by Sydney Logan
“And what should we do?” I ask, slipping my arm around Jacey’s waist.
“I think you should escort Jacey to her bedroom and let her get a good night’s sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”
Sebastian and Kaden both leave the room.
“Are they always so intense?” Jacey asks.
“Yeah, they are.”
“When Sebastian said he was going to deal with Ruben, what did he mean?”
I take her hand and lead her out of the study and up the stairs. I don’t want to talk about Ruben. She probably doesn’t want to know what Sebastian meant, and I don’t want to think about it. If I do, I’ll have to take responsibility for the fact that it’s my fault that Ruben Lambert is going to be a dead man tonight.
Before I can slide too deep into my guilt-filled depression, Jacey’s voice brings me back to reality.
“Silas, what did he mean?”
I stop just outside her door and sigh heavily.
“It’s late, Jacey. You should get some sleep.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t treat me like I’m a child.”
“What do you want me to say? That Ruben Lambert is a dead man, and that’s my fault? Is that what you want to hear?”
Jacey’s eyes fill with tears. “If that’s true, then it’s my fault. Not yours.”
I shake my head and pull her inside the bedroom.
“Take off your shoes,” I tell her.
She sits down on the edge of the bed and unties her new sneakers, placing them carefully on the floor. It’s almost reverent, how she handles them. Vince must have really treated her like shit for her to be so grateful for a pair of sneakers.
I turn back the covers and nod for her to get in. I don’t join her, even if I’m tempted. It’s not sexual. Not really. I just want to hold her. But instead, I kneel next to her as she lays her head against the pillow.
“Jacey, this is what they do. This is how they deal with enemies. Do you see why I don’t want you involved? Do you understand why I want us to get as far away from here as possible?”
“But where would we go?”
I reach over and stroke her cheek. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll just get in the car and go. And by morning, we could be halfway to . . . anywhere. Anywhere at all.”
Her big brown eyes grow heavy. It’s all I can do not to lean over and kiss her, but I want her to sleep. She needs to sleep, because tomorrow’s going to be crazy. She can negotiate with Sebastian all she wants, but that’s not going to keep me from trying to get her to change her mind. She thinks she knows this world, because of her stepdad, but she doesn’t. Not really. She doesn’t know that friends become enemies in the blink of an eye, and that when it comes to money and meth, Sebastian Rhodes makes a lot of promises he doesn’t keep.
I need help, and in that moment, I realize what I have to do. It’s going to piss off Kaden, but they haven’t left me with much of a choice.
Jacey drifts off to sleep, and when I’m confident she’s out for the night, I quietly walk out of her bedroom and into mine. I go straight to the desk and unlock the top drawer. What I’m looking for is easy to find, since it’s the only thing in there.
A cell phone.
It’s my in case of emergency phone. The one I stashed just in case I needed it.
I need it now.
There are only three numbers in the contact list, and I press the one I need.
She answers on the first ring.
“Silas? What’s wrong?”
“Can you come to the house? I need your help.”
“It must be serious if you called me.”
I toss away my cigarette and slide over on the steps.
“I appreciate you coming. I know it’s hard.”
Melody sighs and sits down next to me. “It is. But I also know if you’re calling me, from that number, you must really be in trouble.”
“And I bet you know exactly how much trouble I’m in.”
“I did hear your name mentioned today. Something about armed robbery?”
“It’s good to know cops gossip just like the rest of us.”
“I’m not a cop.”
“You’re DEA. Same thing. Worse, actually.”
“Worse for you, maybe.”
I shrug. “I’m not so worried about me right now.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because I need your help.”
I spill my guts to Special Agent Melody Yates—the love of Kaden’s life and a member of the Drug Enforcement Administration. She started out as a local cop, but writing speeding tickets wasn’t enough to keep her interested in law enforcement. By the time she realized her boyfriend’s father was a drug kingpin, she’d already completed her eighteen weeks of agent training at Quantico. It almost got her kicked out of the program entirely, but once she verified that she was no longer with Kaden and had no knowledge of his criminal past, she’d been allowed to complete her training. It also alerted the DEA to Sebastian’s empire, and they’ve been tracking him ever since. I keep waiting for the day they put a mic on Melody and send her into the house, but that obviously hasn’t happened yet, since we’re all still breathing fresh air.
Loving a drug dealer is hard.
Loving a drug dealer when you’re a DEA agent? So much harder.
God bless her, she tried. Melody did everything she could to persuade Kaden to leave this world behind. She’d almost convinced him, too . . . until Lisa was killed.
Everything changed then.
Sebastian, wallowing in despair, told his son he needed him now more than ever, and that he would have to make a choice.
So, Kaden chose. And he chose wrong.
Melody still comes by the house from time to time. She loves him. She wants to protect him, even if doing so puts her career at risk. She should arrest us all, no questions asked. She has more than enough evidence to do so. But I know what keeps her from doing it. It’s the same thing that keeps me coming back, too.
Love and loyalty can be such a bitch sometimes.
When I finish telling her about Jacey, I can’t ignore the tears in Melody’s blue eyes.
“You care for her.”
