I almost snicker as I picture her back in the Chaput parking lot freaking out about her bullet scrape. It makes more sense now.

Veronica ignores the dude and absently waves a hand at him. “Rook, this is Tiny. Tiny, Rook. Rook here needs to girl-talk with me. You don’t mind, do ya, Tiny?”

The big biker smiles at me through his full beard and I force one back as well to be polite. “Nah, you girls just go right ahead.”

Veronica offers me an extra face mask and visor shield, but I hold up my hand and refuse. “OK, Rook, spill it. What’s up?” She slips her gloves off, washes her hands, and then snaps on a new pair, grabs her inkwell, flips down her clear plastic face shield like she’s getting ready to do some welding, and the buzzing starts up again.

She is one strange chick.

“Well, it’s sorta private, ya know? Like, I’m not sure I should—”

“Rook,” she puffs through her mask, “we’ve got a pool running on how long it would take you to come by asking questions about your new roommates. It’s no secret that Spence, Ford, and Ronin are knee-deep in controversy and shit. So just tell me what’s on your mind.”

I sigh and then try for vagueness so I don’t involuntarily let out any new secrets. “OK, let’s start with the murder charges. True or not?”

“True,” Veronica says. “At least the charges part is. I have no idea if they actually did it, but everyone knows the state dropped the charges because of a procedural technicality.”

OK, that I figured. Obviously, since it was in the paper and all. “How about drug-dealing?”

Veronica snorts at this one. “That’s a first for me. Who says they deal drugs?”

“My math tutor had a print-out of a file the FBI is keeping on Ronin, and it said something about dealing coke, grand larceny, and…” I look around, then down at Tiny, who is all ears, just soaking up my girl gossip. “And something else that I won’t repeat.”

“Do you think Ronin’s dealing coke? I mean, you’ve lived with him for a few months, right?”

“I can’t see it, Veronica. I can’t see any of it to be honest. He seems like a really good guy. You saw that party he gave me. And yeah, Spencer throws that danger vibe at times, but he’s pretty normal as far as I can tell.”

“How about Ford?”

She stops the tattoo machine and then all four of the Vaughn brothers appear in her doorway and the place is suddenly very quiet, like everyone wants to hear my answer. I shake my head nervously. “I’m not talking to an audience, guys.”

Vic steps forward. He appears to be the oldest and he’s definitely the biggest, so maybe he’s like the family ringleader. “Hey, you came here to talk to us. Not the other way around.”

“I came to talk to Veronica.”

“Veronica is a package deal. You talk to her, you talk to us. Besides, she’s been dating that f**k Spencer for years now, and I’m curious about these guys. So tell us what you think of Ford.”

I guess that’s fair. At any rate, I don’t have a lot of room to negotiate. Either I give him what he wants so I can get their opinion on things, or I walk out. And I really need a second opinion on things, even if it is over a tattoo machine instead of coffee. “Ford’s good to me and we spend a lot of time together. I like him a lot. But there’s just some weird shit going down and I’m trying to figure out who to trust. I don’t need to know the specifics, Veronica. I just want to know if you think they’re OK.”

“Well, aside from Ford, I’d say yeah. Ronin and Spencer are good guys. But Ford…” She shakes her head at me. “I’m sorry, Rook. You saw that display at your party. He keeps those girls as his pleasure slaves.”

I swallow hard as Ford’s words come back from the exit interview for the pilot show. I’m not a good guy, Rook. I’m not even close to a good guy.

This cannot be happening. Seriously cannot be happening. “Against their will? Does he keep them against their will? Or is it mutual? He took her to the party, surely it must be mutual?”

Veronica shrugs. “How should I know? You’re his friend, do you think he keeps them against their will?”

I’m not sure. In fact, I have no idea whatsoever. I’ve never seen Ford outside our little friendship sphere. I only found out his last name because Gage blurted it out last week. “Well, that’s all I needed, I guess I’ll go.” I get up to walk out but all four of the Vaughn brothers are still standing in the doorway. Blocking it. “Excuse me,” I say nervously. The hard bodies part and I slip through. I walk quickly down the hallway, round the corner to the front reception area, and I’m just about to break through the door when a hand grabs me from behind.

“Hold on, Rook,” Vic says softly as his grip loosens. “I’d like to give you my opinion.”

I shake my head. “No, I’ve heard enough, Vic. I’m not interested.”

“Well, you’re gonna get it anyway. So, for what it’s worth, I like Spencer. Just don’t tell him that because we have this whole ‘I’ll kill you if you f**k over my sister’ thing going.” And then Vic smiles down at me and my heart slows a little at his unexpected quiet voice and gentle touch. “You know, he plays tough guy. And he’s got the shit to back it up. And maybe that reputation he has is even halfway true. Maybe he did kill that guy? I have no idea. But I let him take my sister out, so you know, I think he’s OK.”