The elevator doors whooshed open, and I hesitated. Once I took this step, there was no going back. I’d start my new life—a new beginning. I clutched my chest and took the step. The first step of many.
The hallway was painted a light cream, the carpet a mid-brown, and each door had a gold-plated number attached underneath a peephole. It wasn’t the most divine place, but it wasn’t run-down and barebones either. It was safe. The safest place I’d probably ever lived since my mom was alive.
We walked past three sets of doors, and I stopped in front of 607. This was it. This was now my new home. I pulled the key out of my pocket that the realtor had dropped off at the diner yesterday and pushed it into the lock.
“Here goes,” I whispered, pushing my weight against the door, and stepping inside the apartment.
It was small, but just enough for me. We walked right into the living room that had a half wall separating it from the tiny kitchen toward the right. A set of windows that started at waist height lined the back wall. The place was bare bones, but a sofa, kitchen essentials, a lone coffee table, and a bed had come with it.
Sal took the trash bags full of my stuff and placed them on the double bed. He stood with his hands on his hips and blew out a breath. “Needs a clean and maybe a fresh coat of paint.”
I nodded. “Nothing that I can’t do.”
“You know I’ll help you. Heck, even Jan said she has some things for you.”
“She does?” I asked, blinking at him several times and hoping the burning at the back of my eyes stopped. They weren’t tears of sadness and horror that wanted to break free, though. It was happiness. So much happiness, I thought I might burst any minute.
“Yep.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say.”
His heavy hand landed on my shoulder, and he dipped down so he was eye level with me. “You don’t have to say anything, Lola-Girl.”
I snorted at his rough tone. “Thank you.”
“Thank me?” He guffawed and let go of my shoulder. “You don’t need to thank me. I didn’t do shit.”
“You did,” I said, following him out of the room. “You helped me get here and—”
“No.” He was by the front door in the matter of twelve steps. “You got yourself here. You did this, Lola. No one else, just you.”
The smile was slow to form on my lips as I glanced around. He was right. I’d done this all by myself, and for once in my life, I was going to pat myself on my back.
A page had turned, a new chapter started, and I was determined to make the best of it.
* * *
BRODY
“Shit! Garza?” The table wobbled as Ryan slammed his fist down on it. “How did we not see that coming?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I told the guys, standing in front of the table they all sat around. “We don’t need him. All we need is Hut.”
“We can’t just let him walk if he’s doing a deal though,” Kyle commented, his brows furrowed. “If we take them down, we gotta take them all down.”
I shook my head. “I already spoke to Aaron. He said all he wants right now is Hut.”
“What?” Jord fumed. “He expects us to sit back and not do—”
“No. He doesn’t expect you to do anything. He’s telling you.” I stood upright and glanced at each of them in turn, pounding my point home. “We’ve been working this case for over half a year, and our objective hasn’t changed. We dismantle his crew and bring him down. Hut, and only Hut.” I stared at all of them in turn. “For now.”
The silence rang out around me like a bomb exploding, loud and destructive. I felt what they did. We lived to take drugs off the street, to bring the people down who were at the top of the food chain.
“So, what happens now?” Jord asked, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
“We concentrate on Hut. We tighten our reins, follow every instinct, and be ready to take him down at a moment’s notice.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “This is what we do best, and we’re gonna finally take this motherfucker down.”
“Agreed,” they all answered in unison.
“Now”—I pulled a chair out and sat down, my breath leaving my body with a whoosh—“where are we with Ford?”
Ryan sat straighter and stared right at me. “He’s giving us all the intel he can. Basically whatever you’re doing, and whatever Hut is doing. He doesn’t trust you, though.”
“Smart,” I commented.
“He thinks you’re onto him.” Ryan shrugged. “He wants us to investigate you.”
I snorted. “And what did you tell him?”
“That we’d look into it.” Ryan smirked and placed his hands on the table, drumming the pads of his fingers on the wooden surface. “I’m currently putting together a file on you and your arrest records.”
“I wanna see it,” I said, rapping my knuckles on the table.
“Thought you might.” Ryan stood and moved over to the station we’d created all those months ago when we first rented this place. “Ford also hid a couple devices in Hut’s house.”
I raised a brow. “That’s new.”
Jord pulled a tablet out. “We haven’t got much yet, and right now, it’s quiet as a mouse. But it could come in handy.”
“It could, apart from the fact that Hut gets us to sweep the house once a day for bugs.”
“He said he’s gonna move them around every day.” Jord shrugged. “I think he wants out almost as bad as we want to bring Hut down.”
Ryan passed me a folder as he sat down, and I stared at Jord. He wasn’t wrong. Ford had been antsy since I’d come back. He was getting impatient, and that was never a good thing. It would only take one slipup for the whole operation to blow up in our faces, and that would mean casualties. Casualties I refused to have, especially when Lola would most likely end up in the firing line.
“We need to reassure him.” I flipped open the folder on the table but didn’t look down at it. “He’s getting antsy.”
“Yep.” Jord nodded.