“I do. But that’s not all. I feel . . . responsible. I mean, I’m the one wanted for armed robbery. I’m the one who brought her here. I really just wanted my money. But now there’s a bounty on both our heads, and Sebastian’s found a way to convince Jacey that we aren’t safe on the run.”
“You aren’t safe here, either.”
“I know.” I take a deep breath and turn to my friend. “Are you going to arrest me? You could, you know.”
“Oh, I know. I could arrest everyone in this house.”
“Why don’t you?”
She sighs deeply and stares out into the night. “Every day that I don’t arrest them I’m risking my career. I know that. I just . . . can’t do it. I just keep hoping . . .”
“You’re hoping for something that may never happen, Melody.”
She nods.
“Love sucks, Silas. It puts you in impossible positions and makes you compromise your convictions. It makes you do stupid things you never thought you’d do. It makes you blind and careless. It makes you question everything you ever thought was right. Or everything you thought was wrong. It makes you keep secrets. It makes you take risks you never thought you’d have to take.”
She sounds so bitter, and that’s not the Melody I know. But I shouldn’t really be surprised. At the moment, I don’t know which of us is in the worst position.
“So why do you keep coming back? Why torture yourself?”
Melody lifts her head and stares up at the stars.
“I guess I’m just hoping that, someday, Kaden will love me more than he loves the business.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes before she finally nudges my shoulder.
“Does he know I’m here?”
“I didn’t tell him.
”
“Good. So what can I do for you, Silas?”
I take a deep breath. “You can help me convince Jacey that staying here is the worst idea in the world. And then you gotta convince Kaden to give me my money so that I can get us the hell out of here.”
“Where would you go?”
“Mexico.”
Melody stares at me. The more she scrutinizes my face, the more nervous I get. What if she doesn’t want to help me? What if she thinks Jacey’s idea really is the best thing for her? For us?
“I know I don’t have to tell you how dangerous this is.”
“What choice do I have? I can either run off to Mexico and hope that, in time, we can show our faces and maybe have a shot at a normal life. Or, we can stay here where we’ll both get sucked back into a world we’ve tried desperately to leave behind.”
“Or you could let me arrest you and put you out of your misery.”
Shit.
“You could do that, too, and you’d be absolutely right to do it. Cuff me and take me to jail. Just promise me you’ll take care of Jacey.”
Melody blinks. “You’re serious.”
“If I stay here I’m a prisoner. What’s the difference? Just—”
“I know. Just take care of Jacey.”
I nod.
“What makes you think she’ll listen to me?”
“I don’t know. You’re a girl. She’s a girl. Maybe girl talk is what she needs.”
“Yeah, because this is such normal girl-talk conversation.” Melody laughs softly. “Fine, I’ll talk to her. Where is she?”
“Asleep.”
“No, she’s not.”
Melody and I both jump at the sound of her voice. We look over our shoulders to see Jacey standing behind us, wrapped in my leather jacket.
“How much did you hear?” I ask.
“Enough.”
With a sigh, I stand up and walk toward her. I offer my hand, and to my relief, she takes it.
“Jacey, this is Melody.”
Jacey smiles and offers Melody her hand. “I think I’m wearing your clothes. Thanks for that. You know, I’ve heard your name so many times tonight. Funny, nobody mentioned you were in the DEA.”
Melody grins. “I’m not surprised. They keep hoping I’ll come to my senses.”
Jacey sits down on the steps next to Mel. They start talking about stupid stuff, like the weather. But I keep my mouth shut, because I can see with each ridiculous question, Jacey opens up a little bit more.
Melody is good.
“Jacey, let me help you,” Melody says.
“How? You heard what we’re up against. Running isn’t a real option.”
“Neither is staying here. Trust me. Becoming Sebastian’s protégé isn’t an option for you to consider, not even for a second. I love everyone in this house. All of them. But they’ve put themselves in a situation they can’t really get out of. Their only escape is jail or death. They are not bad people. But they do bad things. They do what they do now just to survive.”
Melody looks at me. “Does she know about Lisa?”
I shake my head.
“Lisa was Sebastian’s wife. They had the kind of love story that makes you sick. You know—love at first sight, beautiful house, perfect son, happy marriage. They really and truly had it all. I used to watch them together and pray that Kaden and I had a marriage like theirs . . . but that was before I knew about their little drug empire.”
“And that was before Lisa was shot.” My voice is a bitter whisper.
Melody nods. “It was unusual for Sebastian to allow Lisa to participate in the family business, but one night, he was in need of a mule. Do you know what this is?”
“Someone to transport the drugs,” Jacey replies.
“The buyer was an international drug dealer named Esteban Cruz. This was Sebastian’s shot at global distribution, and he didn’t trust his regular guys to handle the transaction. So he decided to do it himself, and he decided to take Lisa with him.”
“To show her off,” I add. “Lisa was beautiful. The sweetest, kindest person you’d ever hope to meet. He was proud of her, and he wanted to flaunt her in this guy’s face.”
Melody takes a deep breath. “But Cruz didn’t show up. He sent a kid instead. When the guy reached into his jacket for the money, he pulled out a gun instead. Shot them both and ran off. Lisa died instantly.”
