Page 64 of Tormented
NINETEEN
Sawyer
Tap flags me down the second I show my face in the clubhouse, waving me over to where he’s leaning against the wall, pool cue in hand.
“Don’t go far,” he says as I rest my shoulders against the plaster beside him. “I want to have a sit down with you tomorrow morning before we leave.”
“We?” Abbey only came here with a message for me.
“Yeah.” He reaches to his right and snatches a square of chalk off a small shelf, swiveling it around the tip as he talks. “King phoned while you were outside to say things have gone to shit. He’s had some complication he didn’t want to discuss over the phone literally turn up on his doorstep. He’s callin’ all the officers together.” A lazy smirk crosses his bearded face. “He also wanted to make sure Abbey got here all right.”
They know you far too well . . . .
I jerk my chin up in acknowledgement, feigning indifference to the way he eyes me.
“Didn’t tell King she got here earlier than he expected though,” he says with a lilt of humor.
“No?”
Tap shakes his head, setting the chalk back on the shelf. “What’s the deal with you two?”
“Don’t know what you mean.”
“She’s been followin’ you around like you’re fuckin’ Jesus risen.” He swaggers to the far end of the table, placing our conversation on hold while he takes a shot.
It misses.
“If the girl has a crush,” I say when he rejoins me, “then I can’t help that.”
“She’s supposed to be headin’ back first thing in the morning. King’s a bit antsy about havin’ her out of his sight for too long.”
Interesting . . . .
“Why?” I will the guy to give me something . . . anything.
Tap chuckles, giving a nod to his opponent after the guy sinks two. “If you mean well with her, then you’re sure to find out yourself before long.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I regard him with narrowed eyes, arms crossed over my chest.
“It means,” Tap says, knocking a loose fist into my shoulder, “I’ve been talkin’ to Hooch and he told me what you were askin’ about while you were in Lincoln: details on her past. Don’t fuck around with this one, yeah? I get you’re pissed off that your old man stole Hooch’s sister from you, but messin’ with a girl like Abbey’s head for fun ain’t the way to get over it.”
They all sound the same . . . .
Do they fucking ever. Not only has he been talking with Hooch, but it’s as though the asshole’s given him a play-by-play script.
I squint my eyes shut, gathering my shit together long enough to finish this heart-to-heart with Tap. “I’ll tell you what I told him: I haven’t got the slightest interest in messin’ with that kid, so go worry yourself with someone else’s business.” I jam an angry finger into his shoulder—fucker does well not to wince. “And don’t you ever fuckin’ question how serious I was about Hooch’s sister again. Dana fuckin’ knew how to silence this shit,” I say, gesturing to my head. “The only girl I ever met who could, and my fuckin’ asshole father took that from me, from all of us. If makin’ him pay is the last goddamn thing I do, then so fuckin’ be it. I’ll gladly die knowin’ I did it avenging her death.”
He brushes off where I prodded him. “No need to get all dramatic on me, brother.”
I push off the wall with one foot and head toward my room before I’m tempted to kick his timber-loving ass into next week.
“Before you go,” Tap calls after me. “Abbey’s twenty now. She ain’t a kid anymore, so you can stop callin’ her that.” His laughter follows me from the room.
Yeah, thanks. Like I hadn’t noticed.
Abbey
What the fuck is his deal? What the fuck is mine? Get given a damn task by King, a simple message, and here I am scheming some reason for me to hang around the Cali boys until Sawyer hits the road tomorrow afternoon.