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There was a split second upon waking when everything seemed all right in the world. Mia wasn’t missing. I wasn’t experiencing a gruesome hangover. I hadn’t made a deal with Satan. I was an honest man, living an honest life. A poet in love. For a fleeting second, my heart didn’t ache, my head didn’t spin, and my soul was free.
But only for a mere second until everything had come crashing down.
Groaning, I rolled over and opened my eyes to see Travis’s cheery face with a trash bag in hand, cleaning bottles from around the motel room. “What are you still doing here?” I sat up and dropped my feet over the edge of the bed upon the stiff carpet.
The bloody headache returned.
“Here, drink this,” Travis threw a water bottle at me, and I caught it mid-air, “You’re going to need it.” I fed my thirsty soul from the poison of last night. After downing the entire bottle, Travis held up the bag, and I tossed the empty bottle into the rubbish. “It’s half-past three. Dex rang.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
Travis shrugged, focusing on tying the bag and avoiding my hard glare. “You needed your beauty sleep.”
I tilted my head, my eyes following his every move. Travis was nervous about something. “Well, did you answer?”
He tossed the bag outside the door, still not looking at me. “Yeah.”
I stood and threw my arms up at my sides. “And?”
Travis turned and peered around the room, still not fucking looking at me. “The plan is to meet at nine back in Ockendon.”
“What are you worried about?”
“Are you sure you still want to do this? Mia’s—”
“Mia’s what?”
“I’m not going to be that mate who’s going to tell you everything will be fine. Mia’s dead, and there’s no reason to continue with the Links. You should follow up with the remains for confirmation. I’ll do this job, but it’s not healthy to live in denial like this. I’m not going to watch you fall down that hole. I’ve seen it before, it’s not pretty, and it’s impossible to climb your way out. Trust me on this one. I’m doing you a favor. You should be grieving her, mate. Not fucking doing a job to find a ghost. Concentrate on you. Better your life. You did it for me once, and it’s time I do the same for you.”
My teeth clench, and muscles twitched. “Get out.”
“Oliver—”
“No, get the fuck out.” I pulled a shirt over my head and walked to the door and opened it. “Go on. I’ll do the fucking job. You go back to Summer. Give her a fucking kiss, mate. Hold her close. Make love to her. Trust me on this, don’t waste a God-given second.”
Travis hung his head and walked toward me. “I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s taking a lot not to hit you right now. Take one for the team and fuck off.”
He left. I slammed the door.
There were four of us standing in the car park at Jack’s, going over the plan one last time. These boys were fresh recruits, new to the gang scene. I could tell by the way Adrian was unable to stand still. He was nervous, and I didn’t blame him. But nerves could only get him arrested or worse, killed. I pulled him off to the side.
“You okay?” I needed him to pull it together if this was going to work. I couldn’t have his tension spread over the other two. Adrian wouldn’t look at me directly. He scratched behind his head, neck, and ran a palm down his face as his eyes wandered over the streets of Ockendon. “Hey, it’s going to be alright. You have to have faith in me.”
“Faith in you?” He threw his arm in the air. “I don’t fucking know you, man.”
Adrian was right. He didn’t know me. None of them knew me, but we didn’t have time to exchange stories of our past. “Look. The only thing you need to know about me is that I’m not leaving anyone behind. No one is going to jail tonight. No one is dying. All I ask in return is to trust me blindly.” I gripped the back of his neck. “Can you do that?”
Standing at the same height as me, Adrian had young features, untainted by power, money, and murder, and his vibrant eyes arrested an old, determined soul. With black buzzed hair and fresh, unmarked skin, he should be fancying a nice girl at this hour, not preparing for a robbery. I would ask him how he got himself involved with the Links, but he was here now, and there wasn’t time for any of us to back out. If the job didn’t get done, then Dex wouldn’t help me find Scott.
Mia was still alive. I had to believe in that.
“Yeah, mate. I can do that,” Adrian said through a sigh.
I gripped his shoulder and pulled him back with Reggi and James, the other two boys Dex assigned to me. “Unload all your guns,” I ordered, and three scared eyes shot up at me as if I’d gone mad. “I’m serious. No bullets. Make sure there isn’t one in the chamber either.”
“What’s the point in carrying a gun with no bullets?” James, the biggest of the three, asked. He reminded me of a younger version of Travis, with blond hair and navy eyes, but James was built whereas Travis now sported a proper gut from Summer’s fabulous cooking, or so I was told.
I arched a brow and lifted my chin. “Are you going to shoot it?”
“Well, no,” James shook his head and raised his palm, “Only to frighten them. But something could take a turn for the worst, and we have to be ready for the worst.”
“You three carry these guns around as if it gives you power. It doesn’t. Your guns aren’t going to save you, especially since none of you have shot a gun before,” I paused and glanced around at the blokes, and neither of them corrected me, “One, you don’t pull one out unless you’re going to shoot it. Two, we can’t draw attention to the police. And three, what if the owner of the shop has a gun? If you pull yours out, he won’t hesitate to fire back. And like I told my mate, Adrian. No one is going to jail or dying tonight. If you need to take your ego with you, I suggest you keep it in your waistband, unloaded. There are other ways to get what you want.”
They exchanged looks. Adrian tossed his unloaded gun into the trunk, while the other two pushed the muzzle of their weapons into their waistband behind their backs—unloaded. I closed the trunk, and the four of us piled into a prepared car with a false license plate.
The robbery hits from the bottom were in run-down places, small, and the cash was even smaller, which had been Travis’s first mistake. Just because the job was small, didn’t mean to treat it any differently, or be careless.
We pulled into the car park where only a single working street lamp shone over a few scattered cars. There was a clear view inside, customers sprinkled throughout, and I turned back from the driver’s seat to face the recruits. Their nervous faces glowered back at me as the rain beat against the top of the car, matching our heartbeats. “Here’s the deal, this is your first run and initiation into the Links. If you can’t follow my instructions or want to back out, now is the time.” No one moved. “Adrian, you pull the car around to the back door. The rest of us are going in.”
“We’re ru
“We’re not ru
The bell chimed as soon as the door opened, and the customers’ eyes flitted over us briefly before going back to their laundry needs. This wasn’t the best side of town, and the residents of Ockendon knew to keep their noses out of everyone’s business.