by Esme Beal
It was the middle of the afternoon when I arrived. The Chargers were scattered around the place as usual, too busy to ignore me. A few patrons were there, too, workers from the docks just trying to have a beer in the middle of the day while they were on their break.
Judith leaned up against the bar counter, sipping on a glass of beer that barely had anything in it.
“You need another one?”
The older woman turned toward me. Her lips curled into a grin as she looked me up and down.
“I haven’t seen you in a bit,” she said. “How are things with you?”
“Things are just fine. I’ve been a little… busy.”
“Must be real important if someone like you is stepping away from work.”
“You could say that.”
I put my hands on my stomach. There was a noticeable bulge in my stomach but Judith didn’t say anything when she looked me up and down.
“I did miss you,” she sighed.
“Did you? It’s nice that you think that way of me.”
“Oh, you’re a nice guy, Bryce. But your brother… His gang… They’re pretty cheap when it comes to the drinks.”
“Cade is running a business. You can’t expect him to hand out free drinks like I do.”
“It’s nice to have you back then.”
She gave me a wink. I couldn’t help but smile at her.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said as I made my way around the bar. “I’m in a good mood…”
I poured another beer and set it down in front of her.
“…On the house. Just this once.”
“I really did miss you, Bryce.”
Her attention was focused on her beer like she was hypnotized by it. She gulped half of it down like she’d had a long shift. Everybody at the docks worked hard and Judith wasn’t an exception. I didn’t hold it against her that she drank with that kind of enthusiasm. If anything, she deserved a chance to relax.
I looked around the bar and noticed that things were a little different from what I was used to seeing. Bottles had been rearranged and some were nearly empty. Glasses weren’t stocked. It would’ve bothered me if I didn’t need something to do.
I hadn’t been working long when I heard a voice next to me.
“Bryce!”
I looked up at my brother then went back to work.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he said.
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
“You know you shouldn’t be working right now—”
“Cade, I’m pregnant, I’m not sick. I can still do what I always do. You can’t expect me to stay at my apartment.”
“I just don’t want you to strain yourself, bro. You just got out of the hospital—”
“I got out of the hospital because you were stressing me out. If you want what’s best for me, you’ll do what I tell you to do.”
“It’s not that. It’s…”
He hesitated for a second. I shook my head in confusion.
“It’s what?” I said.
Before he could answer, the front entrance suddenly opened up behind me. I turned around and stared at the man that had appeared.
Expensive-looking black suit. Expensive watch on his wrist. Even his shoes were shining like they were freshly polished. The man didn’t look like anybody in the West Bay. Hell, he would’ve stood out even if he were in fancy parts of the Northside.
He looked around with a couple of imposing personal guards right next to him. It didn’t take long to figure it out.
Rivera.
I looked at Cade and whispered through gritted teeth.
“What the hell is he doing here?”
“It’s business,” Cade said. “Don’t worry.”
“Cade,” Rivera said as he walked toward the bar. “This is an… interesting place you have here…”
Hair slicked back over his head and face clean like a dozen barbers had worked on him, Rivera stuck his nose in the air like he was better than everybody else. He had the kind of disdain in his eyes that I expected. Everything about him seemed so sleazy, regardless of how much money he was worth.
“It’s our place,” Cade said. “The Chargers and I get all of our business done here. No better bar in the West Bay. No better bar in all of Snow Falls than Brickstone.”
“I see…”
Rivera eyeballed me. I didn’t bother holding back my contempt for him. I clenched my jaw, trying my best to keep my emotions in check.
Just relax… Stay calm… Remember what the doctor said…
The man responsible for all of my troubles stood there right in front of me and there was little I could do.
“And who might you be?” Rivera asked.
I didn’t bother responding. I didn’t care about getting to know him better or being courteous.
“That’s my brother,” Cade said. “Don’t mind Bryce. He’s been dealing with a lot lately. Besides, you’re here to do business with me. How about a beer?”
“No thanks,” Rivera said as he eyeballed me. “Let’s get to it.”
Cade moved away from me and headed toward the backroom where nobody could hear them talking. I didn’t have to think twice to know what they were doing. The rest of the Chargers joined him. But Rivera remained standing at the bar. He just kept staring at me, a satisfied smirk on his lips.
“Cade’s brother,” he said as he looked me up and down. “Are you always in a bad mood?”
“Listen,” I responded. “You might have a deal with Cade but that’s not enough to make me pretend like I like you. I know who you are. I know what you’re capable of. The only reason I haven’t kicked you out is because of Cade.”
“Hmph.”
The smirk on his face grew even wider. But the longer he looked at me, the slower it started to disappear. He stared at me, eyes unblinking. The kind of intensity that would intimidate anybody else. I didn’t care though. Nothing would change my opinion of him.
