LOGINThat night the kids slept in their own rooms for the first time and Jo was in the shower as I got into bed and closed my eyes. I had tried to phone Levi but he declined all my calls and when I phoned Thalia she told me that he had gone off on his bike.I heard the bathroom door open and I felt the bed move as she climbed in and moved up against me. I kept my eyes closed because I was slightly pissed off with Levi for telling her all those things and also slightly pissed off with Jo for staying mad at me.“Alex,” she whispered as she put her arm around me.“What?” I asked her.“You owe me a five minute thank you,” she said and I laughed.“That was like a one-time deal,” I said as I turned towards her and she laughed.“I’m sorry,” she said.“I’m sorry too,” I said and she kissed me.“I think I owe Levi an apology as well,” she said as she broke the kiss off.“Do you really want to talk about Levi right now?” I asked her as I realized she was naked.“No,” she said and kissed me again as
Two days later, I parked my car in the garage at our house. I had left my bike at the storage unit and then sent Juan a message with the bike as a gift. I texted Levi that we were back and asked Thalia to bring our kids home. Thalia’s car stopped in front of our house thirty minutes later and Regen and Rayne ran into the house.I grabbed them and picked them up and I couldn’t help the tears in my eyes as I hugged them tight against me. I had missed them so much and my world felt complete as their arms went around my neck and Thalia smiled as she watched us.“Where’s Mommy?” Rayne asked as I put them down.“She’s upstairs and she can’t wait to see you,” I said and watched them as they ran upstairs. “Thanks, Mom.”“What’s all this business with bikini girls and auction videos?” she asked me and I laughed.“I didn’t do anything wrong, I did a job and now I’m home,” I said to her as she watched me.“Uh huh,” she said.“Uh huh is right,” I said to her.“I raised you better than that, Alex,
“Simon,” I said as he answered on the first ring. “Can you meet me at the Reaper’s clubhouse?”“Everything okay, Alex?” he asked me.“They’ve been dealt with,” I said to him and put the phone down.“We should decide what to do with the bodies,” Jo said and Jesse’s mouth gaped open.“Simon’s on his way, we’ll talk when he gets here, twelve people can’t just disappear,” I said to her.“You were shot six times today! How are you still alive?” Jesse yelled and I turned towards him. He was completely freaking out and Jordan sat on a chair looking dazed.“Jesse, I’ll explain everything in a bit. Have a drink or four, just breathe,” I said to him and took my knife from the table where Jo had put it down. I started with Sean and dug all the bullets out of the dead bodies while Jo picked up all the empty casings. She handed me the bag and I put all the bullets inside and put it down on the table.“Simon,” I said as I opened the door when the headlights shone through the windows.“Alex,” he sa
I heard Jordan’s bike ten minutes later as he parked in front of the clubhouse and I waited. I was at the back of the building where I could get in through the window of the storeroom. From there I could climb into the roof and move to wherever I wanted inside that building.Jordan’s text came through five minutes later. Jo was in a back room and the door was guarded by Owen. Sean was waiting for confirmation of my death before he broke the news to Cassie to see her honest reaction and then he would know the truth.Lucky for me a man matching my description was admitted to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and the police had informed Sean, he had them on the payroll as well. I would have to get Jo out through that door because I couldn’t let her into that crawl space alone. One wrong step and she’d fall through the ceiling.I went in through the window and listened for sounds from the storeroom door. I could hear music coming from the bar area and I hoped the police hadn’t pho
“Jordan, can you meet me at the location I just sent you, I really need to talk to you,” I said as soon as he answered his phone.“No shit, Alex, I really need to talk to you too,” Jordan said.“Just meet me,” I said and ended the call. I exchanged numbers with Simon Harrison and left their den after I told them that I’d contact them with instructions and drove to my house. I parked the bike in the garage and waited for Jordan.“Hey,” I said as he parked his bike in the driveway and got off. “You better come inside.” I held the door open for him and handed him a beer from the fridge.“Alex–” he began to say but I interrupted him.“Sean’s running drugs for the Garcia Cartel,” I said to him as he sat down and I couldn’t quite understand his silence. “He’s the buyer, he’s supplying the whole of California with drugs.”“You’re not Alex Gray. Are you with the DEA?” He asked me.“My name is Alex but I’m not with the DEA, I do work for an organization called The Council and I was sent to inf
At half past four I took Jo back to the clubhouse. She hadn’t spoken to me again and by the time we left her eyes were red from crying. Every time I had touched her leg on the drive back she had pushed my hand away. I had barely parked the bike when she got off and walked inside.“Alex, what happened? Why is she so upset?” Sean asked me as I walked inside and put my helmet on the hook with the other helmets.“Beats me, she didn’t say a word when she came out,” I said to him and sat down at the bar. Sean followed her to the back and he came back forty minutes later with a smile on his lips and sat down at the bar next to me.“She’s upset because they didn’t have the color she wanted for her toenails,” he said to me and I frowned as he laughed.“Shit, I don’t want to see how she reacts when something really does happen,” I said to him and he laughed some more.“Yeah, but even crying she’s beautiful,” he said to me and I had to relax my hand before I broke the glass in my hand as well.“
I left the coffee shop and drove back to the villa I was staying at. I took a shower and settled on the bed with the burner phone.Unknown: Hello Samuel. Attached are photos that I hacked from your phone.Samuel: Who are you? Samuel: What do you want?Unknown: I want $20,000.00 in small bills. Mid
I thought about calling Jules and my mom. I hadn’t called my mom in a week and I hadn’t told her about Jules but I knew she’d have a million questions because she had called while I was in the shower. I called her and hoped that it would ring until I got her voicemail, that she would be busy with s
I went back to the villa and logged into Samuel’s bank account and transferred half of his money. I wiped the villa down after I’d showered and I got on the bike at three AM and started making my way to Concord, North Carolina and Lawrence Patterson.Lawrence Patterson was mainly a recluse who had
Levi sat down opposite me and folded his arms on the counter. His face was unreadable, but his eyes held concern. I had allowed him to witness something private, something that I’d never planned on showing anyone, and I knew that I was going to have to tell him everything.“Is that your thing? The







