by Carly White
“We both know that you didn’t have much choice. There is no need for it to get ugly.”
“Since you know that I am not involved in all of this, why don’t you just let me go? I won’t tell anyone what happened and I will take off for a while so you can get what you want from my dad. He didn’t do anything wrong though, it’s always my idiot brother that messes everything up.”
She sounded like she knew more about it all then she really should of and it fascinated Lance in a way. In his family, the women were always kept from the dealings of the men. It was assumed that they couldn’t handle what was going on, but she seemed different. Stella seemed far more capable than a woman like Dottie and the ones that he was around more times than not. Stella seemed like the type that could handle anything as much as one of his own could. It was strange to think that after he had admired her for her pretty face and curvy body.
“Well as much as I would like to trust that you would do that, I am having trust issues lately and I just want to make sure that it all goes well. You can stay at my house for a couple of days, take a break from school.”
Stella didn’t want to hear that. It was one thing to not be worried about her grades, but another to totally miss the big tests for the end of the year. She needed some score to give the colleges that she was going to apply to. “That’s not really going to work for me Lance. I have tests and if I don’t take them, I am not going to be able to get into college. I don’t care what my brother did, but it can’t be worth me having to retake those test over the summer.”
“Your brother stole close to a quarter of a million dollars of my product from my truck.”
“Oh.”
The rest of the ride was met with silence. Stella wasn’t sure that there was anything that she could say to help the situation. She had already put her foot in her mouth too many times to really comment on anything else. Her mind reeled with the information that she had just heard about Carl. She couldn’t have imagined that he had screwed up that badly.
“Whatever happens Lance, you can’t do anything to my father. He would have never done anything like that and I promise you that he will make it right.”
“I hope you are right Stella.”
Chapter 5
Sam had been out most of the day and he had finally gotten ahold of the coke from the men that his son had sold to. They were embarrassed to be caught pulling one over on him. They may have had their dealing with Carl, but it was Sam in the end that would take care of the business. The favor or whatever it was, cost him dearly, but when he got home and found it empty, there was more to be paid than a few grand to the twins.
“Stella?”
Sam pulled his jacket off and went through the living room to the kitchen and called out her name again. He was at the bottom of the stairs and hollered her name upwards, but he still got no answer. Pulling his phone out, he gave it a ring and when it went right to voicemail, he got a sick feeling in his stomach. Stella was the type to always be home on time, especially after she had been told about what was happening. She knew that there were dangers and he couldn’t believe that she would just blow them off.
“Stella, this is your father. You need to call me as soon as you get this and let me know that you are okay.”
He hung up the phone and stared around the house for a few minutes. There were still several bags in the car that he had to get out and get redistributed back to the runners. They had a whole lot of money to make in the next few hours to make sure that they had what was needed for the Dark Riders and for Lance. He knew that the demand was up and Sam was hoping that doing some of the work for him would make him more liable to not kill his son when Carl finally crawled back into town.
Sam made a few calls and for a while he forgot about his missing daughter, figuring that she had went to see her boyfriend or anything else mundane like that. It was only in the early morning hours when he looked at his phone and there was no call back from her, that he decided to call Franklin.
The father didn’t really care for the boyfriend and although it was pretty common, Sam was sure that his reasons were anything but common. It was because of the influence he had on his daughter and it wasn’t even bad influence, but a good one that tried to pull her from the life style that he was trying to get her into. Stella had always been a natural at business and have even loved riding for the longest time. But then she got her heart broken and she had turned to straight-laced men like Frank.
“Hello?”
“Franklin, this is Sam, Stella’s father.”
“Yes Sir. Good to hear from you. What can I do for you?”
“Do you know where Stella is?”
“No, I haven’t seen her for a couple of hours. I dropped her off at her car at the college a little after seven. She said she had some studying to do tonight. Is she not there?”
Sam told him that he wasn’t and he could hear the concern in his voice. It was clear to him that the man was not in fact with her and that made him nervous. Stella had few girlfriends, but no one that she hung out with late at night. Either his daughter had changed her habits suddenly, or something was wrong. Sam didn’t like the feeling that he had in his gut and he knew that it was the latter.
As the money started to come in from the runners, Sam had almost all of it collected before the morning and he was still waiting on a call from his daughter. He called Dimitri in and had him go find out what was going on. Her car wasn’t where Franklin said he had dropped her off and she wasn’t anywhere where she usually hung out. She usually didn’t just take of in the middle of the night.
The man was torn between his two kids. One was missing and hopefully okay, while there was Carl who had caused a lot of trouble. He didn’t want anything to happen to either one of them, but he knew that there would have to be some action taken on the son’s behalf. He also knew that Stella was a smart girl and could get herself out of whatever situation she was in. The very fact that she hadn’t figured it out yet had him nervous, but he tried to remind himself that she was in fact an adult, no longer his baby girl.
