Chapter 26
The only blizzard conditions I’m interested in are from Dairy Queen .
— Text from Milena to Cutter
CUTTER
I dropped her off at the airport with her bodyguard that morning at five, then drove to Apollo’s place to see what he’d accomplished.
If I was a man that was willing to admit his weaknesses, I’d tell everyone that it was much harder to let her go than it probably should’ve been at this stage in our relationship.
Watching her walk away from me felt like she’d cut a cord that I needed to live.
The horrible feeling in my chest at our distance was what was occupying my head when I arrived at the house in the nice neighborhood that screamed ‘family’ and not ‘biker.’ I pulled into Apollo’s drive, shut the bike off, then headed toward his door.
I felt more than saw the eyes on me.
Apollo lived in a neighborhood inhabited by old people.
I was fairly sure the median age of the entire block was seventy-five.
At any given time, they had this phone-tree thing going on that alerted the whole damn neighborhood of anything that happened the moment that it happened.
Apollo liked it because he felt like his place was always protected—which it was.
I , on the other hand, hated it.
I didn’t like prying eyes on me like that, yet I still ended up at his place once a week.
Well , I had before I’d tied myself to a beautiful black-haired beauty.
Apollo opened the door before I could knock and waved me inside.
“ Asher Soren is in custody now, and get this,” he said as he walked toward the living room. “ I didn’t even have to do anything to his computer. He already had that kind of sick shit on there. Though , they were underage women, around fifteen and sixteen. Had a buddy that did some shit for his start-up and he was more than willing to dig through his shit and send it in.”
I curled my lip up. “ That’s disgusting.”
“ It is,” he said as he caught up his cut. “ You ready?”
I was.
After feeding his outside cats a scoop of cat food, he walked to his bike and mounted.
Five minutes later, the two of us were headed to Bear Bottom so I could talk to Bayou in person.
“ Let me get this straight.” Bayou crossed his arms over his chest. “ You want me to let you into my prison to kill a man before he can get out.”
“ Yes ,” I said.
“ And what makes you think that I’ll allow that?” he asked carefully.
“ Benson , honey.” His wife, Phoebe , came into the room. She was dressed in scrubs, and she looked like she was ready to head into work. The same work that her husband worked at, though in a different, much more secure part of the prison.
She was the prison nurse, and worked there for eight hours a day, three days a week. And the other four days of the week she was a stay-at-home mom to what seemed like fifteen children but was only six.
“ Yes , Fancy ?” he asked, looking at her with love and acceptance in his eyes, and not annoyance that she’d butted into a conversation that was likely pissing Bayou off.
“ What would you do if a man assaulted me in that way?” she asked carefully.
Bayou’s entire body went ramrod straight and said, “ I’d fucking kill them.”
She looked at me then. “ Benson just needs to relate to the situation. He’s very literal and has to be by the book when it comes to that prison. However , if you so happened to come in because your brother was hurt, and you were worried he was on his deathbed and you were coming in to say your final goodbyes, and you also just so happened to see another certain someone in there. And also just so happened to have a syringe full of insulin that your sister-in-law could give you…well then, that would be…kismet.”
With that, she walked to her husband and kissed him on the mouth. She then walked to me, patted me on the chest and said, “ See you in about, oh, say, two hours? That’s about how long it would take you to get here from Dallas if you were actually coming from your house, correct?”
I wasn’t about to tell her it was more than that. Not when she was doing me this kind of favor.
With that, she whirled out of the room and the door beyond us closed with a resounding click.
“ Your wife is scary as fuck.” Apollo watched her car back out of the driveway on two wheels and then accelerate down the road at the speed of light.
“ You have no fuckin’ idea,” Bayou muttered. “ Y’all want to go have breakfast?”
I grinned. “ After I make a call.”
“ Is this enough?” Nastya asked, looking practically gleeful.
She liked the idea of me killing the motherfucker as much as I did.
“ I have no idea,” I admitted.
I may have done medical stuff for the Navy when I was in, but I didn’t have any clue about insulin.
