Yeah, yeah. We loved hearing about his family’s lawyer legacy anytime he was around. He wouldn’t shut up about it wherever he went. Sure, your family was here during the founding of the country, but mine was too. Our families never had any beef between them, but after the incident, we almost did. The guy rubbed me the wrong way as icing on the cake.

“Did I lose a game? I have information, but someone’s going to have to beat it out of me.”

They all leaned in.

I took a slow swig from my flask before tucking it back into my jacket.

“What’re you all looking at? You want to hear about how I live across the street from his little girlfriend or something?” I’m going to need more alcohol for this.

Josh perked up. “We live across the street from her? I might need to make a trip up the street to offer a shoulder to cry on. She’s a hottie.”

That pissed me off enough to beat the shit out of him, friends or not. The thought of anyone touching her like that pissed me off. She was mine.

“No, you little gnat. She’s top family here. If anyone is introduced to her it’s going to be me. I already have it in the works that she’s going to be mine. She’ll be sure to be interested in my services.” A twisted grin grew on his face.

Great. Maybe I should have done drugs. At least I’d be able to fucking deal with all this talk about the girl that was mine and would not be touched by the likes of these fucks. Sorry, not sorry, Josh.

But I made a move that I would regret. “Have at it, she seems uptight from what I’ve seen of her. She’s over there if you want to get your head bit off.”

He clapped me on the shoulder and handed me the pool cue, walking in her direction. I dug my own grave with that one and I wasn’t sure I’d let him live through the night if he put his grubby hands on her.

Someone needed to bring another round of drinks. I needed to be drunk for this.

“Alright, boys. Who’s ready to play pool?”

Taking the first shot, I broke the balls and landed two in.

Someone piped up. “So, do we know for sure that Garrett’s family is guilty of what’s rumored? We only have one family identified and sometimes we like to gang up and take out the weaker dog. There’s more than one family getting destroyed at any moment and we need to find out who they are–if that’s even happening.”