I lean back against the house and close my eyes. I’ve lost a lot of people, but losing Lisa . . . it was like losing my mom all over again.
“Sebastian was never the same. The next day, Sebastian ordered a hit on Cruz’s entire organization. Killed them all. After that, he had Cruz’s contacts, too, and the meth business became his life.”
I wipe my tears away and sit down behind them. Jacey leans back against me, and I wrap my arms around her.
Melody looks at the two of us and smiles sadly. “Sebastian promised to protect his wife, too. But sometimes, this world he lives in—this world he chose—doesn’t let him keep those promises. Let me help you guys. I can start by putting your stepfather away for the rest of his life so that you can live in peace. The bounty hunters won’t be interested in you if Vince isn’t around to pay them.”
“Can you really do that? Can you put him away?” Jacey asks.
“With your help I can.”
Jacey looks over her shoulder. “What about Silas?”
Melody sighs and glares at me. “Helping Silas would have been a lot easier without his knight-in-shining-armor routine. Ruben Lambert didn’t appreciate his store being robbed at gunpoint. He’ll be a problem.”
I’m just about to tell her that he probably won’t be a problem after tonight, but I figure it’s better to keep that to myself. She’ll find out soon enough anyway.
“Melody, I . . . can’t go back,” Jacey says, her voice breaking. “I won’t.”
“You won’t have to. I’ll drive the two of you to Mexico myself before I let you go back to your stepfather. Now, will you let me help you? Both of you?”
Jacey looks back at me. I smile, hoping she can tell by the look on my face that I’m in this . . . whatever this is . . . and I’ll do whatever she wants.
“Okay,” she says.
Jacey’s knee bounces as we wait for Sebastian to get off the phone. I can’t really tell her to relax. What’s the point? We both know this isn’t going to be pretty.
Melody offered to stay close, just in case things got out of hand. As much as I wanted to tell her we didn’t need her, the truth is we might. Sebastian didn’t give two shits when I left him before. But Jacey has something he wants, and I can’t see him giving her up without a fight. I can tell by Jacey’s bouncing knee that she’s come to the same conclusion.
That’s why we have a plan. A just-in-case-this-all-goes-to-shit plan. Half of that plan is in Jacey’s pocket. The other half is sitting in her car, about a half-mile down the road.
“Sorry about that,” Sebastian says. He sits down on the sofa and gives Jacey his charming smile. “Now, about those conditions . . .”
Jacey takes a deep breath. “I’ve changed my mind, Sebastian. I won’t be helping you.”
“And we’ll be leaving. Tonight,” I add.
In an instant, his smile is gone.
“I don’t understand. I thought we had an agreement.”
“We did,” Jacey says, her voice shaking slightly, “but we’ve found another way.”
“What other way?” Kaden asks from the doorway.
“Another way.” My voice is firm. Kaden arches an eyebrow. I just shrug and turn back to his father. “And I’ll be needing the rest of my money.”
Sebastian laughs. “All that money will do is get you killed that much faster.”
“Vince won’t be a problem anymore,” Jacey says.
This piques Sebastian’s attention. “Is that right?”
I nod, and a deathly silence falls across the room. I know it won’t take them long to figure out I’ve
talked to Melody. I don’t have a lot of friends in town, especially ones who can deal with the Vince situation. Connecting the dots should be easy.
“You didn’t.”
Leave it to Kaden to connect them first.
“You didn’t leave me a choice, Kaden.”
Sebastian glances between the two of us before leaping to his feet and hovering over me. He levels me with the menacing glare he reserves for his enemies. And that’s what I am now. I’m the enemy. Because I did the one thing you never do. I talked to a cop. And not just any cop. I talked to a DEA agent.
To Sebastian Rhodes, that’s blasphemy.
I did it, and I own it, because I knew this would be his reaction. I needed this to be his reaction so that he’d have no choice but to let us go. By making that call and asking for Melody’s help, I am now dead to this man.
But am I dead to his son?
I glance in Kaden’s direction, and I can tell by the expression on his face that he’s torn. He’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and I know that on some level, deep down, he understands. I also know he wishes his life wasn’t this life. He wishes he could skip town, too. Just empty his bank account, grab his girl, and head south. Unfortunately for Kaden, family loyalty has always trumped love, but I know sometimes he wishes he weren’t so loyal. He wishes he had the balls to do exactly what I want to do—run away and never look back.
I stare into the tortured eyes of my best friend, and for a second, I let myself pretend that we could do that . . . that the four of us could bring down the Rhodes empire and move on with our lives. Get new identities and real jobs. But that’s the kind of stuff you see in the movies. This is real life, and none of us are going to be heroes and ride off into the sunset, but I’m still determined to get a happy ending, one way or another.
But I’m gonna need help.
“Kaden . . . please,” I whisper.
“Don’t talk to him. You talk to me!” Sebastian turns his steely glare toward Jacey. “What did she offer you? What did she say? More importantly, what did you say? Because I would really hate to have to kill you tonight.”
“Dad, don’t—”