Chapter 25 #2
I’m jostled around by the movement of the van since we’re just sitting in the back without proper seats or belts.
The guys are both fine, they’re big enough that they’re stable, but I’m a scrawny Mounty girl and every corner, every pothole, has me lurching and slamming into the sharp metal interior.
Finally, after ten minutes of collecting new bruises, Ash rolls his eyes and grunts at Blaise, digging his elbow into him.
Then, I’m dragged over to their side and wedged between their giant frames, their hands landing all over me to grip firmly.
I panic a little but, at the next corner, I’m held steady by the hands on my hips and legs.
I clear my throat, “Thanks.”
Ash shrugs and Blaise nods, a little distracted.
“What, no smart-ass comment?”
Ash stares back at me before shaking his head slowly. “No. I don’t have anything left to say.”
I don’t know how to answer that, so I choose not to.
I let my eyes fall shut and I start to plan out the rest of our evening.
Get to Doc’s, lose the van, find a hotel to stash the rich kids, keep Harley out of sight as much as possible, get Blaise’s Maserati to the hotel to get us back to Hannaford, find clothing because at least three of us are covered in Joey’s vomit, the list goes on and on, endless and exhausting.
I check Joey’s pulse again. Still alive.
As we get to the city limits, Harley breaks the silence.
“How much will this cost?”
I shrug. “Nothing, I’ll call in a favor.”
Harley snarls and rips his body around to snap at me, “Fuck no. You’re not using a favor for this fucking murderer. It’s bad enough you spent one on me. Get a price and we’ll pay it.”
Fuck. I forgot he knows about the diamonds. “Not one of those favors. The Doc owes me for some work I did for him last year. It’ll be fine.”
Avery looks between us both and then raises an eyebrow at me. I nod sharply. I’m going to have to sit them both down soon and tell them… as close to everything as I’ll ever get. Then Avery won’t have to guess at how much Harley knows and he can protect himself from what being mine entails.
We pull up in front of a quiet suburban house in a shitty neighborhood.
The house is the nicest on the street, the grass green and trimmed to perfection.
I tell them to wait as I climb out the back door and hot foot it up to the house.
The front door opens before I can knock.
A short, elderly Vietnamese man frowns at me as he takes me in.
“Aren’t you off at school, my girl?”
I grin at him and nod. “I’ve got a patient for you. It’s really important that he lives, Doc.”
His eyes sharpen and he waves me in. I motion at the van to get the others to join us. Ash and Blaise carry Joey across the grass and into the medical room Doc has set up. It’s well-stocked, sterile, and ready for massacre survivors and the victims of brutal torture at all times.
Doc gets straight to work on his patient and I step out to wash my hands. Ash follows me and stands at the kitchen sink scrubbing the bile from his skin with me. I finally take a shaky breath. If anyone can fix Joey, it’ll be Doc.
When we get back to the room, Harley is glaring at Doc like he’s planning to stab him, and Avery is tucked up in Blaise’s arms. Her shoulders are shaking but her eyes are dry; this is pure panic at the thought of losing Ash.
“Friend of yours?” murmurs Doc.
I don’t ever lie to this man, he can smell it. “No.”
Doc raises an eyebrow at me but his hands don’t falter as he puts an IV line into Joey and starts him on some fluids. “Why bother bringing him in then? Just dig a hole.”
Ash stares at Doc like he’s a bug he’d like to squash. I try to keep the old man busy instead. “He’s worth saving. How’re Maria and the kids?”
Maria is Doc’s granddaughter, his pride and joy. She’s eighteen and, in typical Mounty girl style, she has three kids already. She’s sweet enough and good to the old man, so I always check in with her when I’m in town.
“She’s pregnant,” he says with a sigh. He moves to start taking Joey’s temperature, heart rate, and Lord knows what else to try and assess how bad the repercussions of this episode will be. This is not my first OD rodeo.
“Fuck,” I reply, and he gives me a dry look.
“I’ve tried to get her on the rod but she insists on taking the pill then forgets to half the time. I’ll be building an extension on the house by the end of the year.”
“Maybe tell her to stay away from cocks for a while instead,” I say with a grin, and he roars with laughter.
I’ve seen him carve up a guy’s face with a scalpel for saying less but I guess I’m just special like that.
Doc knows I say it with love and experience.
