Chapter 25 You Bitches Are the Shit
TWENTY-FIVE
YOU BITCHES ARE THE SHIT
It was post pork chops, potatoes and roasted carrots that Gabe and I had thrown together in his kitchen (he was impressed with my use of mayo and Dijon to get the panko to stick to the pork chops, so dinner was a win for me).
It was also post hearing word that the parental units were safely back in Prescott and headed into town to find somewhere to eat dinner.
We were cuddling on the couch in the last minutes we had to cuddle before I had to head to the storage units to meet up with the girls and go see Titus.
Gabe was fiddling with a lock of my hair and seemingly happy being quiet and Zen.
I was multitasking. Wallowing in a moment of peace and stillness in a life overflowing with busy, enjoying Gabe playing with my hair and thrilled he seemed happy being quiet and Zen.
Gabe broke the silence.
“Drove by this afternoon, didn’t have time to stop, but saw your sign. It’s even better than the picture.”
This caused me to feel so much, I shifted up and shoved my face in the side of his neck.
“Your cupcakes are the best I’ve ever had, baby. Cookies too,” he said softly. “You’re already killing it. This means you got the chance to own it completely. And you’re gonna do that.”
He mistook my movements.
I wasn’t worried that I wouldn’t do Tex, Tito, Mom and Robbie, but mostly myself, proud (okay, I was, but not overly worried).
I was thrilled I had a man who would take time out of his busy day to drive by that sign.
I didn’t correct him about that because now I was dealing with having a man who believed in me and didn’t mind sharing it.
Instead, I whispered, “Yeah.”
“Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m super fuckin’ glad you’re pulling Titus into this sitch.”
I lifted my head to look down at him. “Why?”
“Because Titus is not a gung-ho type of guy. He’s thoughtful. Methodical. And he’ll take risks, but they’ll be calculated.”
Although I could have guessed this, it was good to have it confirmed.
“Also because he thinks the world of you women,” Gabe continued. “So he’s gonna tell you what you need to know and advise you on how to sort it. Listen to his advice. He’s probably gonna know the players, so he’s gonna know the right plays.”
I nodded.
We were already going to do that, hence our meeting with Titus.
Though, it was also nice to have it confirmed that Titus “thought the world” of us.
“How much you got to do on your orders for tomorrow?” Gabe asked.
“The cookies are decorated and bagged. The cakes are baked and crumb coated. I just need to spend a couple of hours decorating them, deliver by two, and then I’m done.”
“Good. But want you in bed early tonight. If shit is gonna go down tomorrow, you need to be rested and ready to be sharp.”
I was getting bossy Gabe because we were barreling toward the iffy part of the mission, and he was worried.
Therefore, I didn’t inform him we were talking to Titus so Titus could help us, therefore we weren’t going to ignore what he said.
Also, I’d already planned to get good rest so I could be all I needed to be for tomorrow night.
This was why I busted my ass to get all the cookies decorated and bagged.
I just said, “Gotcha.”
He looked at his watch then to me. “You gotta go.”
Ugh.
I wanted Duane to be out from under this, but in that moment, I didn’t want to move an inch.
Gabe rolled into me, kissed me long and wet (and now I wanted to go even less), and then pulled us out of the couch.
“Go,” he ordered on a little scooch with his hand on my ass.
“Don’t wait up for me,” I bid as I headed to my purse on the island.
“Don’t be late,” he replied.
We had to wait for everyone to be off shift, so our meeting with Titus was at eight. I figured planning a complicated operation took more than half an hour.
Still, I said, “I’ll try.”
As I walked to the garage door, I looked back at him to see him, arms crossed on his chest, feet planted, watching me go.
Thus, with that in my vision, of course, I smiled.
Gabe smiled back.
That hit me in all the right places.
So I was good.
Therefore, I left.
* * *
We were at AAHQ, all of us reading through the briefing Arthur sent about Amy Small and William Dexter—save Raye and Luna, who’d already read it.
After Raye gave us a few minutes to look it over, she launched into a verbal briefing that was briefer than what we had in our hands.
“So, Amy and Dexter are a couple. They’ve been together for years.
It was Amy who hooked her son up in Dexter’s piddly-ass operation,” Raye said.
“And it doesn’t seem like they’re all that great at what they do.
Low level shit. Lots of arrests, including Amy, who’s been arrested seven times, most of them misdemeanors, but one she pled out, the other she did six months for. ”
I was flipping the page to the list of known associates and members of Dexter’s ragtag “gang.”
There was a short list of active crew members (this being three of them, including Dexter).
