Page 43 of As Thick As Thieves

The door opened and Skeeter walked in, giving me an annoyed look. “Anything?” He really hated it when his crew called upon my guys for help. Diesel could hack into almost anything, and Hunter was good too, but it was faster when we did it. We had the technology to scan faces and comb through smaller details. What took me five minutes would take them all damn day.

“Nothing. If people hadn’t gotten hurt, I would’ve assumed it was just some asshole pranking everyone by using a speaker or something,” I replied, clicking back to the footage of theirs from the track where the gunfire first started. I saw the exact moment Cruz was hit, and if he hadn’t grabbed Penn and shoved her to the ground, the bullet would’ve hit her instead.

“With so many people around, any shoe prints are likely to be gone or compromised, and I can’t tell from this footage which direction the damn bullets came from,” I scowled, leaning back in my seat. “Unless someone saw anything out of the ordinary, you’ve probably got a dead end. My guess is you have a sniper on your hands, and they were nowhere near the track in the first place or we would’ve found them.”

“This is out of the fucking ordinary,” Skeeter bit out, pushing a tattooed finger firmly against the screen. “Who the fuck has enough balls to shoot up our property? Hendricks’ kid got shot, for fuck’s sake, this person wants to start a war.”

“I don’t think she was a target. I think they fired a few random shots. Maybe a gang initiation?” I suggested, Skeeter’s lip lifting into a sneer.

“We’d know if someone new was trying to set up around here. We have most of the local towns covered by crews already and at the moment, we’re all at peace with each other.”

“Worth looking into.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo, kid,” he replied tightly, dropping down onto a chair at the large table in the middle of the room. “This isn’t just some rookie. Everyone fears the crews.”

Hunter sat beside him, leaning his forearm on the table. “Have we cut off any of the junkies? Maybe someone’s coming down from their high and they’re pissed that they can’t get more? You know how fucked up their heads get on the come down.”

“They’d just get their drugs from Blackwater. Only person we’ve cut off though has been Ry,” Skeeter said quietly, obviously not wanting me to hear it, so I pretended I didn’t as I clicked through random footage. I’d never had much to do with their son, he wasn’t really friends with my guys and he wasn’t a member of any of the crews.

From what I’d heard, he’d gotten fucked up on drugs and assaulted Luna Hendricks, which was the entire reason for his rehab stint. I was a little surprised he was still breathing.

They spoke in hushed voices for a while, but I glanced up as more people joined us and I heard Cruz’s voice. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He was glaring at me, but I slid my gaze to Penn as she stood beside him. She looked fucking awful, a wall of guilt slamming me in the chest when I realized just how skinny she actually was, her skin pale and her eyes untrusting as they glanced around the room for danger.

I’d done that to her. She wasn’t safe in this house because of me, and she looked like death because I’d convinced myself her father was only looking out for her.

Knox’s large figure stepped in front of her, blocking my view as he glared at Hunter. “Why the fuck is he here?”

“Stone’s the boss, right?” Hunter asked dryly, giving them the side-eye. “Our business is with him.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Cruz grunted at me, sliding an arm around Penn as she peeked at me from behind Knox. “You’re only useful because of that technology. What happens when I take it away from you?”

“It’s my fucking tech,” I growled, his eyes narrowing.

“It’s mine, actually. Who coded everything? Created the scanning software? Who has all the fucking passwords?” he warned, making me realize he was one-hundred-percent serious about shutting this shit down on me. “You might run the Thieves, but your fancy tech belongs to me.”

I went to argue but Rory walked in, her eyes sliding around the room. “Sit the fuck down. The Kings and Reapers are almost here and I want answers before they walk through the door. Who the fuck—”

“We don’t know,” Skeeter grumbled, motioning to me. “Computer boy over here can’t find any evidence of a shooter, other than the fact that people got shot.”

“Excellent,” Rory deadpanned, dropping onto a chair as everyone else sat too. “Hendricks will want answers since Luna got hurt.”

“I can’t give you answers that I don’t have,” I replied tightly, turning to face them all from my spot at the computer, looking right at Penn. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“Don’t fucking talk to her,” Drake snapped, shoving to his feet, but Penn grabbed his wrist firmly.

“Don’t.” It was so quiet I barely heard it, but she wasn’t looking at me now. “We’re not here for that.”

“Finally, one of you boys found a girl with a brain,” Rory scoffed, running her eyes over Penn skeptically. “Well, sort of. The last incident proves she’s still a little stupid.”

“That wasn’t Penn’s fault,” Cruz said bluntly, his eyes on me as he spilled the truth without a second thought. “We’ve recently found out Stone set her up. He wanted her gone, and he knew you’d make that happen if she was found here uninvited. She would’ve done anything to get him to accept her into the Thieves, and he took advantage of that.”

The room became deathly silent, and I was surprised when Hunter spoke flatly. “If I were you, I’d leave before it’s not an option, Stone. You’ve got five seconds.”

Terror spread across Penn’s face, and I didn’t want to traumatize her more by letting her witness me being torn apart, so I got to my feet and left without another word.

Cruz

I pulled Penn onto my lap as Stone left, trying to soothe her panic while ignoring the pain in my side from the stitches. I was a little tipsy thanks to Jade forcing whiskey down my throat in an attempt to numb the wound, but my focus being on Penn was working way better. As much as I was pissed at Stone, I hadn’t really thought about the consequences of throwing him under the bus like that. I was so angry with him, but they could’ve killed him right in front of us.

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