think we should kill him. If we do it now we won’t have to worry about running another Game because this is time consuming. Who knew running the biggest crime syndicate in the country would have so many traditions and rules we’d have to follow.”
Lips chuckles at me. “Remember in high school when we’d do everything we could not to have to kill people? How times change.”
I huff at her, “Is that a yes? I’m taking it as a yes, Illi will be thrilled. He loves adding to his Twelve death toll.”
“Better the member we know than some new blood trying to prove a point. We can reassess if it looks like he’s actually going to start the skin markets again.”
She sounds sober again and I hate that all of this work talk has ruined her buzz. If anyone deserves to let their hair down it’s Lips Anderson.
“Go fuck one of your boys on the couch or something, enjoy the rest of your night. I love you, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
She laughs a little too loud. “I love you too, go climb back into bed with your Irishman and do something that would enrage your brother. You deserve it.”
I laugh at her and slip back out of the room, trying to quietly slip back into bed without disturbing Aodhan. The moment I get between the sheets he pulls me into his body with a little grunt.
“What’s happened now?”
I giggle quietly at the affront in his voice. “Nothing but we have a candidate for the Game. Go back to sleep; I’ll work quietly. Scout’s Honor.”
He mumbles under his breath at me, a lot to say about how I’ve clearly never been a Girl Scout, and then he slips out of the bed and into the bathroom.
Illi messages me back straight away, ready to dig into Lucy’s trash cans if that’s what it takes to vet her. Jackson takes a little time but when he does get back to me he promises to have a file to me in a matter of hours.
There’s a Twelve meeting tonight.
I was starting to get a little concerned that we wouldn’t have anyone to name and Atticus would have a complete blow up over it. We’d done the same last time, waited until the very first round of fighting before we threw in the street rat Illi had found.
We still have to find someone for Aodhan.
When he crawls back onto the mattress I mention this to him and even in the darkness of the loft I see him cringe. “I already have someone. Jack wants to enter.”
My eyes snap over to him, and he lets out a deep breath like he’s been holding it in for months. “He’s been fucking suicidal since Myra. I don’t… I don’t think he wants to make it out alive.”
Jesus H. Christ. “So what are you going to do?”
He rubs a hand over his face. “I told him I wouldn’t put him in if he was just going there to die but he said he had more pride than that. I guess he just wants to flirt with death. If I can win it, he can too.”
That doesn’t make me feel any better.
The background checks all come up with nothing.
Twenty pages of information from Jackson that all boil down to the fact that Lucy doesn’t play well with others… but only when provoked. The thing is, her cousins have all provoked her a lot and there’s tons of evidence on the Lynx trying to punish the girl.
Illi only had one thing to say about her.
“She’s a raging fucking psycho. We should definitely bring her on board.”
I roll my eyes at him, because of course he’d love a little more psycho sitting at the table, but I ask Aodhan to drop me off at Illi’s warehouse so we can ride over together to the meeting with Lucy. She picked the restaurant and the time, and I’d only agreed because they would’ve been my choices too. It’s not my absolute favorite dining choice, but Illi will be able to find a steak or burger to murder and they do a great takeout option for him to grab for Odie when we leave.
We arrive early for Illi to scope out the place before we go in. I’ve already checked all of the cameras and the guest list for the night, nothing flagged for me and because no one knows about our association with Nate or the fact that the Devil was the