Thames got off Holden and the maggot jumped to his feet. “Thank you, Number One, thank you –”
“Fuck off, Holden.”
Holden fucked off, running straight out of the bar like the sissy he was.
Thames shot Locke a look. “You’re really letting him go?”
Locke was fastening his watch when he answered, “He won’t make it a block before my men grab him.”
“The crew?”
“No, that’s separate.” Locke met his gaze. “I’ll never show myself to the crew. The second they see me I’ll be reduced to just a man. The numbers, they fuck with your head, they make you think the lower they get, the more of a paradox the person inked with them is. It’s all psychological but it works.”
Thames collapsed on the stool beside Locke, dumbfounded.
“I doubted you,” he confessed. “I thought you were using Charlotte, I was pissed when you claimed I was safe in prison, I…had the cruellest thoughts.”
“Yeah,” Jem finally spoke up, agreeing. He swallowed hard, and that was all he said. “Yeah.”
Locke watched Thames, a tender expression forming. “You were my buddy, Conor. You were my only friend. You said to me, ‘You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. Hide behind the car if you have to. I’ll look there last.’ If I had listened to you and not tried to prove myself, I would have hidden behind the car and we would all have gone home together.”
It hurt to breathe. Thames choked out, “I went back, Max. I told myself you needed me. I said to the man in the green coat, ‘Take me instead.’ I would have traded places in a heartbeat. I’m sorry. You understand? I’m sorry for burying it, for not doing enough. I’m sorry, Max.”
Max studied Conor, shaking his head slowly. “There is nothing you could have done. It happened. It’s done. You never put me in the hole. I’m fighting so that other kids never have to be put in one, either. I don’t care if my hands turn red from all the blood I have to shed. It’s my purpose now. It’s what I’ve been pushing myself to do the entire time you’ve been shut inside a cell. Like I said to you, I grinded while you were away. I should have paid more attention to Holden. I got comfortable with the crew, left the right people in charge but there’s always a snake in the system, and they find each other. These four morons could have caused a lot of harm. That’s my fault and now I have a big mess to clean up.”
What followed was a long stretch of silence. There were three dead bodies in the room, a fourth dead body on the way, and Locke was pulling out his phone from his pocket and texting somebody. Then he turned and tossed the phone at Charlotte. Reid had been by her side, arm wrapped around her shoulder like he’d been helping her stand up straight. He caught the phone for her because she was too dazed. Then he passed it over.
“Who am I calling?” she asked weakly.
“The clean-up crew.”
She stepped outside to make the call. Thames could tell she just needed to be out of there.
“What a fucking night,” Reid uttered under his breath, running a hand through his hair. “After this, I need to see my boy.” He looked at them. “You guys need me for anything?”
“Yeah,” Thames replied, tightly. “You owe me a house, Reid.”
Reid let out a forced laugh. “You know, Thames, you’re right. I’m good for it now.”
“Thanks to me.”
“Yeah, well…there’s still a place in the shop for you.”
“Not a chance.”
Thames was going to walk the fucking line.
Reid left and now it was just the three of them.
The tension was there. Thames could feel it in the air. He didn’t know what to think or how to process. If ever he needed a drink, it would have been now.
He tried hard not to stare too long at Locke. At the raven tattoo. At the 1 inked on his wrist. He couldn’t help himself, though. He felt a mixture of conflicted emotions. One half of him felt proud of what Locke was doing, the other half was tormented for the lost soul.
“What now?” he wondered, feeling directionless.
Locke looked at him. “Now you live, Thames.”
“You go back and work on that car,” Jem added. “And you look after your girl and your woman and you don’t have anything to worry about anymore.”