6. Austin

Chapter six

Austin

I fucking knew it. I should have listened to my instincts and pulled out this stupid fucking job when Joel first mentioned it.

But misplaced loyalty and greed had kept me here.

If only I’d listened to my gut, but I’d rushed in headlong, my only thought of getting the fuck away from the life I lived.

And what was it with the casino chip? Fat lot of good that had done. I’d be having a word with The Magic Shop owner if I ever got out of here.

But the longer we sat here, the more I doubted that would happen.

Why were we here?

Dante had more than enough money to spare, and we’d managed a paltry half a million. Nowhere near what we’d expected, but then we’d only been here for a few hours. If we hadn’t got caught, we’d have had plenty of time to amass more.

The burning question was how we’d been caught.

I’d tried not to attract too much attention. I’d shifted rooms, played on different tables, never staying at the same one for too long.

It had to be the blackjack table. I’d been so engrossed in the game I’d sat longer than I normally would, and the pile of chips growing in front of me had been begging for more.

What would happen to us? What was his plan for keeping us here?

Why did he care?

Joel and Freddie whispered and nodded to each other. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish.

We were well and truly stuck here, emphasised by the ropes around my wrists cutting deep.

No amount of wriggling my hands had helped to get them free. If anything, they’d tightened them.

“I need to piss,” Freddie said.

The big guy on the sofa didn’t move a muscle, and Dante still sat tapping away on his computer as if we weren’t even in the same room.

“Did you hear me? I need a fucking piss.” Freddie’s voice became louder, but no one moved or acknowledged him.

“Shut it, Freddie,” I said. We were in no position to demand anything, and honestly, I didn’t think these guys cared one way or the other and were content to let us sit for however long they wanted.

They both appeared so calm and collected. I’d bet this wasn’t the first time they’d tied people up here.

Except I’d seen a flash of something on Dante’s face. His orange eyes had glowed.

Despite my circumstances, I was drawn to his beauty.

A raw power simmered beneath the surface, like a beacon calling to me.

What the fuck was that about? I didn’t know. Our circumstances were less than ideal.

“Come on, man. I’m dying here.” Freddie’s pleas fell on deaf ears. What would they do if Freddie pissed himself?

I’d not yet looked around the room, more concerned with our predicament than where they held us.

The room was plain, utilitarian, mid-grey walls giving the impression of being in a box. The only furniture, a desk and a sofa, more than likely served a purpose, but I didn’t want to contemplate what that purpose was. A dip in the grey floor leading to a round drain definitely didn’t bode well.

The door off to the left, flush with the wall, was accessed by a keypad.

Seemed unlikely to be a bathroom.

Jesus, how long would they keep us here?

I’d not made provision for Grandpa other than this evening. Sandra would have gone home, and the carers wouldn’t arrive until morning. Normally, I’d be going home around two a.m. when I finished work. Would Grandpa be okay?

I took a shaky breath. Fuck, we were in deep shite. If Dante had any intention of letting us go, he’d have done it by now. Maybe he was teaching us a lesson, and by morning, he’d be setting us free with a rap on our knuckles and a warning not to do it again.

But that was unlikely, given he’d said nothing for a while now.

“I’m gonna fucking piss myself if you don’t let me go.” Freddie sounded desperate.

“Hold it, man. I told you not to drink so much,” Joel said.

For once, I felt sorry for Freddie, but there was nothing we could do.

“Look, let him go to the bathroom. I don’t want to sit here with the smell of piss in the room,” I said.

Dante tore his eyes away from his screen and looked at me.

“Why do you care? Surely you’ve more important things to think about. Your grandpa, maybe?”

“I beg your pardon.” How did he know I’d been thinking about him?

He switched his gaze back to his computer.

Soon enough, the unmistakable aroma of fresh piss hit my nose and Freddie’s sobs filled the silent room.

“For fuck’s sake, pull yourself together,” Joel murmured. Freddie had always been the weaker of the four of us. Joel invariably looked out for him more than me and Pete. I didn’t mind. Freddie had had a harsh upbringing.

A life of humiliation and parental abuse. It’d been a wonder social services had not removed him, but people like Freddie often slipped through the cracks. It wasn’t like he had been at school long enough for anyone to investigate further anyway.

“Freddie, everything’s going to be all right. A little longer. Be strong,” I whispered.

