Page 57 of Cruel Debts (Killers of Port Wylde #4)

LILLY ST. CLAIR

It'd been exactly two weeks since the McCoys agreed to join our ranks—both of them, because my stipulation was that she join, too.

Danny took a little more convincing, but in the end, he caved, too.

And now that he was finally on the right side of things, I was seriously debating convincing him to get remarried.

He wasn't a bad man. And since he was sleeping in my bed, doing my dirty work, it felt like it was time to make this a partnership again, like it had been when the idea was born from two desperate street urchins with a shared dream to improve their home.

I'm watching the Gunners on the lawn, acting like idiots as we have the joining ceremony—the same one we had for the Skeleton Crew, and the Neon Dogs, when their ladies joined the Guild.

It was about time we got some women in this damn thing. With the untimely death of Bonnie and Clyde, it was a men's club in here, save for me, and I didn't like to be that outnumbered. Having other women in the Guild now felt right.

This place was an equal opportunity employer. I had a reputation to uphold.

The real Keehn McCoy stood against a nearby wall, his eyes on his sister and comrades from his past life, a scowl permanently etching itself into his facial features.

I bit back my smile and slid up next to him, watching the death glare continue even as his eye slid sideways and he made note of me out of his peripheral.

"What is it, St. Clair?" he asked quietly, his teeth gritted. "Come to gloat some more about your win in pulling two cops to your dark side?"

He and Danny weren't quite over the change in job title yet, but they'd get used to it. There wasn't really much more of an option.

The McCoys had cut all ties to their family, and the lucrative oil business they amassed their wealth from.

Starting over was hard, so I tried to be understanding.

But this one was a pain in the ass, just like his sister.

And with his resentment at her situatioship with his three best friends, getting him to focus on anything was like pulling teeth. I had to break him of this slump.

"Why don't you just make one of them marry her?"

As far as ideas went, it wasn't a bad one. I'd had worse.

"You're kidding," he snarled, his whole demeanor shifting. "Marry one of them?"

"She's not exactly going to run home to your parents and marry a respectable business mogul's son now, and you know it.

" The girl looked happy, dancing between the three of them as she plucked something off Ghost's plate, teased Surgeon with it, and then hid behind Sentry for protection.

"They're not bad men, or you wouldn't still be friends with them. "

"They're tolerable," he agreed, albeit grudgingly. "It's bad enough to know she's fucking them. Sharing their beds." His lip curled in a sneer. "Marry one? That's a bit much."

"It'll keep them honest," I pointed out, "and it means she's legally protected and provided for under their contracts with the Guild."

"Which man in that threesome there do you think is worthy or honorable enough for marriage?"

"Why not draw straws? Since, you know, neither one of us can answer that question."

He cocked his head to the side and contemplated it for a moment. "I've heard worse ideas."

And the sooner he gets over this, the sooner I'll have one more member of the Gunners out here cleaning up our city.

McCoy is an asset, and I'm sad we didn't get ahold of him sooner.

But it can't be helped. I did what I could.

It was their own faults for not looking hard enough. For not digging deeper.

"Well? Do you need me to flip a coin, or do you want to do this Russian Roulette style with a blank?"

He looked me up and down and grinned suddenly, like he was finally seeing a new light on things. On life. On his future, and the futures of the sister he'd done this all for.

"You wouldn't happen to have any straws, would you?"

I grinned like a fool. "I've got a better idea."

The three men in the circle around us stared down at the three blades, unaware that they had just sealed their fates.

"What the hell are we supposed to do with them now, St. Clair?" Ghost screwed up his brows and frowned. "This is a pretty puny ass knife. I hope you're not giving these out as gifts."

"Not gifts," I said with a grin.

Not quite.

"Well, mine's not much bigger, but at least it's longer," Liam said with a sigh. "Asher got the biggest one."

Sure enough, Surgeon stood there with his massive blade in hand, a quizzical expression pasted to his face. He could tell something was up, but what precisely that was remained a mystery. He knew well enough to be suspicious, though.

"What's this all about, Keehn?"