“Now you listen,” he said as he leaned forward across the bar. “Your brother is smart enough to realize how big of an opportunity this is for him. You should be grateful that I’m even allowing someone like your brother in on this deal. Cade will be a rich man when all is said and done. You will reap the benefits the same as him.”
“I don’t care. You came to Snow Falls to taint this city. You’re the last thing we need. If having all of the rewards in the world means having to deal with you, you can keep ‘em.”
“Unfortunately for you, that’s not your decision to make.”
He stood up straight and fixed his tie. He kept looking down his nose at me before disappearing into the backroom.
I pulled my phone up and brought up Uriah’s number. I wanted to tell him that Rivera was here… But something stopped me.
Damn…
Uriah couldn’t do anything. Rivera hadn’t done anything wrong and he wasn’t foolish enough to pull anything here. I had to do this myself.
I moved to the back and saw the closed door. Rivera’s security guards were standing there. I had to think of a way to get into that meeting but nothing came to me.
I hadn’t even finished thinking when the door suddenly opened up. Cade’s gang walked out followed by Rivera himself. I stood in the hallway as they all passed me by. I couldn’t even look at Rivera. I just checked to make sure that he’d left for good. A sense of relief washed over me when he left with his guards but I still didn’t feel as comfortable as I wanted to.
Cade was the last to leave the room. I stood back in the hallway and stared at him. He gave me a half-smirk as he walked up to me.
“I can’t believe it,” I said as I shook my head. “I can’t believe you’re still going through with this. I don’t know how you can deal with a man like him.”
“You have to trust me on this, Bryce.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? Rivera is going to get caught. And everybody else with him. That man will do anything to get away from the law. He’l
l throw you under the bus, too, if he has to.”
Cade moved forward and put his hands on my shoulders.
“I know how much you care about me,” he said. “I really do.”
“Then why won’t you listen to me?”
“Because… you’ll understand when this is all done.”
“Cade—”
“Just trust me, Bryce. I’m on your side.”
He put his arms around me. Despite all of my concerns, I couldn’t push him away. I let him hug me until he finally released me.
“I’ve got some business to take care of,” he said. “Get things all set. I’ll leave a couple of the boys around in case you need help.”
“I don’t need any help, thanks…”
I headed back to into the bar. Cade gathered his gang and they all left one by one. He looked at me one last time. A subtle smile on his lips appeared. The smallest reminder that I could never hate him, no matter how stupid he was acting. He turned around and left and the bar went back to being as quiet as it always was.
“Thank goodness they’re gone,” Judith said. “It looks like things are back to normal.”
The woman managed to put a smile on my face.
“You know what…”
I walked back around the bar and poured another beer.
“…Thanks, Judith.”
I set it down in front of her and her eyes widened like she was staring at gold.
“You shouldn’t have.”
From everything I could tell, Cade had gone through with the deal with Rivera. There was nothing I could do to stop him. My only hope now was that Uriah had the answer I was looking for. From the way things were going, that answer didn’t seem to exist.
Chapter 21
URIAH
The department was busy all around me. Officers filing paperwork and processing arrests. Others working on cases. The amount of conversation was never-ending. Even late at night, there was always something going on.
But even with an office full of people, I still felt alone with my thoughts.
“Hey… You want one of these?”
Sanders pulled something out of a brown paper bag.
“Breakfast burrito,” he said. “There’s this great place down the street. Makes ‘em just right. Eggs. Cheese. Meat. Mmm…”
“I don’t know if I’m in the mood to eat right now.”
“Well, you gotta eat something. Come on. How are you gonna get any work done on an empty stomach?”
I didn’t eat anything since I woke up in the morning by myself. I left Bryce at the hospital to recover the next day because the investigation was still underway. A few hours at the station and I’d made little progress.
Sanders didn’t bother waiting for me. He pulled another burrito out of the bag and went at it like his life depended on it. Even I had my limits.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Let me get one of those.”
“That’s the spirit!”
He tossed the burrito onto my desk. I unwrapped it and took a bite out of it, not realizing that Sanders was watching me the entire time.
“How is it?”
“It’s good,” I said with a shrug.
“It’s better than that. When that first bite hits you… It’s like nothing else. I know you’ve got some stuff on your mind, Kennedy. But I know it’s a lot clearer now. Food makes everybody think straight.”
“Now that you mention it…”
I took another bite.
“…I guess I was a little distracted by my hunger.”
“You didn’t have to tell me that. You know how long I’ve been in this business? You know how many rapists, thieves and murderers have walked through those doors? I’ve heard stories that’ll give you nightmares for months.”
“Spare me.”
“I won’t say anything. But I will tell you that you can’t always have your nose to the grindstone. Sometimes letting your frustration eat away at you will only make things worse. You’ve gotta relax.”
“I know. It’s just…”
I sighed a deep breath and shook my head. I didn’t want to have any doubts but I couldn’t deny they were heavy in my mind.
