Authors: Bec Botefuhr
“Ti
me to face the music,” I murmur.
“Do you think we have a chance of finding Jagger?”
“I hope so, I truly do.”
She nods, her expression is pained. “I hope so too, I’ll leave you to shower. See you soon.”
When she’s gone, I walk into my shower and stare in the mirror. Not much has changed about me, except the light in my eyes is gone. My hair is back to its normal dark red and my skin is as pretty as it always was, but there’s just something missing now. I know what that is…it’s happiness. I find it quite interesting how important happiness truly is. People say they can live without it, so long as they’re living. But what’s living without happiness? It’s an empty, vacant world with no joy. I don’t want that world.
I get into the shower and sigh as the warm water eases my aching muscles. When I’m done, I get out and pull a towel off the rack before walking out and digging through my closet. I pick a pair of cotton shorts and a black singlet top. I was lucky in one
sense, I kept my figure after having Cody. It’s probably the five mile run I go on every morning. I pull a brush through my hair and then tie it up messily before walking out to join the others.
When I step out, I let my eyes scan the four men at the table. Aside from Ace, I haven’t spoken to any of them. I take in their attractive faces and grim expressions. Nothing has changed. They’re still the same as always. Angel stands when he sees me, and surprises me by coming over and pulling me into his arms. His lips land on my forehead and stay there as though he’s breathing me in. I wrap my arms around him, I’ve missed him.
“I’m sorry Willow, we abandoned you and we shouldn’t have.”
I shrug and look up at him. “It’s done
now, all I care about is getting him home.”
“We’re going to do everything we can.”
I nod and hug him again, before being pulled into Bull’s arms, and then Rusty’s. Once we have moved past that, I walk into the kitchen where Ace is pulling some ingredients out of the fridge to make breakfast. Cody is in his swing gurgling, so I make him a bottle and hand it to him. Then I go back into the kitchen to help Ace.
“What’re you making?” I ask.
“Omelet,” he says, smiling.
“Can I help?”
“Yeah sure.”
He hands me some peppers and I begin slicing them. Jenny comes into the kitchen and wraps her arms around Ace’s middle. I drop the knife. They’re together?
Since when? Why didn’t they tell me? Jenny notices my expression and lets Ace go.
“We were going to tell you…”
I swallow. Emotions begin swirling in the pit of my stomach, and I feel ill. I am happy for Jenny, heck, I’m happy for Ava who is curled up on Angel’s lap. I’m happy they’re happy. I can’t control the overwhelming urge to cry, because for the first time, I’m the one sitting alone with no one. My vision blurs and I can’t seem to get myself together. I need to run, I need to go for a long, hard run and clear my head.
“Willow,” Ace says, taking my hand.
I snatch it away, and then wince. “Sorry…I need to go out for a while.”
“Willow, we’re sorry.” Jenny says softly.
I force a smile, even though my eyes are filled with tears. “I’m happy for you guys, truly I am…I just…”
“I know,” Ace says, saving me from having to spill my heart.
“I’m going to take Cody for a run, I’ll be back soon and we can talk.”
I turn and walk out without another word. I don’t know what to say, but I know I don’t want to be the one that rains on their
parade. They deserve happiness and there’s no way in hell I’m going to be the one to take that away from them again.
~*~*~*~
When I’m back from my run, I put Cody down for his morning nap. I am just about to walk out and join everyone when my phone rings. I look down to see it’s my mother. Great. I haven’t spoken to her for a while and I know that I need to, but it’s still awkward at times and it can be difficult to have a conversation with her and not get into an argument. I pick up the phone anyway.
“Hi mom.”
“Willow, I’ve been calling for a few days. Where have you been?”
“Busy,” I lie. “How are you
, mom?”
“Well,” she says excitedly. “I was hoping to come
and visit?”
“Mom,
sorry but now’s not a good time.”
“It’s never a good time!” she snaps.
“It’s not like that, I honestly have so much going on right now.”
“I want to see my daughters and my grandson. I don’t know why I can’t come out and see you.”
I sigh, breathe Willow. “You can come out and see me mom, but right now isn’t any good.”
“When are we going to move past this?” she whispers.
“Mom…”
“You refuse to let me in, I’m trying really hard. I’m better now and I’m trying but you just up and move away from me, without even giving me a chance.”
“You know why I moved away!” I snap.
“You say it’s because of him, but I know the real reason. You don’t want to forgive me
Willow, I don’t know what I have to do.”
“I am having a hard time
mom, I can’t deal with this right now.”
“When can I come and visit?” S
he persists.
“I’ll call you when things settle down, I promise.”
Her voice becomes sad. “Now why don’t I believe that?”
“Mom
please, I’m having a hard time and I’m trying. I promise that you can come and visit, or maybe soon I’ll come and visit you.”
She brightens. “That would be nice.”
“I have to go, I’ll call you, I promise.”
“Ok Willow, I love you.”
I close my eyes and sigh, “You too mom, bye.”
I hang up and then head out to
join everyone on the wrap around deck. It’s time to get to business. I don’t even know where to start, but I’m hoping they do. Ace scoots over and makes room for me on the swing chair, so I sit down beside him. He’s holding Jenny’s hand, but he reaches out and takes mine too. I’m grateful for that.
“Ok, so obviously we’ve decided to help Jagger,” Angel begins. “What we need to do is have a secure plan in place. It’s not going to be easy. The show Mick is running is large, as you all know.”
“Is he still running the island?” I ask.
