Page 107 of So Steady

In his head, he heard Gil defend himself.It wasn’t personal, man, I just wasn’t making enough to make ends meet.

Maybe he’d phrase it differently in the flesh, but Noah was sure he wouldn’t apologise and he sure as fuck wouldn’t give back what he’d taken.

“Wow,” Tabby said. “You look scary. Are you thinking bikie thoughts?”

Noah looked at Scott. “You gonna go talk to him?”

Scott’s tight smile said he was thinking the same things he was. “Perhaps. Sam wouldn’t like it, though.”

And neither would Nicole, but looking at Scott, he could see they agreed—the girls didn’t have to know. Not if things played out the way he, and he suspected Scott, wanted them to play out.

“His kids aren’t home,” Scott said. “They’ll be with their mother until next week.”

“Useful information.”

“I thought so.”

Noah patted his pockets for his cigarettes and remembered he was out. He’d have to fix that before they saw Gil. “I know his address, should we go over there now?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Hang on,” Tabby said loudly. “I thought the plan was to go to the cops?”

“The cops won’t be able to do anything with what we have,” Scott said. “Not before Gil goes interstate and makes it twenty times harder to investigate, let along prosecute him for what he did.”

And even if we found proof, Noah thought,the courts run slower than mud. It’d be months before Sam’s saw a cent from Gil, maybe years. She’d have to spend thousands on a solicitor and a shit judge could still fuck her over.

“How much?” he asked.

“Huh?” Scott said.

“How much did Gil take?”

“Almost eighty thousand dollars.”

Noah could see some of his rage reflected in Scott’s eyes. “So, we talk to him.”

“By ‘talk’ do you mean ‘break his kneecaps?’” Tabby asked. “Are you going to make him give you money or you’ll kick his ass?”

Noah didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure if Scott intended for her to come with them or not. All in all, he’d prefer not. It wasn’t a girl thing; Tabby was a loose cannon of the highest order and a situation like this one needed zero of that. And if he was honest, he was still stinging from the way she’d come at him about the bikie thing. He knew she’d apologised, but they’d been friends and she’d been so fucking quick to believe he was scum.

“Holy shit,” Tabby stage whispered. “It ison! Should I go back to the house and get my balaclava?”

“You’re not coming,” Toby and Scott said at the same time.

Tabby turned to the kid. “Why the fuck not?”

“Because you need to stay at the house and make sure Sam and Nicole don’t get suspicious,” Toby said.

Tabby scowled. “That’s a fake job to get me out of the way.”

The kid didn’t deny it. He was standing taller than before and his expression reminded Noah of a teacher, the kind you couldn’t fuck with.

“I want to see Noah doling out vigilante justice,” Tabby said. “And I’m useful in these situations, remember when I tasered Scott’s dad?” She turned to Scott. “Sorry for tasering your dad.”

Scott shrugged. “He deserved it. But you shouldn’t come with us to Gil’s.”

“Why?”

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