Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
STONE
My first alarm went off at five and I groaned.
I felt like shit, but at least I’d slept.
I threw the covers off me and lay there until my second alarm went off.
And one by one, I heard other alarms going off in the lodge.
I cleared my throat and lay there until my third alarm went off.
Then, I finally managed to pull myself from bed.
The fourth one went off before I was on my feet, and the fifth one finally prompted me to get my ass out of bed.
“Coffee,” I murmured.
I grabbed my phone without even looking at it.
I shoved it into my pocket, running my fingers through my hair.
I needed coffee. We all would. Coffee and a decent dinner that got our brains into gear.
I heard someone padding down the hallway.
Probably Texas heading to fix us all something.
He was the cook of the gang. I didn’t know how to microwave myself fuckin’ macaroni and cheese, much less throw together a damn meal.
I pulled myself from my room and shuffled down the hallway, finding Texas shirtless and standing at the stove.
“That how you cook for Ella and my niece?” I grumbled.
“You really want the answer to that?” he asked, chuckling.
I rolled my eyes as I made my way over to the coffee pot.
The only good thing I made was coffee. And cinnamon rolls.
Because of my mother, I could make some damn good cinnamon rolls from scratch.
I mindlessly went through the motions of making coffee while Texas fried up some bacon, and one by one the other two guys trickled into the kitchen.
“Steak and eggs or hash browns and eggs?” Texas asked.
“Steak,” we all murmured.
“I don’t even know why I asked,” Texas said.
“Me neither,” Notch said as he flopped down at the kitchen table.
We all ate and stuffed ourselves with coffee, slowly coming back to life.
The sun started to sink heavily over the treetops, and six o’clock quickly rolled around.
I looked at Bronx and Notch before they nodded and got up, taking their dishes to the sink.
I was always the one to clean things down.
But tonight, that shit would have to wait.
We had two hours to piece ourselves together and get this shit organized before we headed out.
I went back into my room and shoved into the little bathroom attached to the damn thing.
It barely held the shower I never used. But it was what it was.
I splashed water in my face and brushed my teeth, slowly feeling the caffeine doing what it needed to do.
I ran some water through my hair to make myself not look so mangy.
Then, I slipped my boots and my jacket on before going and making one last pot of coffee.
“One for the road, gentleman,” I said.
We all raised our mugs of coffee and clinked them in the air.
We were all ready to go, awake, and alert.
I chugged it back black, shaking the last of the cobwebs from my mind.
I focused myself on the task at hand and then ran down the plan one last time for the guys.
I had them each repeat their part back to me, making sure they understood what we needed doing and where, and what time we needed to be doing it.
Then, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
“The fuck is calling you?” Texas asked.
I ignored the call, but the vibration quickly started up again.
“What if it’s Cheng?” Notch asked.
“That asshat wouldn’t risk calling me so—”
The vibrating happened again, and this time it pissed me off.
“Hold on,” I grumbled.
I ripped my phone out of my pocket only to see that Hayley was calling. And she hadn’t just called two times. She had called multiple times. Dozens of times since lunchtime today. My eyebrows hiked up as I held up my finger to the guys. Then, I turned my back and walked into the corner.
She ringed in with yet another phone call, and I picked it up in a hurry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Don’t go tonight,” Hayley said.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“I can’t really talk right now. What is it you need?” I asked.
“This is important, and I need you to listen. It’s almost six thirty, so you have to listen to me. We don’t have much time. Don’t go tonight,” she said.
“I can’t do this right now. I have some things to do, then—”
“Don’t go, Stone. Please,” she begged.
“Whatever this is, it’s going to have to wait. I’m at work and—”
“No, this has to happen now. Stone, you need to listen to me.”
“No, you need to listen to me. We’ll talk about this later,” I said.
“No, now.”
“No, later.
“My last name is Woolf!” she yelled.
I paused. “What did you say?”
“I don’t use my last name on my card because it hurts too much. Around here, when I tell them my last name, everyone says I look just like my mother. And it hurts. So, I use my middle name on all my stuff. My name is Hayley Woolf, and I’m Detective Woolf’s daughter. You know, Boulder.”
There were so many things that ran through my head in that moment.
Confusion. Frustration. Idiocy. Guilt. I felt the rug slip out from underneath me, and the burn of my ego crashing to the ground was too much to bear.
My skills really were slipping. My ability to read people really was swirling down the fuckin’ drain.
But the one thing that overpowered all of that was my anger.
It consumed me from my nose to my toes.
“How the fuck do you know any of this?” I growled.
“We have to talk. I’m serious,” she said.
“Where? And I’m not asking when, because you’re going to make it as soon as possible. Got it?”
“Not a problem. I’m off work today. Meet me at my place. As quickly as you can get there. And please, leave the illegal guns wherever you are. I’d like to know you won’t shoot me on the spot before I can prove I’m still on your side.”
“Illegal—”
“My place, as soon as you can get here. The door will be unlocked,” she said.
Then, she hung up the phone.
I clenched my new phone in my hands, ready to throw it into the wall.
It was a bad habit I needed to quit, but if there was ever a moment to break something, this was it.
I shoved the damn thing back into my pocket and roared out into the room.
I let all the pain and the misery and the anguish and the fear and the doubt roll up my throat in one massive, wall-shaking roar.
Veins in my neck bulged. My vision dimmed in and out.
I grew dizzy with the effort before I drew in a deep breath.
And when I turned around to face the guys, all of them looked afraid.
Of me.
“You good?” Texas asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“I have to go take care of something,” I said.
“What? Now?” Notch asked.
“I’ll be back soon. Within the hour, if possible,” I said.
“Wait a second, you’re actually leaving when we’ve only got two hours to prepare ourselves? Not even?” Bronx asked.
“I’ll be right back!” I exclaimed.
I eyed each of them hotly before I reached for the door.
I ripped it open and stormed out onto the porch leaving them behind without even closing the damn thing behind me.
I jumped off the porch and into the dirt, feeling it kick up around me in a cloud.
And as I strode for my bike, only one thing rattled at the forefront of my mind.
You’re the biggest fuckin’ idiot around.