Page 42 of As Thick As Thieves

Maddox’s fists clenched by his sides as he kept an eye out, but he shook his head. “No sign of anyone. I called Mom and she told us to all head to her house. They’ve called a meeting.”

“Anyone else hurt?” I asked softly, and Beckett sighed.

“Luna caught a stray bullet to the arm, one of the Kingslake car club guys got one in the shoulder, and we have a dead Ashburn Valley High School kid. Whoever did this doesn’t seem to have a target in mind, they just wanted to cause destruction.”

“I think it’s my dad,” I blurted out, a frown tugging at her lips.

“Why? He sold you, he has no reason to hunt you down. Besides, you weren’t targeted, it was an openfire kind of situation. Has he reached out to you with a threat or something?”

“No, but he could still try, right? What if he finds out the sale was bullshit?” My eyes widened at the thought and I scrambled to my feet. “Has anyone heard from Zavier or Ander? What if—”

“They’re both with Riley and Luna. They’re fine,” she promised, motioning to her car with a scowl as she pulled her phone out to text someone. “I just got this fucking car fixed from the last asshole that put holes in it. Ugh.”

Cruz grunted, pressing his hand against his shirt where the wound was. “I don’t mean to be a bother, but can we go before I bleed out?” Alarm filled me and he quickly added, “I won’t, I’d just like to leave so I can fix it. Sorry.”

I moved closer to him, taking his free hand. “Want me to call a cab home while you have your meeting or—”

Beckett snickered, tilting her head at me. “You’re coming too. Mom wants everyone there.”

“She probably just wants to kill me,” I grumbled, making her laugh.

“If a Donovan wants you dead, you’d be dead. Trust me. Hurry up, Jade’s waiting to stitch you up, Cruz.”

“Shouldn’t she be tending to Luna?” Cruz asked, but she shook her head.

“Luna just has a surface wound. Her mom can handle it. You guys get going, I’ll wait here for the cops. We’ll have this dealt with in no time.”

We all split up to our cars, leaving Beckett behind, and I curled against Cruz in the backseat as Knox drove us towards the Donovans house. I didn’t like the idea of being back there, but I had a feeling there was no way to get out of it.

Stone

“They’re going to flip the fuck out and you know it,” I grunted as I flicked through computer screens, glancing over my shoulder at Hunter Rivera. “Cruz could’ve handled this.”

“Cruz is currently in my kitchen being stitched up from a bullet wound, Drake’s fussing over Penn too much to focus, and Knox is better with his fists than a computer. You guys might be at odds right now, but our agreement is still with your organization,” he replied with a shrug. “No one’s going to start a war in our office either.”

“I think you underestimate how pissed they are with me,” I deadpanned, turning back to the computer. Hunter had called, demanding my immediate attention, but I hadn’t known until I arrived that Penelope and the guys were also on the way here. This wasn’t going to end well, but I was also glad I got to see them with my own eyes. Especially Penelope. I couldn’t just change my mind about her, not with the amount of hate I felt towards her out of habit, but knowing how badly her father had treated her made me want to check on her myself. “You know my face is fucked up from your devil spawn, right?” I grunted, making his mouth twitch with the ghost of a smile.

“My sweet little Beckett did that? From what I heard, you’re lucky it’s not worse.”

“Us guys should stick together, you know?”

“You fucked up, I’m not siding with you. Just be grateful it wasn’t Rory. She’s been stabby lately.”

“Opposed to how she usually is?” He smacked the back of my head, the warning more playful than anything.

“My baby’s spicy, just how I like her. Keep searching through footage. There has to be proof of who shot up the track tonight.”

“You guys have a lot of enemies,” I offered, his eyes narrowing.

“So do you. The track is where a lot of people hang out. They could’ve been after Lopez, Lavaro, us, you, or even Penn. For all we know, one of the Crestford Academy kids have a drug debt, or some of the Blackwater boys have beef with someone from the Heights. Logan probably fucked someone’s girlfriend again,” he huffed, making me snort.

Logan was worse than Drake had ever been, and that was saying something. I couldn’t tolerate it when those two got together to hang out, it was the worst experience of my fucking life.

“Very true. I guess if someone wants to take out anyone in power around here, they’re all connected to people at the track in one way or another,” I nodded, scanning the computer screen for the person responsible for the gunfire.

It was like they were a ghost.

I went through private home footage in the area, quiet streets, and known meeting spots for dodgy deals. There was nothing here to show anyone suspicious coming or going.

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