“We had him,” I said. “We found his facility and he blew the damn place up. Now we’re questioning more people and nobody wants to talk because Rivera is threatening everybody. All this time and we haven’t made any progress. We’re right back where we started.”
“You wanna know what I think?”
Sanders took another bite out of his burrito. A bite so big that it took a few seconds to get it all down. He didn’t hesitate in digging back into his bag and pulling out a second helping.
“I think you need to stop putting all of this on yourself,” he said.
“It’s my responsibility. Lee put me in charge of the investigation.”
“You’re in charge but you’re not alone.”
“Sometimes it feels like it…”
More food wasn’t enough to distract me.
“Remember what I said about all of the thugs and criminals who walked into this station?” he said. “Well, there were a lot of good men and women who walked in here, too. The strongest, bravest, proudest cops you’d ever meet. Real heroes.”
“We could use some of them here right now.”
“That’s just it though. Everybody here is a hero. You’re a hero, Kennedy. Everything you’re doing, nobody could do what you’ve done. Rivera is a wanted man in how many different cities? You’ll get your man.”
I looked at Sanders. There was something so satisfying about the way he ate. It was like the most important thing in the world to him. It would’ve put a smile on anybody’s face.
“Sanders, let me ask you something… You have anybody in your life?”
“What do you mean? I got friends. Mostly cops but hey, nobody’s judging.”
“No, that’s not what I meant… I meant…”
“Betas aren’t wired like you Alphas and Omegas. I never met another man or woman I was into like that. Never interested me. I’ve had my moments. You wouldn’t believe it but I was quite the ladies man back then.”
“Heh…”
“But never anything serious.”
“Well, I’m sure you knew somebody who was close to someone. Someone who cared about somebody.”
“Sure. I’ve seen two people love each other. What’s this got to do with anything?”
“I’m just wondering… What if you had to choose? Have you ever seen someone who had to choose between the one they were meant to be with and doing their job?”
Sanders raised an eyebrow at me. I’d gotten his attention enough that he stopped eating for a second.
“What are you trying to say?” he said. “You getting into it with Rivera?”
“No,” I said with a laugh.
I shook my head but he was a lot closer to the truth than he realized.
“I know what the right thing to do. I was just wondering if there was any way to make things any easier.”
“My advice, kid… Life in Snow Falls is never easy. Being a cop in Snow Falls? Well, I don’t know what’s harder than that.”
Sanders nonchalantly went back to chewing on his lunch like nothing was wrong.
All of the doubts went back to swirling around in my head. If I couldn’t get to Rivera, there was only one thing I could do. I’d have to turn in the evidence I had. I had to take him down, even if it meant I had to take Cade down with him. There was no other way.
Bryce was the most important person in my life. The fact that he was torn bothered me more than anything else. I had to do everything I could to make sure there was nothing more to worry about. And regardless of what happened, I had to be by his side.
“How is the questioning going?” I asked.
“We’ve been through everybody who’s given us the information before. They don’t wanna talk. It’s too much of a risk with Rivera on alert.”
“Bring them in again for more questioning. Hit ‘
em hard. Make sure that they should be more worried about us than Rivera.”
“You sure about that? It’s not really our style to make threats like that.”
“Rivera doesn’t belong in this city. He’s already caused all of us enough trouble. It’s time to put him away for good.”
Chapter 22
BRYCE
It’d barely been a week since I was gone but working at Brickstone was more tiring than I remembered it. I could still move around despite my swelling stomach though I never imagined it would have that kind of impact on me. By the time I finished closing up for the night, all I wanted was to sit down and breathe a sigh of relief.
Uriah sent me a message that he was staying late at the office but he’d come to see me right after. I didn’t mind staying up a little later than usual if it meant I got to see him. We both knew what was at stake. He couldn’t afford to take much time off.
I was so tired though that I didn’t bother cooking. A trip to a fast-food restaurant on the way home was all that Uriah would have for dinner tonight.
I was sitting on my couch, my eyes closed as I recovered from the long day at work. All of the bags of food on the table filled my nostrils and made my belly rumble. I patted my stomach to ease my hunger.
“Just a little bit longer,” I said with a smile. “Daddy’s almost home.”
My thoughts started to leave me and I began to drift off to sleep when there was a sudden knock at the door. I jerked my head up and looked down at the phone I was holding.
There were no new messages or phone calls from anybody. At this point, I expected anybody to be behind that door.
I swallowed nervously then approached it. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Cade standing there by himself.
“You scared the crap out of me,” I said. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Since when did you ever care about what time it was when I stopped by to pay a visit?”
“Since you made a deal with a man like Rivera.”
“Right…”
Cade smiled at me. No matter how angry or frustrated I was, he always smiled. It was his way of reminding me that I could never be too upset with him. He was my brother more than anything else.