JOLIE
Igrunted as Ihelped hoist Jeff up onto the cart from the hallway. Gauge had told me many times that Ididn’thave to help, that he would call in backup to sort this mess out and Icould go home. But it was my mess and Ihad to be the one to clean it up. The only girl in afamily of boys, barring our overbearing mother, Ihad been brought up as acog in amachine. If one cog fails then the whole thing stops working. And Ihad always firmly refused to be the cog that broke our family. Especially when our brother Marcel was doing such aprime job of that himself.
Besides, Ididn’twant the rest of the club finding out, because that would mean Dom finding out, and Iwasn’tready to deal with his holier-than-thou attitude. Or worse, his indifference. He may have been my eldest brother, but he served no purpose in my life.
“Cell?” Gauge said as he dragged Jeff’sdesk back into position. He looked up at me as he grabbed the other items from the floor and placed them back on the desk so everything looked normal once more. He was sweaty, his expression hard; his eyes were cold, almost lifeless, and it struck me then that it obviously wasn’tthe first time he’dgotten rid of abody. And it likely wouldn’tbe the last. I’dalways known that the Highwaymen weren’texactly the church-going type, but it was the first time I’dseen firsthand what they could—and would—do. That should have bothered me, and yet, like everything else that had happened that night, it didn’t. If anything, my body and mind felt alive in away that only dancing usually caused.
The way Gauge had just pulled out his gun and shot Jeff in the head without asecond thought, or any hesitation… Damn. Ihad always prided myself on being astrong, independent woman, but Ihad been twenty minutes holding apaperweight above Jeff’sbleeding head, willing myself to kill him. But for Gauge, it was nothing. Just another day in the life of aone-percenter. He just did what needed to be done. He dealt with the situation and moved on.
Astrange part of me admired him for that ability.
Another part was vaguely turned on. But Iignored that part.
“Jolie…where’shis fucking cell?” Gauge grumbled, standing up straight.
“Why?” Iasked with ascowl, not liking his tone.
“Because the cops can track him.”
Ishook my head and looked around briefly, realizing where it would be. Jeff never went anywhere without his prized phone. “Yeah, um…” Iglanced down at the rolled-up carpet on the cart. “Ithink it’sin his pocket. He never goes anywhere without it.”
“You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” he snapped, looking at the tightly wrapped up body. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Jolie. That would have been good to know beforehand.”
Irolled my eyes, feeling my lip curl up in anger. “Well, I’mvery fucking sorry that I’ve never done this sort of thing before, Gauge. Maybe there’saclass Ican sign up for—Getting Rid of Dead Bodies 101,” Ibit out.
He stared at me, his hard, cold eyes further triggering my temper.
“Imean, Iget that this is just an everyday occurrence for you, but for me, and the rest of the world, this shit is not something people are usually experts in.”
He let out abored sigh.
If Icould have shot laser beams from my eyes to burn holes in his face, Iwould have.
“You done?”
“Not even nearly!” Iimmediately snapped back.
He dragged ahand through his hair and let out another heavy sigh. “Idon’thave time for this shit.”
“And Ido?” Iall but yelled, before immediately lowering my voice.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Jolie, can you give it afuckin’ rest for just half aminute. That little bitchy motormouth of yours is gonna get us caught, and I’mnot feeling going down for murder. So if you can roll that viper’stongue back up, put away your claws, and help me unwrap this fucker so we can get his cell, that would be motherfuckin’ peachy! Almost fooled me into thinking you were abadass until you started acting like acunt again.” He muttered the last part, and Iwasn’tsure whether to be even more pissed off or flattered.
Iopened my mouth to say something back, surprised when the words didn’tautomatically come.
“What’sup? Snake got your tongue?” he all but chuckled before turning serious. “Help. Now. Or don’t. But if you’re not helping, then fuck off.”
He bent down to begin the process of unwrapping Jeff’sdead body while Istood there, my mouth gawking at him, when voices from outside the door began to grow louder as people made their way toward the office. Gauge stood upright and my heartbeat ramped up, my eyes widening. He moved to the door, quietly slipping the lock in place before turning back to me.
“Looks like we’re out of time,” he whispered.
His gaze moved around the room quickly, searching for away out. We’dplanned on rolling Jeff to the fire exit and out the back door, but that wasn’tan option anymore. And if Jeff’ssecurity caught us in there, we were either dead or going to jail. Both options would send my parents to an early grave.
“Window,” Gauge grunted, dragging the desk over to the window. The long, low scratch of it across the floor echoed off the walls and made me wince, but Gauge seemed unfazed. He climbed onto the desk, examining the small window that Ihad never seen open before. He slid off his cut, wrapped his fist in it, and punched through the dirty window, sending splinters of glass raining down. “Get up here,” he ordered.
Iclimbed up on the desk quickly as he brushed the glass away from the window. Up close, Icould see that Iwas barely small enough to fit through it, and Iquickly turned back to him.
“But…”
