by Dean, Ali
I could guess at the rest. “But they really wanted to take over Braven Pharma?”
Cruz shook his head. “No, they knew they couldn’t do that. They also knew Flynn was being watched too closely for them to skim money or do anything too straightforward.”
“What did they do?”
“They used Braven as their own drug factory. Flynn didn’t steal drugs in finished form, which would have been more easily detectable. He’d get extra ingredients in shipments and make his own drugs to sell. The Malones have their own lab, scientists, an entire operation.”
“What kind of drugs?”
“Anything, everything. Benzos, opioids, MDMA, and they’re moving now to legal prescription drugs that have a black market, mostly in developing countries.”
“I knew their influence went outside Defiance Falls and Boston, but internationally? How big are they? How far do the Malones reach?” I probably sounded as clueless as I felt. I had never paid much attention to the Malones, never had a reason to.
“Far,” Moody answered without hesitation. “They might live primarily in Defiance Falls and have most of their establishments based in the Boston area, but they’ve had overseas business for decades. It was in illegal arms for a long time, but in the past twenty years they’ve put more emphasis on drugs.”
Bodhi let out a sound of disgust. “Terrorists scared them off from arms. The Malones prefer to be the bullies, terrorizing the victims, and the playing field was too level for them with terrorists.”
I stared at Bodhi for a second. My rabble-rouser cousin, notorious flirt, fun-loving soccer player, was now psychoanalyzing a mafia family based on their pursuit of criminal enterprises. And he was talking about it as if he’d actually been paying close attention, studying them and their history for years now.
My mind kept wanting to return to that night on the beach. The night Flynn Malone died. A morbid part of me wanted to know all the details. Which of these boys I grew up with had held the knife that made the fatal slit?
“Okay, so what happened when your grandparents found out what Flynn Malone was orchestrating from his COO position at Braven Pharma?”
“We don’t think they knew,” Cruz said. “Or if they did, they turned a blind eye.”
“They might have been afraid of what would happen if they tried to stop it,” Emmett added.
I was starting to see how this world worked now. I had the pieces and I was putting it together.
Cruz filled in more details. “My grandpa passed when I was six, my grandma when I was nine. It was natural causes, their deaths. Cancer. When my mom and dad took over Braven Pharma, they discovered what Flynn was up to. They told Flynn he was done at the company. They let on they knew he was doing something sketchy, but didn’t tell him they knew about the entire operation, the lab, all the details.”
“Why didn’t they just go to the feds? They must have had all the evidence they needed,” I wondered.
“Exposing what the Malones had been up to would have brought down Braven Pharma too,” Moody answered this time.
Cruz continued, “The Malones weren’t about to stop what they were doing though. Flynn stepped down as COO but they told my parents they had to keep the shipments coming or they’d bring down Braven Pharma with them, claim Flynn was working with the Bravens all along. It was just as it always had been, with the Malones trying to manipulate my family to use their business in illegal activity.”
“And when they refused to cooperate, that’s when they killed your mom?” I forced myself to say it. After all, it was the truth.
Cruz shook his head. “After they refused, my mom went to the feds anyway with all the evidence. Dad didn’t want her to do it, because they suspected the Malones had insiders there. They didn’t know who or how high up the connections were, but Mom didn’t think the Malones had enough power to wipe out the kind of evidence they had against them.”
Cruz’s hand tightened on my leg before he finished, “She was wrong.”
Emmett filled in the blanks. “They found out what she’d done. The evidence went away and nothing happened with it. Instead, any rumors about nefarious activity were shut down when Laura Braven Donovan took her own life by way of drug overdose.” His voice lowered to a whisper when he dropped, “In a bathtub.”
My arms moved instinctually around Cruz’s neck then and my head dropped to his shoulder. I’d never known the details of his mother’s death. I’d heard the loss of her parents followed by the pressure of taking over their company had driven her to take her life, but it had been unclear if the overdose was intentional or not. She’d died when Cruz was twelve, and he never spoke of her. I imagined it was too painful.
“It was a warning,” Bodhi said. “So was your kidnapping. They wanted information, but they were also reminding us what would happen if we meddled or tried to stop their businesses from running the way they wanted.”
My head rose from Cruz’s shoulder. “But you’re not heeding it. We can’t.”
“No,” Cruz said, his voice solid and strong. “The Malones are still getting the shipments, but it’s about to stop. We’ve started a revolution, and we’re not backing down.”
At his declaration, I recognized how insignificant our relationship three years ago had been in the scheme of what was at stake, everything he was dealing with. Yet it also hit me that despite all of it, he’d waited for me, he’d still wanted me. We still mattered. We needed each other. And I knew, the two of us, what we had, it was anything but insignificant.
Chapter 3
Cruz
I’d just admitted to Hazel that I was going to keep fighting, even though we knew it made her a target. The Malones had taken her. They’d told us without words that she would meet a similar fate as my mom if we didn’t continue cooperating with their scheme. They knew what we’d done to Flynn Malone, and if they got evidence to prove it, they’d want their own revenge. The cycle would continue. And now Hazel was part of it. She had become part of it when her dad decided to help us, though she might have been less of a target if I’d been able to stay away.