I flicked my gaze down at the file, grinning at all the shit Ryan had managed to make look legit. According to this, I was a former drug dealer who’d been in lockup and come out only twelve months ago. It would cover for the fact I hadn’t been around before I joined Hut’s team, and tied in with what I’d told them all. Lying was my profession, and I excelled at it. Too bad it was also my biggest downfall.
“What’s the plan then?” I asked as I closed the file. They’d obviously already talked about it and seen the signs. There was a reason I had chosen them to be on my team.
Kyle cleared his throat. “I say we move the schedule up with his cousin.” He looked over at me and then Jord and Ryan. “If he knows she’s safe, then he’ll stop trying to rush it.”
“He could also double-cross us if we do that,” Ryan pointed out. “What about if we get the ball rolling on his extraction? Maybe make him some new documents and show him the proof?”
“That could work.” I bounced my foot a couple of times, thinking about it. “No, that really would work. Get him and his cousin’s papers ready and take a picture as proof. He feels like he’s in limbo right now, so with that security, he’ll most likely calm down.”
“I’ll get on it,” Jord announced as he stood up. He moved over to the station and typed away at the computer.
“Good.” I heaved out a breath. “I better get back to Hut. Did you have any luck with finding Jace?”
Kyle shook his head. “Nope. He’s disappeared off the face of the earth. Last sighting of him was at a gas station over on eleventh.”
“Did you go and talk to the staff there?”
“We’re heading that way after this,” Ryan said, checking his gun and clicking the safety on. “If he’s dead, that’s another thing we can use against Hut.”
I winced at the thought of Jace lying in a ditch somewhere. But Ryan was right. If he was dead, we could use it to our advantage.
I pushed my chair back, the legs scraping o
n the floor. “Keep me updated.” My cell vibrated in my pocket, and I didn’t even need to look to know it was most probably Hut sending me a message. He was being a needy little shit now that he was down two crew members.
“Will do,” Ryan said as he and Kyle headed out, leaving only me and Jord.
The vibrating of my cell stopped as Jord turned around on his chair and leaned his forearms on his thighs.
“So…”
I raised a brow. “So?”
“That thing we talked about before you went away for the week.”
Lola. I wanted to say I’d forgotten about the conversation we’d had, but that was before…
Before she knew who I was.
Before she didn’t warn me not to touch her.
Before I’d destroyed everything I had that I never knew I wanted.
“Right.” I cleared my throat, looking anywhere but at him. I hadn’t told any of the guys that she knew who I was, much less that she was keeping it a secret. I wasn’t going to confront her about it.
At least, not until this was over anyway.
But then, what good would it do? It wasn’t like I could go to her and we could live happily ever after. She lived with a stepbrother who controlled who she saw—or he thought he did—and I had a wife at home, a wife who deserved better than how I’d been acting.
“What does ‘right' mean, Brody?”
I met Jord’s stare, hoping he couldn’t get a read on me. “Nothing, just that I’m not sure how we should proceed—”
“Bullshit.” He stood up, his towering height would be frightening to anyone else, but as he was only a couple of inches taller than me, I didn’t bat an eyelash. “Something happened.” He pointed at me. “Tell me what happened.”
“Nothing—”
“Brody.” He paused. “I’m not Ryan or Kyle. It’s me, the guy who shared a dorm room with you all through the academy. The first person you told when Moira was pregnant, and the man who threw your bachelor party even though I thought you were making a mistake.”
I tilted my head to the side. “You thought I was making a mistake?”
“Not the time to talk about that right now, B.” He leaned against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest, straining the fabric of his T-shirt. “What happened?”
“Shit.” I scrubbed my hands over my face, wishing everything that had happened was a figment of my imagination, but it wasn’t, and I only had myself to blame. “I was on the last day of leave.” I stumbled back and sat on the edge of the table. “Cade has been having tutoring sessions with one of the waitresses at Sal’s.” I looked over at Jord and could see the questions in his eyes. “So I went to go and pick him up, and there she was, sitting opposite my son after buying him a burger, and listening to him telling her all about his dad, the DEA agent who’s married to his mom.”
“I—”
“It was Lola.” I pulled in a breath. “Lola was his tutor.”
Jord’s mouth opened and closed several times, but from the unsurprised look on his face, he already knew. “Jesus, B. She could have blown the whole case in a matter of seconds. What the hell were you thinking going back in there and not telling us she knew about you?”
I couldn’t tell him all I was thinking about had been to see Lola again, to try and explain to her something I couldn’t even make sense of myself. I couldn’t tell him that I’d needed to see her face again.
I ran my hand through my hair. “I was thinking it was a risk I was willing to take so we could end this goddamn case.”
Jord’s nostrils flared. “So she knows who you are?”
“Yeah, and she’s not said a word to Hut.”
“And how do you feel about it?” Jord knew something had happened between Lola and me—the whole team knew. I hadn’t confirmed it, but they knew me better than anyone else.
“I don’t fuckin' know,” I groaned. “She won’t talk to me, no matter how much I try—”
“Good,” Jord interrupted. “Concentrate on the case. Forget about her.”
