“You want a drink?” Barker says, taking a beer out for himself.

I’m guessing it’s not his first of the day.

“Sure,” Dante says. He’s probably trying to seem friendly.

Barker pops the caps off the beers and slides one over to Dante.

“I’m good,” I say.

Barker takes a long pull off his beer. He eyes us with narrowed, bloodshot eyes.

“What’s this all about?” he says. “You know I don’t work for Griffin, Briar, Weiss anymore.”

“Yeah,” Dante says. “I know that. I was wondering if you could tell me why they let you go?”

“You know why,” Barker says.

“No,” Dante replies calmly. “I don’t.”

“Because of that bitch,” Barker says, taking a swig of his beer.

The venom in his tone makes my heart rate spike.

“Are you talking about Riona Griffin?” I say, trying to keep my tone neutral.

“Yeah. She was flirting with me all the time . . . couldn’t keep her eyes off me. Then at the party, we both have a couple drinks. One thing leads to another . . . and then she goes crying to her uncle.”

I can’t imagine Riona “going crying” to anybody. And I also can’t imagine her flirting with this sloppy sack of shit. He’s at least ten years older than her. And even if he were shaved and showered and dressed in a nice suit, he’d still have that smug look on his face that I know would rub her the wrong way.

“What do you mean by ‘one thing led to another?’ ” I say, through gritted teeth.

Dante glances over at me. He can tell I’m getting pissed.

Barker doesn’t seem to notice. He takes another swig of his beer.

“You know,” he says. “We’re talking, having drinks . . . she’s wearing this low-cut dress. Every time she moves, I can see the top of her tits, and she knows I can see it. She acts all uptight, but you know what redheads are like . . . they’re all fuckin’ animals in the sack. So she’s all like, ‘Excuse me,’ and walks over to the bathrooms, and I can see the way she’s walking, shakin’ her ass, she definitely wants me to follow her. So I do, and I shove her in the bathroom and pull up her skirt and—“

I don’t know at what point in the story I snap, but the next thing I know, my hands are around Barker’s throat and I’ve flung him up against the refrigerator. I’m choking the fucking life out of him and he’s gagging and sputtering and trying to pry my fingers off his neck.

The fact that this arrogant piece of shit thought that Riona was interested in him, the fact that he followed her into the bathroom and put his hands on her . . . it makes me want to murder him. Just snuff him out of this world.

Dante’s pulling me off Barker, shouting, “Long Shot, take it easy!”