Blood In The Water

Chapter 2- Top Tier

The night was passing quickly and the sun was rising slightly behind the four men as they whispered to each other. Most everyone had left except for the bartender who was glaring at them as he washed out and brought them drinks. "I don't know what to tell you, Joel, you expect me to be all on board and I don't know what to tell you." Scotty sighed, rubbing his temples and leaning back, sweeping his hair and crossing his arms. Joel slammed his fist on the table, making the ice in their drinks clank together as Sam glared at him. "I expect you to at least help, you didn't do jack for any of us when we were in jail. All I'm asking for is the information and you don't have to touch anything." Joel defended himself, trying hard to keep his voice down but his dark eyes blazed as he evenly met Scotty's mismatched ones. "Maybe I didn't bust you morons out because I didn't want to get in either. It's bad enough that I've got these, you think I want to stroll into a slammer?" Scotty threw his hands back and leaned forward again, pointing to his tattoos only inches from a snarling Joel. "Don't even act like you aren't proud of those!" Damien snapped, lifting his chin as Scotty turned to face him, the youngest looked utterly done with the conversation. He leaned back with his arms crossed and a drink settled in his chest that he'd hardly touched.

Sam was silently looking from one to the other with a cigar between his teeth but he also looked over everything being said. "You wanna answer him, Scotty?" Joel growled, smirking at Scotty who glared at him and shrugged as he stared at the floor. "I do what I have to do, I don't ask for medallions but they help when I want them to, kill when they have to." Damien sipped his drink, setting it back and spreading his hands on the table to continue arguing. "I guess I am, alright? What's the big idea here, Joel?" Scotty muttered with a snap, side eyeing Damien who was nodding along with wide eyes as Joel clapped. "He's on board! And because of those trophies." Sam cackled, making Scotty stiffen as he realized that probably sounded mentally insane. "They aren't trophies. They're... okay fine, so they're trophies." Scotty waved his hands pleasingly, earning an echo of laughter that he couldn't help hut join.

Maybe they were all kind of mental, its what they stood for. "So that's what we need to steal, which is the reason I called you." Joel explained, rolling up his cuff with the burns along his arms just visible as he flashed the pictured drive again. "Well what do you expect us to do?" Damien asked, shrugging as he spun the picture to examine it critically, biting his lip as he looked from the drive to his friends. Joel nodded, pulling a pen from his jacket and writing on the edge of his napkin, focused. "We haven't seen each other in a while, none of you have met someone else I hired." Everyone froze as Joel lifted his head and tore the writing apart from the napkin, sighing as he reread it. "What? We've been together for four years and you suddenly want to add someone else to this? On a heist that could make or break our career?" Sam snapped, he looked livid as he bit down hard on the edge of his cigar and made a puff of smoke circle his head. Scotty rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Joel who poker his tongue to his cheek and sighed at Sam. "I don't think you understand, this is life or death, like you said, it could make or break our career. Why don't you think I should call someone to finish things up?" Joel shot back, earning an elbow from Damien who warned the leader as Sam stiffened with a sneer. "I don't know what happened when you were a kid and honestly it's not my business, when you start to doubt us it becomes a problem. You don't trust us, do you?" They froze as Sam hit the sensitive topic and even Damien took his drink and leaned away. "You're right, it isn't your buisness, it's my business that you don't die. Is that fair or not, Sam?" Joel hissed, leaning closer to Sam who made a face but didn't continue.

An eery quiet fell between them as Scotty let his gaze fix on Joel, knowing he was trying to pull himself back. "Good, let's get back to the mansion, bartender on your left." Joel lowered his voice and stood, hurriedly putting the napkin and picture away and plastering on a fake smile. Scotty glanced over his shoulder and nodded to the well dressed man, finishing his drink and sliding it beside Damien.