Stay Vertical by Layla Wolfe Page A

the urban legend went. Whoever that was had no doubt started the entire rumor mill going.
    “Don’t answer that!” Slushy barked, shaping his hand into a gun and pointing it at Ford. “You have reasonable cause to apprehend danger from a direct answer!”
    To my surprise, Ford wasn’t denying anything. He even had that helpless, guilty look. His hands flapped around pointlessly, and not many actual words were coming out of his mouth.
    Slushy must’ve picked up on this, too, for he got between Lytton and Ford. Taking Ford by the forearms, he rattled him. “This can’t be answered without injurious disclosure. You have no obligation to respond, Ford!”
    Lytton’s voice was low and dangerous. “There’s my answer. Yup. There’s my fucking answer. You. Turk Blackburn.” It was Turk’s turn to jump as Lytton levelled his ire at him. “Yes, you, Bong Breath. You were there in the desert near Nogales when this colossal asswad decided to play God and snuffed out my father’s life.”
    Turk put a hand on his chest. “Me? Who said I was there?”
    Lytton sliced the air with his hand. “About thirty separate rumors, which all add up to one colossal truth.”
    Slushy turned his efforts against Lytton now. “Mr. Driving Hawk. I have to ask you to desist from this sort of innuendo. It’s neither constructive nor productive, and it’s bordering on slanderous. You’re ensnaring my client with ambiguous circumstances.”
    Lytton narrowed his eyes at the thin-haired lawyer. “Oh, there’s nothing ambiguous about this.”
    Ford popped out from behind Slushy, moving him aside. “It’s all right, Slushy. The guy has a legitimate accusation and I should address it.”
    Slushy persisted. “Over my dead body. You have the right to remain silent, Ford!”
    “I have my answer already, Mr. McGill,” Lytton said, almost wearily. “I’d just like to hear it from the fucking horse’s mouth.”
    Even Slushy finally stopped talking. He looked as though he just wanted to sink into the wall because he could not shut his client up now. I knew there was no turning back from this shit. I even shrank back against the wall, linking Madison’s arm in mine. At least two of the men in the room were armed.
    Ford lowered his voice now, but he looked Lytton straight in the eye. “I shot Cropper Illuminati, yes, in the desert outside Nogales. He was a dirty fucking lowdown son of a bitch—just ask anyone in the club. As for the rest, that’s club business. You just have to trust me and believe me when I tell you, Cropper needed to die. I needed to end him.” He spoke like a pastor giving a reassuring sermon to his flock.
    It seemed for a second that Lytton might be reassured by Ford, too. He seemed to be taking this all in stride. He nodded in assent to what he already knew to be true. I could feel Madison stop breathing. And everyone probably wished Ford would shut the hell up.
    But I saw what Ford was doing. He was showing his newfound brother respect. He was attempting to build trust by confiding in him something that potentially could send him to prison for life. Nobody would care if Cropper was a creep who needed to be taken out. The eyes of the law would just look at facts. Ford was placing a huge trust in Lytton just telling him this shit. He could’ve easily denied it, and that would’ve been the end of it. There might not have been any trust between the two men if Ford never told Lytton, but Lytton would never know this hugely incriminating detail about last year’s explosion near the border.
    Ford exhaled. “And now that you know the truth, I want to welcome you to the brotherhood, brother.” Ford made a motion as if to give Lytton the soul handshake and the hug that was a giant thump on the back.
    Lytton backed away, holding his hands up as though Ford were a rattlesnake. His voice wavered with fear and loathing. “Not a chance, brother . I appreciate you coming clean with me. But I don’t give a flying fuck what