He returned his attention to Turner.
“I need another way to get at Harkin and Shade,” he told him.
Turner held his gaze, his lips now thinned.
They unthinned so he could ask, “Are you serious?”
Nick saw the bartender pass, got his attention and jerked up his chin before tipping his head to Eric.
The bartender nodded.
Nick looked back to Turner. “Olivia’s not gonna work.”
“Because she doesn’t know dick that’ll help you or because you like havin’ your dick in her too much to use her to help you?” Turner asked.
“We’re not discussing that,” Nick stated. “You don’t have any ideas, all right. You got thoughts on Olivia you feel like sharing, that’s not happening.”
“Seems there’s a pattern with you, work a job, get pussy during it, you fall for it.”
Nick turned fully to Eric.
“Careful,” he warned.
Turner tilted his head to the side mockingly. “Careful, me talkin’ trash about Hettie or careful me talkin’ trash about Olivia fuckin’ Shade?”
“You hear me say we’re not talkin’ about this?” Nick asked.
“I hear you say we’re not talking about Olivia fuckin’ Shade,” Eric returned.
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Nick confirmed.
Turner’s expression shifted from seriously annoyed to pissed before he clipped, “Jesus, brother. She’s Olivia fucking Shade.” He got close and bit out low, “The daughter of the man who ordered Hettie executed.”
Nick’s response was just as low. “I might be wrong but I think I remember that better than you.”
“Seems to me, you protectin’ that bitch, you mighta forgot it.”
“Careful,” Nick repeated, this time in a whisper.
Turner leaned back. “Are you fucking serious? Hettie was yours but she was also a member of my team. She got whacked under my watch. And you get that, Nick. I know you do since you were a member of that team too.”
Their drinks were dropped on the bar and Turner glanced at the bartender as they were.
Nick didn’t take his eyes off Turner and only spoke when the bartender was gone.
Then he asked, “You know what Tom Leary did to earn his acid?”
“Denver lore, brother,” Eric gritted out, still pissed. “Leary a walking, talking lesson to any soldier who done Shade wrong.”
“Yeah, I know that. But do you know why he earned his acid?”
“Not thinkin’ Shade gave a shit what the lesson was for, just that the lesson was learned and not just by Leary but anyone who’d clap eyes on him.”
“Olivia’s back is burned to shit.”
Nick watched Eric’s head twitch violently.
“What the fuck?” he asked quietly.