Page 137 of The Bronze Garza

The bastard wasn’t even a nurse! He spent his days with the other members of the crew, pulling small cons as a “side hustle.” Yeah, his real full-time job? It wasus. The Hendersons.

What suckers we were.

The rest of the Six-Six Hook crew somehow managed to slip under the radar and flee, so Red Cage has gone after them.

“I’ve lost all faith in humanity,” I tell Reuben.

“Good.”

“How is that good?”

“Lack of faith in humanity is how I survive,” he says simply. “I expect the worse. Always.”

“That’s no way to live, though.”

“Yet here I am.” He stretches his legs out in front of him and crosses them at the ankles. “I know you think you’ve been to hell and back, but trust me, if you’ve seen some of the things I’ve seen, experienced, endured, you’d understand. Humans are the worst fucking things to ever be created.”

I slide him a side glance, brow arched. “What about your wife?”

“I saidhumans. My wife is a goddamn celestial angel.”

In spite of everything, I giggle.

We’re inthe waiting area for what feels like forever, the activity around us endless—who knew police stations were this busy?— when Reuben mumbles, “That was fast.”

Snapped back from staring off into space, I follow his gaze to the entrance where officers are herding in several handcuffed people. One of those people being Keri.

The rest of the crew.

Tilting my head, I observe them one by one. They all look so...normal. No visible hint of the evil that lives within them. Just the average man or woman one would stand behind in a line at the grocery store or hold the door for at a coffee shop. Outside of this station, I’d never see any of these normal-looking people and think they’d be capable of the heartless things I’ve heard they’ve done. And that is what makes this all so terrifying.

I can never trust again.

Never.

Reuben’s phone rings and he lifts his arm from around me to answer. “Yeah?” … “With me, yeah.” … “A little in shock, looks like. But solid.” … “Ah, cool.”

When he hangs up, I bite out, “I have a phone. He can call me on it if he wants to know how I’m doing. Or hewouldknow if he bothered to answer my freaking calls and texts.”

Reuben watches me with an amused expression as he tucks his phone inside his leather jacket. “He wouldn’t have answered. Your phone wasn’t safe. Wouldn’t have risked it.”

“What?”

“You forgot how those men were able to get to you in Venice? Tracker. Spyware. Your homeboy supplied them your location,” he reminds me. “You might’ve gotten rid of that phone, but we knew once you were back in that house they’d bug it again.”

Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. But then I wouldn’t have known to consider that, seeing as I had no clue what was going on. I’m glad I was in the dark, though, because I would’ve, without a doubt, blown the whole operation. As a terrible liar who possesses zero acting skills, there’s no way in hell I would’ve been able to fake it like Dad had. “So he wasn’t just being an asshole to me then,” I muse.

“Oh, he’s always an asshole,” Reuben says matter-of-factly. “But in this case, no.” He holds out his hand. “Give it to me.”

“What?”

“Your phone.”

When I hand it to him, he drops it to the floor and stomps on it with his shitkicker boot.

As the gadget cracks into pieces, I sigh. Well, isn’t that just a symbol of my life.

Shambles.