McCoy's grin was wider than the Rio Grande. "Consider it a drawing straws game. The biggest straw is the loser. Smallest one wins."

"What's on the line?" Sentry didn't look like he cared, being that he was a middleman either way, but he was curious.

"My sister."

All three of them dissolved into outrage. "What the fuck, Keehn?"

"What do you mean, your sister?"

"Trinity's not a prize to be won?—"

"I'm what? What's going on here, guys?" The woman in question walked up to the crowd with a look of confusion on her face. "What do you mean, I'm not a prize? Motherfucker, I'm a whole ass award show. I'm ten trophies in one. I'm?—"

"About to get married to one of these idiots," her brother said with a grin. "Short straw was Hawke. Long straw was Asher."

Her eyes darted between the men with hesitance in them. "What do you mean, get married?"

"If you think I'm going to let you stay here in this place, bouncing between men, without a safety net, you're insane. You marry one, you're taken care of for life by the provisions of the Guild. You get to maintain your good name. Your honor."

It was amazing to see how he broke for her, even in the smallest ways. If I didn't know for certain she was his sister, and there was nothing there, I'd suspect we had another situation like the Skeleton Crew on our hands.

"It'll prove they're serious about you, which will be a load of worry off my mind."

"So you want security? Proof that we're serious about your sister?" Ghost was on his feet in a heartbeat, the blade all but forgotten on the ground next to his feet. "I'll marry her right the fuck now. Where's the nearest Vegas-style wedding parlor? I have an honest man to make of myself."

He lifted Trinity off the ground and hefted her over his shoulder, running off with a whoop of celebration as the other two followed, while their victim beat on his back and shouted her outrage. They're not listening, though. And McCoy wasn't following to make sure they would go through with it.

They would. They were head over heels for her, all three. And it showed, now that they'd finally gotten out of their own way about it.

"Well, that solves that problem," I finally said after we watched them disappear in the distance. No doubt she'd be legally married to one of them, and illegally married to the other two, by the time she came back. "Now, I've been meaning to talk to you about your first contract?—"

The phone in his pocket rang suddenly, and he held up a hand as he answered it with a rough, fast 'McCoy' and a pause of silence.

I waited patiently, eager to continue our discussion. I didn't expect to hear the details of his past catch up with him.

"Nah, I'm out of that line of work. I'm not coming back to Covenant Hollow, either.

So you're just out of luck, Tanner." His face screwed up into a scowl, and he glanced at me for just a second before doubling down on his conversation.

"No, I don't have any contacts back there anymore—well, wait.

I do have one you can try." He rattled off a name: Dr. Gage.

An address. And a phone number that he admitted might not still be in service.

"You can find him at the old sanitorium there, the one the church runs. He does charity work for them. His brother-in-law or whatever, he's in the state police force down there. If anyone can get you the details you need, it'll be him."

He ended the call after a promise to catch up later, and I eyed him with unconcealed curiosity as he hung up and turned back to me.

"Something on your mind?"

I practically vibrated with excited curiosity. "Old friends? Or old colleagues?"

"A man I owe a debt to. One I can no longer fulfill." His eyes were hard, cold, and desolate. "A blind woman was run down by a car in my hometown. They think there could be a reason, someone with motive to end her. But he's having a hard time, because locals are stonewalling him."

"Sounds tough."

"I used to go to school with the vic." His voice carried a hint of remorse and sadness. "She's a nice girl. Wasn't always blind."

"And your friend can help him?"

He shrugged. "I sure hope so. Because from where I'm standing, I'm officially out of the law enforcement game, and the help he needs isn't of the criminal variety."

Finally, the opening I was waiting for. "About that criminal variety of help—I've got a contract I think you'll be more than happy to take on." It's the contract to kill the man who tried to kill him. I wonder if he'll remember him. "The details are in a folder on my desk."

His sigh was heavy, but resigned. "Lead the way, St. Clair. Because you're not going to be happy until you get what you want."

"And I always get what I want," I said cheerfully, smiling when he just rolled his eyes.

Oh, yes. Keehn McCoy and his sister would fit right in here in the Guild. They'd do just fine.

Just fine, indeed.