Sam finally got up the nerve to make a call and he was looking at his phone when it finally rang. It wasn’t his daughter’s phone number that came across the screen though, or one that he had ever seen before. There was a dread that settled in his stomach and he answered the phone call with trepidation. “Hello?”
“Hello Sam.” Sam knew instantly who it was. He hadn’t heard that voice in a long time, but it was hard to forget Lance if a person had talked to him before.
“Lance.”
“Ah, you are much like your daughter, very astute. I like her Sam. I like her a whole lot better than your boy right now. He has made me very unhappy.”
While Sam should have been listening, he stopped when Lance mentioned his daughter. There was also the way he said that he liked her, there was something there in his words then. “If you have done anything with Stella, Lance, this will not end well for you.”
“That is not really the tone I was expecting after your son got me for a whole lot of money.”
“I know. I have taken care of it.”
“Good, then we will have no problem.”
“If you have my daughter Lance, we already have problems.” Sam was still unable to wrap his brain around the reason that he hadn’t heard from Stella. He knew that it had to be something. “Just let her go and I will give you your money.”
Lance wasn’t sure how to respond. “We can meet and do an exchange and that will be that.”
Sam agreed, but he knew then that it would never be okay between the two gangs. One of them was going to have to go and Sam knew that it wasn’t going to be him.
They set a place for an hour away to meet and Sam was antsy as he hung up the phone. He felt the familiar rage inside of him boiling up. There was no way that he could just let it all go. It was too much and him.
Chapter 6
Lance on the other side of town was hanging up with a whole different
feeling. He thought that it couldn’t have gone better. Well, besides Dotty throwing an utter fit when she saw him coming in with Stella. She didn’t help the matter by just giving her a look of distain and turning to him to tell him that he should get his yapping dog.
Dotty was mortified and he couldn’t help the grin that crossed his face. It was something that he had imagined a couple of times. She had not taken either thing well and had stomped upstairs, slamming more doors than was necessary to get there.
Now he looked at her and she smiled back at him innocently much like she had before. “I take it, it was good news?”
“Yep. Your father still loves you and you will be back home in your own bed tonight.”
“Just like that?”
“You were right Stella. He did want to fix it and it looked like he already has. Fixed my end better than if it had never been taken in the first place, so yeah, just like that. It makes me think that I thought wrong about your father this whole time. If only he didn’t have such an idiot son. If only Carl could be more like his sister. “
“I told you he wouldn’t let it happen. My father is very big on doing the right thing.”
His eyes saw her fidgeting with his look and he realized then that maybe he had jumped the gun. She was just perfect and he felt bad for taking her. Lance just hoped that it didn’t make things even harder between the two gangs. He started to think that maybe there could be a peace between them. The thought of having his daughter in his life more, sounded even better to Lance, though he knew that she wasn’t going to just swoon like all the others in the past. He was going to have to work for it and though it peeved him that she wasn’t giving him what he wanted, there was something so tempting about her. Lance felt like it was fate.
“Well I guess we just need to wait a little bit before we head out.” Lance was still amazed that it had turned out so well, though he knew in the back of his mind that it could all be a trap. He wasn’t ready to let go of Stella for that reason, as well as many others. But he knew that he had to. There was a moment that he wished he had waited a day, sure that if he just had the night with her, Lance would have been able to make her see reason.
***
As the time of the meeting approached, Sam didn’t tell anyone what was going on. He wasn’t sure if everything had worked itself out yet, but there was no reason to take a chance then. There would be time for payback later, he reminded himself over and over again as it all ran in his head.
When he got to the meeting place, it was a small park on the outskirts of town. There was never any fuzz there and it was a place they both knew well. Sam was already there when he heard Lance pull up on his bike. He didn’t see her car after him and didn’t realize till the end when he was getting off that Stella was riding on the back of the bike with him. She looked too natural behind him and he scowled as Lance helped her off. “There she is, all safe and sound.”
Sam grunted, still not prepared to say anything. He had not expected the man to be so nonchalant about it all and he certainly hadn’t expected the way his daughter was acting around the man. His mind went to the offensive, but he had to remind himself it wasn’t over yet. There hadn’t been enough time to really check out the surroundings to see if it was a trap. Sam hadn’t cared, he would have come anyways.
When Stella started to walk towards him, his body started to relieve itself and he could breathe again. “I am a man of my word Sam. I didn’t want none of this messy business and nothing was done to your daughter in any way.”
Neither man had to make more comment than that about Stella. She was a very pretty girl and it was what Lance had thought about for the much of the time. But he hadn’t done anything, if she would have even let him. “That’s good because I would have to kill you.”
They both chuckled a little, Stella finding their conversation pretty awkward. “Can we go now please?”
She had turned towards Sam, not wanting to meet Lance’s eyes. It was awkward for her and all of it shouldn’t have happened. “Give him the stuff so we can go. I am going to kill Carl when I see him again.”
