Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ty stared out the window in the bright morning sunshine as the Uber drove him closer to the compound. The cooler weather and rain of yesterday had given way to clear blue skies and already stifling temperatures. It was barely seven thirty and nearly eighty-five degrees.
Fighting back a yawn, he rubbed at his gritty eyes, trying to remember the last time he’d felt this exhausted. He’d been up for hours, strategizing and coordinating with Mason and Mason’s Boston-based DEA team after his friend’s plane landed shortly after midnight.
He’d tried to lie down just before dawn to catch a few Zs, but he’d watched the sunrise from his crappy motel bed instead, keeping his phone close the entire time, hoping that Lydia might call.
But she didn’t. Nor had she responded to his texts or picked up his calls when he’d tried to reach out to her throughout the late afternoon and evening.
It had taken all of his willpower not to go back to the compound so they could talk and work things out, but Lydia clearly needed some space.
He sighed, remembering how she’d struggled to blink back her tears and keep her voice steady when she told him to leave. He’d hurt her—blindsided her, which he hated.
He didn’t want things to end like they had. He didn’t want them to end at all, but he had no idea what the hell to do anymore. He was an FBI agent in Washington, DC, and Lydia lived in Oliver Heights. They had led entirely different lives before they met, and they would again.
The car slowed, pulling onto the Monroes’ property.
“This driveway that goes to the back,” he told his driver when he easily could have gone in through the front door, but he was hoping to catch Lydia out doing her laps in the pool, wanting nothing more than to start a conversation and fix things.
But he frowned as the car came to a stop, realizing that Lydia’s Kia was gone.
“Thanks,” he said as he got out, glancing toward the main house when the back door opened, and Will stepped outside.
“Morning,” Will said, wearing ratty shorts and a T-shirt, still looking like shit but not nearly as bad as yesterday.
“Morning,” he said as he started up the path. “Where’s Lydia?”
“She went home.”
His eyes widened. “To Virginia?”
Will nodded. “She texted me at one thirty this morning, letting me know that she made it back safely.”
“Fuck,” he said as he shook his head, raking his fingers through his hair, knowing that any chance of making things right was now officially gone. “Fuck.”
“She was pretty upset when she tore out of here. She said you guys broke up.”
He nodded, not wanting to play the FBI’s bullshit game anymore. “Yeah, things weren’t working out.”
Will frowned. “That’s what she said, too, but I can’t pretend that I’m not surprised. Things seemed like they were fine. More than fine.”
He shrugged. “We had our problems.” But he nearly choked on his words as he spoke them because he’d never said anything more untrue. Lydia was the very best thing that had ever happened to him. Everything about their relationship had been exactly right.
“You guys breaking up had nothing to do with me?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say anything to Lydia about what you and I talked about yesterday.”
Will sighed as he nodded. “Okay. Maybe you guys can work things out.”
“Maybe,” he said as he shrugged. But it was highly unlikely.
Will looked from himself to Ty as Ty wore the same clothes that he’d had on yesterday, only today, his shirt and shorts were wrinkled to hell. “You and me… We’re quite the pair. I think it’s safe to say that we both look like we’ve had our asses handed to us.”
Ty couldn’t help but grin as Will told it like it was. Two days’ worth of scruff on their jaws and a complete lack of sleep. Neither one of them was wearing it well. “I guess we’re just lucky like that.”
Will huffed out a laugh. “What a fucking mess.”
Ty sighed. “Yes. In fact, let’s go inside and talk about the FBI’s plan.”
“Yeah, sure thing.”
Ty glanced at Lydia’s pretty pool house before he walked inside and shut the door, following Will to the living room where they both took a seat—Ty on the couch and Will on one of the big, comfy chairs.
Ty moved a rattle and one of Everly’s books to the coffee table. “Have you heard from Mac?”
Will shrugged. “She texted me last night. She said we would work out a schedule so I can see the kids.”
Ty winced.
Will nodded. “Yeah, it’s not great.”
“Maybe things will cool down with some time.”
Will sighed as he scrubbed at his face. “I guess we’ll see.”
And because he knew exactly how Will felt, he switched to work mode. It was a hell of a lot less painful. “Let’s talk some strategy.”
“I’m all for it.”
“So, our first major concern is making sure that Richard doesn’t bring his drugs onto Monroe property. What’s the guy’s last name, anyway?” Because he was afraid he would slip up when he’d been calling Richard ‘Russo’ for weeks with his co-workers.
“Russo.”
Ty nodded. “Okay.”
