“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.

“Not acid. No clue what it was but it left scars and a lot of them. A fuckuva lot more than Leary earned. Look at Olivia’s, feel it in my scrotum, the pain that had to come with gettin’ those scars.”

Turner’s brows went up. “Her father?”

“Could be an accident. Could be a lot of shit. That is, could be if her father wasn’t Vincent Shade and known for doin’ that crap. But she said she ‘earned’ them. You have an accident, you ever use that terminology?”

Eric turned to his vodka rocks and lifted it, muttering, “No.”

“She never smiles,” Nick said as Turner took a drink.

His friend gave his gaze back to Nick but he didn’t speak.

“Not true, twice. Fucked her countless times, had her at my place every night for weeks. Ate dinner with her. Watched mindless TV. Saw her smile twice and both of them barely counted. Felt her smile but didn’t see them. She’d never let me in, Eric. Not because she’s protecting her father, because, if she does and she gets caught, what’ll she get? She knows. I saw those scars so I fuckin’ know. I’m not gonna fail in my mission but the slim chance I do and she gets caught between him and me, he’ll make her pay. And I’m not gonna be responsible for that.”

“She’s part of his business, Nick,” Turner reminded him.