Vicious Rebel (82 Street Vandals #2) - Heather Long Page 0,12

the 19Ds were supposed to leave you a present, and then they didn’t come back…”

The fuckers at the playground.

“Freddie’s next door at Bernie’s. Upstairs, backroom overlooking the alley. He was pretty high when they dragged him out of here for singing.”

Only fucking Freddie would get bagged by a rival gang and then piss them off by being too cheerful about it.

“Hawk,” I said over my shoulder. “Got a location.”

“I’ve got it here, go,” Vaughn said without Jasper responding verbally. I jerked my head toward the girl, and she hurried away from the wall and toward the doors. Darla hissed as I let her go.

JD moved to cover her while I headed for the doors with Jasper.

“I’m Candy,” the girl told us.

“I don’t care,” Jasper informed her as he pushed the door open to the street. Thank fuck he left the axe behind. Candy winced, but I put a hand at the small of her back to keep her moving.

For her sake, Freddie better be in one piece. Bernie’s shop next door to The Smokestack was one of those international bodegas where they sold a little bit of everything. I’d been in here once, and a five-foot-eight paunchy guy with a receding hairline ran the place, unironically named Bernie.

I welcomed the first wash of fresh air I sucked into my lungs. It might also have smelled of exhaust fumes, but I didn’t give a damn. Even the competing scents of roasting peppers and spicy meat were a welcome reprieve from the more cloying nature of the scents inside of the club.

Bernie eyed us as we came inside. He was behind the register, stacks of cigarettes behind him. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“Keys.” I ordered as I flipped the lock on the inner door and the sign to the closed side. There was a rat outside watching the front, but better to avoid surprises. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

The man passed over a set of keys and then raised his hands. “Like I said, no trouble.”

Right.

I tossed the keys to Jasper, who caught them one-handed. He weaved through the store toward the back stairs, and the clunk of his boots hitting the steps as he went up them echoed through the shop. Somewhere, coffee hissed into a pot, the scent of it edging into the others and reminding me it’d been hours since we took a break, much less got food or coffee.

I’d kill for a cup right now.

Above our heads, the clunk of boots continued as I kept an eye on Candy and Bernie. She had her arms folded over her chest like that would keep her safe, and she looked anywhere but at me.

A double thump echoed.

Relief flickered through me. At my exhale, Candy cut me a glance. “Am I free to go?”

I didn’t answer her while I tracked the movement from above. Jasper didn’t waste any time bringing Freddie down, and goddammit, he was more than fucked. His gaze was all over the place. His hair was stringy with sweat and his grin loopy.

“Kestrel,” he greeted me as he staggered, despite Jasper mostly carrying him. Lurching forward, he tried to hug me, and I grimaced at the state of him. “It’s been a hot minute, where you been?”

I flicked a look to the thunderous fury on Jasper’s face and pulled out my phone. One text went out to Vaughn and the rats with us. Our cars would be on the way, and we’d leave them to clean up their own mess.

Freddie staggered against me and then focused on Candy. “Oh, I remember you.”

She looked nervous. Freddie kept patting my chest, and I was used to dealing with doped out Freddie so I ignored it.

“She’s the chick who offered me a blowjob and an eight-ball.”

Great.

“She didn’t give me either.” He rolled his head to look at me. “That’s pretty shitty, you know?”

Copper tinged some of the stress sweat rolling off of him.

“Yeah, Freddie, but you gotta just stop sticking your dick in everything, man. Particularly pussy that just wants to sell you out.”

“Ah, they were fucking hysterical. Thought they’d get me high and I’d spill, so I started with kindergarten.” His laughter cut through the silence, and Jasper just looked more pissed.

“Who?” He fired that one word like a bullet.

“I don’t think I should tell you,” Freddie said. “You’re not being very nice to me.”

“We’ll deal with it later,” I said more to Jasper than to Freddie. We wouldn’t get much out of him while he was