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I’m walking up the steps to the promenade, knowing the way home from here even with my fuzzy head, when my cell rings. Pulling it from my pocket, I find Donny’s name flashing on my screen. Not wanting to deal with him, I reject the call.
I soon find that he’s not the only one who’s been trying to get a hold of me because I’ve got missed calls and messages from Ace, Conner, and Remi. It’s not unusual that I don’t sleep in my own bed at night, but this seems a little extreme.
I wonder if they were at the party last night. If Hadley has told them what happened with Marissa and then her and they just want to chew me out for it.
Rolling my eyes at their need to stick their noses into my life, I go to lock it and pocket it again, only Donny’s name once again flashes up.
Persistent cunt.
“What?” I bark.
“I’ve got a job for you.”
“Not interested.”
“You know that’s not how it works… defying me won’t end well for you, Cole.”
I inhale a sharp breath.
Fucking great.
“What do you need?” I ask after a long pause, knowing it’s the only way I’m going to get rid of him.
“I need you in the office in twenty.”
“Twenty? It takes longer than that to get to the Heights from here, let alone your office.”
“Well, then, I suggest you get moving. This is time sensitive.”
I hang up, pocket my cell and pick up the pace a little. Not because he’s waiting on me as such, but because I know he won’t bat an eyelid about touching those I care about should I not do as I’m told.
This is what happens when you make a deal with the devil, that little voice says in my head again.
The house is in silence when I eventually make my way up the drive and pull my car keys from my pocket. I jump inside and floor it back the way I came, needing to get this over with as soon as possible.
The Heights is the same as ever as I drive through the dark and rundown town. The streets are littered with last night’s partiers in varying states of dress and sobriety. I shake my head at the lot of them, wondering at what point people decided this was a decent way to live their lives.
I might have spent the night drunk on the beach, but at least I kept to myself. Whereas these lot are making it their sole intention to cause as much trouble as possible.
I watch as one group of guys throw a brick against a boarded-up liquor store as they try to get inside to continue their party. There are times when it feels like a million years ago that this was my life, yet other times, I can’t help feeling like it’s where I belong. I’m no different to those guys. I break the law often without batting an eyelid. Hell, I’ve probably done a hell of a lot worse than they ever have. I push the memories down. The reminders of my past don’t have any use to me now.
I’ve got a job to do, and then I’m going home to sleep until I’m forced out of my bed.
The job was a simple delivery and nothing half as dramatic as Donny made out on the phone.
He handed me a bag and an address and then I dropped it. Simple.
He told me not to look inside—as if he thought I had any fucking interest—and I didn’t. I couldn’t give a fuck about his business. In an ideal world, I’d want nothing to do with it, but this isn’t an ideal world. In order to protect Ace, here I am, working for the devil himself.
Guilt twists my stomach as I think about what I’m hiding. Ace will kill me with his bare hands when he learns that I’ve got myself tangled up in that life, but there wasn’t any other way, and Donny made sure of that.
Men like him always get their own way, and this is no exception.
“Where the hell have you been?” Conner asks the second I get to the top of the stairs that lead to our bedroom.
“Out.”
“No fucking shit, asshole.”
