Tiny Tim полностью

I blinked at him for a moment, as my hands holding my wallet slowly dropped back to my sides. Did they increase his debt or did fucking Logan fucking lie about the amount, even as we were preparing to fucking fix it for him!?

“Did he take you out for drinks and you woke up the next morning in a bathtub full of ice cubes, missing a damn kidney?”

“He gambled. And made us cover his debt.” he informed me, still watching me curiously. When I put up a pensive act instead of responding, he asked. “What?”

“I’m thinking if I shouldn’t just let you guys bust his kneecaps instead of keep paying for his shit.” I answered in an aloof tone, causing the taller one to actually chuckle.

“Well, we wouldn’t go this far. But we’d really like to set this straight. He said he’ll be back by today.”

“Yeah, that was the plan because the Princess’ birthday is today. But something went wrong with Granny’s hip surgery.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that. Why are you not with them?”

“Some of us have to work.” I explained.

“Any way you could reach him? Maybe call him?” I could hear his voice become slightly displeased.

There was no way I could call Logan now, he’d fuck this up. But if they didn’t get an answer immediately, they would simply keep looking for him. And I feared, if I couldn’t pay them off now, they’d probably go to the hospital Granny wasn’t actually in, to put pressure on the rest of the family and thereby expose our legend. If this call played out well, however, it could further deter their suspicions, give whomever I called the opportunity to warn me if they were close by the house, and tell me if anything happened on their end.

“Sure ... let me try calling them real quick.” I said as I pulled out my phone, thinking about which one of them I should call.

Logan was out of the question, he’d panic, screw up, and my still broken rib was protesting when I just thought about fighting two guys. Aaron’s acting skills had just been proven to be non-existent a few days ago, when he tried to cover for his princess. I didn’t know if John had already joined them or was still dealing with his work stuff. I dialed Claire’s phone and she answered surprisingly quickly. I didn’t put the call on speaker, but Claire was one of those people who all but screamed into their mobile phones, so the two guys could probably hear her side of the call anyway.

“Baby?! Everything alright? Did something happen?” I heard her greet me. Me calling her obviously made her believe something was wrong, because her voice sounded like she was preparing herself for the worst.

“Wow, Mom, thanks for the vote of confidence. I haven’t burned the house down. Yet. No, I’m calling ‘cause two of Logan’s friends are here asking for him. He’s not around, is he?” I laughed while turning my back to the guys, so they wouldn’t see my face when I faked the laugh, and hoped Claire would pick up on me uncharacteristically calling her ‘Mom’ in a chipper tone. I also hoped she would notice that I really didn’t want her to go find Logan. It seemed to work, because after only a few seconds she had caught herself and played along.

“Oh ... No, Honey. He’s ... having his shift in the hospital with Mom right now!”

“Damn ... well, is Dad around?”

“Somewhere ... in the garage? Why, what do you need?” she asked, the question at the end sounded a little different from the rest. Was she asking if I needed help? Or was she simply asking for a hint about what she should say?

“Well, could you check if the others are around? Ask if Logan told either of you anything about having debt? Maybe something about gambling?”

“Gambling!?” I heard fake gasp in mock shock, causing me to involuntarily smirk. “Let me go find your father and the others!”

“Whoops. Sorry, Logan.” I said under my breath, but still loud enough for the two guys to hear. While I appreciated her acting, I was worried about Claire actually running around, telling the others that something was going on, causing unnecessary turmoil. I just wanted her to make sure that all of them were accounted for. After a minute or so, Claire came back.

“Well, I asked everyone.” She said, but then didn’t continue. I thought she wasn’t sure what I wanted to hear, so I tried to guide her again.

“None of you knew?” I said, making sure the guys at the door heard that nobody even knew about the debt, so they weren’t likely to steal from them.

“No.”

“Apparently his debt is ten grand! I take it, with Granny in the hospital, you won’t have that lying around?” I said.