I shifted. My arse was getting numb from sitting in this stupid fucking chair.

“What do you want from us?” Joel asked.

Dante pushed back his chair, the legs scraping along the cement floor, and walked over to us.

“I want to know who put you up to this. This wasn’t some random job by amateurs. And that’s what you all are. Amateurs. You’re not fit to play in the big leagues. Petty theft, a few assault charges, but nothing on this scale.”

“It was all my idea,” Joel said. “Now let Freddie go.”

“You see, I’d really love to do that, but I know that’s not true. You, my friend, don’t have the brains you were born with. If you did, you wouldn’t have accepted this job. You’d have done the right thing and walked away. But you didn’t, and now you’re sitting before me with a friend who’s pissed himself and another who isn’t quite what he seems.”

“It was me,” he insisted. I’d give him his due. Joel was trying to take the heat from Freddie. Why wasn’t he giving up his uncle?

Dante chuckled. “Do you hear these clowns, Conrad?”

“Sure do, boss.”

“What was you, Joel? Why don’t you enlighten me?”

“It was my idea, okay? Austin can win at anything and never get caught. I thought we could use his talents to win as much money as we could in one night. We already hit two casinos, but we didn’t get enough.”

Jesus, someone needed to shut him up and now.

“So you thought you’d come to mine and what? Steal from me?”

“It’s not stealing if we win it fair and square.”

“And on that, I would agree. But you’ve just said yourself that Austin can win at anything. So by that logic, you were planning on winning money by means that weren’t fair. He is your lucky charm. Take him out of the equation. How much would you have won?”

We all knew the answer to that one. They’d have not won a fraction of what we’d taken home from the first two hauls, nor this one, although we had been nowhere near done before we’d been caught.

This would definitely have been the big one. The one to give us enough to escape.

Except I knew now that had never been Joel’s intention for him or me.

“Tell him about Nick.” I had no loyalty to that man.

“Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. Who’s Nick?” Dante asked.

“His uncle. Except I don’t think he is,” I said.

“Shut the fuck up, Austin.”

“Why? You had no intention of going anywhere, and what was it your uncle said? We should try to get Austin on the payroll. Don’t think I didn’t hear that.”

“How could you know that? You weren’t even in the house when we talked about that?”

“Don’t you just love dissension in the ranks?” Dante rubbed his hands, a wicked smile on his face. “Grab the popcorn. I’m enjoying this.”

No way I was telling anybody about the chip giving me some kind of invisibility, although right now, that particular benefit seemed to have deserted me.

“I heard enough. Who exactly is Nick? I’ve known you for years, Joel, and I’ve never seen him in your house, not once. Come to think of it, you’ve never mentioned him until recently. Makes me wonder what kind of ‘uncle’ he is.”

Dante rested against his desk, his arms folded, watching our exchange.

“This is so much more interesting than anything on TV. Carry on.”

“I’ve got nothing more to say.” I had no qualms about dropping Nick in it.

“Aw, that’s a shame. Just when it was getting interesting. Anything to add, Joel? I mean, I can easily find out who he is. I have my sources. You were a piece of cake to find, as were your friends. Where’s Pete, by the way? He’s part of your little gang, isn’t he?”

“I’m saying nothing else.” Joel had the same idea as me.

“What about you, Austin? I feel there’s so much more to you than meets the eye.” Dante stared at me intently, and I couldn’t tear my gaze from his. I should feel uncomfortable, scared. I should be begging for him to let me go, but I did nothing.

“I’m nobody. I guess I’m luckier than most.”

“It’s not just luck, though, is it?” He walked towards me and placed his hand on top of my head. “I can feel something in here.”

How was his hand so hot?

Before he’d led me away, I’d slipped on my jacket, and I was glad I had. The room had grown chilly, but his hand warmed me, sending a flush to my cheeks.

Despite the heat, I shivered at his touch. My shoulders dropped, and I rolled my neck, the tension leaving my body.

His hand slipped to the back of my neck. “Yes, I can feel you, Austin, sense you beneath your skin.”

I should care what that meant, but all logic disappeared at his gentle touch. Soft fingers caressed my skin, and when he took them away, my breath went with them.

“Don’t touch him like that.” Joel had no claim on me, and Dante seemed to think so too.

“I can touch whomever I wish. You have no right to dictate to me.”

