Hush - Fighting Fate #2 (12 page)

Pock turned the radio off when we were a few blocks away from Hal’s Bar. “Jay’s been here since midday so he should be just drunk enough not to put up too much of a fight. We’ll take him out the back. There’s enough coverage there that we won’t be seen from anyone passing on the street.”

Vinnie grunted his agreement. I just nodded.

Not having seen Jay before, I followed behind Pock and Vinnie as they sauntered into the bar. They caught sight of Jay the second they set foot in the door and didn’t stop for niceties.

“Hey there, Jay,” Vinnie said, pulling the guy to his feet and draping his arm over Jay’s shoulders. He patted him firmly on the back while discreetly directing him towards the back exit. “It’s good to see you again, man. We hear you’ve been busy.”

Jay was stunned for the first part, but then he became panicked. He tried to shove Vinnie off him, but it was too late for that. With one hard shove, Pock had him out the door.

Jay started swinging and kicking. Just the way I liked them. Before Vinnie released him, I lashed out with a swift punch to his gut. He hunched over, winded as Vinnie dropped him to the ground. But the guy was quick. Before anyone of us had the chance to pull out our piece, Jay had one in his hand.

Instincts kicked in, and I lurched forward with a sharp block, knocking his arm sideways as I threw another jab into his stomach – this time with my left, and finishing with a swift elbow to his jaw wi
th my right. As he went down, I locked his arm in an arm bar, hyper-extending it with a satisfying crack.

Jay screamed out in pain as I held his arm at an unnatural angle. His gun fell from his grip, scattering across the pavement. Vinnie jumped in with a couple of hard kicks to his ribs, while Pock shoved his gun hard into Jay’s temple.

A voice called out from somewhere inside, alerting us that we’d been seen.

“Vinnie, go get the car and bring it to the end of the alley,” I ordered roughly. The last thing we needed was to get caught in this bullshit. It would mean an extended period of time lying low, and I didn’t want this operation to go any longer than it needed to.

Vinnie glanced at Pock, but disappeared without another word.

Pock sneered at Jay
and started searching his pockets, pulling out a number of baggies. “TJ sends his regards with a message. If he so much as fucking sees you at the shop buying fucking milk, we’ll break your fucking legs. Got it?” He pushed the gun harder into Jay’s temple to reiterate his point.

Jay merely groaned. I kn
ew he was close to passing out.

We heard a car screech to a stop further down the alley. Damn, Vinnie had some speed moves. Pock slammed the butt of the gun down hard on Jay’s head before kicking him a couple more times.

I released Jay’s arm and we took off down the alley to where Vinnie was waiting. Leaning back in the rear seat of the Camry, I clenched my teeth. That hadn’t been nearly as satisfying as I thought it’d be.

“What the fuck?”

I looked up at the sound of Pock’s voice to see him inspecting the baggies he’d pulled off Jay.

“What’s up?”
I asked, alerted by the sharpness of his tone. He held one up for me to inspect, and I squinted at it, taking in the pale blue tablets with the dark blue X on them. “What the fuck?”

They looked exactly like TJ’s brand, only slightly bigger. The difference would be hard to make from a buyer’s perspective, but to us it was obvious.

Vinnie grunted. “TJ’s not goin’ to be happy about this.”

No crap.

And he wasn’t. The second he saw the counterfeit pills, he let loose with a string of curses that went on for a good half an hour. The fact that someone was trying to pass off crap product as his sent him into a black rage. Whoever was responsible would be dead the second they were found.

With the big delivery coming soon, it wasn’t the best timing. All of a sudden, everybody was under suspicion. To make matters worse, TJ’s
cell pinged, announcing Ken was requiring another three bundles.

“I don’t like this,” Davo said with a growl.
“He’s been increasing his purchases too much lately.”

I frowned, mulling it over in my head. “
It doesn’t make any sense. You’d think if someone was selling these fakes in our territory, Ken’s sales would go down, not up.”

TJ nodded, the crease between his eyebrows deeper than I’d ever seen. “You’d think. That’s what I don’t get. We need to start doing some recons. I need to find whoever’s behind this, and they need to be taken care of.”

They sure as fuck did.

Chapter 23

Kaeli

Driving home from the park, I
couldn’t help but feel so incredibly grateful for the group of friends I’d found over the last few months. I was always so amazed at how much they all really cared about one another, and it was nice to be a part of something like that. It felt good.

My body hummed with it as I parked the car, and I found myself smiling. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d come home smiling, but I liked it.

Unfortunately, it only lasted until I made it inside and saw Aaron standing in the living room with Ken’s brown bag by his feet. As Mia would say: Reality was a serious bitch.

Aaron smirked
when he saw me. “Good timing, sis. Daddy dearest has a job for you.”

My stomach
dropped and my hands clenched into fists at my sides. I didn’t want to do it.

I shook my head.

Aaron’s eyebrow went up slowly. “No? Okay then. Let me just text Dad and let him know he’ll have to get someone else.” He pulled out his cell and started tapping away.

Fuck! I clenched my teeth together hard. “Fuck off
, Aaron. Just give me the god damned bag.”

He lowered the
cell and smirked at me again, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked me over. “They fuck you real good there, don’t they? Bet you love it too, don’t you, you little slut. Maybe I should try you for myself.”

I paled a
little at that. I knew we weren’t blood relatives, but the thought of anything intimate with Aaron was so wrong, it made my stomach revolt. “Don’t even think about it, you disgusting pig.” I picked up the bag and glared at him. I had to get out of there. Like now. “I’m not catching the bus either. I’ll drive myself.”

He shrugged. “Whatever. Like I give a shit.”

I gave him one last hard stare before turning on my heel and storming out.

