This girl is gonna be the death of me.
Me
Hey, it’s Jack. Keep my number saved in case of emergencies. Please.
She glances up at me. “Deal,” she says.
“Okay. I’m headed out,” I tell her. “I’ll be home around nine. If you need anything, call me.”
As soon as I step inside the garage, a text buzzes on my phone.
Jessi
Since you asked so nicely, you’ve been added.
Don’t ask me why her following a simple order makes my dick twitch, but it does. I type out a quick reply and slide the phone into my back pocket.
Me
Good girl.
CHAPTER 19
JACK
Ipull into the club, unsurprised that only a few bikes fill the lot. It’s early. For most club members, Saturday nights don’t kick off until after nine. At the moment, the place is full of mostly old heads who don’t have anywhere else to be.
This place is like my second home. It hasn’t changed since I came along when I was eighteen. It might smell like stale cigarettes, the walls yellowed and littered with old posters, notes scribbled on the walls from drunken nights, and the barstools may have seen better days, but I still love it. It’s filled with laughter and loyal friends who have become my family.
I grab my favorite barstool and sit down. “Mike, good to see ya. Any more news about any more clubs getting their inventory highjacked?” I jerk him into a hug and pat his back.
“Hey, man. Nah, after you roughed up the last dipshits who thought they could take our shipment pretty good, it’s calmed down. I think we still need eyes on our routes, but I could have told ya that in a text. What brings you in tonight?” he asks.
“Okay, if we need to send a bigger message, I can do that. Whoever is sending these goons needs to have an example made of him. I will be more than happy to be the one to dispose of him.It’s one thing to take from clubs or other gangs, but it’s another to target innocent people trying to make a living.”
Mike grunts. “This shit has gotten out of hand. We are working with Tim. He has two young men who’ve been pushing serious product. They’ve earned double than what any other dealer has brought in. He says they are targeting these rich high school and country club kids. I mentioned if we had a way to monitor or survey our routes, we might be able to pinpoint who is boosting our hauls. He says one of the new guys can hack. I told him I’ll give him twenty percent of the profit on deliveries if the kid can swing a job for us and ten percent on next year’s earnings if the hacking job actually catches the asshole. We need this problem to go away.”
“Sounds like a good plan, as long as the kid is reliable. Anyway . . . you know my neighbor, who has the?—”
“The sweet one or the shithead?”
“Fuck off. My neighbor Jessi, not a sweet anything to you. Now that that’s cleared up, can I finish? Long story short, Jessi came banging on my door last night. Her parents up and left for the rest of the summer.”
Mike’s brows raise. “The summer? What kind of parent leaves their kids for an entire summer?”
I rear back. “It’s not my business. I’m the last person to judge anyone’s parenting. To top it off, though, her asshole of a stepbrother had a party, and one of his friends tried to sexually assault her.” My hand clenches into a fist, begging to punch something.
“Shit. No fucking way, dude. Is she okay? I know you’re not going to let that slide without helping her, so what’s going on in your head?” Mike grabs us each a beer and slides one across the bar to me.
I start peeling the label off to distract myself. “Basically, I threatened Jessi’s brother and had him pass a message to his friend that next time it’s me they deal with.’’
Mike scratches his head. “Well, what happens now, since the parents are gone. Is Jessi calling them home?”
“That’s another predicament. She said she’s too scared to say anything to them. She isn’t sure they’ll believe her. In the meantime, she’s staying with me for now.” I cough and avoid meeting his eyes.
Mike slaps the table and starts howling with laughter. “Wait, you moved her into your house? That is quite the predicament. I can’t wait to see this situation play out. Jack, you haven’t had a roommate in ages, let alone a young girl.”
I grumble. “Of course it wasn’t well thought out, but what else was I gonna do? Send her back there?” I scratch the nape of my neck and keep my eyes on my beer bottle. Every bit of the label is in pieces. I’m trying to convince Mike that what I’m doing is okay. Still, I know how bad it looks and that I should call her parents myself, but I can’t help the overpowering desire to protect her, even from them. They have let her be terrorized to the point that she’s scared to call them after an attempted sexual assault. So, fuck it. I’m keeping her safe, and I don’t give a damn what anyone has to say about it.
