“So anyway,” I say as I get back in the truck. “What do you think they’re really doing over there at Freedom Farms? Who do you think is the bossman? I assumed it was Randy, but someone else must be controlling the purse strings.”
“I’m not sure.” He shrugs. “There are a lot of different things they can be doing with that much land. Add the barns on, and they could be hiding shit. I think we’ve got to let it play out.”
This isn’t what I want to hear, but more than likely he’s right. “Alright, let’s head to the station and brief Director Drake on it.”
“Do you think he’s going to have us patrolling while we’re undercover?” He asks. “I’m wondering if we should be doing more to disguise ourselves.”
“I’ve wondered too, it’s definitely something we’ll need to ask him.”
We’re quiet as we take off toward the station, both of us lost in thought about what we’ve gotten ourselves into.
Fifteen minutes later, when we park at the station, he turns the truck off and we look at each other. “This is going to be more intense than I thought it was,” he says, gripping the steering wheel.
“Yeah, me too,” I agree with him. Maybe we were both naive to think it would just be a couple of planned meetings, and we’d figure out what the hell was going on. Then we’d be able to go back to our regular lives. “But I think this is going to be more dangerous than we thought it would, too.”
“Yeah,” he echoes, the knuckles turning white where he’s still got his hands wrapped around the steering wheel. “It might be time to tell the people in our lives what we’re doing.”
My mind flashes to both my dad and my grandfather. Both of them could more than likely give me some good tips, but I’d also have to listen to them go on and on about how dangerous this is. How I’m not old enough to be doing this, and how inexperienced I am. It’ll just mean i have to weigh the pros and cons. Regardless, I’ll have to approach it, and this shit is going to be a fuckin’ headache. With my fingers, I rub my eyes vigorously and hope for the best.
“We’ve got to be in this together,” I tell him. “If either of us has doubts about this, we need to talk about it with Director Drake now.”
“No doubts here. You’re my best friend and I’d walk through hell with you. Nothing about that has changed. You good?”
“I’m good.”
Then we get out of the truck and walk toward the station. When we enter, I feel as if I’m entering a changed man. Things are more serious than I imagined they would be, but I also know it’s time for me to be the adult I’ve been asking others to treat me as.
Director Drake opens his door, and ushers us in.
This meeting I know, is going to change our lives.
Chapter 16
Magnolia
I’m working hard, and I’ve gotten into a rhythm as I mark things off my to-do list. It’s been a few hours since Levi left, and I’ve been streaming, but I’m about to cut the stream for the day when I see Ruby’s name pop up on the stream.
“Hey Ruby,” I give her a smile and wave, even if she’s on the other end of the screen.
CalebsWife: Hey, thought I’d hop in and see how you’re doing. Everything looks great!!
So Caleb must have told her what happened at my house. Not everyone knows about that, but I appreciate so much that she thought of me. I texted both my parents and they haven’t checked on me yet.
“I’m good, thank you so much. It’s been rough, but I’m making it.” That’s all I’m willing to say on camera. I know that sometimes Cody sneaks past the IP blocking I have on my streams, but it at least helps me feel a little safer to know I’ve tried. Glancing at the clock, I notice it’s the time I’d set for myself to log off so I can accomplish some of my harder orders. There are also tricks I’ve learned that I don’t want to share with the world at large. So many people are getting into this business because they’re watching what others are doing and copying it. “Thank you all for hanging out with me today. I appreciate it, it makes the time go by faster. I’m not sure when my next stream will be, but I’ll try to post on socials. I hope you all have a good day as you get ready for the holiday season.”
With those words I log off and take a deep breath. Sometimes when I log off, I literally sink into myself. It’s hard to keep that extroverted personality going when I’m not naturally the life of the party. It helps with business though. I don’t ship, but word of mouth does very well for me, especially when they can come look at my videos.
Turning to my iPad, I roll through the orders that are due this week, and then look ahead to what I need to start prepping for Thanksgiving. I’m having a pop-up that week and if it does well, I’ll have one before Christmas too. More than anything, I really need to make some money. I’ve had to open new accounts, because Cody has drained all of them, and who knows what the hell he’s done with the money at this point. But bills have to be paid, and there isn’t money to do it. If he finds out, he’s going to look for me, and honestly, the time until he does find out is coming soon. He’ll blow through all the money he stole, and then he’ll come looking for more.
“What the fuck was he even doing?” I whisper to myself. All the time we went back and forth between him having a ton of money when we needed it, and then him getting mad at me because we didn’t have any. It was like living with a drug addict.
Outside, I hear someone coming up the driveway. I have no idea when Levi is supposed to be done, so my anxiety rages. What if it’s his mom, or Molly? Both of them will wonder why the hell I’m here. Glancing around, I’ve taken over almost every single free surface of the kitchen and dining room. There’s no way I’m going to be able to pretend like I’m not staying here if someone comes in.
Running to the window, I peek out and breathe a sigh of relief when I see that it’s Levi’s truck coming up the driveway. He didn’t drive his patrol SUV today, because of what he and Dakota were doing. I don’t realize how nervous I was that this was going to be someone else, until my heart literally pounds against my chest.
He stomps up the steps and glances through the window, giving me a smile.
That fucking smile of his. It’s half smirk, part bashful, and one thousand percent hot as fuck. Walking over to the front door, I unlock it and throw it open. “Hey,” I greet him, smiling back.
