wants you to take over his work someday.”
If possible, Noah seemed to frown harder. “Like…take over as in deciding the fate of criminals? Who lives? Who dies? He wants me to be the Charlie to your angels?”
Adam snickered. “I don’t think any of us qualify as angels.”
“How can your father be so sure about me after only a couple of weeks?” Noah asked, bewildered.
Adam laughed, wrapping his arms around him. “What choice did he have? What choice did any of them have? They knew I’d never let you go.”
“That you’d tie me to the radiator if I tried to leave,” Noah said, voice muffled against Adam’s sweat and blood soaked shirt.
“I’d prefer the bed, I think,” Adam said, kissing the top of Noah’s head.
Atticus rounded the corner, looking annoyed at catching the two of them in an embrace. “Make out later, please. August found some matches in his trunk, so let’s get this dude dead already. I’m expected to attend a dinner for one of Dad’s charities tonight.”
Adam rolled his eyes before looking at Noah. “You ready?”
Noah nodded, taking a deep breath and blowing it out. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”
The scent of blood hit Noah first, filling his nostrils until it felt like he was choking on a million copper pennies. The carnage came next. His shoes slipped in the pools of blood as he did his best to navigate while his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the room. The fallen men were everywhere, still splayed however they’d landed, and in the center of them all was Gary…tied to that same folding chair, screaming and sweaty.
“Did you bring the folding chair?” Noah asked absently.
Avi nodded. “We thought it might help. You know, being your first kill and all, we didn’t want him making a run for it.”
Noah’s brows raised, a warm feeling washing over him. “Thanks, that’s…kind of sweet, actually.”
The boys beamed at him.
Noah pulled his gun free and aimed it at Gary. “Take his gag off.”
The boys looked at each other, then Adam.
“You heard him,” Adam said.
They yanked the gag free, and Gary immediately started to babble. “Please, Noah. Please. Don’t do this. You’re a good boy. Not like us. Not like them.” He looked at the seven men surrounding them. “They’re monsters, but you…you were always a sweet boy. Your father loved you. I loved you.”
Noah listened to it all, surprised at how little he cared about the man pleading for his life.
“I can do this,” Adam said again.
“Give him a minute,” Archer said, surprising Noah.
