CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CASPER
We made it through the rest of the week without another appearance from Jace Ford. My contact hadn’t had much luck tracking him down. Other than Jace’s criminal history, there wasn’t much known about him. Not since his recent release from prison.
He was most likely laying low. Staying at a hotel under a fake name. Paying with cash. Possibly staying with family, although so far that hadn’t turned up anything we could use. I was happy he’d been staying away from Luna, but I knew it wouldn’t last much longer.
Eventually, he would turn up again. Next time it might be so much worse.
I’d been going over and above to keep an eye on her.
Walking her back and forth to the dorm from the school.
Making sure she didn’t go anywhere alone.
Even on campus, I did my best to be with her every spare moment.
When I couldn’t be there, I had one of the guys step in for me.
We were a family that way. A threat to one of us was a threat to all of us.
Even though I would have loved to be with Luna right now, I was on my way to do a drop with Dominik. The two of us had a buyer to meet. Someone who wanted to purchase a batch of prescription drugs worth an easy ten grand. If this went well, we may have a long-term arrangement.
The buyer wanted to meet in the back parking lot of a local sports bar.
A busy place where nobody would look twice at a few guys hanging out in the parking lot.
It also provided the security of a public location.
While it was always possible, it was less likely either side would jump the other when there was the potential for so many witnesses.
Dom and I got there early, securing a parking spot at the back where we could watch our buyer arrive.
We only had to wait fifteen minutes before a sleek silver sedan pulled into the lot. A middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair got out of the car flanked by two younger guys closer to our age. One of the guys carried a small duffle bag.
We got out as well. Dom rounded the car to the trunk, popping it open and withdrawing our duffle bag containing the goods. Nobody was interested in small talk, which was perfectly fine with me. I didn’t do small talk. Waste of my efforts.
The guy holding the bag opened it up, pulling out a stack of cash. He flipped through the bills, showing that they were real. Dom looked into the bag, checking out the rest of the stacks.
“Looks good,” he said. “Here’s your shit. Remember, if you get caught, you didn’t get it from us.”
“Of course.” The older guy seemed offended that he would suggest such a thing. After a quick perusal of our bag, he nodded, satisfied. The exchange was made, and we were finished.
Dom tossed the cash into the trunk. We were about to get back into the car when someone called my name from across the lot. We both turned to find Noah Cunningham and Damon Price sauntering toward us.
“What the fuck do they want?” Dom sneered. He cracked his knuckles, ready for a fight.
I lightly smacked him on the chest to get his attention before signing, “Chill the fuck out. We’re not here to fight.”
“Maybe you’re not here to fight,” he said, his voice low. “I’m always ready to fight this asshole.”
I rolled my eyes. Not that he noticed since he was so fixated on Noah.
The two of them casually made their way across the lot, taking their sweet time.
Damon pulled out a joint, sparking it up as he walked.
His arm was looking better. No longer in a sling.
His cast had been removed. Now he wore a sports bandage in its place.
Breaking his arm in three places had been sickeningly satisfying. Listening to him scream. Fucker deserved it. Venom had messed with us for too long. Since we cut their numbers in half, they’d been keeping their distance. I guess these two didn’t have a death wish.
Scratch that. Judging by the way Noah glared at Dom as he approached, he may very well have had one.
“This better be good,” Dom snapped as they drew closer. “We have places to be.”
Noah made hard eye contact with Dom as he drew to a stop before us. “Yeah, sure you do. We’re here to talk to Casper, so quiet down, and stay out of it.”
I motioned for him to speak before crossing my arms over my chest, easily conveying my impatience. I’d learned long ago not to trust these guys. However, I also wasn’t afraid of them. Maybe they wanted something.
“Does the name Jace Ford ring any bells?” Noah asked. When I nodded, he continued, “I figured as much. We had a little visit from him recently. He asked us how much to take out a hit on you. Guess he’s too much of a pussy to handle you himself.”
I nodded, careful not to let my thoughts show on my face. That slimy little fuck went to Venom to take out a hit on me? Fucking pathetic.
“He went to you for a hit?” Dominik repeated, as if he couldn’t believe he had heard correctly. “On Casper? What a goddamn coward. Is there a reason you’re telling us this?”
Noah and Dom locked eyes, staring at one another with an ice cold intensity.
Finally, Noah dragged his gaze away, looking back at me.
“We turned down the job. Told him that he’d have to find someone else.
The only reason I’m here telling you any of this is because you’re the only one of the Kings I have any respect for. ”
Dom scoffed. I shot him a warning look to keep quiet before signing my question. “Did he tell you anything else? Do you know where we can find him?”
“Do we know where to find him?” Noah exchanged a look with Damon, confirming they had information.
“What’s it worth to you?” Damon asked, indicating his healing arm. “That kind of thing doesn’t come cheap.”
Motherfuckers. Of course they were going to take any opportunity to hit back at us however possible. Tilting my head to one side, I gave a jerk of my chin, indicating that he should get to the point and tell me what they wanted.
“Five grand.” Damon looked all too pleased with himself. “We’ll tell you where he said we could find him if we changed our minds.”
I glanced toward the trunk where our ten grand was safely nestled away. Son of a bitch. I didn’t have a choice. I needed a lead on Jace’s whereabouts. Hopefully Rebel and the others would understand.
Needing to make sure he backed me up on this, I turned to Dom, raising a brow. He shrugged. “Go for it. Do what you’ve got to do to take care of this mess.”
