“You’re gonna be missing your tongue if you call me Grandpa again.”
Ignoring the threat, Rav hops off the arm of the couch and throws himself next to me. He sets his phone on the table and pulls up the same thing Serena uses.
“So many hot chicks out there now,” Ravage explains in a frenzied rush. “You got no idea what you’ve been missing. All these hot chicks in need of validation basically post porn for free. It’s amazing.” He flips through several screens of pretty young women.
“When I was your age, I had to walk my ass down to the gas station and cough up five bucks for a magazine full of pics like that,” I say.
“Yeah, now it’s free and right at your fingertips. Technology is great.” Rav swipes over the screen until he finds more X-rated photos. “You can pay for access to the hardcore stuff too. Like, just regular girls.”
Rooster rolls his eyes. “You’re a degenerate.”
“I’m a healthy, average, red-blooded man.”
“At least you admit you’re average.” Sparky cackles at his own joke.
“Holy shit!” Ravage jolts, throwing his arms in the air. “Look who materialized from the basement. Announce yourself next time, ya sneaky stoner.”
“Boss said we had church.” Sparky glances around. “Where is everyone?”
“Don’t know.” Ravage settles into the couch again. “I’m introducing Grinder to Instagram. There’s so many other places—Oh! Brother, we’ve got online hookup apps now too. Empire isn’t crawling with high-quality tail, but if you’re willing to travel a little—”
“For fuck’s sake,” Rooster growls. “Really?”
“Can we wrap up the porn lessons for ex-cons?” I snarl. “I’d like to finish talking to Rooster about my actual concern.”
“What’s wrong?” Sparky asks.
“It’s personal.”
“Yikes.” Sparky puts his hands in the air and walks away backwards all the way to the hallway leading to the dining room. Rav jumps up and follows him, asking about edibles.
“Eh, I shouldn’t snap at Sparky,” I grumble.
“He won’t remember by the time we sit down for church,” Jigsaw assures me.
“So, Serena’s got a nice little following. Half a million subscribers is no joke,” Rooster says without looking away from his screen. “Lots of engagement with her videos on each platform.” He squints and studies the screen. “I fucking hate fucking TikTok,” he mutters, casting a furtive glance over his shoulder. “Thank fuck Shelby hasn’t had any interest in it, and Greg still doesn’t even know what the fuck it is yet.”
Jigsaw chortles.
“There’s more of those fucking…apps?” I ask. “More creeps?”
“It’s a sea of creeps.” Jigsaw spreads his arms wide. “An ocean of lonely, pathetic creeps, crawling out from under rocks and squinting at the sunshine for the first time.”
“Fantastic.”
The front door opens and Murphy strolls in, followed by Steer and Z.
Rooster passes Serena’s phone to me. “You ever got questions about any of it, just ask me, brother,” he says in a low voice.
“Yeah, don’t ask Ravage,” Jigsaw adds. “Unless you want to learn how to transmit herpes through Bluetooth.”
What. The. Fuck?
Rooster slaps Jigsaw. “He’s kidding. That’s not possible.”
“If there’s a way, Ravage will discover it,” Jigsaw assures me.
What a great time to be alive.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Grinder
Serena’s waiting outside the war room when we emerge from church. “One second, Serena,” I say, holding up my hand.
“Okay.”
The clubhouse is starting to fill with people. I duck inside the war room to catch Rock and Wrath before they leave.
“What’s up, Gray?” Rock asks.
“You need me anymore tonight?”
“No,” Rock answers slowly.
“What’s wrong?” Wrath asks.
“Nothing. I got hassled by my parole officer for breaking curfew the other night. So I’ll probably jet by nine.”
“Seriously?” Z asks. “The fuck?” He shoots a glare at Wrath.
“Shit, brother. I thought we had that worked out,” Wrath says. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I got less than a year left of dealing with that bullshit.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Z says.
“No. Don’t. If he’s already got it out for me…I don’t want to do anything that might make it worse.” I’ve had some time to think it over. “I’ll lay low.”
“How’d you get out of it?” Wrath asks.
I laugh and run my hand over the back of my neck. Can’t believe I’m going to admit this in front of my brothers. “I was out with Serena. She explained we were at a play to him.”
At the mention of Serena’s name, Murphy’s head snaps up.
Wrath stares at me. “At. A. Play?”
“A musical or whatever. A friend of hers was in it.” I wave it off. “That’s not the point.”
The corners of Rock’s mouth twitch. “Sounds like a good night.”
“It was. Until that jackass showed up.”
“You sure you don’t want me to try and handle it?” Z asks.
“Nah, let it ride.”
“All right, but if it gets worse, let us know,” Rock says.
“I will,” I promise.
I leave them to their officers-only pep rally and search for my girl. Hope smiles and waves at me from the couch in the corner. I approach her slowly, scanning the room for Serena.