Clover’s mouth dried, and it had nothing to do with the scorching sun that made him cover himself with a thin hoodie. “What did Jerry tell you?” he asked, aware of his men’s eyes drilling into his flesh, as if their attention could stop him from telling Ren too much.
Ren shrugged. “He was angry that you just left without saying goodbye.”
Drake scowled, shaking his head so rapidly it caught Ren’s attention. One could see the cogs turning in the guy’s skull.
“This is some crowd, Clo. Any of you guys single?” Ren asked, winking at Drake.
“No, they’re mine,” Clover said, realizing how that sounded a second too late. “I mean…” he didn’t know what he meant. Living in their comfortable arrangement was one thing. Explaining it to someone else, quite another.
The heat was making the air tremble, but the tension wouldn’t evaporate. Pyro put an end to the awkward silence with a loud laugh. “You mean you wouldn’t want me to tap that pretty thing, Clo?” he asked, gravitating toward Ren with all his teeth on show.
Clover squinted at Pyro. “He’s sixteen.”
Pyro did a U-turn and stood in his original spot by the car.
Ren pouted. “Going on seventeen…”
“No, thanks. If I ever go to prison, it won’t be for fucking a minor,” Pyro said, leaning against Boar who’d gone red from the attempt to hold in a smile. An attempt he was spectacularly failing at, too.
“Listen, Ren…” Clover took a deep breath, knowing that fun time was over. “The thing is, Jerry’s done some bad shit. To me, to other people. Not the kind of thing we all did together. Much, much worse. I can’t tell you anymore, because that could get you in trouble, but you can’t tell anyone you’ve seen me here, okay?”
Ren’s eyes widened, and he held his breath, going stiff. “Are you secret agents?” he whispered, glancing at the guys with much more esteem.
Clover swallowed. “Something like that. You’ll be safe, but you need to disappear.” He’d promised himself to stay cool, but this confrontation with his past was getting the best of him, and his head was like an empty bubble. “I-I I’ve got some money.” He held his hand out to Tank, who always had wads of bills on him. He only thought of how that might look like to Ren once he finished talking. “But you need to promise me you’ll go. To a different state, okay?”
Ren was getting paler by the moment. “When?”
“Now,” Drake said in a stern voice.
“My things—” Ren’s voice died when Tank passed Clover a heavy wad of cash.
“Take a cab. Go straight to the airport, and start fresh. You can have this money if you hand over the keys,” Tank said grimly from behind reflective shades.
Ren squeezed the wad to his chest, his lips trembling. “Can I… take the food to him first?” he said in a tiny voice.
Boar picked up the bag from the car. “We’ll hand deliver.”
Clover knew they’d won when Ren’s shoulders dropped. It seemed he was about to leave without saying goodbye, but just as he made a step toward the street, he spun around and gave Clover a big hug. But that was it. Ren faced away from Clover and broke into a jog, heading toward Jack’s Burgers. And the bus station. A part of Clover longed to take his number or promise they’d see one another again, but there was no point in lying.
His shoulders sagged when he thought that it could have been him accosted like this, but Ren could have been Jerry’s next victim, so it was for the better.
Clover glared at Pyro, his mind clearing with Ren gone. “And for the record, I would fucking mind if you ‘tap that’, so keep your dick in your pants if you like it attached to your body.” Clover’s voice broke when he saw Pyro’s brows rising. Had he been too harsh? “I’m sorry, you know what I mean.”
Pyro stepped closer and pulled him hard against his chest. His giant, warm fist rubbed a hot circle at the top of Clover’s head. “Awww, jealous, are we? Wanna keep all that dick to yourself?”
“Hey,” Boar complained with his mouth full of Jerry’s food.
“Boar can have some.” Clover struggled out of Pyro’s grip, but when he managed to break free, he bumped into Tank’s chest and swallowed, looking up to see Tank help himself to the burger, which he’d taken out of the bun. “Thank you, I’ll find a way to pay you back.”
Tank shook his head, but with the reflective shades, Clover couldn’t even be sure if they were watching at one another. “It’s fine.”
“We should go. Just in case the boy has the stupid idea of texting Jerry before he goes,” Drake said, glancing down the street, toward Jerry’s house.
It was time.
Clover fought a crippling sense of déjà vu when he led the guys to the back alley. Jerry’s car was always parked on the bare ground in front of the house, but their guests would leave their vehicles along the tall beige wall that surrounded the building. It felt surreal when he realized that the broken lock on the back gate was still faulty, and he lifted the metal door so it would open.