Rock, Jigsaw, Murphy, and I meet Margot in the center of the parking lot. Her anxious gaze sweeps over us, stopping at the bloody spots on my side. “Are you hurt?” she asks.
A strangled noise hums in Jigsaw’s throat but I ignore him.
“I’ll be all right.” I jerk my head toward the crematorium. “I’m not sure what information your father gave you…”
“He said to give you whatever you need.” Her gaze skips over us again, like maybe she shouldn’t have been so quick to do what her father asked.
“Show us how it works.” I nod to the low brick building. “That’s all we need.”
“Oh. All right. I can do that.”
Jigsaw and Z follow us into the building, to what looks like an oversized cinderblock furnace with metal plating around the outside. She walks us through the process of burning the bodies. It’s slower than I realized. And it seems like a cleaner way to leave this Earth than what these guys deserve. It’ll certainly be less messy than how we disposed of Grinder’s old parole officer a few months ago in the basement of Loco’s diner.
We sure have seen a lot of death this year.
Some of it caused by us.
Others, we stood by and allowed, because it’s what our outlaw code demanded.
Does all this death make us men or monsters?
After we’ve shoved the first body into the fire, I pose that question to Rock.
He stares at the flames for a few beats. “It’s either us or them. That’s the life we’ve chosen.” He glances over. “I’d rather be on this side, standing next to my son, than burning.”
“Me too.” After a few more seconds of silence, I ask, “Should we have let Sticks go?”
Whitey and Thumbs had to die, no doubt. Sticks had been a bit of a question mark. At least until he made a run for it.
“If he ratted out his brothers, what do you think he would’ve done to us?” Wrath asks. “Not worth the chance.”
“Just another loose end to tie up later,” Z agrees.
My cheeks heat, either from the flames in front of us or because Wrath and Z overheard our conversation, but I keep my expression blank. “What about June?”
“Ain’t gonna be any evidence left.” Wrath nods to the flames. “Even if she goes to the cops, what exactly is she going to tell them?”
“Next contestant!” Jigsaw shouts and elbows us out of the way.
Z makes a shooing motion with his hand at me. “Go have your existential crisis conversation somewhere else, Teller. I’d actually like to get home to my wife before the sun comes up.”
“Can’t go any faster,” Dex warns, helping Jiggy move the corpse. “You heard what Margot said.”
“Mr. Whitey’s gonna have to wait his turn,” Z says.
“He should’ve gone first,” I grumble, staring at what’s left of Whitey. “Fucking pig. Beating his own daughter. Leaving her tied up like that. Planet is better off.”
“God will judge him.” Dex clasps my shoulder. “We just set up the meeting.”
“Praise Buddha,” Rock mutters.
Jiggy toes the guy with his boot. “I think the magical sky daddy’s gonna pass on this one and send him straight to the demon’s dinner table.”
The tension of this never-ending night breaks and I laugh for a solid minute. “You have a gift for words, Jigsaw.”
He grins and rests his hand against his chest. “I do, don’t I?”
Behind us, the heavy steel door creaks opens and all of us turn. Even if it’s Margot, it doesn’t matter. She’s smart enough to know we’re not here in the middle of the night to dispose of our household garbage.
But it’s Grinder with Carter and June standing behind him.
“Kids asked if they could watch.” Grinder lifts an eyebrow, silently asking if we have a problem with it.
Rock waves them inside. I had a different response in mind.
“You should wait outside.” I slap Carter’s back and nudge him toward the door.
“You kidding? I ain’t missing this.” He kicks one of the blanket-wrapped bodies at our feet. “This asshole cut off my toe. He smashed Bianca’s nose with his elbow. I watched him beat June.” His eyes fill with shame and he ducks his head. “I couldn’t do anything to stop it. The whole time I was thinking, ‘I can’t wait for Teller to get here and kill this asshole.’”
My chest tightens. “Is that right?” My brother-in-law sees me as a killer? Great.
He meets my stare, concern wrinkling his forehead. “Well, yeah. I mean, if losing my toe wasn’t a big enough crime, I figured him beatin’ on a pregnant chick would be a death sentence.” He puffs up his chest. “I woulda pulled the trigger myself if you’d let me.”
“You don’t want that responsibility.” My voice takes on a sterner edge than I intended. “And I don’t want it for you.”
He seems to chew on that for a moment. Then he lifts his chin, determination brewing in his eyes. “If he’d gotten loose…and threatened you.” His gaze strays to my brothers. “Any of you. I would’ve shot him.”
Who knew when I met this mouthy kid he would’ve managed to get under my skin so thoroughly? I swallow the lump in my throat. “Good to know.”
He shrugs. “I mean, I probably would’ve missed, but I wouldn’t have run away. The instinct to hurt someone threatening you is there.” He taps his chest. “It has to count for something, right?”
Much needed laughter rumbles out of me. “Yeah, it counts. Thanks, Carter.”
Wrath steps behind us and wraps his arm around Carter’s neck, holding him in a looser choke hold than he’d use on Murphy or me. “You want to learn to shoot, Scribbles? I can take you to the range.” He squeezes and Carter’s eyes bug. “As long as you listen to everything I say.”
“Yeah.” Carter coughs and curls his fingers around Wrath’s forearm, trying to pry it off his throat. “I’d like that. I also enjoy breathing, if you don’t mind.”
“Oops.” Wrath releases him.
Murphy punches Wrath’s arm. “If your biceps get any bigger, you ain’t gonna be able to wash your own damn face.”
That’s just an invitation for Wrath to flex his arms and show off.
Merlin tugs at one of the bodies, moving it closer to the fire. “You guys always fuck around this much when you’ve got serious shit to deal with?”
“Yes,” Rock answers in a weary tone. Then he slides his gaze my way and throws me a smirk.
Merlin glances at June. Something resembling concern creases his face. “She shouldn’t be here. Fumes ain’t good for her.”
“I’m not pregnant,” June whispers. Her gaze latches onto mine and she won’t even glance in Merlin’s direction. “My father blackmailed him. I never wanted that. But I didn’t have a choice. We never even…” Her cheeks redden and she shrugs a shoulder toward Merlin. “No offense, but you’re older than my father was.”
Merlin’s eyebrows shoot up. “What?”
“My father caught me with one of the brothers,” she says in a voice barely above a whisper. “Well, Sticks caught us and tattled to our father. To stop them from beating me, I told them I was pregnant.” She squeezes her eyes shut. “I knew they’d kill Goober if they thought it was his. I was supposed to be off-limits to any of the brothers. You don’t touch the president’s daughter, right? Not that it ever stopped them from—anyway, I told them you and me hooked up last time you visited. You got really wasted at that party. I figured you wouldn’t remember what happened that night.”