Page 111 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

“Well, that too, but rule number one is to always wear the appropriate shoes,” Scottie said.

“I thought it was to keep your feet dry,” Edu said.

“That’s in boot camp, asshole,” Brock muttered.

“Doesn’t matter. It still applies,” Edu argued.

I whistled loudly to shut down the argument. “Are you here to piss me off or actually help?”

“Well, pissing you off comes first,” Brock answered. “Then, when you’re good and angry, we attack. Isn’t that how it’s always done?”

“I already have to deal with this baby,” I gestured to Chase. “Why don’t you make yourselves useful and go carry something heavy across the property.”

“I’m good for more than just carrying heavy stuff,” Edu argued.

“Yeah, but can you do it without dropping something on your feet?” Lock asked.

“Since when am I a baby?” Chase snapped. “I don’t recall complaining about anything.”

“You’re complaining right now, aren’t you?”

“How about you make yourself useful and get me a coffee.”

“Sure,” I chuckled. “I like playing your servant.” I headed over to the coffee pot and poured him a cup.

“Hey, I’ve been saluting you since this whole fucking operation began. You can handle getting me a fucking cup of coffee,” he said as he snatched the cup out of my hands. He took a drink and then glared at me. “I say we hit him hard. Enough fucking planning.”

“Yeah, I’m with Boris,” Scottie raised his cup in salute.

“Who?” I asked, utterly confused.

Lock shifted in his seat, pulling out a paper, to which everyone around me groaned. “If we use the shithead in the basement to our advantage, the blame won’t land on you.”

“True, but we don’t even know why he’s after us. We have no reason for this guy to go after him.”

“Do we really need one?” Edu asked.

“If we don’t want this coming back on us,” I answered with a heavy sigh. “I want Jade out of this life, and that means no loose ends. If anyone suspects that it wasn’t this asshole, that leaves all of us vulnerable. Not to mention, Rafe will be pissed.”

Lock cleared his throat. “Speaking of Rafe…he’s sort of your surprise.”

I sat up straight, nearly knocking over my mug in the process. “You brought Rafe here?”

“It’s the only way Cash would send us.”

“How the fuck did you even get ahold of him? He’s been off the grid for a while now.”

“Well, that’s the thing, we sort of told him we were taking down Ambrose with or without his help. If he wants to have any say in how this turns out, he needs to be here.”

“And why the fuck would I want him to have any say in this?”

Lock glared at me. “Because you signed up for a job. I understand you want to walk away. Hell, we all do. But we need to make sure we don’t fuck this up for Rafe and Libby. They’ve sunk their lives into taking down these assholes. If we fuck that up now, it was all for nothing, including what happened to Jade. So, let’s end this the right way.”

I didn’t like it at all, but he was right. I couldn’t just blow up Rafe’s world and walk away without consequences. If we were going to do this, we had to make sure we took all possible outcomes into account.

“Fine, where is the asshole?”

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