Throwing the bag on the backseat, I pulled out onto the road. I was probably driving a little too fast, but I was so god damned angry, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

It took half a dozen blocks later for me to realize how stupid I was being. If I got caught speeding or something else, I would be screwed. What if they searched the car? What if they found whatever was in that bag?

Easing off the accelerator, I tried to calm down.
Now that I was away from Aaron, my sensibility meter was poking its gnarled finger at me. I bit back a curse. Driving right to TJ’s door was a mistake. I knew that. Well,
now
I did, anyway. I should’ve taken the bus.

I screamed with frustration
, my shrill voice stinging my ears in the quiet of the car. What I really wanted was to tell Ken to go to hell. I didn’t want to go to the scary as shit house of horrors anymore. Mostly because I didn’t want to be caught up in whatever illegal stuff it was they were doing, but a little of it had to do with the confusion I felt when it came to Mitch.

The more I’d thought about it over the last couple of days, the more I realized how stupid it was for me to think he was pr
otecting me. He was a criminal. A drug dealer and who knew what else. Just because he hadn’t forced me to do anything more than kiss him the two times I’d been there, didn’t mean he wouldn’t do anything else, and I would be insane to think otherwise. Maybe that was his plan. Maybe he was just trying to lull me into some sick sense of comfort before he made his move.

Nausea came to me the second I stopped the car. I knew this could be the time I lost. Anything could happen, and I needed to remind myself of that.

Locking the car, I left it in a small off street parking lot and started to walk the rest of the way to TJ’s.

My heart rate increased with every step I took. By the time I reached the back door to TJ’s house, I was surprised I wasn’t having a full on anxiety attack. The familiar dry mouth and sweaty palms returned as I stepped up to knock.

The door swung open almost immediately, and I was met by hard, black eyes. I remembered seeing this member of TJ’s gang the first time I came. He had dirty blonde hair, dark brown eyes, and a goatee that could rival one of those mean looking bikers. I couldn’t remember his name, but he jerked his head for me to come in.

Hesitantly, I stepped in and followed him through to the next room. All of them were there
, and they all turned their hard eyes on me.

TJ walked up to me slowly, his gaze murderous. I felt the bag get taken out of my hand, but I couldn’t take my eyes off TJ’s to see who it was.

“What’s your part in all this?” he asked me calmly. Too calmly.

I swallowed. I didn’t understand his question. “What do you mean?” My voice came out sounding as small as I felt.

“This,” he said, indicating around him, and to the bag.

I still had no idea what he was trying to get at, but I could see he wanted an answer or he was going to flip the fuck out. “I…I don’t have a part. Ken threatened to hurt my mom if I didn’t deliver this bag to you. That’s it. I’ve never even touched the zipper. I don’t know what’s in it when I come, and I don’t know what’s in it when I leave. And I don’t want to know.”

His eyes narrowed, assessing. “What do you get out of it?”

His question surprised me. What did I get? I wanted to laugh. “
I get to hope that the next time Ken decides to beat on my mom that she lives through it, so I guess I get nothing at all.”

He was silent for a while, his eyes drilling into me like needles. “What are we looking at
, Mac?” he said without taking his eyes off me.

“It’s just like he said
, TJ. Three bags.”

It was hard, but I met TJ’s stare for as long as he held it. After god knows how long, he finally stepped back and turned to the side. “You want her Mitch, or should I give her to Pock?”

My eyes flashed to Mitch and my heart starting racing even more out of control. Was it crazy for me to hope he’d say yes? I wanted that to mean I was just terrified to go with Pock – because I was, but I thought it was more a case of me just wanting Mitch to want me. Stupid, I know.

Mitch’s jaw clenched a little, but he didn’t react the way I was hoping. Instead, he sighed and ran his hand
over his shaved hair. “Yeah, I could use a little release right now I think.”

He took a step towards me, and I don’t know why, but I took a step back. Where was the guy I thought would protect me? This guy was acting nothing like him.

He rolled his eyes at me and grabbed my arm. “Don’t make this hard. I’m not in the fucking mood.”

I closed my eyes against the sting. I’d never felt so alone in my life. I didn’t resist Mitch’s pull, but I didn’t try to stop the tears from sliding down my face either.

Chapter 24

Noah

I was close to losing it. It had taken every ounce of my control not to flip the fuck out when TJ had turned on Kaeli down in the living room. I knew he had no reason to trust Kaeli, but the fear and hopelessness I saw deep in her eyes almost had me coming undone.

The only thing that stopped me was the fact that all the other guys were just as suspicious of her as TJ. That meant I needed to appear to be suspicious too. It wasn’t hard to be an ass to her after that because I turned all my self-loathing into my outwards appearance.

But now that I was alone with her in my room, and was watching her try to shrink into herself against the far wall, I wanted to punch something.

I didn’t bother with the alcohol this time. I knew it wouldn’t do me any good. Instead, I walked over to the bed and slumped down on the edge with my head in my hands. I needed to get her out of this. It was doing me in. I didn’t know how I was supposed to do my job when I was constantly worrying about her.

This latest development was a huge fucking spanner in the works. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if TJ put the whole fucking shipment back until it was sorted, and I really didn’t want that to happen. I’d been at this too fucking long. It was time to get out. I had to finish it.

“Fuck!” I
rubbed my hands over my face with frustration. Was this fucking nightmare ever going to end?

All the things I’d tolerated for the job for the last eighteen months was starting to piss me off. Like the smell of fucking smoke on my clothes.

I lurched to my feet and ripped off my shirt, throwing it to the far side of the room before striding over to the table and planting my palms flat on its surface. Hanging my head, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to regain my fucking composure.