I clapped him on the back, nodding my thanks. The Kings were a tight group. We would always take care of one another. Dom passed me the car key so I could grab the cash from the trunk.
Of course Venom was taking advantage of the situation.
Who wouldn’t in their position? Under other circumstances, I may have been pissed.
Right now I only wanted to get my hands on Jace Ford.
After counting out the cash, I handed it off to the two of them who stuffed it into their pants pockets and jackets.
“Nice doing business with you.” The grin Damon wore couldn’t possibly get any bigger. “You’ll find your guy hanging out down on 37th Ave. There’s an underground nightclub there. It’s called The Pink Palace. Pretty common place for junkies and scavengers to hang out. Wannabe thugs like your guy.”
I made the sign for thank you, not caring if he understood or not. I was ready to get moving. I wanted to check out this nightclub.
As we turned back to Dom’s car, Noah said, “For the record, if he’d asked me to take a hit out on you, Dom, I would’ve accepted. Hell, I might’ve done it for free.”
Goddammit. The moment the words left Noah’s mouth, I knew what was going to happen. I’d already rounded the car toward the passenger side. I wasn’t close enough to grab Dominik before he rushed Noah, smashing a fist in his face.
Noah’s devious laughter told me this was exactly the response he’d hoped for. He allowed Dom to get in another hit before fighting back. The two of them violently shoved each other around the parking lot. Exchanging blows.
At first Damon and I stood back and watched. This wasn’t our fight. These two wanted a piece of each other so bad. Maybe we should let them fight it out. Maybe if they got it out of their systems, they would leave each other alone.
Although if Stray’s guess was right that there was some sexual tension going on here, it would only escalate. Did these two even realize how bad they wanted each other?
I saw it when Dom pressed Noah against his car, grabbing him by the throat as he leaned in to snarl, “You want to kill me, Noah? I fucking dare you to try.”
Something shifted between them. Something deadly and dangerous. I decided that was enough. Grabbing Dom, I roughly pulled him away from Noah. Following my lead, Damon stepped in to place himself in front of his friend.
“Come on, man,” Damon said. “Let’s get out of here. He’s not worth it.”
“I’ll fucking show you not worth it,” Dom muttered, knowing better than to put up a fight as I shoved him into the car.
I waited until Damon and Noah had vanished across the parking lot before getting in on the passenger side. Dom and Noah could sort out their shit later. I needed to get to that underground nightclub and look for Jace.
“Think anyone would suspect us if I ran the two of them down?” Eyes narrowing, Dom watched them disappear around the building.
With a sigh, I shook my head, not in the mood for this crap tonight. When he kept staring, I gave him a smack in the shoulder so he would look at me while I signed.
“We’re not running anyone down. Forget about them. Let’s go check out that nightclub.”
“Fine. We’ll deal with your shit tonight.” Putting the car in gear, Dom hit the gas, peeling out of the parking lot.
It didn’t take long to get downtown. We circled 37th Ave.
looking for any sign of the nightclub. There was nothing indicating its location.
At my suggestion, we parked the car and got out to walk the block.
After asking a drunk guy wandering the street, we learned that the entryway to The Pink Palace was around the back.
In the alley behind a restaurant closed for the night.
At the back of the restaurant, we found a door that led down beneath the building. This club was literally underground. As we descended the stairs, the sound of electronic music grew louder. Strobe lights in flashing colors greeted us when we reached the bottom.
The guy working the door made us pay a twenty dollar cover to enter. He didn’t check our ID, which explained the barely legal teens inside. Most of the people partying were young adults strung out on narcotics they couldn’t handle. Barely able to stand up. This was not my scene.
We walked the perimeter, doing our best to check faces in the dark with strobe lights in our eyes.
I wondered why Jace would frequent a place like this.
Probably because it was the type of place one could lay low and not be recognized.
Everyone here was far too fucked up to care about someone like him.
We reached the back of the building having had no luck. I contemplated taking a seat and waiting to see if he showed up. That’s when the bastard walked out of the restroom a few feet away.
Almost as if he sensed my presence, he looked straight at me. Both brows shot up, his mouth taking the shape of the word, “fuck.” Jace took off running. He didn’t bother weaving through the crowd. He simply shoved people out of his way, literally leaping over those who tripped and fell down.
“Jesus Christ this guy is a fucking maniac.” Dom said what I was thinking as we both gave chase.
Jace managed to make it up the stairs ahead of us. We weren’t far behind. I needed to get my hands on him. This had to end tonight.
When we emerged from the basement nightclub into the alley, it was empty. He was gone.
“Which direction do you think he went?” Dom glanced up and down the alley.
“I have no idea,” I signed, a storm of fury rising up inside me. “You go left, I’ll go right.”
We split up, each racing in opposite directions. He couldn’t have gone that far. He had to be here somewhere.
I made it to the end of the alley with no sign of Jace. Reaching the side street, I scanned my surroundings. Nothing. When I met back up with Dom, he had the same story. No luck at all.
Overcome with anger, I kicked over a trashcan, sending it flying into the street. Slamming my fist into a street sign did nothing to make me feel better. I wanted to make someone hurt. I needed it to be Jace.
Dom stood quietly while I let my temper out on anything in my path. When I’d finished, he placed a hand on my shoulder and steered me back to the car. Now that Jace knew I was looking for him, he wouldn’t come back to this place. I had no choice but to wait for him to show himself again.
Fuck.