Corey clenched his hands into tight fists as Josh lit into Adam.

“Goddammit, Adam, what the fuck was that?” Josh railed.

That hadn’t been at all what they’d planned. “Fuck.” Corey swore as he looked at his hands. He couldn’t stop the shaking. He scanned his friends, clenching his fists at his sides again. Maybe they wouldn’t notice.

Adam looked ready to do damage to Josh if he didn’t let up on him, but those two had grown up together. They always went at it.

Adam’s sneer was in place where it always was, and his pupils looked huge. Corey didn’t know if it was because he was so cranked up or if Adam was on something. They all smoked a little pot sometimes, but Adam had been doing other shit lately. Corey was sure of it.

“The guy was dicking around. We don’t have time for that. If we aren’t in and out on these jobs, we’re going to get caught.” Adam closed in on Josh as he talked, using his size to push Josh back.

Josh stood his ground. “We won’t get caught, but if you pull that shit again, the cops are going to be coming down on us hard. You think they gave a shit about some small-time jewelry stores in the armpit of Dark Falls? Nobody gives a fuck about these places. But if you start beating the shit out of people, they’re going to come looking for us. They’re going to crank up the heat a lot hotter than we can handle.”

Corey couldn’t get the sight of Adam pummeling that store clerk out of his head. Yeah, the guy had been moving slowly, but fuck, Adam had made a mess of him. Josh was splattered in blood from where he’d pulled Adam off the old man.

Tommy shuffled forward. “Drop it, all right, guys? We got what we wanted, and we got in and out without getting caught. Just…” He ran a hand through his hair, and Corey saw he was shaking too. The only one who wasn’t was Adam.

Corey came to stand next to Tommy. “Let’s not do this, okay? We can’t turn on each other.”

Adam’s ice-cold eyes held Josh’s for another minute. He never liked to be shown up or told what to do.

In a dizzying shift, Adam broke into a grin and stepped back, hands raised. “Sure, Tommy. It’s all good. I got carried away when I realized the guy was holding us up on time. Didn’t want him to jack us up, is all.”

The tension broke with that gesture, and the guys all gave some version of an “it’s all right,” as they moved to the living room to unload the duffle bag and look through the stash.

It wouldn’t be a big haul. The places they were hitting had lower end stuff. A lot of gold bracelets and necklaces with chips of diamonds in them instead of larger stones. There were some diamond engagement rings, though, and gemstone necklaces that looked like they could be worth something.

They pawed through it, most of them quiet now. Usually, after a job, they were cranked up. Things had shifted today. It was palpable on the air as it crackled around them.

Corey kept his mouth shut for now, but he was edgy. This wasn’t at all the way this should have gone. None of it was the way it should have gone. They shouldn’t be here. They shouldn’t be doing this.

He watched as Adam packed everything away and passed the bag off to Tommy.

“It’s your turn, Tommy,” Adam said.

Tommy nodded and took the bag. “I’ll head out in the morning.”

The words were unnecessary. It was how they always timed it.

They all nodded, and Corey caught Josh’s eye. There was a warning there. Adam was getting out of hand. Corey wasn’t an idiot. He could see that, too. The only problem was, he wasn’t convinced they could do anything to keep him in line.

He rubbed at his chest. The tightness that seemed to be there all the time now was getting to him. He didn’t like this. Didn’t like any of it. But there wasn’t a way out. He was stuck.