Page 100 of Dreadful

I dig my teeth into my bottom lip.

Lola’s head whips toward me. “You stole Coach Miller’s car? You told me you had no idea who did that.”

I shrug. “I didn’t want to get caught, and you were kind of a narc back then.”

Lola scoffs and pushes away from me to stand at her full height—which is exactly my height. “You take that back right now.”

I fight a grin. “We all make mistakes when we’re young. Besides, we only stole it for an afternoon.”

“Oh, great.” She rolls her eyes. “Well, that’s completely different then.”

Gage lifts both hands while Cruz laughs under his breath.

“My point,” Gage says, “is Ryder was always down for stupid shit, but there’s a pretty big fucking difference between stealing Coach Miller’s car and robbing his employer, who also happens to be the military.”

“Slight escalation,” Lola says.

“Marginal at best,” I agree.

The two of us share a look before Rafe pushes away from the wall.

“How much did he say again?”

“At least five,” Cruz answers.

Gage whistles low through his teeth. “That kind of money could retire us permanently.”

A humorless sound comes from Cruz. “As if Coco would ever release her claws long enough for that.”

My attention flicks toward him.

His thumb is worrying that same scratch in the stool again, harder this time, and the drawn look he's worn since the storage unit hasn't gone anywhere.

Lola must catch the same opening I do because she clears her throat. “Speaking of Coco, if we do this⁠—”

“No one said we're doing this,” Bishop cuts in.

Lola rolls her eyes. “If we do this, what's Coco's split?”

The garage goes silent.

My gaze cuts to Cruz. As far as I know, he still hasn't told his brothers what we found. I keep my mouth shut. It isn't my secret to tell.

“We cut her in,” Bishop says.

“Do we?” Cruz lifts his gaze to meet his brother's, one eyebrow arching.

Bishop nods once. “Of course we do. We always cut her in.”

“Right.” Cruz draws the word out slowly. “If we use her resources. If it's her idea. If she brings us the job.” He leans forward, resting his forearms against his thighs. “But this isn't her resource. This isn't her idea. Ryder isn't her contact. We're not using her routes or her people, and she's not even fucking here.”

His voice stays measured and even, but I can feel something volatile moving beneath it. It's been there since the storage unit, building pressure beneath that easy Cruz exterior until I'm starting to wonder how much longer he can keep it contained.

Gage's brow furrows. “Are you saying we should cut our mother out?”

Cruz's gaze slides toward him. “I'm saying if we do it, we're doing the recon. We're taking the risk. We're putting the whole fucking thing together.”

Rafe looks at him. “You want to cut Coco out completely?”