Their Bounty (Four Mercenaries 1)

Pyro challenged him with a glare. “Then lock him up in the car. We will be watching him from just a couple meters away. It’s not like someone’s gonna just come out of nowhere and snatch him when we’re right here. He’ll be safe enough.”

Tank huffed, but ended up nodding. “This better be good. Clover, sit in Drake’s van. I’ll be watching you.”

Clover groaned, but got up. “Seriously?”

Tank urged him with a slap on the ass. “Yes, seriously, boy. Go and do as I ask.”

Pyro scowled at Clover when Tank moved toward the house, but he didn’t waste any more time and jogged to the porch, opening the door for Tank, who glared at him, instantly prickly like a porcupine.

“What is this about?”

Drake already sat at the large table across from Boar. Neither of them spoke, and Pyro wondered if that was how they’d spent the past couple of minutes. “We need to talk about Clover.”

Tank sat down, but kept looking out the window. “What about him? What happened?”

Pyro stood behind Boar and squeezed his shoulders. “He’s being a shit. He might not disrespect you but he had no problems being unpleasant to Boar today. After he got all the stuff he wanted from the store.”

Drake shook his head. “I smell a gold-digger.”

Tank frowned, tapping his fingers on the table. “Did you understand what his actual deal was? What was he being a shit about? I thought he’d mellowed out a bit. I’ll handle him if needed.”

Boar leaned forward as if he wanted to seem more confident, but in the end he let his shoulders drop. “He was… weird. Total asshole to me, but he also made this whole thing we’ve got going into a transaction. Like he was our hole to fuck and that was that. Maybe I got a bit too cozy with him, but he had a meltdown of rudeness.”

Drake snorted, but it must have been intentional, because he spoke as soon as he had everyone’s attention. “That was the deal you made with him, wasn’t it? He’s just keeping it real.”

Boar leaned his head back against Pyro’s stomach. “Doesn’t feel like it, though. He keeps flirting with everyone. And he was so nice, like he wanted to let me know there was more on the table only to crush it.”

Tank stared at the van outside for the longest time, his face set into an unreadable expression. “Either way, he knows the rules. He disrespected you. He’ll be punished, and he’ll learn his lesson.”

Boar shook his head. “I don’t know…”

Tank got up. “Well, I do. He needs to know his place. But between us, don’t let him walk over you, Boar. What the hell?”

“How many strikes is he gonna get until you guys decide he needs to go?” Drake asked. “We’re doing him a favor, and he can’t even keep his end of the bargain?”

Boar exhaled. “Maybe he just wanted to tell me he’d rather stay friends. He was unnecessarily rude about it, but I mean, he’s only nineteen--”

“Oh. My. God. Jamie, stop coming up with excuses,” Pyro said, squeezing his tense shoulders for him. “If he can’t fit in, we’ll have to let him go, no matter how good of a fuck he is.”

Pyro half-expected Drake to support him, but the pale face remained expressionless. Tank must have noticed too, because he leaned back in the chair and gestured toward Drake. “Are you feverish, or something? You normally wouldn’t miss the opportunity to talk shit about him.”

Drake shifted, as if his seat were covered with dry beans that dug into his ass. “I’ve looked for jobs. You know, in the usual place.”

Which meant the dark web. The vast majority of their work wasn’t, strictly speaking, legal.

Drake sighed. “Long story short, I found a contract for him. There was even a picture.”

Despite all his anger at Clover, Pyro’s stomach turned. Yes, he wanted the boy punished so that he wouldn’t hurt Boar again, but the thought of Clover ending up in the hands of traffickers had his hands balling into fists. “Let’s get him here and make him understand his attitude needs changing. We can’t kick him out, but he doesn’t need to know that. Let’s just keep the threat over his head.”

“We’re not letting the boy out of sight for his own good.” Tank must have been itching for that conclusion, because he jumped to his feet the moment Pyro stopped talking and walked up to the window where he gestured for Clover to come back.

Boar pressed his back to the chair, as if he were a snail and wanted to hide inside its shell, but it wasn’t happening. Pyro would not let this go, even if Boar’s soft heart was willing to.

“Come on, come on. We’ve decided what to do with you!” he shouted, angry that regardless of the fury he felt, the gentle sway of Clover’s hips still made him stare. That he still wanted the boy, no matter how hurtful and annoying he was being.