Chapter 26
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
King – Five Hours Earlier
I put my car in park, checking my phone for the millionth time since waking up this morning.
I’ve been distracted from the second Sawyer left yesterday. Everything inside me screams that I should be with her, but I’m trying my hardest to respect that this is something she wants to face alone.
I put my phone in my pocket, not seeing anything from Sawyer. She’s been updating me on pretty much everything, and it’s still early, so chances are she’s sleeping, but I can’t help but worry.
I get out of my car and walk toward the back entrance of Blackheart Ink, unlocking the door to head inside. I drop my stuff in my room before walking up front to open up when I hear a knock on the front door.
I walk over to the glass door, seeing Aria standing outside with her arms crossed like she’s trying to warm herself from the cold outside. I quickly unlock the door, opening it to let her inside.
She pushes past me, rushing into the lobby.
“Thank fucking god, it’s freezing out there,” she says, blowing air into her hands. “I’ve been waiting like fifteen minutes for you to show up.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask. “Is everything okay with Sawyer? I haven’t heard from her this morning.”
“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m sure she’s still sleeping.” She brushes me off. “But I do need to talk to you about her,” she says.
“Okay, what’s going on?” I nod for her to follow me over to the couch, where I sit. She settles on the other side, facing me.
“How much has Sawyer told you about her past?” she asks me.
“A good amount, I think,” I say. “I know about her dad dying and everything that happened with her mom after. About her addiction.”
“What about her brother?”
“She hasn’t said much about him. Just that he’s a dick and that he was a dealer involved with some bad people. Why?” I ask, concerned.
“I really fucking hope Sawyer doesn’t revoke my best friend card for this,” she mutters to herself. “Okay, the reason Sawyer left and came here wasn’t just because she got tired of it all. Her brother, Brent, sold her mom drugs. Drugs that were worth a lot of money that she didn’t have.”
“And he thought he could get it from Sawyer,” I say, starting to put it together.
“Yeah.” She nods. “Except Sawyer’s stubborn as fuck, and even if she did have the money, she’d never give it to him. So, he threatened her.”
“Threatened her with what?” I ask immediately, my stomach sinking.
“She didn’t tell me, and I didn’t want to press her,” she says. “But if I had to guess, knowing that crowd, it was something along the lines of working off her debt, if you know what I mean.”
“You don’t mean…” Dread fills my stomach at the thought of Sawyer’s brother forcing her to do anything. The need to drop everything and run to her is now stronger than ever.
“Yeah, I do,” she says. “That’s why I’m here. Sawyer’s tough, but I don’t trust Brent. I know she wants to do this alone, but I don’t think she should.”
“Why didn’t you insist on going with her then?” I ask.
“I can’t go back there.” She shakes her head. “Let’s just say I have my own demons with that place.” She anxiously bites her lip, a faraway look in her eyes for a second before she shrugs it off. “It’s better if it’s you who’s there for her, anyway. She needs you right now, even if she doesn’t know it.”
“Hey, everything okay?” Kade asks, walking into the lobby. He must’ve come in from the back without either of us hearing him.
“I have to go,” I say, knowing it’s the only option. “Can you and everyone else cover my appointments and the desk? Whatever you guys have to do.”
“Yeah, of course,” he says, his brows pinched. “What’s going on?”
“Sawyer needs me,” I say rather than telling him the full story of why I’m so worried.
“Shit, okay,” he says.
“Is Lo off today by any chance?”
“Yeah, actually, she is,” he says. “I’ll have her get the girls and we’ll stay with them at your house, or we can bring them to your parents, just text and let us know. Don’t worry, we’ve got it covered here. Just go.”
If there’s anyone who understands dropping everything to be with the person he loves, it’s Kaden Pierce. He’s done it for Logan time and time again.
“Thank you,” I tell him. “And thank you.” I turn to Aria.
“Go look out for our girl.” She smiles at me thankfully.
I’m walking to the back, grabbing my things, and am out the door barely a minute later. I get in my car and put the name of the funeral home Sawyer told me about in the navigation.
By the time I get there with traffic, the funeral will probably be almost over, but I’m determined to get to her at least by the end of it.
