Chloe (Made Men, #3)(24)

Now looking down at it from up here, you wouldn’t even know he had disturbed the open grave or that there was already a man laid to rest.

By tomorrow, a Mary Johnson would be lowered in, according to the already placed grave marker, and the dirt would seal not only her, but the * beneath her.

“Mr. Johnson, you’ll meet Mrs. Johnson tomorrow.”

Picking up his stuff, he admired his work one final time. It was scary how good he had gotten at this now.

Good-bye, Mr. Johnson. I’ll bring you more friends soon.





Twenty-Four





I’m Gonna Pass. I’m Not into Dick





Parking his car behind Nero’s and Vincent’s on the street, he got out, wondering why Nero had dragged them to Stephanie’s house late at night.

“Did you take long enough to f*cking get here, Amo?” Nero asked him.

“Listen, if we’re here to have a foursome with Stephanie, I’m gonna pass. I’m not into dick,” Amo retorted.

“The last thing I would want to see is your dick. Besides, you don’t have to worry”—Nero flashed a smile—“I already took care of Stephanie, and even though I just dropped her off, I’m sure she’s already passed out.”

Vincent flashed his own smile. “I bet I could wake her up.”

“For f*ck’s sake.” Amo was on the verge of a headache. “Can you just tell me why I’m here? Then you two can go back to sucking your own dicks.”

Nero’s face turned dark, getting serious. “There was a murder tonight.”

Blankly staring at him for a moment, Vincent still wanted to know why he was here. “Okay …?”

“Who gives a shit?” Amo was clearly as unimpressed as Vincent. Their fathers all worked in the same line, and killing sometimes just came with the territory.

“Well, my father just gave me my first job.” That piece of information from Nero certainly made them give a shit. “And when I finish it, I’ll be in.”

Now he knew why they were there. “Can we get in on it?”

“I don’t know yet. It depends on how difficult sh—the job gets.”

“You can’t tell us what the job is?” Vincent asked.

Nero shook his head. “Not yet. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up.”

Amo and Vincent nodded their heads in understanding before they all went back to their cars.

Getting back into his car, Amo felt his blood start to pump. He was closer than ever to following in his father’s footsteps. It was a day he had been dreaming of for as long as he could remember.

The day I become a made man.



*

“This is the best day of my life!” Chloe almost couldn’t believe it when those words passed her lips as they headed toward the cafeteria. It was the first time ever Cassandra hadn’t come to school, and not one person had said anything to them. She hadn’t heard “freak” or “waitress” all day.

Elle chuckled. “I know. Best freaking day ever. I wonder why Cassandra isn’t here.”

“Who cares? I never thought one person was the sole reason for high school being such a nightmare for us.” She had thought it was more like Cassandra, Sebastian, Stacy, and Stephanie, plus all the people who wanted to impress them by making fun of her and Elle.

“Yeah, me, either.”

However, they still weren’t stupid, so they reached the cafeteria and got food from the shortest line.

“I have to tell you what happened when you left me this morning. By the way, what the hell? Why did you do that?” Elle asked once they sat down to eat their lunch.

It took her a second to realize what she was even talking about, but then it came to her.

In their first period English class, Elle hadn’t seemed like she was even there. It had seemed like something was wrong, or maybe something had happened, but she had snapped out of it pretty quickly when they had realized Cassandra wasn’t going to be there today. Anyway, Mr. Evans had given them an assignment of writing a short, five-hundred-word essay the day before, and Elle hadn’t turned anything in. Therefore, he had asked to talk with her after class, and that left Chloe getting to second period on her own.

“Because Mr. Evans said he needed to speak with you, not me. I knew it was about you not turning in your essay. He wasn’t going to talk about it in front of me, you know that. Oh, and why didn’t you turn in your essay? It was the first assignment of the semester.”

“I was sick. Listen, I have to tell you something. You’re not going to believe who talked to me and didn’t want me dea—”

“You were sick? Really, that’s the excuse you’re giving me? I hope you didn’t use that on him.” She didn’t believe that bologna for a second.

“Uh, yes, I was sick. That’s the truth, and he believed me. Why can’t you?”

“Probably because, not once have you not turned in an assignment, and you get sick all the time. You practically stay sick. There isn’t anything that goes around that you don’t catch.”

Elle started to look like she was hiding something serious. She was the master at lies, so whatever it was, it must be bad for it to affect her to the point of not being able to pull off a lie.