Page 56 of Stag

“Once,” I said, remembering her question, “I liked it, but this is my first time back specifically to eat. The food’s really good.”

Claudia sat back to glance around some more, taking in the warm beige and brown décor, and the wildly patterned carpets, while I dug out my phone which had been buzzing now and then during the ride. Oh hell.

Micro: That bitch was back here looking for Claudia. We called the cops this time, so she’s been warned to stay away.

Fuck. What was her problem? Even with Claudia out of there, her sister was still causing trouble.

“What?” She asked, probably reading the frustration on my face. Deafness wasn’t a disability at all. It’d just led to her having honed her other senses to pick up things we probably all overlooked. Maybe it made her more dangerous than any of us. I found I liked that thought, because it suggested she was safer than I’d realised.

“Your sister’s been back to the clubhouse.”

“Oh god. What happened?”

“They had the cops warn her off. I don’t think it’s gonna work though, that bitch is fucking insane.” I froze and shook my head. “Sorry, that’s a dick thing to say about your flesh and blood. This can’t go on though.”

Claudia sighed, watching me type a message back to Micro. She’d left the burner we’d given her back at the house, and I wondered if that’s because she was feeling weird about her sister having been tracking the phone she gave her. We could talk about that later, I guess.

Me: Sorry, Pres. Hope she didn’t cause too much trouble.

I checked my other messages while I waited for a response.

Henley: Hope you guys are settled in okay. Feel free to use the mancave if you can figure out how to open it.

He added a winky face after that, but I appreciated the challenge. I bet I could find the fucking thing. Couldn’t be that hard, right?

Me: All good, thanks brother. I slept in your bed in the end, because I miss you.

I grinned as I waited for the fallout of that message, and leaned forward to show Claudia, because I felt like I was ignoring her, and that wasn’t my intention. It also turned out to be the worse possible moment for the Bennetts to message, because she saw that too.

Bennetts: Bruv, got another job for you. This one’s not quite so rough. Big guy like you can handle it. Call for deets.

Jesus fuck. She looked as nervous as I suddenly felt. I hadn’t mentioned their name, but she could read between the lines, and she knew this message probably scared the crap out of me too.

“It’s okay. I don’t have to call them.” I knew I was lying, but surely I could eat my damn lunch before I called them.

“What was the last job?” Oh god.

“No, you don’t want to know. I’m hoping it was like hazing, like the rest will be easier. It’s all fine. I wasn’t hurt or anything. Just kinda freaked out.”

Claudia shook her head. “That’s bad enough! What were they making you do?”

I couldn’t tell her. The last thing I could do was tell her shit like that. For a start, I’m pretty sure talking about it would be a sackable offence, and I was even more sure a sacking could have me ending up in that place I never wanted to see again. Worse than that, I didn’t want her knowing what I’d done, what they made me do. It was twisted, twisted enough that I was surprised I hadn’t had nightmares about it. What did it say about me that I didn’t?

“Just grunt work, that’s all. Hey, there’s our food.”

We waited until the food was delivered to us, and we’d made the obligatory responses to the server, and then Claudia fixed me with a glare.

“I don’t like lies, Stag. If you can’t tell me because it’s a risk, that’s fine, but don’t lie. That’s not how we build something together.”

Being verbally spanked almost feels worse than if she’d done it physically. Mind you, if her hand touched my ass, I’d probably lose my mind.

“Sorry, you’re right. I can’t tell you, but I won’t lie again. It’s just stuff I can’t talk about. I’ll call them after we eat. Hey, you want to try some of this?” I pointed to my roast chicken and she shook her head, at least with a smile on her sweet face again now.

“Maybe next time.”

Ilifted the phone to my ear, feeling a little edgy as the bastard answered it.

“Well, well, well. Look who deigned to answer his fucking messages at last. You think this job is an optional thing, bruv? You do what you feel like and we pick up the slack otherwise? Is this the kind of worker you are?”