I couldn’t, though. Not when she’d put herself in the middle of it at my birthday party. Not when her safety was never guaranteed to begin with. Not when I needed her so bad. It’d taken years to admit this to myself, and as I watched her taking it all in tonight, I sensed she knew it too. We were a team. The two of us together and all six of us.
There was still so much to explain, details to fill her in on if she was going to fight with us, plans to go over, strategy to discuss. We had to make our next move, and it had to be done quickly, before the Malones had a chance to regroup.
But then I heard an engine in the distance, coming closer. I knew the others heard it too because they tensed. I could barely hear anyone breathing as we listened. It was more than one engine. Several vehicles were headed down the drive.
Spike darted to his feet, Emmett behind him. Bodhi went for the door, while the others took position at various windows. Grasping Hazel’s hips, I stood up, placing her on her feet.
“We got this. Go behind the couch.” I nodded to the couch in the far corner. We had to get her trained and armed. And fast.
Someone turned off the light and we were encased in darkness. It only heightened my attention to the sound of the engines. Hazel moved away from me and I squinted to find her getting on her knees behind the couch. She was a fighter, but she knew when to let the fight go and hide, which was a damn good thing.
Very few outside of my family and Jeremy knew about this cabin. Half the teens in Defiance Falls might have come to the Lake to party, but that was on the opposite end of the property, with a separate driveway. There were no roads connecting the two sides of the lake, just a trail that wasn’t easy to spot. It was nearly a mile from one side to the other.
Whoever was driving to the cabin now was in a caravan and they were coming fast. They knew where they were going. This wasn’t someone who took a wrong turn. They were coming for
us, and we all had a strong guess who it was.
The engines stopped. A car door slammed. Then another.
“Yo!” a voice called out.
Yo?
“We know you’re in there, assholes!” That voice I recognized, and it wasn’t a Malone.
I moved toward the door. “What the hell is Isaiah Cross doing here?” I asked Bodhi, or anyone else who knew the answer.
“We knew they’d find the cabin eventually,” Bodhi answered. “That’s why we set up the Spot.” He was referring to the old paper mill we’d turned into our home base.
I ran a hand through my hair. It had to be tonight of all nights. “Great timing,” I grumbled.
“At least we had it to ourselves this long,” Spike said from his crouch by the window. He peeked over the edge of the windowsill before tucking his gun back in his waistband.
Emmett stood up from his position by another window and turned to me. “Everyone was flipping about the arrest today, Cruz. You know they think it’s a prank pulled by the Malones. They’ve been waiting for something to happen. First your birthday party, then the fight at Patriot Taphouse. They all think we’re messing around, and they want in on the fun.”
I nodded to Moody, who had the best view of the driveway from the far window. “How many?”
Moody kept his eyes out the window as he answered. He kept his gun in his hand, too. “Three cars, everyone’s still getting out, wandering around. All dudes. Bet they want to know if they can go beat up some Academy kids now.”
“It’s all our high school?” I clarified. Sometimes Defiance Falls High and the Mayflower Academy kids mixed for club sports outside school, but for the most part, I didn’t trust Academy students, Malone or not. Sure, I’d gone there until freshman year as part of the façade of the truce between our families, but I’d known even then to let the Malones hold court. I hadn’t blended into the background, not entirely, but I knew better than to test sides and loyalties on Malone territory.
Moody watched for a moment longer before nodding. “Yeah, they’re all out of the cars now. A few guys on our team. Isaiah and his basketball guys. Landon and Nick and their football crew.”
We could hear them talking, but couldn’t make out the words. Shadows passed the windows. Moody lifted the corner of his mouth. “They’re scoping it out. Saw the Hummer so they know we’re here.”
It was Spike’s ride, but everyone knew where one of us went, the others wouldn’t be far away. Word must have spread I was out on bail. They probably figured we were meeting here to party or plan a retaliation prank. I wish that was all this was.
I felt hands slip around my stomach and my chin dropped to my chest. God, how I wished this was nothing more than cruel pranks. Hazel’s hands were warm as they brushed the skin just above my waistband. Her breath on my neck was a tease when she whispered, “Safe to come out now?”
I tilted my head to peek at her over my shoulder. Her emerald eyes danced with an energy unique to Hazel Ross. The girl had never been in trouble in her life, got straight As, was adored and respected by everyone she met, and was one of the best high school soccer players in the nation. Yet she was filled to the brim with mischief. I saw it glimmering at me in the shadows. She’d been biding her time, even if she didn’t know it. Preparing for me, for us, for this life.
I turned so I was facing her and my hands moved to her butt. We were with all the guys but I just couldn’t help it. Hazel Ross had the most amazing ass. She might think her boobs were her best asset, but her bottom was a close contender. Maybe it was her eyes. Or lips. Damn. The whole package was just, Hazel.
“Cruz?” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
“I asked, is it safe to come out now?” Her eyes shone, and I loved that she seemed to be laughing at me right now. After everything we’d hit her with tonight, she was touching me, making me want her, and she knew it.
“Safe enough,” I responded, but only pulled her closer.