Will frowned. “But how is that going to fly? The entire reason he contacted me was because he wants to use the warehouse.”
“Yeah, but as soon as he does, we’ll only be adding to your list of problems. At this point, you’ve done nothing illegal. As soon as that truck pulls into your parking lot, you can be charged with conspiracy to traffic.” Which the Boston field office was chomping at the bit to do.
Will sighed. “Yeah.”
“So, we’ve gotta come up with something else.”
Will shrugged as he shook his head. “I’m at a loss.”
Ty sighed as he sat back against the plush cushion. “Yeah, I’m not sure what we’re going to do either, but we’ve gotta think of something.”
Will scrubbed at his face again before he eventually perked up and snapped his fingers. “What about a storage unit?”
Ty frowned. “A storage unit?”
“Yeah,” Will said as he nodded enthusiastically. “When the holidays come around, Monroe House gets inundated with donations. We usually rent a couple of storage units for the surplus and distribute it as supplies diminish at the food pantry.”
Ty nodded, loving the idea. “That’s perfect. What storage facility do you guys use?”
Will winced. “I don’t really deal with that end of things, but when Mac and I have helped out in the past, we’ve definitely picked stuff up at Store More.”
Ty grabbed his phone and dialed Mason.
“Hey,” Mason said.
“Hey. We need to rent a storage unit close to West Fifth Street in North Quincy. Any place except Store More.” A street he remembered seeing when Lydia had driven them to Monroe House.
It was an address far enough from the warehouse to keep Will anonymous but close enough to keep things simple for Russo’s delivery.
“Okay. I’ll get on it.”
“Call me back when you’ve got it.” He set his phone on the coffee table, looking at Will as Will studied him. “What’s up?”
Will shrugged. “Nothing. You just sounded like a cop.”
Ty shook his head, not loving Will’s observation. Clearly, he needed to be more careful and remember his role. “I’ll definitely stick to personal training. I don’t know that I’m cut out for a job in law enforcement.”
Will shrugged again. “So, now what?”
“We’ll wait for the storage unit, then you’ll call Russo and tell him that he’ll have to deliver there.”
Will huffed out a laugh. “You make it sound like it’s just that simple.”
He blew out a breath, remembering similar conversations with Lydia at the beginning of their fake relationship. “It’s not simple, but you’re going to have to convince him that the storage unit is the better option.”
“Do you have any ideas on how I should do that?”
Ty blew out another breath as he thought back to the afternoon that he and Lydia had spent at Monroe House, thinking of their potential options. “Maybe the air-conditioning’s been on the fritz, and someone’s coming in to fix it.”
Will raised his brow. “At three o’clock in the morning?”
Ty rubbed at the back of his neck. “Yeah, okay, so that wasn’t great. Uh… Maybe a pipe burst last night, and there’s water everywhere.”
Will perked up. “That could work, but what if he wants to come by and check it out?”
“Then we’ll head up there and get some water on the floor. It’s concrete, so it’s not going to hurt anything.”
Will nodded. “Yeah, I guess that could work.”
Ty struggled to stay patient with Will’s lack of confidence.
Everything was riding on the line with this new operation.
For Will, for Mason, and for himself. They had to get it right.
“You’re going to have to sell it better than that.
You need to be panicked. You just got a call.
It’s a mess. Stuff is ruined. There’s water everywhere. ”
Will nodded again. “Yeah, okay.”
Just then, Ty’s phone rang. He snatched it up, hoping to see Lydia’s gorgeous face filling his screen. But it was Mason. “Hey, what’s up?”
“We’ve got the unit. Coolidge Storage. Off Second Street. Unit 1333. It’s climate-controlled.”
Ty nodded. “I like it. Thanks.”
“So, what’s the plan now?” Mason asked.
“My guy and I are about to feed Russo a story about why he wants to deliver his stuff to Coolidge Storage instead of dropping it off at the original location.”
“Okay. Keep me informed.”
“Will do.” He hung up again. “Let’s get Russo on the phone.”
Will clenched his jaw as he looked to the ceiling.
“Do you want me to listen in?”
Will stood now, grabbing his phone. “Yeah. No. I think it might make me nervous if you do.”
Damn, this was killing him. Yet another conversation that sounded like one that he and Lydia had had. “You need to do what’s going to work for you.”
“I’ll put it on speaker if it seems like it’s going sideways.”
Ty nodded, grabbing a pad of Everly’s drawing paper and a purple crayon. “I’ll keep this handy just in case you need some help.”