Page 11

CHAPTER

TEN

CONAN

I feel bare without my cut laid over my shoulders.

We don’t necessarily have to dress up for this soiree of businessmen, but everywhere I turn, men are outfitted in polo shirts with pressed slacks, and the abundance of varying colors is like swimming your way through a sea of rainbows.

My brothers and I are all sporting jeans, tees, and boots so we don’t fit in with the rest of the attendees.

“That motherfucker is in a lime green shirt, guess he didn’t want to be missed,” Rev chuckles.

“Got one better, brother,” Risk states, shaking his head, “just passed a dude on the way back from the bathroom wearing day glow pink. I swear he’d light up like it’s the Fourth of July if it suddenly went dark.”

“This is gonna be an adventure,” Kodiak mumbles. “Remember, we’re supposed to be trying to fit in.”

“Don’t even think about it. You’re never going to get me to wear that shit, Marcum,” I growl, lifting my eyes at him because I know—I just know , that the next words out of his mouth are going to be that we need to hit up the local Abercrombie department store or another exclusive, snooty shop.

I’ve never in my life spent forty to fifty bucks on a collared shirt and I’m not about to start spending that sorta dough now. I shop at supercenters, they’re reasonably priced and I can buy ten shirts as opposed to the one I’d get spending my money there.

“It’d only be for a few days, Xavier,” he replies.

“Don’t care, ain’t happening,” I say, grinding my jaw.

“I’m with Conan on this one, pres,” Rev retorts. “The material they use on polos make me itch.”

“Is it the material or the fact that the preppy look de-mans you?” Midas asks, cackling.

“A little bit of both, if you want all honesty,” Rev reckons.

“My mom used to dress me like that… in kindergarten. I’d rip that shit off and toss it over my head the second I strolled through the door of our house and walked around bare chested for the rest of the evening in order to get the scratchy feeling off my skin.

” He does a full body shiver which I can sympathize with.

Marcum and I were the lucky ones, our mom didn’t care much about what we wore as long as it was clean and we went to school so she could have a kid free day from seven in the morning until three thirty in the afternoon.

I glance over and notice Kodiak glancing down at the screen of his phone. He tucks it away before telling us, “They’ll be here in fifteen. We’re out of time so this conversation is moot.”

“Moot,” I snicker. “You been reading Luna’s books or something educational to up your vocabulary, brother?”

“It’s not an unusual word, Xavier,” he grumbles. “I’ve got brains, ya know?”

“Where?” I ask, walking up and rapping on the top of his cranium with my knuckles. “Sounds hollow to me.”

“Fuck off, Conan,” he snarls.

“Oh, so I’m Conan again, huh?” I continue taunting him.

My brother narrows his eyes at me but I don’t let that deter me. He knows me better than anybody else and knows that I use humor to get through anger and anxiety.

“You done?” Marcum asks.

“For now,” I state, keeping the smile plastered onto my face.

“Let’s walk outside so we can lay eyes on our targets,” Marcum orders, dismissing me. “I want to see if they’re antsy, because if they are, they made our tag.”

“I doubt they managed to see Regulator and Stixx tailing them. Our men are too damn good at what they do,” I stress.

“It’d still make me feel better if I can read their body language,” Marcum supplies.

“Lead the way,” I say, shooting my arm out for him to take the lead. I match him step for step as I walk beside him, men part like the Red Sea as we brush past them. “That was nifty.”

“Even dressed down they know who the alphas of the pack are,” Rev advises.

“You make us sound like a pack of wolves or something,” Marcum sneers.

“Good,” I add. “If we’re the intimidating ones then that’ll mean we’re the ones everyone will want to befriend. It gives us a leg up with the men we’re here for.”

“The bad boys always draw an audience,” Midas conveys as he walks around us and heads toward the smoking section.

Upon our abundant research done on the four dipshits, we know that Liam and Niles are pack-a-day smokers, whereas David and Joey are not.

As a matter of fact, the latter two, they’ve loudly protested being stuck in places that allow smoking indoors through their social media accounts.

After the long car ride, the first thing Liam and Niles are gonna want to do is light up so Midas will strike up a conversation with them and try to get us in with the group.

“There they are,” I point out, nodding my head at the deluxe Audi pulling into the lot.

“Of course they’d rent a fancy ass car to show off with. What better way to flash your money and status around than pull up in style?” Risk murmurs.

“It’s because their bank accounts are bigger than the size of their dicks,” I enthuse. “Gotta draw in the ladies somehow.”

“What a pathetic way to exist,” Marcum muses. We continue talking amongst ourselves as the four men grab their luggage and split into two groups. As we suspected, Niles and Liam rush over to where Midas is and the other two head inside to check them in.

“Showtime,” Rev announces, clapping his hands.

“I’m gonna head over to Midas and grab a smoke, see if I can help reel those fuckers over to our side,” I announce.

“You mean the dark side,” Marcum jokes.

“Is there any other side worth living on?” I tease as I saunter away, pulling out my smokes and lighter. Before I make it to them, I’m already lighting up.

For the first time since we’ve been riding together, we’ll be referring to each other by our given names, the ones our mommas gave us. The fact that I had to sit back and think of what they are is telling in itself.

“Aiden.”

“Xavier,” he nods in acknowledgment. “Guys, this is one of my partners that I told you about, Xavier.” We agreed not to hide who we are from the pussies, there’s no need for it.

We are legitimate, tax paying businessmen after all.

Unless they do more than scope us out, they’ll never unveil our tie to Demi.

Being as polite as I can, I reach out my hand for a shake. When they separately place their palms in mine, I squeeze—a little too hard for their delicate ones considering they both wince when I apply a tad amount of pressure to my handshake.

“What is it y’all do?” I ask, drawing a drag from my cigarette.

“We’re insurance fraud investigators,” Liam answers, puffing out his chest.

“That sounds like an interesting job,” I state, not meaning a damn word of it. It sounds boring as fuck.

“It can be,” Niles mentions. “Some are dull and boring, but others are interesting and angst-ridden. It can be dangerous.” His boasting has me fighting off the want to roll my eyes. Whenever I hear bullshit, I tend to do that.

How dangerous could what they do for a living be?

The hardest part of what they do is the investigating. Getting a tongue lashing from someone you’ve caught defrauding the system is a cake walk compared to fighting off a knife-wielding psychopath. I’d know, I’ve done it a time or two.

“I hear that,” Midas fake chuckles. His acting skills are subpar. He needs to up his game.

“How many people have tried to stab you or have pulled a gun on you when you uncover their fraudulent ploys?” I ask, setting a trap for them. Time to take them down a peg or two from their showmanship.

“I can’t recall that ever happening, what about you, Niles?” Liam asks, looking over at me with hero worship in his eyes. “Have you two had to deal with that in your line of work?”

“More often than not,” I brag. “We’re hired brawn and muscle.”

“We’re more than that, though,” Midas tacks on, sharing a triumphant grin with me. “We’re detectives, security, and punishers.”

“Seriously?” Liam asks, his eyes wide as saucers.

“Seriously, my man,” I confirm, taking another pull on my cigarette and letting the smoke bloom out from my mouth. “Man, we could tell you some stories.”

“Is that a violation?” Niles questions.

“Nah. We won’t use any names or places so you’ll never figure out who or where they’re about. We’re safe sharing,” I answer.

For the next hour, we share war stories with them. By the time we wrap up, we have them in our web and have set up a time to meet the four of them for dinner.

By the end of the night, they’ll be our shadows and that’s when we’ll start reeling them in and making them feel as if we’re their new best friends.