Page 17 of Baiting Kong

“I heard you were in the gas station this afternoon when a couple of idiots tried to rob it,” Kong said, the abrupt shift in subject matter adding to the swirling mess of thoughts cluttering his head. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

“No.”

“Creature said there was blood on you when he saw you and that you saved a woman’s life.”

“That was the EMT’s.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Kinda fucked up, them turning on one another like that,” Kong said, the shadows keeping his eyes hooded. Scout wished they were facing the other direction so he could see the moonlight reflected in Kong’s honey-hued gaze and whatever expression was hidden in them. “You wouldn’t have happened to instigate that by any chance?”

There had been instigation.

And he had taken part.

“That’s what I figured,” Kong said, reading his silence as reluctance to own up to what he’d done, which was actually perfect. “You could have gotten yourself killed with a stunt like that.”

“Could have gotten killed with the way they were waving their guns around like idiots, too, but I’m still standing.”

“It’s a good thing you know when to duck.”

“Had lots of practice.”

“With the Hounds?” Kong asked.

Scout shrugged, despite the hold Kong still had on his arm. “Just, everywhere.”

“Some of the guys really like the way you jump in and do whatever is needed around the place.”

“I promised Ms. Kat I would when she hired me. I intend to honor that as long as she lets me work here.”

“So you wanna stay?”

“It's kinda nice, only having to walk a couple hundred feet from my door to my job.”

“Ya know,” Kong said. “It confuses people how willing you are to stay in Kat’s good graces when you’re here, and yet you take off and leave the compound whenever you aren’t on the clock.”

“Why is that confusing? I’ve got shit to do.”

“An awful lot of shit to do for someone who claims to be new to the area.”

“You do know that working in the clubhouse isn’t the only thing I do for the club, right?”

“Yeah, another thing that has drawn a great deal of scrutiny your way,” Kong pointed out. “It’s pretty convenient how easily you’ve been able to fill the parts requests and all from the same place.”

“I’ve got an in.”

“Obviously.”

“If you want to accuse me of something, just say it.”

“Alright, I will, since they’ve already been scanned for bugs and trackers and turned out clean,” Kong replied.

“What the fuck? I’d never do that shit.”

“Maybe you wouldn’t, but you’re not working alone, are you?”

“No.”