who owes you?” The leader moved forward, and this time I saw his face: Square jaw. Big, thick eyebrows. Scraggly cheeks and tattoos that covered his neck. He had a scar next to his eye, like a bullet had grazed him there. He was an ugly motherfucker.
“What is this?” The newcomer’s voice was high. He was nervous.
“Did you bring the money?” Delray asked.
“What money?”
Okay. This was going nowhere fast. I had to think.
Putting myself in Delray’s shoes, his problem ran deep. I could tell. He owed money, or he wasn’t getting payments. This dude, whoever he was, obviously didn’t have the money. We probably had another few minutes before something popped off. What I typed to Taylor was right. If cops showed up, the pressure would be on Delray. They’d push him to narc, and even if he didn’t, these guys would worry that he had. That was the best-case scenario in my head. There’d been a gunshot before… I still didn’t have it in me to sweep the area for a body. I didn’t want to know.
The best way to help Delray was a distraction. I needed to get him out of here. Remove him from the situation and give him a day or two, and he might be able to make things right with these guys. I looked around at what we had on our side of the gate.
I had my Escalade. And…an entire amusement park.
I started off. I had to find something fast. Taylor stayed right next to me. When we got to the first building, she watched me bring out some dirty rags and spray cans. Then we trotted back to where I had some booze in the back of my Escalade. When she saw all the ingredients together, her eyes got even bigger, but she nodded.
I pressed my mouth to her ear. “I’m going to go farther down and toss these into the street. I’m hoping it’ll distract them. When they run to check, be ready.”
She nodded and moved her lips were to my ear. “What do you want me to do?”
The gate was locked. I needed it unlocked. And I needed my Escalade ready to go. Everything would have to happen within seconds, and I bit back a curse. Mason was the thinker. I wanted to text him, see where he was, but I didn’t have time. This shit had to happen now.
I pressed the key to the gate into her hand. “Be ready to unlock the gate as soon as the first bomb goes off.”
She nodded.
I kissed her and went to my vehicle. I opened the doors and put my keys in the ignition. Everything was good to go when we had to move. I could hear shouting now from the other side, but I wasn’t listening to them anymore. I liked a good brawl. I liked going in alone or with my brother—either was fine with me. But those brawls were against dickheads from high school or fraternity boys—not real thugs like these guys. I didn’t think Delray had been involved with this crowd last year when I approached him. I’d just been looking for a little fun. This was not fun. If I stayed to fight for very long, I knew it wouldn’t be good. Everything had to move at an almost breakneck speed, and I’d need to go as far as I dared.
And now it was time.
Everything turned off in me then. I couldn’t think about Taylor or those guys. This had to be done. I let out a breath and grabbed a lighter. Jesus. God. Christ. I prayed to all three. We needed to get out of this alive.
Opening the liquor bottles, I stuffed rags into the necks. Before lighting them, I pulled out everything else in my pockets. There had been some firecrackers left behind. I closed my eyes.
I was going to die someday. I hoped it wouldn’t be tonight.
I lit the first rag and tossed it as far as I could over the gate and toward the assorted abandoned cars on the other side. I didn’t wait before lighting the next, then the third and throwing them as far as I could. I heard the crash of the bottles breaking, then the shouts. They’d seen the fire. I braced myself, hoping a boom was coming, but I kept moving.
I lit and tossed the firecrackers, which sounded like gunshots. Someone cursed on the other side of the gate, slamming against it. “Get down!”
The spray cans came next. These