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“Easter Lanes is officially in Molly’s name.”
Jake had been about to take a sip but choked on his drink. “When wasn’t it in her name?”
I inclined my head. “Her dad was involved.”
He grimaced. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
I caught a look from Trace in our direction. He knew about the meeting and agreed maybe he shouldn’t be in attendance.
“What’s going on, Jake? You are pulling me away from a night of celebration with my woman.”
He took another drag of his drink. “I came to let you know the case is officially closed against Sloane. She pled guilty, so nothing will get dragged out. And you don’t have to worry about your family being pulled into anything.”
“I wasn’t worried.” He was forgetting I had judges on my payroll.
He nodded. “Also, as of today, I’ve officially resigned from the force. I’ll be moving back to Maine tomorrow. And I wanted to thank you for handing over my cousins. They were in better shape than I expected.”
“We went the psychological deprogramming route, but turns out they were just stupid. Didn’t know anything that could be useful against Nicolai.”
“Listen. Ashton.” He looked my way. “DEA already made a play with me. They know I’m taking over the family position, and I’m here as a courtesy. They want in on a player in this city. I said no. My family will back me, but don’t get relaxed. They were behind Nicolai, pushing, which meant they were pushing him hard. If they can’t get a player in this city, then they’ll set their sights on you guys. Do not get lax. Ever.”
I nodded, reaching over and clasping him on the shoulder. “Jake, that’s just business. It’s always been like that, and it’ll always be like that. That’s how our world works. We’ll handle it.”
He studied me, his face grim. “I’ve been on the other side. I know how they think.”
“And I’ve always been on this side. I appreciate the warning, but we have fail-safes set in place. They move on us again, and we’ll be ready. We are ready. Every day is a different type of war for us. I’m not looking at what I do through rose-colored glasses. Never have. Never will. I know who I am.”
He drew in a breath.
“I’m the bad guy, Jake. Except for a short period of time, I got to be the good guy. Thanks to your cousin for that.”
He shook his head, draining his drink. “Something tells me I’m the one who’s not ready for this life.”
“But you won’t be in it for long.” I was going with my gut now, seeing if I was right.
He looked my way, frowning. “What do you mean?”
“You’re going in, but you’re going to make them go legal. Aren’t you? Isn’t that your plan?”
He stared at me, long and hard, a steel wall looking back at me. “How the fuck do you know that?”
I broke out in a grin, my hand falling away from his shoulder. “Because I know you too. You were a good man to have on my payroll. I’ll miss that.”
He cursed, raking a hand over his face. He indicated Molly with his empty glass. “You got a good one there. Don’t fuck that up, or I still mean it. I’ll come down and try for her.”
“Okay. Now you’re starting to piss me off.”
The corner of his mouth curved up. He gave me a slight nod. “Maybe see you never again, Walden.”
“Yeah,” I said, almost to myself, knowing that was his form of a goodbye. He left, and I waited until the elevator took him back down before I added, “Hopefully we’ll never see each other again, Jake. Hopefully.”
I meant it with respect.
Molly was looking up, but she was also seeing Trace, who was leaving the floor.
I waited, knowing he was coming up for a debrief.
It wasn’t long before the elevator signaled his arrival.
“What’d he have to say?”
“About what we figured.” I gave him the short notes.
Trace’s eyebrows went low. He was going into his analyst mode, or his “thinker” mode, as Molly put it. “He’s right, though. We can’t get comfortable. We can never get comfortable in this life.”
I nodded, knowing that. “I’m okay with the decision I made. Are you?”
Trace went back to watching the dance floor, his eyes seeking out his own woman, who was wearing his ring. She was laughing, and that was a sight I never thought I’d see his woman doing, enjoying life.
He let out a sigh. “We fought hard to be here.”
“We did.”
“We’re in. I’m in.”
I nodded. “You already know I’m in, but Trace.”
He glanced my way.
I wanted to make sure he heard me right. “We fought to be here, so I’m here, but if we”—and I was stressing that word—“ever decide to leave, we leave on our terms. We don’t leave ratting each other out, or begging for our lives, or pissing in some bucket in the woods and hiding out. We choose when we leave, just like right now. We’re choosing our place in this city.”
