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“Sometimes, Lil, it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie.”
“Even sleeping dogs get fleas. Pretending nothing happened doesn’t make it true. But you’re right. Perhaps you guys weren’t that tight to begin with. Because if you were, I’d wonder what happened to the girl who clearly loved you both and now doesn’t seem to even love herself.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I swear to god, Mack,” Powers warns him, but I wave him off.
“It’s fine. I hit a soft spot I’m not sure he realized he had. She dress like that in high school, Mack?”
“Of course not. She was a teenager.”
“Pretty, right? Banging body? I bet all the guys lusted after her, because I have eyes and I can see the beauty she’s become.”
He looks uncomfortable now, and I can see him dipping back into his memories.
“Pretty women don’t hide unless they need to. And that outfit she had on, and every one I’ve seen her in before, screams camouflage. She’s hiding in plain sight, and it’s obviously working because none of you have noticed that underneath it all, one thing shines brighter than the rest.”
“What?” Havoc is the one to ask, looking at me curiously.
“Fear.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
POWERS
“Smoke, Mime, and Stitch are at the gate,” Con yells across the room to Havoc, who shakes his head.
“Tell him to let them up.”
“Will do, Pres.”
“He’s like an overgrown puppy,” Havoc sighs, making me grin.
“At least he’s loyal,” Dice states, making Havoc nod in agreement.
“Amen to that,” Hoops adds, taking a sip of his beer.
“What do you four make of the prospects?”
Ambros and I look at each other, as do Hoops and Dice. Hoops and Dice patched in before us, so they never ran with the current prospects. We didn’t either, but we were closer to their level for longer, and there is solidarity in being the lowest man on the totem pole.
“Con will make a great brother, even though he’ll drive most of us insane,” Dice states, making me chuckle.
“I don’t understand what everyone’s problem with him is. The women love him.”
“And that’s the problem,” Ambros mutters.
I look around the table and frown. “There is no way the guys are insecure about an overgrown puppy? The women love him like a kid brother. They know they can go to him with anything, and they’ll get zero judgment from him, and he’ll break his back to help them. I’ve never met a more eager prospect in my life, and I’m including myself in that.”
“Eager, like a puppy. Until someone crosses one of the women or children, and then he’ll rip their faces off like a rabid dog,” Havoc points out.
“Like I said, he’ll make a great brother.”
Havoc grins but doesn’t disappear. “And the rest?”
“Too soon to tell with most of them. But I will say, none of them have caused any issues. And the women, while not as close to them as they are to Con, have nothing negative to say about them.” Ambros shrugs.
“Unlike Hicks and Pig. Gotta say, being a prospect sucks, but I can see why you have them. Those guys never would have made it to the end.” Hoops grimaces.