Forget about her. It was easier said than done.
Chapter Five
LOLA
“Knock, knock!” Jan’s voice vibrated through the door, followed by the actual knocking, and I laughed. Only she would announce herself first and then physically knock.
“Coming!”
I placed my paintbrush into the makeshift tray I’d been using and headed over to the door. Sal had given me two days off with pay to get my new place up to standard—his words, not mine. And he’d been coming over before or after his shifts to help me. So far, we had the bedroom painted and carpet cleaned. Sal hung the blinds while I placed the new sheets and the comforter on the bed. I hadn’t been able to afford much, but the light-gray matching set had been on sale, and I just couldn’t walk away from it.
I’d cleaned the kitchen—you don’t even want to know the things I found in the drawers and cupboards—and Sal cleaned the bathroom. Now all that was left was the living room.
I pulled the door open and flashed a smile at Jan. “Hey.”
Jan waltzed inside, her arms full of bags and fabric. “Good morning to you, too.” She glanced around, frowning at the paint I’d been using to paint one wall. It wasn’t out of fashion that I was only doing one wall a light-gray to match my bedding in the other room, but a lack of funds. I could only afford one can, and I figured it’d work.
“You’re painting already?” she asked.
I closed the door and moved over to her, staring at the wall I’d nearly finished painting the edges of. “Yeah, I had to get up to pee at five and couldn’t get back to sleep after.”
She chuckled, placing all the bags down on the sofa. “You can’t hold your pee in anymore? What are you, seventy?”
I laughed along with her but answered honestly. “I actually can’t. It’s ridiculous. I’m nineteen and have to get up to pee several times in the night. And don’t even get me started on my feet. They’ve been hurting so bad after my shifts.” I ambled back over to the wall and picked up the brush, finishing the last bit of painting.
“Maybe you’re like a backward Benjamin Button? You’re aging far before your time.” Jan sat down on the sofa, pulling things out of the bags. “I’m sure I saw a wrinkle next to your eye just now.”
“What?” My hand automatically moved to my eye, my fingers feeling around. “Oh, hardy har. You’re in the wrong profession, Jan. You should be a comedian, not a waitress.”
“If only.” She sighed. “I was meant to be rich, the world just didn’t get the memo.”
I wiped my hands over the shorts I’d worn to bed last night. “What do you think?”
Jan waved her hand at the empty space of wall inside the rectangle I’d created. “You missed a spot.”
I rolled my eyes and picked up the small roller, dipping it in the paint and pressing it against the off-white wall. “You know you didn’t need to bring anything, right?”
Jan scoffed. “Hon, you’re doing me a favor. All this stuff is just sitting around my apartment gathering dust. If you don’t take it, then it’s going in the trash.”
“Are you sure?” I hated to admit I could use a few things to brighten the place up, but it was the truth, and there was nothing I could do about it—not yet anyway.
“Yep.” I heard Jan move around the room, clanking following in her wake. “Besides, this gets me out of my daughter’s hair.”
I raised a brow. “Your daughter kicked you out of your apartment?”
“In not so many words.” She shook her head and continued to pull things out of the bag. “Apparently I’m too loud, and she can’t concentrate on her homework.” She threw her hands up in the air. “The girl is nine going on ninety.”
I’d met Aria once very briefly, but honestly, I wouldn't have even noticed her had Jan not announced her when they came in for a birthday breakfast to celebrate her turning thirty-two. She was quiet and had her nose stuck in a book, and I couldn’t help wonder if I ha
d been like that at that age.
I chuckled and turned to concentrate on finishing the wall, going as high as I could. Sal would have to get the top bit for me. Once I’d finished, I stood back and stared. It looked good, but I wasn’t sure how it would dry. Only time would tell.
I gathered up my supplies, moving a couple of feet into the kitchen and stumbling. “What the…” Jan had hung a couple of prints on the wall with some generic quotes written on them, and some twinkle lights over the top.
I spun around, seeing what she was doing, and blinked. She’d covered the sofa in mismatched pieces of pastel-colored fabric, but it somehow worked. She was pulling the fabric taut on one of the covers and hot-gluing it into place.
“Holy shit, Jan.”
“I know.” She pressed down on the edge of the cushion and placed it in the middle. “I’m a genius.” She stepped back and looked down at the sofa. “You need a couple of throw cushions. I’ll make you some.”
“Make me some?”
“Yep.” She rifled through the bag and pulled out a shower curtain and some stickers. “Now for the bathroom.”
“The bathroom?”
“What are you? A parrot.” She hip-checked me on the way past to the bathroom. “I had these pretty shell stickers left from when Aria was making her school project. I figured they could brighten up your tiles above the sink. Why don’t you make us some breakfast while I do this? I’ll leave the shower curtain for Sal to hang. God knows he’d turn into The Hulk if we did any ‘fixing things.’”
It suddenly made sense why Sal had brought her with him yesterday. She was scoping out the entire apartment and seeing what it needed. They were sneaky, sneaky people.
Down Fall: Fallen Duet: Book Two Page 4