Chapter 32 Trent
I’ve started taking a few night shifts throughout the week in hopes of hearing something.
Everyone knows this city never really sleeps, and the streets are the best place to get almost everything you need, including information.
Jake is a perfect example of that, which is why the chief asked me to keep tabs on him a while back.
The chief and Randall don’t see eye to eye, and he thinks one of the best ways to show the city how crooked their beloved mayor is, starts with his son.
He’s probably right, but it would never work out that way, at least not with me on his case.
I might not get along with the guys the same way I used to, but there's a big difference between going our separate ways and getting them arrested for potential life sentences, and turning Jake in could easily lead to that. Not to mention, I don’t think he would want Rick to end up behind bars.
Which is why all I’ve ever given him was crumbs.
Enough to show I’m trying, but not enough to make a move on.
It’s frustrating as all hell for both of us, but it’s all I can do.
After a while, I made the best of it by telling myself if Jake was as bad as I thought, I could warn the guys.
It wasn’t perfect, but it made me feel better.
Now everything's different.
Jade changed everything.
Knowing who she is should’ve made me run.
I realize that. I’d decided a long time ago that life in Vengeance or any other gang wasn’t actually what I wanted.
Ever since my dad died, gangs had been something I hated on principle.
If not for Sin, my father would be alive, but even with that hate, I couldn’t do that to the guys.
My dad had loved them like his own sons, and treated them as if they were my brothers.
He would be pissed if I did that to them.
Instead, I turned my attention to every other gang or drug dealer, trying to make the city safer where I could, just like he had.
Thankfully, Vengeance isn’t like Sin, and that made it easier on me. They didn’t gun down innocents, and while they still had a hand in a lot of illegal shit, it was hard to deny that the cities been better with them, safer even.
And now I know why, because of Jade. She’s the reason Vengeance was created, according to Kratos, and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. There wasn’t another way to take Sin out, not without risking someone just as bad or worse stepping up. Vengeance made sure that didn’t happen.
So I might not love the idea of being tied so closely to Vengeance, but if I had to pick a gang, this would be it, now more than ever. And it’s only partially to do with Jade.
Tonight is slow again. It’s only my second night shift, and I know it will take time, but I hate waiting. Every day the gala gets closer, and I feel like Randall is breathing down our necks. I hate it.
I finish my patrol of the pier and get back to my car. My shift’s up in about twenty minutes, and I still want to swing by one last place.
Traffic is pretty much nonexistent, though there are still a decent number of cars for the early hours of the morning.
Like I said, the city never really sleeps.
This part of the city is pretty well off, but just a few minutes south is a completely different story.
There are pockets throughout most of Chicago that are dark and dangerous if you know where to look.
Pulling onto one of the side streets, I park my cruiser down the street from my destination.
I’m going to draw enough attention as it is.
Might as well not go overboard, at least not yet.
I’ve been here a few times when we were younger, back before Jake was a part of anything, and he was just the guy who could get us weed.
Now he runs the drugs and most of the fights.
The fights might be Zander’s baby and Rick’s strong suit, but they don’t really have the time to be down here every week like they used to.
I make my way down the street, and before I even get to the house, I hear them. One of their lookouts clearly spotted me, not that I was trying to hide. I ignore them and keep walking. By the time I make it to the steps, Jake is walking out the front door.
“You could’ve just called, asshole,” he snaps at me, and I shrug. I could've, but where's the fun in that?
“Back to look out,” Jake barks at a man I hadn’t even noticed standing behind him. The guy nods rapidly before stumbling over his own feet as he takes off down the steps and disappears down the street to keep watch without so much as a word.
Jake turns around and heads back into the house, and I follow him.
Neither of us says a word as we weave through the rooms and into the kitchen.
For the state of the neighborhood and the outside of the house, it’s fairly nice on the inside.
Not fantastic, but at least I’m not afraid it might cave in with a sharp gust of wind.
“Out,” Jake snaps, and the three guys who were sitting around counting cash and bagging shit scatter without so much as a word or a look in our direction.
