“It’s okay if you feel something for him,” Casper signed. “We can’t control who we’re attracted to. There’s nothing wrong with wanting him.”
“Yes there is,” I muttered with a shake of my head. “It has to be wrong. It’s Noah fucking Cunningham. He’s the enemy, remember?”
“I get that,” Casper continued, his hands moving quickly. “It’s complicated. But if the feeling is mutual, maybe he doesn’t have to be the enemy anymore. Maybe you two can move past that.”
I turned my attention back to the road. Why was he giving me permission to do this? Why was he making it sound like it was fine? How could it possibly be?
“I’m supposed to kill him. Nothing changes that.” Swallowing hard, I gripped the steering wheel tight. Staring hard at the empty road ahead.
I hated that Casper saw nothing wrong with my sick attraction. Part of me had hoped he would find it disgusting. Revolting. That he would tell me to stay the hell away from Noah.
He was a good friend. I didn’t blame him for not telling me what I wanted to hear. I blamed myself for feeling this way in the first place.
We rolled into Elmwood twenty minutes before we were scheduled to meet our buyer. It didn’t take long to find the closed down waterpark on the edge of town. Surrounded byheavy fencing, the tall slides in the distance looked creepy in the dark.
We parked at the back of the large lot well out of reach of the few measly cameras near the entrance. Then we waited.
Suddenly headlights came on, pointing at us from three different directions. Vehicles hidden in the dark suddenly revealed. Men got out of each car, stalking toward us with guns held in hand.
“What the fuck is this?” I reached to touch the handgun on the console next to me, knowing it would be useless.
“Get out of the vehicle.” One man shouted. “Show us your hands.”
“Do it,” Casper signed. “Just play along.”
In unison, we opened our doors, slowly getting out with our hands raised. There were seven surrounding us. That didn’t mean there weren’t more waiting in the vehicles. Careful not to slip on the icy parking lot surface, I took a few steps away from the SUV we’d rented to do the drop.
“Is there a problem here?” I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral.
The guy who shouted at us stepped forward. He wore a heavy plaid jacket, his head shaved bald to expose the X tattooed on the side of his skull. Son of a bitch. I knew what that meant.
“The problem is that you’re doing business in our city. This is our territory.” He lowered his gun. The rest of his friends did not.
“We’re just here to drop something off,” I explained. “Two minutes and we’re out of here.”
The guy shook his head, snickering. “That’s not how this works. You do business on our turf, you give us a cut. I’m thinking fifty percent.”
A laugh of disbelief escaped me. “You’ve got to be joking. Fifty percent to do a simple handoff in a parking lot? I don’t think so.”
I shot a glance at Casper who stood a few feet away. His expression was pinched and tight. No doubt he was thinking about getting out of here safely and going home to his girl. I couldn’t let anything happen to him.
“Those are our terms,” the man continued. “Of course, we could raise our cut to seventy percent if you prefer.”
“Come on, man. Let’s be reasonable. It doesn’t need to be this way.” I wasn’t sure how to appeal to this guy. Already I got the sense that he would not be reasoned with. “How about you let us do our deal and we’ll never come back here?”
My suggestion was met with a round of laughter. Great.
Rebel liked to say I was a manipulative fuck. He was wrong. I simply knew how to get what I wanted. Most of the time. Not today apparently.
The man in charge nodded to some of his companions. “Check their vehicle. Find out what they’re dealing here.”
Fuck. They were going to find the cooler with the kidney inside. There was nothing I could do to stop them.
Two of the X members searched the SUV before coming forward with the cooler. They handed it off to the leader who looked inside, his eyebrows rising.
“How much does one of these go for?” He glanced from me to Casper.
I had no intention of telling this guy fuck all. Since he clearly expected an answer, I lied. “Like twenty grand or so. Give or take.”
