Monsters' Gift (Crude Hill High #2) - Sam Crescent Page 0,23

wanted to hear, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d just lied to me.

****

River

I drew the short straw.

Caleb had said he wanted Emily protected and we all knew the reason. Earl had gone quiet on us. We knew from our sources that he’d already taken Ashley and the apartment they had once shared had been completely cleared out as if the two girls didn’t exist. But, and this was way out there, he hadn’t gone to the house we’d negotiated for him. In fact, Earl was gone, disappeared, taking our bargaining chip with him.

“Breakfast or a walk outside?” I asked as Emily came out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of jeans and a long shirt that molded around her breasts but flared out and rested against her knees.

“What?”

“I’m going to have to do something about your manners.” I chuckled. “Do you want to go for a walk first or would you like some breakfast?”

She looked toward the window. It was slightly overcast. Not the perfect walking weather.

“Outside first.”

I nodded and held my arm up for her to take. I wasn’t surprised when she looked at my offering as if it was going to spook her. “No strings attached. I’m with you today.”

“You weren’t this attentive years ago.”

“Then consider yourself lucky.”

I expected her to keep on arguing but instead, she took my arm without another word. I was shocked, but I didn’t show it.

While I was babysitting Emily, which I loved, Gael, Vadik, and Caleb were putting our men back in their place, making them aware of their loyalty. If news got out of Emily’s return, they would have to deal with us. There would be some death today. I had no doubt we had enemies within our soldiers, but we had no problem picking them off one by one.

I walked Emily down to the main floor and moved toward the second dining room that led out toward the garden. We passed several of our guards, all of whom averted their gaze, refusing to look at our woman. Good.

Emily stopped at the steps leading down toward the pristine mowed lawn. She took a deep breath.

I waited for her to take the next step, which she did, putting one foot in front of the other as we made our way to the grass. She bent down, removing the sneakers she’d picked along with the socks. I clicked my fingers, having one of our men take her shoes.

“Really?” she asked. “You’ve got people to do everything?”

“We pay them to be whatever we need.”

“Must be nice.”

I stayed silent. We’d gone out of our way to instill fear into our men. No one messed with us.

Emily sighed. “While you were taking over Crude Hill, I was working my ass off.”

“Your apartment was fully paid for,” I said. It was one of the reasons we were pissed off. Our money paid for the women, but it seemed with a snap of his fingers, Earl had been able to take that from us as well.

When we got to Earl, his body would fertilize the ground. I was sure of it. If he did anything to Ashley, Emily would never forgive us.

I imagined it was why Caleb had most of our contacts and spies hunting for him. The problem with Earl was that he was a ghost. No one could find him unless he wanted to be found.

“Yes, it was paid for.” She chuckled. “We had no idea what to do. For the first month, we didn’t even leave the apartment. There was enough food to feed an army. Ashley’s a damn good cook.” She sighed. “We got by. I don’t know how we did it. Eventually, leaving and visiting the city, it was easy to do, and got easier.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I don’t know. To be killed at a moment’s notice.” She pushed some hair out of her way. “What have you done to her?”

“She’s fine.”

“I don’t like not knowing where my friend is. Ashley never did anything wrong.”

“Em, what makes you think she’s in danger?”

She pulled out of my hold and spread her arms wide. “Look around you.” Gone was the reserved woman I recalled from high school. She’d lost that control. The woman before me was more open, more passionate, and I fucking loved it. “I know the deal that was made, River. What changed? Your parents aren’t in control anymore and from what little information Earl gave, they hadn’t been for a lot longer than now.” She folded her arms. “Tell