CHAPTER FOUR
“Did you see what I send you?” I ask over the phone.
We are currently at a rest stop for bathroom and food break. I relay everything that happened last night and today. Caleb is on speaker, so Colin and Curtis, who just got back from wherever Caleb sent him, hear me.
“I saw it. Colin is looking into it. Where are you heading?”
“Heartstone, Missouri. Is big enough they can blend in but not too big. If need be, I can find them and help.”
“Why would you do that, Cooper?” Caleb asks.
“The crows are looking for them, for Rosalie specifically. Shouldn’t we take this chance to gain the upper hand?”
“What upper hand? We are not sure why they want them.”
“But we can find out.”
“I don’t know Cooper,” Caleb sighs.
“I have some initial information but would like to check in they know about this. Depending on how much or how little they know, we can decide. I’m waiting for confirmation, but it seems like their entertainment company has ties with Silver Crows.
Curtis can also search for you if you need to check my sources. ”
“Oh, I’m already searching. I’ll get something before you get your confirmation,” Curtis says.
I hum as my tablet lights up with a notification. I open it and skim through it. The link is not what I thought it would be. I see them walking towards me as they try to scan around for anyone following them.
“I gotta go. I got my confirmation. Caleb, I do really think they are our way into destroying the leash the crows have on our club. We live on the illegal side of society, but we are not human trafficker. We can’t let them use our name, our territories, our paths for that.”
“I know Cooper. I’ll read over what Curtis finds for me and whenever you can share what you just got. I’ll text you if we go to you.” Caleb ends the call just when the girls were within earshot.
“Ready to hit the road again?” I ask.
“I guess. Driving just above the speed limit is not the idea we had for a road trip,” Rosalie says.
“Y’all just gotta put a pin on the road trip plan and try later. When you don’t have dangerous people following you.” I offer Rosalie the helmet she’s been using since we hit the road and the other three got in the car and followed me.
After almost three more hours on the road and an hour before closing, we pull into Kathy’s Dine.
A staple in Heartstone, Missouri, the diner is like you step out of the twenty-first century and into 1950s Americana.
Checkered floors and pink uniformed waitresses greet you.
To my ears it’s old sound and image feels comforting, but by some of their faces I can tell to them it looks outdated and out of place.
“Whoever drops me into a set of one of my favorite movies needs a gift or a raise or a vacation,” Vivian, the blond of the quartet, says. The other three laugh as I smile to Kathy, who is speed walking to me.
“Cooper Callahan, how’s life treating you, suga?” she says before engulfing me in a mother’s hug.
If you ask me, I would consider Kathy the heart of the town. She holds my face between her hands and I stare at her sea-foam green eyes. Her blond wavy hair frames her face beautifully. I know by the pictures around the diner that she was, is, a stunning woman. Her physical body reflects her soul.
“What looks good? I haven’t seen you in years. You have some serious catch up to do, young man.”
“Can me and my friends get a table and eat first? We are starving.”
Kathy pulls back and sees them. “Oh my, I’m so sorry.
How did I not see these four gorgeous women?
You guys are friends with Cooper? None of you are his girlfriend?
” They shake their heads furiously and I keep my face neutral.
I will ignore that their head shake, or more like one specific head shake, upset me.
“Well, come on in. Let’s get you all seated. Do we have anything in mind? Are we on any diets?” Kathy slides the menus over the table as we sit. I don’t know if they did it on purpose, but the way they sit in the booth left Rosalie pressed to my left side.
“We are not on any diets at the moment. I’m craving bread, you guys?” Rosalie says.
“Well, if you want bread but also some nutrition because we gotta keep that beautiful skin clean, I recommend the Club Special. It has ham, turkey, pastrami, American and Swiss cheese. We can add any vegetable you want and you can choose from our homemade chips or french fries.”
“Let’s order two of those with lettuce and tomato. Should we get sodas or sparkling water?” Margarete says.
“How about you try our in-house summer refreshers? We have pink raspberry lemonade, black cherry spritzer, and we have fresh berries refresher.” Kathy smiles before she taps my shoulder with her pen. “The usual for you, or are you feeling adventurous?”
“The usual with one of the less sweet refreshers,” I say.