Jake walks over to the counter, crossing his arms as he leans back against it. I’d thought we might sit and talk, but clearly, that's not the case. I match his stance, leaning on the doorjamb as I meet his gaze.
“To what do I owe this visit?” he asks, his voice still cold and detached the way it is when he’s talking to his little lackeys, but we both know I’m not them.
“Cut the crap, Jake. I’m taking a few night shifts to see what I can find out.
See if anyone knows anything that might help.
I was hoping you’d heard something.” I explain, purposely leaving out the finer details.
The guys might’ve scattered, but who knows where they went?
They could be anywhere listening, and I’d rather they not know what I’m talking about.
We need every advantage we can get right now.
Jake lets out a deep breath, and I watch as his posture sags just slightly. “You know I haven’t. If I had, you guys would know it.” This time, his voice is a lot less gruff and demanding.
“Doesn’t hurt to ask,” I reply with a half-shrug, and he arches a brow at me in response.
“It does if you’re just going to roll up in uniform, unannounced.
I can’t have cops hanging around unwarranted.
People talk, and then our chances of hearing anything get that much lower,” he hisses, but there's no real bite in his tone, and I let it go. He has a point, but I don’t really care.
If Jake can’t hear something on the streets, there might not be anything to hear.
He’s been at the heart of it for years, after all.
Damn it. I was hoping he would have something, anything, really.
“Well, I’ll get out of your hair then.” I push off the door frame to head out. My shift has to be damn near over by now, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been more ready to be off than I am tonight.
“How is she?” he asks, his voice quiet, sounding almost hesitant, and I pause to look back at him.
Jake is an ass about ninety-nine percent of the time, but now isn’t one of them.
Looking at it with what I know now, I can see why he’s always been that way.
His father's a piece of shit, his sister’s a nightmare, and he lost his mom a while back.
He’s been trying to make a name for himself for a while, and he’s been succeeding.
But that doesn’t make him the bad guy here.
Hell, if anything, it makes him an even better ally because of our common goal.
I let my shoulder fall heavily against the door frame again. “Who told you?” I ask. Though it doesn’t really matter, I still want to know. I can’t see the guys calling him to fill him in, and I didn’t think he and Jade were close enough for that.
Not that it matters to me one way or the other how close she is to him.
“I was at the house when you dropped Leo off. He filled me in before I headed out. Said she seemed better when you guys left, but I’m assuming you’ve checked on her since then,” he admits with a look that tells me he knows more than I gave him credit for.
I didn’t think he cared about Jade beyond the fact that she might be able to help him.
But his interest has me wondering if that’s the case.
“Last update said she was fine. Hazel said she’s been resting, she ate dinner, and seems much more like herself than she did earlier,” I tell him, all but admitting to him that his suspicions are correct.
I’d checked on her enough times that Hazel pretty much told me to fuck off, though I keep that part to myself.
I was pretty sure I had a crush on her for a while now.
Originally, I thought I just owed her for leaving her behind, but that sense of righting wrongs quickly disappeared the more time I spent with her.
Eventually, I was seeking her out because I wanted to, not because I felt like I had to.
Ever since then, everything has only drawn me to her more; from the night she went missing to the day we spent baking.
Hell, even today, when she was sick. Every little thing pulls me deeper, and I’m not sure I could fight it if I wanted to anymore.
Not even the other guy's apparent interest in her is enough to deter me.
Or the fact that she’s the leader of a gang, and if that doesn't do it, I don’t know that anything could.
Jake lets out a sigh of relief at my words, relaxing back onto the counter a little more. It’s the most relaxed I’ve seen him in... well, maybe ever, if I’m being honest.
“Good,” he says with a nod, rubbing a hand down his face.
When he meets my gaze again, the look of relief is gone, and he’s once again in typical asshole form.
“You guys need to keep better eyes on her. This kind of shit isn’t what we need right now,” he hisses at me, and I tense at the accusation.