Angel nods
his head. “Yes, but that isn’t really a concern at the moment. Jagger has fights in Florida this month but the problem is finding a contact in the fighting world that’s going to get us near enough to the fight to be able to get in. Even if we make a bet, we can’t get in. It’s very strict.”
“Yeah, it’s not going to be easy. When we get a contact, we need to somehow talk to Jagger. If he doesn’t know what we plan on doing, it could ruin this plan entirely.”
Ace adds.
“How are we going to get him out without someone coming after us, Mick isn’t going to just forget Jagger and move on.” I point out.
The men all look at each other and then Ace squeezes my hand and says, “We’re going to blow up the entire island. Then we’ll end Mick.”
I gasp. “You can’t do that!”
“We have to Willow, we have to end it and we have to get rid of Mick or it’ll just start back up again.”
“But all those girls…”
“We will find a way to get them off before hand, I don’t know how but we will.”
“Then you’re just going to blow it up? That won’t work. It’s far too protected.”
“That’s why we need Jagger, he goes back and forth. He can slowly begin planting explosives and getting rid of women. We’ll do a final attack right before we blow it, and we’ll get the last of the women. That’s where we will need you. We will need locations of the halls, where they eat, things like that. We want them all in one place when we go in.”
“It’s dangerous,” Ava whispers.
“It is, but if we don’t end it, I assure you it’ll get worse baby.” Angel says to her.
“I agree with Angel,
” I add in. “I saw that place and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. It needs to end. How are we going to get the co-ordinates again?”
Angel looks at Ace and then says, “Huck.”
“Huck? Why does he keep coming into this?”
“He was with your dad a lot and they worked on the case, h
e’s got the information we need.”
“Ok, so we get Huck on board. What else?” I ask.
“You need to learn to fight and shoot.”
I stare wide eyed at Rusty, who said that confusing sentence.
“Why?”
“We already discussed your part in this, and we knew you wouldn’t accept doing nothing
, so you need to be trained. It’s dangerous Willow, and you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”
“I will do what I have to, but I have to think of my son.”
Angel nods. “You still need to learn as much as you can, just in case.”
I nod. “Ok, I’m down with that.”
We sit discussing our next move, when an idea springs to my mind. I never thought of it before because I thought he was dead, but he could be the missing piece in this confusing puzzle.
“Danny,” I say.
All heads turn to stare at me.
“What?” Angel says.
“Did Jagger kill him?”
“No, he survived but he wouldn’t dare come back…”
“We need to find him.”
Ace raises his brows. “What? Why?”
“Why? Because Danny’s a fighter. He has access to all the fighting rings.”
Angel rubs his chin. “How will we get him to co-operate? He didn’t exactly like you
, Willow.”
“Money,” I say simply. “Danny will do anything for money, it’s why he fights.”
“How do we come up with enough?” Jenny asks.
“Easy. Jagger left me his accounts. He has enough to offer some to Danny. It could work.”
Ace nods and looks to Angel for confirmation.
“Alright,” Angel says. “I think that could work, our next problem is finding him.”
“I can do that, I know some of his friends.” I say.
“Ok, so what about when we get the information. How do we get into the fights to speak with Jagger?” Jenny says. “One look at any of us and Mick will know.”
“Disguise,” Ava says, as though it’s a no brainer.
“It’d have to be a damn good disguise.” Bull mutters.
Ava grins. “I’m the master of disguise. I can make Willow look completely different.”
“How will she get in though?” Jenny asks.
“With Danny,” I mutter. “I’ll have to look like I’m with him.”
Angel nods, smiling slightly. “This could actually work. Ava, I want you to show me what you can do with Willow later. I want to see if she’s recognizable.”
“Why are we sending Willow in?” Bull asks. “It’s dangerous.”
Ang
el stares him right in the eye, “Because she’s the only one who has a chance of getting Jagger to listen.”
Everyone nods and falls silent for a long moment. Ace squeezes my hand and I look over at him.
“Are you ready for this?” he asks.
“I’d lay my life down for him, Ace.”
“Don’t forget you have a son now, if we think it’s getting too dangerous, we’ll pull you out.”
I nod. “If it gets too dangerous, I’ll pull myself out. For my
son’s sake, I have to know when to stop.”
Everyone nods again and I stand. “I’m starving, so I’m going to get something for lunch. I’ll stop by the store and get more food for us all.”
Before I can say another word, a wad of cash is shoved in my face. All the men have opens their wallets and handed me money.
“We won’t stay without helpin’ out.” Angel laughs, when he sees my wide eyed expression.
“Well…um…thanks.”
I tuck the cash into my pocket and then get a list of everything they might need or want. Then I collect Cody and head to the store. All I c
an think about is our plan, god, I hope this works.
CHAPTER
2
JAGGER
Blood spurts from my mouth as my component lands a punch to my lip. Mother fucker. That little prick is quick. He’s not big, but he’s speedy. I duck the next punch and drive a fist into his jaw. I hear the booming crack as he stumbles backwards and trips, his head lands on the ground and blood pours from his jaw.
Mick stands over him and counts it down. I’m panting, sweat slides down my forehead but I don’t move my eyes from the man lying on the ground. One second of looking away and he could be up and on me.
When he doesn’t move, Mick takes my hand and announces me as the winner.
Again. I have my suspicions that Mick purposely picks weak components to ensure I win every time. Either way I don’t care. I haven’t cared since the day he got hold of me. The crowd roars and cheers my name, but I simply turn and exit the fighting ring. I slip out back and Sharleen rushes over. She hands me a wet towel and a bottle of water. I swig the water back and then spit it out onto the floor.