Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
“I know,” he said quietly. “And she knows. We’ve talked about it. A lot. But it’s the best way to make this all happen—the life I want. I could go in on the enlisted side, but that wouldn’t really secure our future all that well. And no offense, but I really don’t want to work on cars the rest of my life. I want to see the world, and I want her by my side when I do it.”
“You don’t marry her, she can’t go wherever you’re stationed,” I pointed out.
“I…I know.” He looked a little green. “I was going to ask you when we turned eighteen.”
They had another month. They both turned eighteen on the same day in August.
Another reason they were the best of friends since they were young. They had a lot in common. Crazy moms and all.
“You don’t have to ask anymore.” I stood up, brushing glaze off my chest with one hand and offering the other one to Hai.
Hai stood up, clasped my hand, and looked directly into my eyes when he said, “I’ll spend my life making her happy, Piers.”
I smiled. “I know you will. Now, let’s get to this meeting.”
The meeting went well, considering.
Jasper arrived about halfway through, standing in the back looking worried.
I let him continue to worry as I finished up the meeting.
“Any questions about this month’s goals?” I asked.
The same damn hand that’d been popping up all morning, a young man I’d just promoted to manager of a store in South Dallas.
“What do you think about offering drinks in vending machines for the people that wait for their cars to be fixed?” he asked.
I didn’t remember his name.
“There’s coffee and a food vending machine,” I pointed out.
I had a man who stocked them all once every week, making sure that everything was available if they wanted it.
I didn’t do carbonated drinks, however, because I didn’t want to deal with the hassle. Those damn machines broke more than they worked.
“I have a lot of moms come to mine, and they always complain that there’s nothing for their kids to drink,” he said. “I’m just relaying issues I’ve had in the past with the customers over the last week.”
A week.
That’d been how long he’d been promoted.
I scrubbed at my face and said, “Tell you what, I’ll think about it.”
I wouldn’t think about it.
I disliked having drink machines to the point where I’d probably never have them again. But he didn’t need to know that.
“Anything else?” I asked.
The kid raised his hand again, but Hai did me a solid and told him to stop, we all wanted to leave.
It was true.
Just because they were here didn’t mean that they didn’t still have to put in a full workday.
Most of them had jobs that they scheduled, and they got paid by the job.
If they didn’t get those done, they didn’t get paid.
“Oh, sorry.” The kid winced.
I looked out over the crowd and said, “All right, class dismissed.”
They all filed out, taking boxes of donuts with them.
Japer walked out, too, but he didn’t go far.
He went to fix the truck that he’d been working on the day before.
I went to my area and got to work on my own project, but periodically looked up to watch Jasper work, trying to figure out what in the fuck I should say or do.
In the end, I gave up on working.
I watched the man from across my shop for close to ten minutes before he finally said, “What’s got you looking at me like that, Webber?”
I uncrossed my arms from my chest and headed toward the truck that Jasper was working on.
“I saw something a few weeks ago that I need to talk to you about,” I said.
Jasper frowned. “What?”
I’d also seen something a few weeks ago that had alarmed me even more.
“You’re still active duty with New Orleans Police Department,” I said. “On special loan to the FBI and homeland security for a joint task force that is set on investigating rogue one percent motorcycle clubs that are being put under the joint task force for gangs by Congress.”
“Apollo find that out for you?” Jasper asked, sounding calm.
But he had a tell.
His hands on the truck’s hood were white as he clenched the metal.
“No,” I answered. “Found that all out on my own.”
Jasper’s head dropped.
The scars on his neck and face pulled taut with the move, and I studied him as he tried to think up something to say and couldn’t.
He’d been investigating the club.
He’d gone through three whole years of being a Truth Teller, and I hadn’t seen the first goddamn sign.
What all did he have on us?
For some reason, though, I didn’t think he was going to share any of the information he’d found out or witnessed since he’d become one of us.
However, I couldn’t have him here.