Kathy’s smile widens until laughter spills. “A little adventure. I see. I’ll get everything in and comeback with your drinks.” She points at me. “I haven’t forgotten the updates you owed me.”
I nod and gather the menus so she can take them with her to the front.
I feel Rosalie’s arm pressing on mine and I thought I should have asked for a bigger booth.
I scoot until most of my right thigh is off the booth to give us both some space.
I didn’t realize Rosalie saw me moving. She whispers something to Genevieve and in a few seconds, there is more space than I thought the booth had.
Rosalie leans in. “You could have asked for more space. No need to move away like we are the plague.”
“I thought you would feel bad,” I say.
“Why would I feel bad?”
“I don’t know. That’s the vibe I get. We are still strangers.”
“Between last night and what happened at Leroy’s. I don’t think we are strangers,” she whispers.
I furrow my eyebrows. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
She is going to reply, but stops as Kathy comes in with our drinks. I chat with her for a few minutes and update her about me and my brothers and she left to ring one of the locals.
“Next time, make sure your helmet is devoid of any marks or logos,” Rosalie whispers.
I blink and took a sip of my still too sweet drink to hide my surprise.
All of our helmets have the club logo, but the ones we lend to anyone riding with us are small and faint.
I don’t think she holds on to the helmet long enough to see it.
The thing I’m constantly learning about Rosalie is how observant she is. Is like nothing can get past her.
We get our food, and while eating I discussed some sort of plan.
I’m not sure how much information to share because I don’t know what they know.
They are not my brothers. We haven’t built trust between us.
I know they probably think the same about me.
I guess they tired of beating around the bush. Maybe this is how they communicate.
“We need to address the elephant in the room. What are we gonna do about you being linked to a cartel?” Genevieve points at Rosalie.
“I don’t know, but I wanna know who is pulling this stint. I don’t think my manager, who apparently is the one doing illegal things, can pull me into this.”
“So you guys know nothing or anyone from the Cartel?” I ask.
“Never. Our lives, our every minute, is control and supervised 24/7. We barely can make friends.”
“Why?”
The four women look at each other, wondering what to say.
“Do you know what we do for a living?” Genevieve asks and I nod. That was a smart way to ask if I know the identity they’ve been trying to hide. With every interaction, I can see why she is their leader.
“Since VERA’s conception, LuxeMuse Entertainment kept a tight control over every minor aspect of the brand of the group.
From the way we look, the way we talk, the way we sing, what we consume, both food and entertainment.
They also control who we talk to and spend time with, both privately and publicly.
If they could control our thoughts, they would.
That’s the level of manipulation, surveillance, and scrutiny we’ve been dealing three months prior to our debut until three weeks ago.
After they dump us in our apartment in Maxwell, their tight hold got loose. ”
“Did they ever introduce you to anyone from the cartel but passing as another person? Maybe a possible business partner or sponsor or donor?” I ask.
“Never. I remember everyone the same way I remember choreographies from the first run through. I’ve never seen the tattoos of a crow in anyone. Never talk or heard someone talked in the accent they have.”
“Maybe Margaret or Vivian have seen them?” I tilt my head and they shake theirs.
“Anyone worth meeting only meets Rosie. While on stage we are four members, outside of it the only face that is seen is hers. We write our songs. We stay in the studio with the producers. The only glam we do is for our concerts or special performances,” Margaret says.
I frown at how bizarre their company manages them. I use the lull in our conversation to message my twin to add VERA and their company into his search.
“Cooper, sir, can I make a request?” I look up and see how everyone, including myself, is looking and Vivian.
“Yes?”
“Can we tour Heartstone tomorrow? We don’t know when these awful people are going to try something and we have been to so many places, seeing none of it. I don’t want them to take this from me, from us. They already took our sense of security.”
I blink at her request and I realize one; I know nothing about these four girls. Two, they seem to have suffered in silence for years. Three, while annoyed, I think they deserve to experience freedom.
“We can do that.”
With that, I sealed my faith to spend the next day following four women walking around Heartstone, hold their bags as they race each other twice at Wheel Off Racers and swipe my card to get them ice cream from Good Licks Ice Cream.