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Deep chuckle from him.

“What?”

“Only you, Trev, I swear to God.”

“I’m missing something.”

“Jesus, T, Conrad Harris is a cold-blooded killer, but you’re on a first-name basis with the sociopath—more than first name, nickname, which is even worse.”

“He’s a good guy,” I defended my friend.

“He’s a goddamn hitman is what he is,” Gabe assured me.

“Never proven,” I said, and I was right, even though I knew as well as anyone what the man did for a living.

“He’s a contract killer, swear to God.”

“Says you.” Deny, deny, deny. Where Conrad was concerned, it was what I did. No one would ever catch me agreeing about what he was or wasn’t, especially on the phone. I didn’t care who was on the other end.

“Okay, T,” he acceded, patronizing me. “We’ll just pretend he ain’t scary or nothin’.”

“He’s not.” I sighed, because to me, he wasn’t. I could not speak for others.

“Uh-huh,” he grunted.

“Just… can we drop it?”

“Oh fuck yeah, let’s drop it. Tell me about Kady. How many weeks did you carry him?”

“Just two, and then I stopped taking his calls.”

“That’s probably when he called Benji.”

“I think he called Luis before that.” I yawned again, rubbing my eyes; they felt like they had sand in them.

“Does he owe Luis too?”

“I dunno, but you know him. Luis doesn’t let anybody chase their money. He’ll beat the shit outta you if you don’t pay up.”

“Yeah, I know, so I wonder… hold on.”

I stood there waiting while he turned our two-way call into a party line.

“Vargas, you there?”

Loud yawn. “Yeah, I’m here. What the fuck is going on? I just got in bed!”

At his best, Luis Vargas was an ass; tired and cranky just brought out more colorful and charming facets of his sparkling personality.

“Benji Matthews just got jumped by Ellis Kady and some of his guys. Talking to Trev,” Gabe sighed, “he says that Kady owes him money. Does he owe you money too?”

“Yeah, he owes me. I took his bets after Trevan cut him off. I figured the action was too large and that’s why the fairy didn’t want it.”

I loved being called a fairy just because I was gay. The fact that Vargas wouldn’t think of saying that shit to my face made me think that much less of him.

“Nice.”

“What? Just ’cause you and Adrian don’t give a fuck that he takes it up the ass don’t mean the rest of us are down with it.”