Chapter 3
“Hey man, did you get what we need?” I ask Phoenix as he places his board in the sand.
“I can’t believe you have to ask that. Of course, I got the information, and I didn’t need to lie to Skylar to get it,” Phoenix snaps back.
“Okay, then spit it out already. I didn’t say you had to lie to her friend. It was just a suggestion. You said her name is Skylar? I assume that is the surfer girl, so what did she say to you?” I ask.
“Listen, man, Skylar is cool. She will kill us if we hurt Meadow, now stop being a dick,” Phoenix says.
Phoenix tells us that Meadow moved back a few months ago, which pisses me off. She has been in our city for a few months, and none of us knew. Meadow has been a part of my soul most of my life, and when she left, I felt like I lost half of who I was. I’ve never been tied up over someone this badly before. Unless you count Aidan, but he literally ties me up.
“We need to find out more, like where she works and where she goes,” I state to Aidan and Phoenix. Hopefully she doesn’t leave again now that she’s seen us. I feel my panic begin to take hold, I take a few deep breaths to calm down—just one step at a time. I like to be in control and have a plan for everything, but since seeing Meadow again, I’ve started to spiral.
“Take a deep breath, Knox. Her friend told me where to find Meadow later. She said to go to the Corner Cafe after four o’clock on Monday. I guess she hangs out there for some reason. Skylar told me to leave you behind, though, because she saw you strike out with Meadow earlier,” Phoenix tells me with a smirk.
“Not go? Are you fucking stupid?! Of course, I am going to go. It’s all of us go or none of us go,” I snap. Who does Skylar think she is? I don’t give a fuck if Meadow and I got off on the wrong foot. She will suck it up and listen to me, listen to us. Talk it out and not run again for no fucking reason. We have a shipment of guns coming in Monday, but that isn’t until after dark. We could spend some time getting to know her again because we aren’t giving her the option to walk away from us this time. She is ours, and it’s about damn time she figures that out.
“Start packing. Let’s go and prepare; we have a shipment arriving tonight. We can’t afford for anything to go wrong like it did the last time,” I say. We had a weapon shipment come in last week, but the port authority employee who usually checks us in was absent. They had a new guy working who isn’t on our payroll, so things got a little dicey down at the docks[KK1] . Our guy had never missed a shipment, so I wonder if a rival got wind of what he was doing for us and killed him.
We will see tonight if our guy is there or not. If not, then we’ll have to get the new guy on board. If that doesn’t work, then I guess he’ll die. I am not afraid of death. I was introduced to it at a young age, but I disagree with people dying for no reason. Unlike my father, I do have a conscience. He has tried his hardest to train me to become a monster like him. Some days, I feel like I may turn into him, but that’s what Phoenix and Aidan are here for; they keep me in line for the most part.
As we head out, I take a moment to stop by Meadow’s spot and say, “Hey sunshine, want me to put some sunscreen on your back? Looks like you’re getting burnt. The only thing that should make your pretty skin red is me.”
“You’re a disgusting pig. Leave me alone, and if you ever see me in public, do me a favor and walk the other way,” she spits back.
“We will see you soon, Meadow. Don’t hide from us; we will find you. It’s past time we get to know each other again.” I wink at her as we walk away and hear her bitching behind us; I love that feisty woman. I can’t wait to see her attitude in the bedroom. I missed her, and I still don’t understand what happened all those years ago.
We get everything loaded into my blacked-out Escalade, which I only use when we have product to load or Phoenix’s surfboard. Plus, my baby can’t fit three grown men inside it. The space in this SUV allows us to pack what we need without running out of room. My baby is a Maserati MC20, blue graphite, and can go from zero-to-sixty in two-point-nine seconds. I’ve been in love with Maserati’s since I was a kid, and when the business started earning some real cash, I treated myself. Once everything is finally loaded, and the board is strapped to my roof, we head back to San Diego; the city we call home.