I take the time during the drive to call my parents, ensuring that they’ll pick up the girls from the house later after Kade and Lo get them home from school and that they can spend the night at their house. When I have to stop for gas, I text Kade and Lo quickly to let them know, and I text both my girls in our group chat to tell them what’s going on.
After getting gas, I speed more than I probably ever have, thankfully avoiding getting pulled over, to get to Sawyer. As I pull up, I see a couple people trickling out of the funeral home, but there’s no immediate sign of her.
I get out of my car, walking up to the funeral home, when I finally do see her. She’s practically being dragged by the man who I assume is her brother. My vision goes black as I run over to them. I hear Sawyer’s angry voice as I approach them, yelling at him to let go of her while he ignores her.
I grip the man by the collar of his shirt, ripping him off of her. “I’m pretty fucking sure she told you to let go of her.”
I hold him there for a second, looking at her to make sure she’s okay. Once she nods to me that she is, I let go, watching him stumble over his feet. Then, right before he fully finds his balance, I punch him straight in the jaw.
A wave of satisfaction rolls through me when he falls to the ground, cupping his face. My hand throbs from where it meets his bone, but I pay it no attention. I’m not a violent guy. I don’t think I’ve punched anyone since I was in high school.
But when it comes to Sawyer, if someone’s threatening her, there’re no bounds to what I’d do to protect her.
Sawyer runs over to me, and I hold her tightly into me, afraid to ever let her go again. She assures me she’s okay, and I know that she is. She’s tough.
Meanwhile, I feel like my world has been flipped upside down just at the sight of seeing a man’s hands on her. At the thought of anything happening to her.
“Looks like little sis found herself a man.” The man groans as he stands up, facing us. “That was a dumb move, though. You’re gonna pay for that,” he threatens me.
I look at him, bored. His threats mean nothing to me, but I can tell they do to Sawyer by the way she stiffens in my arms. She gets a faraway look in her eyes like she’s thinking of something. Trying to figure something out.
It only lasts a second, and then she’s back, her eyes now full of determination. “No, he’s not, Brent.” She shakes her head. “I’ll pay you, okay?”
“What?” I ask, surprised.
“Do you actually have the five thousand? You kept telling me that you don’t.” He scoffs.
“I lied,” she says to him, answering him. “I have the money. I just need to get it out. I’ll have it by tomorrow morning, okay?”
“Hey.” I reach down, tilting her head toward me. “You don’t owe him anything. You can’t give him that type of money.”
“I just want this over with,” she says. “I know what I’m doing.” She slightly widens her eyes at me, and that’s when I realize there’s more to this than she’s saying.
“Okay.” I nod.
“Well, fine,” Brent says. “I’ll find you in the morning, then.”
“No,” she says firmly. “I said I want to be done with this for good, so I’m going straight to the source. If I’m paying five thousand dollars, I want to be the one directly handing it to Jasper.”
“I can give it to him just fine.” He rolls his eyes, similar to how she always does.
“Well, forgive me if I don’t trust you, big brother.” She squints her eyes at him. “Meet me with Jasper at the abandoned train tracks tomorrow morning at nine. If Jasper isn’t there with you, you won’t see a cent, understood?”
“Whatever, we’ll be there,” he says. “Just bring the money.” He goes to walk away, hesitating for a second as he looks down at the urn in Sawyer’s hands.
His eyes soften for barely a second before they harden once more, and he forces himself to look away. He turns around, leaving without another word.
“What the fuck is going on?” I turn to her once he’s out of earshot.
“Not here.” She shakes her head, pulling me with her as we walk back into the parking lot.
She walks us over to my car, which happens to be parked right next to Aria’s car. She climbs into the passenger seat of my car, and I climb into the driver’s seat.
“I have a plan.” She turns to me as soon as I lock us in.
“Okay.” I nod. “I want to hear it, but first, I want to make sure you’re actually okay. Aria explained the situation with your brother a little bit, but walking up and seeing him dragging you like that, Sawyer…”
“I know,” she says, reaching out and grabbing my hand in hers. “It was scary for me too, but I’m okay. You got here in time.” She smiles at me softly. “I’m grateful that you did, but even if you hadn’t, I would’ve been okay. I’m too stubborn to let Brent drag me anywhere,” she jokes, trying to make light of it.
