35. Chapter Thirty-Five
It is literally killing me that my girl is hurting, and I can’t hold her in my arms. I won’t disrespect Dan at his mother’s funeral, but I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to stay away from his daughter.
She stares at the stick in her hand as they lower her grandmother into the ground.
JD walks up behind me, placing his gun to the back of my head. I get one last look at her before turning around to face him.
“I’ll go.”
The end of his gun pushes into my forehead. “We’ve got a few guys we want you to get rid of,” he says.
Interesting.
“Why don’t you just kill them yourselves?” I ask, giving him a bored look.
“Oh, we don’t want them dead. We have a rule about minors,” he says.
My gaze bounces over his face. “Yeah?”
I know who he’s talking about, and I’ve already got it covered.
“Yeah. There will be too much heat if we take them out. Plus they’re local, if you get what I mean.”
I laugh, heading back to my bike.
“Don’t you want names?” he asks.
“I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting them.” I light a cigarette before firing up my bike.
Later that night, as I’m sleeping, the president himself pays me a visit.
Jackson runs a gloved finger over my dresser as if he’s looking for dust while his VP, Elijah, holds a shotgun to my stomach.
“Wakey, wakey,” Jackson sings.
Elijah pushes the barrel into my gut another inch.
“We said we wanted them gone. Not dead,” Jackson says, getting right to the point of his visit.
“The kid made it, didn’t he?”
“A little harsh, don’t you think?” Jackson asks, sitting on the end of the bed.
I stare at the ceiling. “He touched my girl.”
“Kelsie already made him pay for that.”
That’s when I sit up, not giving a shit the way it makes the gun dig into my flesh. “Yeah, about that,” I growl.
Elijah flips the shotgun around and thrusts the butt of it against my left cheek. Fuck that hurt.
“Watch yourself, prospect.”
That’s when I realize what he’s just said.
Jackson lies back on my bed, making himself comfortable. “Nice touch, though. The whole town got to watch the kid die. Don’t you think he’s awfully young to die on the basketball court from a heart attack?”
“Again, he didn’t die. They shocked the little fuck back to life.”
“It’s all good until the toxicology report comes back.”
Jackson stands, staring down at me. “You’re not allowed to be at the warehouse … yet,” he adds. “I want to see how this plays out.”
“I take it Dan doesn’t know about this?”
Elijah backs away, laughing. “Oh, he knows. That doesn’t mean he likes it, so Kelsie is also off limits.”
“Who do I have to thank for my second chance?” I ask as they politely shut my light off.
Jackson places his finger over his mouth before backing out of the room. “Nighty night, prospect.”
A smile spreads across my face, because it really doesn’t matter who it was. I’m back in.