I know exactly what life is like around here for poor Mounty girls.
The conversation is a good distraction for everyone.
I can see Avery is slowly collecting herself, the unaffected, cool mask gradually sliding back into place.
Doc starts to hook Joey up to all sorts of noisy machines. “You know, if she finally has a girl I’m going to get her to name it after you. You’re a good girl, we need some of that in this house.”
I blanch and then sputter out, “Fuck no! Don’t traumatize the poor spawn. It’ll be bad enough not knowing who the daddy is.”
Doc grimaces. “Oh, I know who the daddy is. Maria will be lucky to get to keep the baby.”
“Why? Who knocked her up?”
Doc surveys the room before he speaks. “Matteo.”
My stomach drops.
Fuck.
That’s really, really bad.
“Doc. Doc, do not let her tell him. Fuck, send her away.”
“I’ve tried, she won’t go. She’s got it in her head that they’re in love.”
I grab his wrist and give him a shake. “I’ll give you the money. I’ll pay to get her away, Doc.”
“I’m not stupid. I know she’s going to be forced to abort the baby.”
She’s going to be killed. It won't matter that she's Doc’s family. The Jackal will plunge a knife through her heart and then he’ll bury her somewhere she’ll never be found again. Doc will lose her too.
I can’t argue with him without privacy so I shake my head and try to figure out how to help Maria. Poor, stupid, gullible Maria. Taken in by the Jackal’s handsome face.
After another tense minute of silence, Doc looks up and smiles at me. “He’ll be ready to go by midday. Stop worrying about my problems and go get some sleep, my girl.”
Avery books us into the same hotel as the last time we were here.
When Harley pulls into the parking lot, I wait until the others are out and then try to get Harley out too.
“I’ll help you ditch it.”
I scowl at him. “I don’t want to get you into any trouble. Just go with the others and I’ll be back in an hour.”
He stares me down until I give in. I direct him from the passenger seat until we pull up to the closest chop shop owned by the Bear.
It only gives me fifteen minutes to convince Harley that he needs to follow my lead, keep his cool, and, most importantly, leave the talking to me, no matter what.
He agrees without argument but, fuck, it doesn’t really help my nerves.
Gordon, the guy running it, takes one look at me through the window and waves us into the garage. “Not a single word,” I whisper to Harley in what I hope is an authoritative tone. He just nods and we get out.
“Price?” says Gordon without even looking at the vehicle. I get the feeling I could ask for some ridiculous number and he’d still jump through some hoops to make it happen.
I wouldn’t.
The reputation and standing of the Wolf of Mounts Bay wasn’t built like that.
I had no choice but to join the Game, the mantle forced on me after I won, but the respect on my name came from me and my actions alone.
Secrets kept, loyalties held, job after job, brick by brick; the safe full of favor diamonds isn’t the only power I wield in this city, just the type that’s well known.
I look over the van critically, openly, with the eyes of the entire workshop on me.
No one speaks or moves, and none of them would ever meet my eye, but they’re watching me all the same.
Any other member of the Twelve would use this moment to bleed this place for all it’s worth, to belittle every man in here just to feel like a big player by wielding that blood-soaked title we each hold like a weapon.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one who sees through it all.
The Jackal certainly doesn’t. Burning this place to the ground just to feel the fire is his bread and butter.
I learned long ago that he’s a man who’s become a slave to his own arrogance and ego.
I’ve never forgotten where I came from, and the little girl from the slums of the south side of the docks has no ego about this sort of shit.
That’s not to say I have no self respect. Taking a cut of the prize pool by letting some sleaze fuck me? Nope, my dignity is worth more than that. But standing here looking like an easy mark to a bunch of boosters? No question. Let’s be real, it wasn’t even my van in the first place.
I glance back to Gordon. “It’s barely worth the scrap. I need it to disappear and any evidence that I was here to go with it.”
His eyebrows furrow slightly, eyes flicking upwards at the security cameras he’s got everywhere. The Bear is also partial to a bit of extortion, it seems.
“I’ll take care of it. Anything else we can do for you?”
He laying it on thick, so I shrug. ”I’ll take a ride back to my hotel, too, if it’s available.”
He nods sharply, flicking a hand out at one of the guys who darts off to get us a ride. Then he gives Harley a good, long stare. “I’ll get the boss to call if there’s anything he’s got questions about.”