“ Well ,” Nastya bit her lip as she stared at the syringe full of insulin. “ This is what I would normally give myself if I was about to die. So I think it should be fine. I think too much would be suspicious.” She frowned hard. “ What do you think about maybe just taking two syringes in there? You can’t put the needle on yet, though. That’ll ping with the metal detector. So , you’ll have to get one from the nurse that gave you this idea.”
“ I think I can handle that,” I said, taking both syringes. “ I’ll ask, hypothetically, how much is too much when I get there.”
Haze , Nastya’s husband, looked on but didn’t say anything.
Haze was a detective with Fort Worth Police Department , and I wasn’t sure that he should be here right now just to keep his proverbial nose clean, but I wouldn’t have allowed Milena to drive all the way over here to hand off a murder weapon on her own, either.
My phone rang, and since Milena had programmed her own vibration, I knew exactly who that heartbeat rhythm was without seeing the display.
I placed the phone to my ear seconds after sliding my finger over the screen and said, “ Hey , Go . Did you make it there okay?”
“ I did, and this place is amazing. I wish you could’ve come with me now. It’s …breathtaking. Though , just sayin’, but it looks like it’s gonna snow at any second.”
“ You better hope not, or you’re gonna be doing a lot of running up mountains in dangerous conditions,” I pointed out.
She made a rude noise and then replied, “ What are you doing?”
“ I’m talking to Haze and Nastya . They stopped by to see you,” I lied.
“ Whoops ,” she snickered. “ Tell her to check her messages before she comes over next time.”
“ I will,” I said. “ Is your rental car there yet?”
“ You mean Hazel and her non-rental car?” she asked. “ No , not yet. Artur got a rental for himself and we’re waiting in it for Hazel to arrive.”
“ Maybe give her a call,” I suggested. “ Find out where she’s at?”
The bad feeling I had about Hazel grew.
She was supposed to have been there hours ago, so there should’ve been no issue meeting Milena’s flight on time.
“ I’ll call her now,” she said. “ Also , signal up here is very, very bad. Artur has a satellite phone if you need us and can’t get ahold of us.”
“ Got it,” I said. “ Text me what she says.”
Milena hung up with a “ I will, Cutter . L …uhhh…later.”
My heart skipped a beat when the phone hung up.
Was she about to say what I thought she was about to say?
“ Milena made it?” Nastya asked.
“ She did,” I confirmed. “ Though she’s waiting for that dick of a friend to show up, and now she’s having to call her.”
“ Hazel is a dick,” Nastya agreed. “ I’ve never liked her. Why , if your friend hates trail runs so freakin’ much because of her condition, would you ask her to run a marathon trail run with you? Why not find a regular marathon to run?”
“ Tell me again about this condition?” Haze asked.
“ She has amblyopia,” she said. “ It’s a pretty common condition among younger children, and usually if you’re treating it at an early age, you can correct it before it becomes a problem. But Milena and her sensory issues made it nearly impossible to keep an eye mask on her eye when she was younger, so she never got hers corrected. One of the main issues with this condition is a depth perception problem. Shadows , trees, stumps, roots. They all cause the ground to appear uneven, and it makes Milena hyper focused on the ground, and not the surroundings. That’s why she’s been so bad the last few long run days. She’s just overstimulated and needs a break.”
I rubbed at my neck. “ You’re sure that Hazel knew about this?”
“ Oh , positive,” Nastya confirmed. “ Milena isn’t afraid to tell anyone about her issues. Hazel knew straight up. But Milena’s a good friend, and Hazel wanted to do it, so she agreed.”
I didn’t think I could hate the woman any more, yet there I was, hating her more.
Luckily , a text came in from Milena about two minutes later.
Milena :
Headed to the cabin.
Me :
Good . Let me know when you arrive. Love you, too.
Milena :
I almost threw up when I said that. It’s too soon, isn’t it?
Me :
I don’t think anything we’ve done so far has been normal.
Milena :
No , I guess you’re right. Have a good day. Love you.
I shoved the phone in my pocket and looked at Nastya and Haze . “ See you later.”
Yes , I would definitely have a good day.
Getting rid of this motherfucker would be my pleasure.