Lakelyn Chapter
Lakelyn:
My heart was about to beat out of my chest. I could barely breathe when I got back to the house. Stumbling inside, I slammed the door shut, leaned against it, and slid down to my ass on the floor. I cradled my head. It was whirling. The sound of footsteps didn’t even get me to raise my head.
“Lake, what’s wrong?” I heard the worry in River’s voice.
I couldn’t speak. I held up a finger to indicate that he needed to wait a minute. It took me longer than that to fight the panic and stop hyperventilating. He slid down to lean against the door beside me. When I finally lifted my head, he was watching me apprehensively.
“Lakelyn, tell me, what has you pale as a ghost and shaking? Did someone do something to you? If they did, I’ll kill them,” he snapped.
“No, no one touched me,” I croaked.
“Then what the hell is it? You went to get us more popcorn. Did you get into trouble? You were seen?”
“No, I wasn’t seen. I made it into the pantry just fine from the back entry.”
I paused. The pantry in the clubhouse had two ways to get into it.
One was by passing through the common room into the kitchen, and the other was from a hallway near the common area, but you didn’t have to enter the room to get to it.
When we found no popcorn in Tyrant’s house, and River said he knew Cobra didn’t have any, I told him to stay, and I’d get some from the main pantry at the clubhouse.
I went there to get in and out and hadn’t planned to eavesdrop.
It was how loud they were talking that made it possible to hear.
“Then what? If you don’t tell me, I’m marching over there right now and asking who the hell did this to you.”
I grabbed his arm and squeezed. “You will do no such thing! Do you hear me? We can’t let them know that we’re on to them. This is life or death. We can’t. We’ve got to plan. Come on, let’s go to my room in case Tyrant comes back soon,” I said urgently.
I climbed to my feet as he did the same, then practically dragged him to my room. Once inside, I locked the door, and we sat on my bed.
“Okay, we’re here. Talk,” he ordered.
“I went to get the popcorn. While I was in the pantry, the voices in the meeting got louder. I wasn’t trying to hear what they were saying, but when they got louder, I recognized that the Kings weren’t the only ones in this meeting.
There were others. And I recognized a voice.
God, I can’t believe this is happening. Did they do this on purpose?
Did they know? Or find out?” I muttered.
“Know what? Christ, Lake, you’re killing me,” River said.
“Don’t cuss,” I automatically responded.
He laughed. “I’m almost eighteen. I’m old enough. Whose voice did you hear?”
“First, let me tell you what they were saying. One of the other men said he knew someone was upset. I assume Tyrant. They hated that something had happened and wanted to make it right. He asked what they could do to make that happen and about the club needing a shipment soon. They guaranteed the next one would go off without a problem, and it was only between them and the Kings. They will set it up after they settle some fears the club has tonight.”
“Alright, and this upset you. Why?” River asked hesitantly.
“Because the man speaking was Hugo Jacquot!” I dropped my bomb. Just saying the name made me sick to my stomach. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open.
“Lakelyn, it can’t be him. Why would he be here? This town isn’t even his.”
“I thought I was imagining it too, so I sneaked over and peeked out the kitchen door into the common room. The whole club was there, and the entire Jacquot family and some of their men were sitting there, clear as day.”
“Jean-Baptiste is here?” he asked with a growl.
“Yes, he’s here, and you know what this means, don’t you?”
“That I’m going over there to kill the fucker.” He went to stand, but I held onto his arm.
“Sit! No, you’re not. It means that this shipment they’re talking about is us, me.
I don’t know how they figured out who we are, but we can’t stay here.
We have to run. They’ll come for us tonight as soon as they’re done talking.
I bet they’re negotiating a price or reward.
We’ve got to leave. And we can’t take anything we have with us. ”
“Whoa, hang on. What if they’re not talking about us?”
“It doesn’t matter. Think about it. We know the Kings are no angels, and they make their living illegally.
But if they have dealings with the Jacquot family, they’re not anyone we can trust or should be around.
If they don’t know who we are yet, they’ll figure it out eventually, and we’ll be prisoners for the rest of our lives.
I’m not willing to chance it. Are you?” I asked urgently.
“No, I won’t let that happen. However, we can’t run without anything.
I doubt the clothing we had hidden is still where we left it.
Pack anything you can in a bag, and if there’s money you can get your hands on, do it.
Give me five minutes to get my stuff from Cobra’s place.
Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back. I got the feeling when they told us about this meeting that it would last a while, and it started not long ago. We have time.”
I didn’t want to do it, but he had a point. Running without anything would be stupid. “Fine, but go now. Please, we need to leave,” I pleaded. He squeezed my hand and then was up and out the door.
The entire time he was gone, I raced around the room, finding a bag to pack some clothing and personal care stuff, and then I went to the kitchen.
One day, Tyrant showed me where he kept extra money.
It was in the kitchen in an ornate jar in the dish cabinet.
He used it to reimburse the prospects when they needed to pick something up for him or the club.
I had to get funds from it once when he wasn’t here.
I felt terrible stealing, but I pushed that thought away. What they would do was far worse.
I didn’t time him, but by the time I had gathered as much as I felt I could take, River was back with a bag.
My brain was beginning to work. I could think.
I turned all the lights down to what they were usually left at if I went to bed before Tyrant came home.
It happened a couple of times, and when it did, I was in my room with the door closed.
He never disturbed me. I raced back to shut the bedroom door since I had left it open. When I returned to River, I nodded.
“I’m ready.”
He took my hand, and we went to the front door.
He cracked it open, scanned outside, then eased it wider so we could get out.
I closed it. The door not being locked wouldn’t raise any alarm, either.
We made our way toward the gate. We stuck to the darkest shadows.
It was River who spotted Drax. He halted.
“How can we get him away from the gate so we can leave without him raising an alarm?” I whispered.
He thought momentarily, then pointed behind and to the left of us. We crept silently that way, which took us back in front of the townhomes. He kept walking. When we were far enough away not to be overheard by Drax, he explained where we were going.
“I found a side gate behind the second row of townhomes they’re building.
I saw it when Cobra gave me a tour of them one day.
It’s not manned. I bet it’s set up the same as the front, with the ability to push a button from inside and get out.
Or maybe even an old-fashioned lock. It’s our best chance.
There’s no way to get our asses over this wall.
And with them all in that meeting, no one will be monitoring it. ”
“Let’s do it.”
I was terrified the entire time. I expected someone to see us and give chase any second.
However, in the end, it was as easy as my brother predicted.
When we got to the gate, it triggered like the front one, locking behind us.
Crossing our fingers that it wasn’t alarmed and wouldn’t alert anyone inside, we opened it.
As soon as we were outside, we took off running.
River brought out a flashlight. Good. I had forgotten to look for one at Tyrant’s but had gotten something else.
They were in my pocket and waistband. As the night gobbled us up, I pushed away the feeling that my heart was breaking. I refused to acknowledge why.