“The guys have guns,” she said. “Where’s yours?”
“I just got let out of jail, Haze,” I reminded her.
“Are there more here?” she asked.
“They’re at the Spot. Why didn’t you guys meet there, anyway?”
Hazel shrugged. “They wanted to, but I insisted we do it here.”
There was a knock on the window and we saw Landon’s face peering in. A moment later, a headlight shone through another window, illuminating us.
“Cover’s blown,” Bodhi said on a dramatic sigh before opening the door. The others went with him, but I wasn’t ready to deal. Not with Hazel in my arms.
Pulling her back from the light, I moved her until we were against the kitchen counter, around the corner from the windows facing the drive. “Why’d you want to come here?” I asked.
I thought she might say nostalgia or something. We used to hang here all the time in eighth grade and the summer before high school. Instead, she said, “I feel like a prisoner at the Spot. Well, I felt like one. An outsider. It’s like this reminder there’s this whole world you guys have that I don’t know about or understand. I wanted to do it on more familiar ground, where I wouldn’t be so off-balance.”
I leaned back a little so I could bring her with me and feel more of her body against mine. “And now? I don’t want you to feel that way anymore.”
She shrugged, and it was the shrug I didn’t like. The one that said, “I don’t feel like answering that question or dealing with you.”
“We’re going to tell you everything, Hazel. You know all the big stuff now and you’ll know all the rest soon.”
She looked at me, but it wasn’t mischief behind her gaze now. It was hurt and pain. She didn’t try to disguise the torment inside her and it blew through me, knocking down my spirits that had been rising as I’d finally revealed what we’d kept from her. And she hadn’t run. She was in my arms. I should have known it wouldn’t be that simple.
“You didn’t tell me all the big things, Cruz. I still don’t know why you told all the guys but not me. Why you asked for their help and not mine. Why you shut me out. You broke me three years ago, Cruz, and I didn’t know why. Do you know how much that hurt?”
Her eyes wouldn’t meet mine and they dropped to my chest. I felt her pulling away even as she was flush against my body; my hands settled low on her hips, securing her in place. She was killing me with each word, but she really twisted the knife when she added, “Like my mom. You left, and I got no explanation. I just knew you were gone and it was over for us. Only it was worse because I loved you, Cruz. And I didn’t just lose you. You took all of them too.”
Even with her right here, not running, not shouting, but calmly telling me things while she let me hold her, I felt my heart breaking. For her, for us, for what I’d done. I hadn’t wanted it to hurt her so bad. I hadn’t wanted her to lose the guys, too. But I’d known that would happen, that there was no halfway with us, with any of us. It was all or nothing, and it had to be the latter. For a while.
I had to make her see, make her understand where I’d been then, and why I would do it again. “Hazel, my mom had died as a warning. It haunted me. It still does. All I could see was the same thing happening to you if I let you into this world.”
“And the guys?”
“They had more distance from all of it. Jeremy’s not their dad. And I wasn’t in love with them like I am with you. Like I was then too.”
“What changed? Why now?”
I took a deep breath. “We’ve been working with your dad for five years now. It started a few months after my mom died. I barely knew who you were then, and Dad had kept me mostly in the dark on all of this. I was already in deep with you when I learned all of this shit about the Malones and the truth about my mom. You have to know, your dad is the Malones’ biggest asset. Over the last fifteen years he’s worked for them, he’s gotten to where he’s practically running their operation now. He knows everything they do. If they saw me, the son of their biggest r
ival, with you, the daughter of the only man who could break them, that would definitely start raising suspicions. Your dad never would have been able to do everything he’s been doing to help us build a case.”
Hazel’s eyes were back on mine, wet with unshed tears. “He’s basically done now though, right? That’s why… why you pulled the trigger on Flynn Malone?”
“Pulled the trigger? Cute, Haze.” I tried for some levity, but it didn’t seem to help the sadness covering her like a blanket.
“I get it, Cruz. I get why it happened this way. But it still fucking hurt.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” I lifted my hand to wipe a tear that escaped down her cheek. Then I tried to stop more with a kiss. First to her cheek, then I moved to her lips.
“I might still be a virgin, Hazel, but I want you sleeping at my side from now on. In the same bed. I respect your dad, but I can’t have you alone. Not now.”
She didn’t answer with words. Instead, she told me to shut up by kissing me back.
Chapter 4
Hazel
The kiss was just getting good. The intensity was about more than the desire that was always sizzling between us. This was an exchange of regrets, and apologies. Forgiveness. Our tongues lashed out, our lips colliding and my hips pressing into his as we fought to put the past behind us, to heal wounds and come out stronger. Cruz’s teeth tugged my lower lip and he rocked his pelvis up, making my center throb and ache with need. The kiss became more determined as I felt Cruz thick and heavy between our jeans. We were solidifying a commitment to each other with our lips and our bodies, making promises.
I had to admit, Cruz had only gotten better at kissing over the past few years. Yeah, I’d rather he’d been practicing with me but I loved the confession he’d given to me last night. He’d waited. Cruz Donovan had kept his virginity for me and that made me even crazier for him.