“You’re just a jumped-up wannabe, pretending to be the devil with your fucking stupid horns and orange contact lenses. Who do you think you are?”

“More than you’ll ever be.”

Was it my imagination, or had the tension in the room thickened? It was definitely hotter, way hotter than before, and most of the heat emanated from Dante. I didn’t doubt he was more than all of us put together.

Why did I have the feeling something bad was going to happen? That Joel’s taunts had woken something.

“Boss?” Conrad shifted on the sofa, a warning in his voice.

“No one disrespects me. Would you like to continue?” Dante’s voice was calm and even but held an unspoken threat. I opened my mouth to warn Joel he might want to stop talking, but the words wouldn’t come, no matter how much I tried.

“You’ve no fucking right to keep us here. When I don’t go home, my uncle will come looking. He knows where we are.”

“Are you threatening me, little boy?”

“Yeah, I’m threatening you. You’re just some two-bit casino owner trying to be something he isn’t. My uncle was right. It’d be so easy to step in and take over this business. You’re shit on his shoes.”

I had never heard Joel talk like this, ever, but now I thought about it, he’d changed over the past few months. We’d always been content with our lot, the minor jobs we did that kept us ticking over. I did it more out of boredom than anything. I already had a job; it just didn’t bring in enough money. When Joel had suggested these stints, telling how easy it was going to be because of me, I’d agreed, when really I should have said no.

And now look where we were. I’d put both Grandpa’s and my life in danger.

Joel fidgeted in his chair, rocking it back and forth.

What the fuck was he trying to do?

“Go on, see if you can get free. I can assure you Conrad has had a lot of practice restraining people. You’ll not escape.”

Joel kept trying to get free and eventually toppled over. His head banged on the floor with a sickening thud.

“You bastard. Let us go,” he shouted.

Gone was Joel’s anger, replaced by fear. Even I could sense it.

“Joel, don’t fight, please.” Freddie spoke for the first time since he’d soiled himself.

“Let us go. Let us go.” Joel continued to struggle, but it was useless.

A cruel smile appeared on Dante’s face, and a sick feeling of foreboding filled me.

I didn’t know what was about to happen, but I knew it couldn’t be good.

“Conrad.” Dante’s voice had dropped an octave, sounding much deeper than it had been.

Conrad righted the chair with Joel still in it as if he weighed nothing.

I’d not taken my gaze from Joel, whose eyes widened in sheer terror as Dante approached him.

My heart beat so quickly, and my breathing shallowed. Dante’s horns, once white, were now black and tinged with red, and had grown to at least six inches.

What the fuck?

“You fuck with me, and you suffer the consequences. I had considered letting you go. I thought maybe I was being a little unfair keeping you here. Perhaps I should have relented and let you go in the morning, teaching your little brain a lesson. But fuck that. You deserve everything you’re going to get.”

Just when I thought he was going to do something, he walked back to his desk and opened a drawer.

He took out two guns. Not semi-automatics but revolvers.

“Don’t shoot me. Please don’t shoot me.”

Tears ran down Joel’s face. I’d only ever seen Joel cry once when he was ten and his dog had died. He’d been inconsolable for a week before he’d shrugged it off. It was then he got into trouble, and we, being the sheep we were, had followed him.

He was the leader of our little gang, and seeing him now pleading for his life upset me in ways I couldn’t explain.

Dante picked up the guns, spun the barrels, and closed them with a resounding click.

“Oh, I’m not going to shoot you.”

So why the hell did he have the guns?

Conrad walked over to me and undid my hands. I shook them out. A tingle shot up as the blood pumped through them.

“You put so much faith in your friend Austin. He’s your lucky charm, remember? Well, let’s see how lucky he is.”

What the fuck? “No way. I’m not doing it. I’m not shooting him.”

“If you’re as lucky as he says you are, you won’t. What do you have to lose?”

“My fucking best friend. That’s what. I can’t. I won’t.” My voice trembled, and my knees shook. This was fucking unreal.

“Austin, Austin, Austin.” Dante approached me, a gun in his outstretched hand. “Take it. Go on.”

How could I escape this?

“No, I can’t. Don’t make me.” I shook my head and backed away.

“Then I don’t have a choice.” He put the muzzle at Freddie’s temple. “You either do this, or I kill Freddie.”

It was an impossible decision. How much did I trust my luck?