There was a long list under the heading: Incarcerated.
Mm-hmm, didn’t seem like these guys were even close to criminal masterminds.
This was my thought when Luna chimed in.
“So we figure it was Amy who clocked Duane and marked him to mess with. Duane says he’s supposed to pick up something from them tomorrow night at ten thirty.
Deliver it. Good guess, it’s money. He’ll then accept what they’ve got to give to him and return that to whoever is gonna front Dexter’s crew, doing this for the supposed release of Amy.
Another guess, what he’s supposed to pick up is drugs. ”
I was reading about what Dillon did to get incarcerated.
Thus, I said, “So apparently, Dillon was the instigator of the aggravated part of the burglary. While another member of their crew held the family at gunpoint, Dillon pistol-whipped the husband-slash-dad right in front of them.”
“Yup,” Luna said. “The dad took one hit, then got pissed, fought back, disarmed Dillon. Being the tight crew they are, the other guy left Dillon, made a run for it, but the dad held Dillon at gunpoint with his own weapon while his wife called it in. The cops found the other guy that night because, evidently, he didn’t think maybe he shouldn’t go to his usual hangout after a felony he was committing went bad.
And being the tight crew they are, Dillon ratted him out almost immediately.
They grabbed him while he was enjoying a beer post burglary gone bad,” Luna finished.
“It really doesn’t sound like these people are playing with a full deck,” Joey noted.
“Agreed, so that makes them unpredictable because you can’t predict stupid,” Raye replied, for the first time sounding a little squiffy about this job. “It’ll make me feel better to get Titus’s take on it. So, unless anyone else has anything to say, it’s time to roll to the man cave.”
No one had anything to say, which was why we headed out to the cars.
While we did, in the middle of finding Shanti to see how she was feeling about a return to the man cave after her crash and burn with Titus, I noticed Harlow seemed distracted.
“You okay?” I asked her.
She looked at me and announced, “Javi has decided to have a sit down with his father.”
At this news, every Angel stopped dead.
“No shit?’ Jessie asked.
Harlow nodded and turned to Raye. “I’m sorry, Raye. He’s going to do this on Sunday, and even though I knew it was probably coming, and I know my man has it together, still, I’m worried about him.”
“Of course,” Raye replied.
And yeah.
Of course.
To say Javi’s dad was absentee was an insult to absentee dads, and the results of him checking out of Javi’s life were catastrophic, so we all got why Harlow would be worried about him.
“Humans are tribal,” Gemma said, reaching to take Harlow’s hand. “We crave family. Connection. I mean, even Duane, who seems totally down and out, like he’s given up, but that Amy woman offered him a connection, and he grabbed at it.”
“Yeah, and look what happened to him,” Harlow replied.
Gemma scrunched her face.
Jessie bellied up to her bestie (that meant Harlow).
“What happened to him was the people he really connected with, us, Jinx, Persia, Skyla, all the rest, found out someone was fucking with him, and here we are.” She threw out her arms. “I wouldn’t give Javi’s dad a chance.
But that’s me. Javi is Javi because he would.
You don’t know what’s going to come of it.
It might be nothing. It might be awful. But it might be something really good for Javi.
Whatever’s gonna happen, he’ll be strong enough to handle it, and so will you. ”
Harlow’s lips were trembling. “Thanks, Jess.”
“But if you need to bow out of this tomorrow because your head is with Javi, we’ll get it,” Luna put in.
Harlow turned to her. “Thanks, Loon.”
“You good?” Raye asked.
Harlow nodded.
“We ready to roll?” Raye asked.
In answer to that, we separated to get in the cars.
Shanti was driving ours, and quickly, before Joey and Gemma got in, I scrambled in and asked her, “You okay with going to the man cave?”
She turned and looked at me with a bemused expression. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because the…you know,” I reminded her as Joey and Gemma climbed in.
Shanti seemed confused another beat (however, I didn’t know if she was actually confused, or faking confused) before she said, “Oh yeah. Right. I’m over that. I gave it a shot. He wasn’t into it. No other direction to go but onward.”
This was true.
Still.
“Everything cool?” Joey asked from the back.
“Everything is awesome,” Shanti said cheerfully and started up the Sportage.
And I guessed I had to believe Shanti wasn’t fibbing, because that was when we rolled.
* * *
Titus sat in his big chair (throne?) on his dais under the kickass portrait of himself, while the Angels lounged in the tan, buttery leather couches, or on barstools, or in Jessie’s case, worked behind the fully appointed wet bar to keep us supplied with cocktails.