“I should fucking kill him,” I mumble.
“Yeah, part of me wants to also.” She sighs. “But we can’t. This has to end somehow, so I have a better idea.”
“Okay, explain,” I say.
“My brother’s an idiot, but Jasper, his boss for all intents and purposes, isn’t. Brent will tell him about the plan to get the money tomorrow, and Jasper will be watching me to make sure I don’t go to the cops.” She pauses. “But like I said, my brother is an idiot, which means he’ll forget to tell Jasper about you.”
“Okay, so I go to the cops and help them set up a bust tomorrow.” I nod, understanding where she’s going with it.
“Exactly.” She nods. “Right now, I’ll get in my car, drive to the bank with the extra bag that I have in the car, and pretend to get the money out. You drive your car to the police station and get it coordinated with them.”
“What if your brother does tell this Jasper guy about me?” I ask.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take to get the two of them locked up for good. To get them to stop selling the poison that killed my mom,” she says, anger in her voice. “They sold my mom five thousand dollars worth of oxy. If I can get them to admit to it while you’re wearing a wire, that’s enough to get them sent away for a decade at least. Especially since Jasper has multiple priors.”
“Okay,” I say. “Let’s do it.”
“Yeah?” she asks.
“Yeah.” I nod. “If I can’t kill him for putting his hands on you, then getting him thrown in prison is the next best thing,” I joke. “Just promise me that you’ll watch your surroundings and be careful.”
“I promise I will.” She leans over, placing a soft kiss against my lips. “Thank you for being here, Damien.”
“Always, Sawyer.” I lean my forehead against hers.
“Meet me at the motel after you’re done. Room number twelve.” She squeezes my hand one more time before letting go and climbing out of the car.
I watch her, making sure she gets into Aria’s car safely and drives off before putting my own car in reverse. I double-check to make sure that no one is following me as I drive to the police station. Once I’m sure that I’m in the clear, I walk inside the station, telling them I have some information and asking to speak with an officer in private.
It takes about an hour before they finally get me seated in a private room with an officer, and I’m able to explain the entire situation to her. About halfway through my explanation, she brings in a detective.
I make sure to give them all the details Sawyer texted me about. They agree that if we are able to get them clearly saying that they sold five thousand dollars’ worth of oxy to Sawyer’s mom while I’m wearing a wire, then it would be enough to arrest them.
They’ll do time for drug possession and distribution at the least, but considering the autopsy they did on Sawyer’s mom when they brought her in showed that she overdosed on oxy, they seem to think they may be able to get them on a murder charge as well.
Nearly three hours pass before I finally leave the station with a plan to meet them at a fast-food parking lot early to get wired up before heading to the train tracks.
They’ll be in a white van parked behind one of the abandoned trains, ready to arrest them.
Sawyer texted about two hours ago that she was back at the motel safe, so I stop at an Italian place, grabbing a pizza for us before meeting her there.
She opens the door for me as soon as I get there, letting me in and immediately locking it behind us.
I explain everything to her, telling her what they said and what the plan is for the morning. She confirms she went into the bank and pretended to take money out just like she planned.
After we both eat the pizza, she showers while I call the girls. After assuring them that we’re both okay, we lay down in bed together. I pull her into me, holding her tighter than normal after everything that’s happened today. She holds on to me tighter than normal too, the two of us clinging to each other.
“Are you sure you’re ready for tomorrow?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I am,” she says decisively. “Brent may be my brother by blood, but he’s not my family anymore. You and the girls and everyone else back home are. I’m done letting him threaten me and the people I love.”
“It’s going to work,” I tell her. “He’s going to go away for a long time.”
“He better,” she mumbles, her eyes falling closed.
Hours pass as I watch her sleep, too anxious to get a wink of it myself. When the sun starts to rise, I may have barely slept, but I’m ready to put her asshole brother away for good.
Then we’ll go home. Together.
I don’t think anything has ever sounded better.