Chapter 29
twenty-nine
Elliot Jacobs
Change of Plans
“Eli, baby. When are you going to take me for a ride in the bat mobile,” Chloe slurs as her fingernail scrapes down the center of my chest. What the fuck?
“Hey, Chlo… get your nail off me. Are you good?” I ask, because Chloe knows better. She’s never acted like this before, especially while on the clock.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just waiting for Daddy to tell us what’s on the agenda for the night.” She giggles and I look at Will and Seymour as Leslie walks into my room. They both shrug at me, and I narrow my eyes at them and then back at her.
“Someone better start talking because she ain’t going out there like this. Our whole operation will be blown to smithereens and not even Bruce could save us,” I growl, and Leslie holds his hands up.
“I just got here. What is going on now?” he asks, and my fists tighten.
“Chloe here is trying to get me to take her for a fucking ride. You see the problem with that?” I ask, and his eyes widen.
So I turn and look at my other two runners who stand there with that deer in the headlights look.
“Are you all fucking high? What the fuck?” I yell, and they start laughing, including Chloe who can’t seem to stop touching me.
“Oh shit. What do we do?” Leslie asks, and I take a deep breath and take the hand rubbing up and down my back and bring her over to Will.
“What did you all take?” I ask, losing my patience by the second but no one answers me.
They continue to giggle and touch each other.
Jesus fucking Christ. “Les, take them somewhere safe. I need to make this drop and I cannot bring them,” I state, and he nods, springing into action and herding them out of my room like cows. FUCK!
Taking out my phone, I text Kade. I don’t give a fuck if he’s at the Halloween party, I need him and Grayson’s help.
Me:
Yo! I need you and Grayson to get to my room now!
I pace my room waiting for a response. I cannot be late for this and time is running out. Motherfucker! Finally my phone pings and I open the message.
Kade:
Something happened to Rowyn. We’re a little busy right now.
I narrow my eyes at the screen and take a deep breath.
Me:
I don’t care! This is an emergency and the line isn’t secure enough to explain!
Kade:
Fine! Fucking hell!
I darken the screen and shove my phone into my pocket then grab the duffel bag and head out of my room to meet them since they have to pass the parking lot to get back to the dorms anyhow.
The walk to Bruce is quiet since everyone is at the party.
Taking out my keys, I click the button on my fob and the trunk opens.
I place the bag inside then shut it as I hear footsteps approaching.
“What is so fucking important?” Grayson huffs.
“I have to make a drop to the Scarlet Brotherhood. My runners are all high on god knows what, so I need the two of you!” I growl, and his entire demeanor changes. He knows exactly why it’s important for me to not go alone.
“Got it. Let’s roll,” Kade adds, and we all climb into my car. I put Bruce into gear and we leave the school grounds and head toward the highway.
“So what happened with Rowyn?” I ask, and Grayson groans where Kade turns to me with tight fists.
“Asshole scared her then dumped pig's blood all over her,” he tells me, and I laugh.
“Seems like extreme lengths to get her attention,” I say, and Grayson growls.
“Not for her attention. Just a little reminder that if she wants to show up dressed like a broken fucking doll, I’ll treat her as such,” he grits, and I quirk a brow.
“Why though? What did that girl do to you that has your panties in such a twist?” I ask, and Kade turns to look at him in the back seat.
“None of your business!” he spits, making me laugh.
“Always with the secrets. Well, I need you to get your head out of your ass because these guys are not to be played with,” I remind him, and he nods.
“Anything specific we need to know about these guys?” Kade asks, and I smirk.
“Darius calls the shots. Adrian is the smart ass. Royce and Knight are the muscle,” I tell them, and my eyes snap to Grayson.
“They are the leaders of their society. Money and drugs mean nothing to them. They can kill us and our bodies would never be found,” Grayson says, and his words send chills up my spine because he’s right. They are dangerous, the most lethal players on the East Coast as far as I know.
“Yeah, and the dean seems to think they ain’t shit, which we know is bullshit. One day he is going to say the wrong shit to someone, and bam, he will never be seen again.” He laughs, and that alone springs an idea in my brain.
“What if we ask them to take care of our little problem?” I suggest, and Grayson laughs.
“Are you insane?” he asks, and I shrug.
“We all know the answer to that,” I answer, but Kade says nothing.
“Wanna shed some light on his bright idea?” Grayson says, smacking the back of Kade’s seat.
“Um… it's an easy route, but that means we will be indebted to the society. Do we really want that? Put our life on the line when we can do it ourselves?” he asks, and now I laugh.
“It doesn’t matter what route we choose. We do it and get caught—the slammer we go… But if they do it—we will have to owe them a favor, I assume,” I say, and they both nod.
“Let’s sit on this for a bit. If things start to escalate further, we will sit down and plan something, but until then we do nothing,” Grayson commands, and I shake my head.
“It’s already started escalating. One more fucking thing happens and I’m calling it,” I tell him, and he huffs.
“Fine,” Grayson says as I turn into the parking lot of the abandoned amusement park. I drive around the gate all the way to the back by the broken, half gone ferris wheel. Shutting my lights off, we get out and I take the duffel out of the trunk then place it on the hood of my car.
“Now we wait,” Kade states, and that’s exactly what we do. We are on their time now.
Headlights blind us as the Scarlet Brotherhood pulls up in front of us.
“Jesus fuck!” Grayson spits, and I growl.
“Shut the fuck up!” I snap, and he rolls his eyes. I know he doesn't want to be here right now dealing with this shit, but I needed back up and I wasn't meeting them alone. They step out and walk over to us. I shake Darius' hand then he looks over at Grayson.
“Hey, Mercer,” Darius says, putting his hand out for Gray to shake.
I hold my breath, because this is not the time for Gray to be pulling some shit, but he shows Darius the respect he earned by shaking it back.
“So boys, I see you brought the product. Knight—give them the cash,” he orders, and Knight tosses Kade the backpack.
“It’s a pleasure doing business, boys. I’ll call when we need more,” Darius tells me, and I nod.
“Uh, I have a question,” I say, stopping all four of them in their tracks. Adrian folds his arms over his chest while the others listen, looking bored as ever. “If we ever needed someone to be handled, what does that look like?” I ask.
“Well, usually it comes with a price, but I like you guys, so it would be a favor for a favor,” Darius answers, and I nod.
“Cool. Talk soon,” I say, but Darius raises a brow, adjusting his stance and tucking the AK strapped to his chest around to his back. The need to come strapped to meet us is overkill. We know we would be dead instantly going up against them, but I guess it's just how they roll.
“Give me more than that? Who needs to be taken care of?” he asks, and I take a deep breath.
“Someone who knows a little too much for our liking,” I say, and Darius nods.
“Okay. Well if you need us, just hit me up,” he says, then turns and they all get back into the SUV, shining their fucking lights at us, and the moment they are out of sight, Grayson looks over at me and snarls.
“Really? You just couldn’t help yourself huh?” he states, and I huff.
“It was just a fucking question. Now we know,” I say, and he rolls his eyes and gets back into the car. We get on the road and all I can think about is my bed. It’s late and I’m ready to call it a fucking night.
“You think she got the pig’s blood off of her?” Kade asks, and Grayson shrugs.
“I don’t really give a shit!” he deadpans, then leans back and closes his eyes. I let out a breath thanking God this is all over but my mind drifts to Rowyn, and I can't help but feel bad for what they did to her tonight but there's nothing I can do about it now.