Page 33 of Not This Time

"Candace?" Rachel said.

He nodded once, his golden teeth flashing.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about her?" Ethan asked cautiously, his eyes flicking between Silas and the grandsons.

"Nothin' that concerns you," Silas replied, smirking as he locked eyes with Rachel. "But I reckon you'll find out soon enough. Candace is well known around these parts." He winked. "She gets around."

Rachel stared at him. "Are you saying she's a prostitute?"

"Now she's wormfood. But yeah. She was a whore."

"Have you used her services?" Ethan said.

Silas didn't reply to this. He just looked at Rachel. "You got a dark tinge to you, girl. Where are you from? Mexico?"

She shook her head once. "No, I'm from Texas."

"My family's roots run twelve generations deep, girlie."

She shook her head. "I don't know if that math checks out."

"Well... I was never much for numbers as such. For one. There's three of us and two of you, right?"

"Are you threatening us, sir?"

"Nah. Just showing off." He smirked.

"Well," Rachel said slowly, "My family's roots... go back to before your first ancestor set foot on these shores. So I think I'll stick around if it's all the same to you."

Silas chuckled, his voice low and menacing. "Is that so? Well, I reckon we'll see about that. You might find it hard to get anywhere in these parts if you don't learn to respect the locals."

Rachel bristled at his words, but she knew better than to engage in a verbal sparring match with a man like Silas. Instead, she stepped back, putting some distance between them.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Clark. We'll be on our way now."

Silas watched them go, his grin widening as they moved towards the trees.

She lost sight of him as she and Ethan fell into step, moving hurriedly away.

"Candace, a prostitute," Ethan said under his breath. "Think the ID is good?"

"Worth looking into," Rachel said. "How hard could it be?"

He snorted.

"What?"

"With a name like that? In a place like this? Might be like finding a condom in a damn haystack."

She stared at him.

"What?"

"You think you're funny, don't you?"

He winced. "Too much? I thought we were getting this whole partner banter thing down."

She shook her head. "I'm more of the stoic silence type. At least... where you're concerned."

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