Stella stormed towards the car and was sick of being a pawn for one night. She had never felt much danger besides in the beginning, but she was irritated that they talked like she wasn’t even there.
It took some time to transfer the money, but Stella did not look back at them. When Sam got back in the car, he looked over at her and grimaced. “I am so sorry about this Stella.”
“I just want to go to home. I haven’t really had any sleep and seven o’ clock comes early.” She didn’t know why she was so angry all of a sudden, but she was sick of dealing with the Black Riders and their business. “You know you are going to have to find someone else to take over. Tommy or Rick. It can’t be Carl. For the idiot’s own sake.”
Sam agreed in his mind, but couldn’t find the words. His mind was still on her and Lance. “Did he hurt you in anyway?”
“I told you he didn’t.”
“I didn’t know if you were afraid of him.”
She just rolled her eyes. “I have been around those kinds of guys my whole life. You see what happens. I always get roped into the middle of something that I wanted to have nothing to do with. And Carl being the one that messed it all up is just typical.”
Sam felt bad, but he did not allow her to talk to him like that. It didn’t matter how old she was. “Why were you even out to begin with?”
She paused, remembering that she had promised him she would stay in until it blew over. Stella had of course done what she wanted to do though and she did feel a little bit like it was her fault. But she was as stubborn as he was and returned his glare as they drove back to the house.
“We will talk about this later. I need to go get your brother after I drop you off. Can you please stay out of trouble?”
“There wouldn’t be any trouble if…”
“If what?”
He was fuming and she didn’t want to push her luck. “Nothing dad. I am just tired and want to go home.”
Sam took her answer as good as it was going to get and they drove the rest of the way in silence, both with their own thoughts.
Chapter 7
Lance went home and was honestly annoyed that Dottie was still there. She was miffed that he had left with Stella, but the fact that she was gone seemed to appease her. Trying to distract him with sex, Lance found himself less enamored with her. Next to Stella, she seemed crude and just a little dumb. “Come on Lance. It has been too long.”
He pushed her away softly when words and tone didn’t work. “Not now Dotty. It’s been a long night.”
In truth he wanted her to leave, but didn’t see how he could get her to go. Lance didn’t mention her finding her own place again, but he did choose to sleep in his bedroom without her. He had been lately staying in the guest room with her, but he didn’t want her. Not then and Lance didn’t know if he would want her at all. There was something about seeing the two women together that showed him that he had been barking up the wrong tree. Even at her young age, Stella was already more of a woman.
When he lay down he thought of her and the strange way that they had met and everything had worked out. Lance had a feeling it was fate and he couldn’t stop thinking that they were supposed to have met. A truce with Sam wasn’t immediately in the cards, but Lance suddenly wanted peace so that he could go for what he really wanted. He just suddenly realized who it was.
Lance was almost dozed off when his phone rang. It was Billy and he was asking questions about how everything went. There was a second that there was disappointment in his voice, after he heard that everything had went okay. Lance no longer figured that it was him being paranoid.
“Well that is good that it all worked out. We have a meeting with the Columbians around noon. Do you want me to pick you up?”
“No, I think I am going to go down there myself.”
Another pause. “Are you sure you want to go alone with everything going on with
the Demons?”
“It’s all worked out. It was just a misunderstanding and everything was put right. There is no need to go any further in that direction.”
Lance was calling him off, but his second seemed to be having a hard time accepting it. When Lance thought about it, he realized that there had been some changes in the dynamic between the two of them. Lance tried to think of when it started, but he had never really questioned Billy’s loyalty.
“I just don’t get it Lance.”
“You don’t have to.”
Another long pause, but this time the silence was deafening and Lance just knew. He didn’t know the who and why yet, but he took seeing it as a blessing. Before it was too late and his friend did something that he couldn’t fix. A thought went to his mind, a gut feeling and Lance thought he knew the who. But there was still a question of the why. That was the most important question.
“Are you busy now?”
“Not really boss.” It was still too early to be considered morning, but too late to be night. The man had more than likely been doing something, trying to get information from Lance to give back to whoever it was that he was working for. Or had he went rogue and was wanting to take over what he had.
“I need some information on Sam’s son.”
“Why?”
It was the reaction that he was after, the one he hoped he wouldn’t get. “Because I am not done with him yet. I want them gone. It’s as simple as that.”
Billy wasn’t saying anything on the other end and Lance waited for him to figure out what he was going to do. It was clear to Lance who his best friend was actually working for or with. Lance wondered then if Sam knew what his son was really up to. He couldn’t see the older man doing something so underhanded and Lance knew then that he was going to have to be the one to tell him. If not, it seemed like Carl and Billy were bound and determined to get the two gangs at war with each other. Lance wondered how it was going to play out in Carl’s mind. Billy at least should have known better.