“But –”
“Ass in the car.”
I stared at him. Then I moved across the garage to the passenger side of the Viper, muttering, “Don’t blame me if she ejects us, we try to take her on errands at a garden center.”
“Live wild, baby,” he murmured and folded his big body behind the wheel.
There it was. He fit. A miracle.
I gingerly aimed my ass into the passenger seat. Then I got the door closed and my seatbelt on without incident. Ty hit the garage door opener and turned the ignition.
The Snake bit.
Another tingle, stronger. Nice.
I smiled at the windscreen.
“Fuck,” Ty muttered, my eyes slid to his, he was looking at me and when I caught his gaze, he shook his head. I smiled bigger.
He placed an arm around the back of my seat, looked over his shoulder and pulled out, still shaking his head.
She growled through the condo complex, I allowed myself to feel her then when we were out of the complex, I pulled my shit together.
“Who’s Max?”
“A friend, lives in Gnaw Bone.”
“Gnaw Bone?”
“A town not too far away.”
“There’s a town called Gnaw Bone?”
Ty didn’t reply because, obviously, there was.
So I asked, “Why wasn’t he at the party?”
“Different set of friends,” he told me. “Met him on a construction job in Wyoming. He was a good guy, we found we were both from around the same patch, solidified the connection. We stayed tight even though, back then, he wasn’t around much. Now he’s married with kids so he was around but I wasn’t.”
“Construction? I thought you were a mechanic?”
“Diversified. Job was short, hours long, money f**kin’ great. Same kinda job took me to Dallas.”
I took in a breath.
Then I tested the waters.
“And what led you to Shift?” I asked.
“Poker. I was in Dallas. Sat some games. He heard about me, thinks he’s got a big dick. Called me out, I bested him. He went down and did it hard. Lied about collateral. Walked away from the table unable to pay up. That isn’t my favorite thing; I needed to make my point. I did. He got my point. Promised a payment plan, started it, the job got done, I was back in Carnal, payments were supposed to keep coming and he knew they didn’t, I’d be taking a vacation in Texas. I got framed, went down and Shift thought that was his good luck. Met a guy inside, he knew Shift, didn’t like him, itchin’ to teach him a harder lesson than the one I taught him. He’s out in about a week. I got word to Shift, he didn’t sort out his debt, he’s first order of business when I got out. He gets a visit from me then he gets a visit from my friend. Shift saw the wisdom of sorting out his debt.”
“Enter me,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he whispered back.
“What’d you do to him?”
“You don’t wanna know.”