“Callie, you don’t have to.” Wes leans forward with his elbows on his knees.
“At least we got a tracker on his car, right?” Noah crosses his arms and glances at Wes, who winces as he once again looks at his brother’s swollen eye. “If we don’t hear from Shane, we—well, you—can go wait for him by his car.”
“You shouldn’t have left the fucking fight club without me.” Wes glares at Noah, fixated on his face.
“Okay, maybe, but now we can track Shane’s car.” Noah shrugs and resumes pacing. “And I’m fine. I can handle two assholes trying to steal my wallet. They’re lucky I didn’t slice their stomachs open.”
Meadow followed Noah out of the fight club last night. He told us he tried to shake her, but then she identified Shane’s car parked along the road a block away. Meadow and Noah then separated, and Noah got into some kind of scuffle with a pair of dudes who tried to mug him on the way to the stakeout spot he was headed to.
The look on Wes’s face when Noah told us about the mugging was lethal. And it’s my fault. I’m the one who Wes stuck by last night when he should’ve been with Noah. I should’ve insisted he go check on his brother instead of spending the night with me, especially since he didn’t even end up finding their target, but instead stuck a tracker on Shane’s car. For me.
“Callie’s fucking sister was trying to be sneaky and follow me, but she was as subtle as a herd of elephants.” Noah scoffs and shakes his head, but I have the feeling that he’s protesting a bit too hard.
“Stop trying to distract me.” Wes isfirm. “You cannot go alone this morning. Wait until we hear from Shane to go anywhere.”
“I can go alone, and I will if I need to.” Noah shakes his head at Wes, like he’s dealing with a petulant child. Or maybe Noah’s the child, I dunno.
I’m a wreck. Again, Wes is having to choose between me and Noah? I’m desperate for him to come with me, but I feel awful that Noah is insisting he can go alone. I should tell them I can meet Shane alone today, but I can’t get myself to do it.
I can’t tell Wes I don’t need him today, and he wouldn’t leave me anyway. I know it.
This is it though.
I didn’t think everything would get done during this trip, I really didn’t. I thought it would all take longer. But the thing is, once I have the ring and Shane signs the papers, this all has to end. I can’t let it stretch out longer. I might lose the nerve to actually leave.
Portland.
And Wes.
I am going. I need to go.
“Why can’t you go later?” I ask Noah. I can hear the panic in my voice.
“Because the tip from Scorpion is about this morning. He said there should be a certain car at the apartment building that belongs to Joe Killer.”
“Why didn’t he know that last night?” Wes asks, a sharp edge to his voice.
“I don’t know, you ask him.” Noah shrugs.
“Okay, well, I can tell Shane I can’t meet him until later.”
“Sure, if that works out, fine,” Noah says, looking not impressed. Wes, on the other hand, is literally growling across the room.
Just then, my phone buzzes, and we all stare at my screen. I click and read it out loud.
Shane
Roots Cafe, 555 West Street, at ten o’clock
don’t bring your fuck boys
Me
can we do it later?
Shane
no
