Authors: Cait Jarrod
Her
chest heaved, sucking in air and coming down from the adrenaline rush. Her
nerves stayed on edge, but the fear that had vibrated through her body had died
down. “I don’t believe you.”
He
spread out his fingers in front of him. “Please trust me.”
“Like
you told me to trust you the day I said ‘I Do’.” She forced a laugh. “That’s
rich. For you to think I’ll believe you again, you’re kidding yourself.”
“Consider
it…please. I’m at your mercy.” He marched toward the front door. “Tomorrow
morning,” he said over his shoulder.
She
followed.
“Oh,
yeah,” he smirked. “Tell lover boy, payback’s a bitch.”
Rage
ignited her blood. She charged after him.
“Tomorrow.”
The
door closed in her face. She locked it and looked out the window to Andrew
driving away in an Impala.
The car used
in the shooting?
What
to do darted around in her brain before alarm settled in.
Henry!
She
raced up the steps and searched for her phone. A glow from underneath the
curtain grasped her attention before the theme music to
Spider-Man
played.
She
snatched the phone. “Mom.” Her breath rushed out in pants.
“Dear,
is everything okay?” Doris asked.
If
her mom had to ask that question, then she and Henry were fine. Charlene sucked
in a deep breath and released it. “It is now.” She gripped the edge of the
curtain and peeked out the window.
All
four of her mother’s car tires had been slashed.
Her
phone beeped. “Mom, I’ll call you back in a second. Don’t go anywhere.”
She
clicked the phone. “Larry?”
“Tomorrow
at 9. Charlene,” Andrew said and the line went dead.
Heart
thundering in her chest, she hit the button and called Larry, her fingers
shaking.
Voice
mail came on.
She
tried Jake. No answer.
“Damn
it!”
The
cell rang. “Larry?” she shouted into the phone.
“No,
it’s Celine. I’ll be there in a few.”
Celine was
coming there. Why?
“You
sound upset,” Celine said. “Did Larry not show last night?
“Uh.”
Charlene’s mind was scrambled. She tried to figure out what to say in the midst
of her confusion. Telling Celine Andrew was here would only make her friend act
hastily and possibly put her in danger. “He did. I’m trying to reach him this
morning.”
“Well,
do you need a ride to Greenwood Manor to pick up your car?”
She’d
forgotten about the arrangements she and Celine made last night before she left
the cafe. She didn’t know what she was in for today with Andrew, but not having
a car wasn’t good. “Yeah, yeah, I do. Thanks, Celine.”
They
disconnected and she called her mom back. Doris answered on the first ring.
“Hi, honey, what’s going on?”
“Andrew
was here again,” Charlene said, fighting back tears.
A
gasp came across the line. “No.”
“He
still wants money.”
“Have
you called Larry?”
“I
tried, but his phone went to voice mail,” Charlene said. “I’m sure Larry will
call as soon as he can.”
“Maybe
you should phone the police.”
“I
don’t know.” Charlene swiped her forehead and her robe gaped. She better get
dressed before Celine showed up. “Celine’s taking me to get my car. If Larry
hasn’t called me by the time I get back, I’ll call the police.”
“Okay.”
“Is
Henry awake?”
“He
was. Right after he ate breakfast, he fell asleep watching
Spider-Man
.”
Charlene
sighed. “I kept him up too late last night. Give him a kiss for me. I’ll be
over after I get back.”
“Be
careful,” Doris said, concern reflected in her voice.
“I
will.”
The
doorbell sounded.
“Gotta
go, Mom, love you.”
“Love
you, too.”
Charlene
disconnected, dressed in blue jeans, a shirt and tennis shoes before grabbing
her spare car key off her dresser. She rushed downstairs and peeked through the
window. Seeing it was Celine, she opened the door. “Hi, Celine. Thanks so
much.”
“No
problem. Driving to the country will relax me as long as I don’t have any more
flats.”
Charlene
settled into the passenger seat of the Camaro and rested her head against the
headrest. For a long moment, she stayed that way as her breathing evened out
and the adrenaline fueling her blood into hyper alert slowed.
Before
she knew it, Celine turned past the Greenwood Manor’s stone posts.
Charlene’s
stomach twisted. The strobe lights and odd noises from the other night flashed
in her mind, haunting her. From what Larry had said, the drug in the wine
played tricks on her brain. She believed that, but still the images were so
vivid it was hard to put the incident into perspective.
Celine
parked beside Charlene’s Hyundai.
“Do
you mind if we look around a bit?” Charlene asked, climbing out of the car.
Larry had said Andrew worked at the farm under an alias. If so, maybe she could
figure out what he was into.
“Sure,
I could use some fresh air, but I’m stuck wearing flip-flops.”
Celine
joined her on the sidewalk and a shoulder bumped her. “How was staying here the
other night?”
“Can
I tell you something without you believing I’m crazy?”
Celine
gave a single nod.
“The
other night, I saw strange things.”
Celine
raised a sculpted eyebrow. “Yeah? Like what?”
Charlene
figured she’d start with one incident and judge Celine’s reaction before
telling her the more peculiar things. “I saw the lights the guys talked about.”
They followed the sidewalk passed the back door and stopped. Charlene pointed
to the front field. “Out there.”
Celine
scanned the area. “Honestly, the place gives me the creeps. At the same time,
it’s fascinating. Want to take a walk? We’ll stay clear of the fence row where
Larry and Jake said the traps were.”
How
wise was it for them to trounce around the place when gang members, snakes, and
traps had been seen? Yet, she really wanted to put an end to the mystery that
surrounded Andrew. “I need to figure out what Andrew is up to.”
Celine
nodded. “I can understand that. He is, after all, the father of your child.”
