Chapter 15 #2
“I’m not sure what shit you’ve been smoking this morning, man, but tell River to get the good stuff next time,” I mutter, turning away from him. I slam the door and check over her phone one more time before I slip it into the console in the front of the car.
“I’m serious, what if I want something else?
” he chokes out, forcing me to look back at him like he’s grown a second head, a bright fucking purple one.
This is our life, and for the most part it is awesome.
We have everything we could ever want. And if we don’t have it, we’ve got the power to acquire it by any means possible.
My brow knits together. He’s serious. I have spent every day of my life with this man, and this is the first I have ever heard of him being unhappy with his life.
The life we fought for, struggled for, killed for.
It was a hard road to get here, but we have everything he could want now.
Toys we would have dreamed of as kids. Cars, boats, jet skis, the largest property in the town, and a handful of others as investments.
Women literally begging to share our bed.
For two little kids who didn’t have enough money at home to have a packed lunch for school, we turned out alright.
“You know that’s not possible. But if we get things right with her, we could have more than we ever thought was.
She could be the one to change it all. That’s why we have to set her free and see what she’s hiding. ”
He nods, but I can see he’s still trapped in his head. “What if she doesn’t want us? What if she is the one thing we can’t have no matter the amount of money we make, the control we have over this town.”
“We find another way, man. Come on, it’s not like you to back down from a challenge like Dove.” I clap him on the back. “Right now, she’s just confused. She’s been through a lot and doesn’t know who to trust. But we will get her on board. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Time I don’t have.”
And now I know he’s keeping shit from me. He said something similar last night. “What is the time crunch?” I demand. I’m his head of security, if he knows something I need to know it as well.
He huffs out a laugh, it’s almost deranged. “He planned it all, you know. Even in his death and the fucked-up repercussions of his absence. There is no escaping the grips of Keller Throne, even when the man is six feet under.”
My eyes narrow as I try to work him out, a sickness hitting me in the gut like a sucker punch because I already know exactly what he’s talking about.
He can’t just let her go because he’s obsessed with her.
She’s crucial to us surviving what Keller left behind for us.
“Okay. We’re running out of time, so we stick to the plan.
Get the answers we need and get her back here as soon as possible.
What’s that saying? If you set a bird free…
Nah, that’s not it. Something about her coming back to us because she works out it’s been us all along. ”
He forces a smile for me at my attempt at a joke. The real K is still in there someplace. “Give her the illusion, but I want every fucker within a two-hour radius knowing she belongs to us. If they touch her in any way, they’re a dead man.”
I nod, grinning on the inside. Easily done. Like normal, I’m one step ahead of him. He might be the face behind our operations, but I take care of the logistics, it’s always been that way. And she’s not getting out of our headquarters without a few precautions.
Dove stands at the top of the stairs at the front of our mansion looking shy when we all know she’s not.
Us knowing the truth has rattled her. She’s in a summery dress and has just the backpack she arrived with slung over her shoulder.
It’s what I expected. Kasen bought her all sorts of expensive clothes and beauty products, but she’s not about all of that anymore apparently.
She walks down the stairs without looking at either of us directly.
“Is Sheila ready?” she asks, her gaze fixed on the ground.
“Sure is. Your phone is in the console as well.” I tap the van.
She’s ready to go, but is Dove? Her confidence has taken a knock in the last day and a small part of me is concerned to be letting her back out into the world when I’m not so sure she’s ready for it.
Physically she’s getting better by the day, but mentally, the cracks are becoming more obvious.
“Both of them?” she snips.
“Just the one you need,” Kasen mutters. He’s acting awkward as fuck as well.
He’s more messed up over her than even I realized, and I know I’m doing the right thing.
We need the truth, and since she won’t give it to us, this is the only way.
She’ll survive out there, she has this long without us.
Even still, my skin crawls at the thought of her actually driving away from us.
“What are you doing with the other one?” she demands, the anger in her voice obvious.
“It’s been destroyed,” Kasen lies through his teeth.
That makes her glance up, her brow quirked. “Bullshit.” She stomps her foot, and it’s the most adorable thing she’s done all morning. Her angry eyes flick to me when he doesn’t justify her with a response. “I want it back,” she demands.
My lips twist, just to piss her off. She thinks she has so much power over us.
Batting her lashes might work on River, but it’s not going to send us into a tailspin.
That’s why I sent him on a job for me this morning.
What we walked in on last night, I know he’s already way too invested.
He might not have been able to let her go, even if he knows it’s for the best. “You can go find it then, went out with the trash this morning.”
Kasen glares my way before he opens the driver’s door for her. “We have sorted out some work for you.”
She hops in the driver’s seat and sits down, throwing her backpack on the passenger side. “I don’t need your help.” She looks him over, this time a fresh wave of anger taking over her pretty features.
“What are you going to do?” he asks, a desperation in his voice I don’t like the sound of. He’s clingy with her. K has never been clingy with a girl before. Except her. Even I know this time is different. She’s different.
“Whatever I feel like,” she snips like the brat she is, shoving at him so he is forced to move out of the way and she can close the door.
I’m not even surprised she won’t take our offer for help, being difficult is her favorite thing.
She has a perfectly good job waiting for her, one she liked doing just yesterday, and she wants to go rogue just to piss us off.
He bangs on her window until she winds it down.
K looks like the vein in his neck is going to pop, that’s how worked up she has him.
“Look, Dove, you don’t have to skip town.
The threat is gone now, so you can do what you want.
If you want to stick around, I’ll find you a place of your own, and River says the job at his bar is yours if you want it,” he explains, handing her the envelope River left with her pay in it for yesterday.
I slap him on the back and give him a rein-it-in look before he drags her back out of the car and locks her in the house.
She glances a quick look between us, a hint of hesitation to her normally bitchy, snappy attitude. “There is nothing left here for me,” she says in a way that etches itself under my skin. This is for the best, we need to know what she’s up to. This is the only way.
She turns the key in the ignition and motions for us to step away from the vehicle. “Thanks for the hospitality, fellas,” she sasses, seeming to find her composure, then she’s gone, taking off down the driveway before either of us can protest.
The heaviness settling in my chest is unexpected. I thought I didn’t get attached to her in a few days like the other two, but the impulse I have to run after her and stop the van from leaving our property tells me I totally did.
“Follow her,” Kasen growls.
I flip my glare back to K. “I have this shit under control, man. A car is waiting to follow her at the end of the road, video surveillance in the van along with a tracker, her phone is also got a tracking device in it. She can’t go anyplace or talk to anyone without us knowing about it.”
His dark eyes narrow to murderous. “Anything happens to her, it’s on you,” he spits before stomping back into the house to lick his wounds.
He will see this is for the best. She will be back with us before he knows it, and we will have the answers we all need to keep her safe and us from any unexpected turbulence. And now that I know there is a time crunch, the sooner the better.