She nodded toward the field. “Do you think the answer is out there?”
“I
don’t know.”
A
low rumble came from somewhere in the distance.
“What’s
that noise?”
“I—”
Celine’s words broke off and the color drained from her face.
Adrenaline
spiked through Charlene’s blood stream. Men with guns sped toward them riding
four-wheelers. “Oh, shit!”
“No…don’t
say oh, shit,” Celine snapped. “Oh, shit means something really…really bad is
about to happen”
Two
more four-wheelers came from the sides of the house.
Charlene
raised her hands and pressed her back against Celine’s. “They think we’re
trespassing.”
“We
are.” Celine’s voice rose. “I told you when Larry appears, something big is
going down.”
“Oh,
shit.”
****
Rage
bolted through Andrew’s veins and he fisted his hands. His eyes narrowed on the
man he’d fought against for the leadership of the Impalers for the last month.
The battle turned personal as soon as Monk sent his goons after Charlene.
“She’s my wife, you imbecile. Let her go.”
“Mouse…mouse…mouse.”
The beady eyed man shook his head, making a tsking noise. “You’re out of your
league now. Imposing your authority on my crib won’t work.”
Andrew
thought about the Black Scorpions arriving today, how the gang members would have
his back. “I have backup coming. You’ll regret ever tangling with me.”
“I
already do.” Monk shifted his hat on his head and rubbed a fresh scar above his
right eye. “Thanks to you, I’ve had dealings with a group I never wanted to
come in contact with. The Black Scorpions are ruthless, vile, and don’t give a
shit about anyone. And look what you did.”
Andrew
swallowed around the lump lodged in his throat. No one was supposed to know
about them.
“You
call the sons-o’-bitches to come here and try to take over my small-time
operation. You fucking tell them that if they take the reins from me that
you’ll hand them over an FBI agent.” Monk slid another hand over his face and
tugged a gun out of the back waistband of his pants and aimed it at Andrew.
“How the fuck could you? I gave you a job. I knew you were power hungry, but to
call them? Try to deal with them? You just signed the entire group’s death
certificates.”
‘Oh-fucks’
pinged around in Andrew’s skull.
“Now,
I have to try and deal with them. Our gang will have to disperse and hope to
hell the Black Scorpions won’t track us down. I’m already missing two people.
Rona and Hulk didn’t return from checking the fences.”
Andrew
looked around the underground room Monk forced him into, the scent of dirt and
weed making his head spin. The plants that filled the room had disappeared,
leaving a table and a chair. If Monk decided to leave Andrew in there, no one
would ever find him.
His
mind flicked on his sweet Charlene wearing the see-through nightie this
morning. Why had he ever threatened her? When she arrived at the Manor, Monk
had gotten all weirded out and forced Andrew into this pit of a hole. “Let me
go. I’ll straighten this out.”
Monk’s
brown eyes lit into Andrew. “You’ve got that right. You will iron this out, but
on my terms. Push the button on the wall behind you.”
Andrew
twisted. A small brown knob, almost the color of the ply board, was an inch
from the ceiling.
“Push
it!” Monk ordered, and thrust the gun at him.
Andrew
did. The door opened into a smaller room, he’d never seen.
“Get
in there!”
Monk
might as well kill him then let him rot in the hole. “No.”
“If
you want to see your wife again, you’ll do as I say. Between you and her,
somehow, someway I hope to get the gang out of this fucking mess.” Monk’s gaze
went distant before shooting back on Andrew. “Now, move!”
Andrew
stepped into the room and stared at the empty cell, his gut plummeting. He
fucked up. “Come on, Monk. I’m sorry.”
“Are
you sorry you stole my car? Used it to shoot a federal agent? You set my ass
up. I won’t only be dealing with the Scorpions but the fucking FBI. Because of
you, I have to do things I promised my mom I wouldn’t ever do. I’m not made for
this type of shit.”
Andrew
twisted toward the guy that he became close to in order to use. “Really man. I
am sorry.”
“You
know, you’re not dumb, but in all your scheming there’s one thing you didn’t
count on.”
Andrew
arched a brow.
“My
brother is a Black Scorpion, you stupid fuck.”
Andrew
saw the club swinging at him a second before sharp pain pierced his skull.
Darkness invaded his vision and his body went limp.
Chapter Nineteen
Charlene swallowed, trying to shove down
the golf ball-sized lump in her throat. It didn’t work. Four-wheelers
surrounded her and Celine on all sides. Fear barreled through her system while
adrenaline shot through her veins, leaving her antsy and shaky.
The drivers, wearing Impalers hats,
flannel shirts, and blue jeans parked the butt of their guns on their thighs
glared at them.
“Roach, get them!”
Charlene followed the direction of the
woman’s voice to a four-wheeler off to the right. A petite woman with purple
hair, cascading around her shoulders, eyed her.
“I’ll help.” A shaggy, brown-haired man
with a porker-sized belly rolled off his seat and stormed toward them, a rifle
in his hand.
Nerves wracked through Charlene’s body.
“Support me,” she whispered over her shoulder to Celine and intertwined their
arms.
The closer Roach came, the more
foreboding he looked. A wad of something stuck under his bottom lip. His face
was caked in dirt as if he hadn’t washed in ages. “Let’s go!” he shouted,
motioning with his gun.
Charlene and Celine didn’t move.
Roach gripped the gun in one hand and
reached for Charlene with the other.
She leaned back against Celine, kicked
out her foot, hitting his stomach, and flung out her other leg. Charlene’s foot
connected with his wrist.
He grunted, dropped his gun, and slumped
to the ground.
“Run, Celine!” Charlene yelled and
darted into the open field at the back of the house toward a rock pile, just
behind a fence.