“I’m sure,” I said. “I’m completely sure.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “You’re with me then. No matter what, you stay by my side. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“When do we start?” Flynn asked.
“I start now. You two sit here and don’t fuck anything up.”
“Aye, aye, boss,” Gage said, smirking. He poured two more drinks.
“Stay here with them,” Travis said softly to me. “I’m going to make a call, and then we’ll head out.”
“Where?”
“We’re paying Janey one last visit.”
I nodded. “Okay.” Travis turned and left, heading downstairs.
Gage grinned at me. “Don’t worry. Travis is the best. You’re damn lucky you’re with him and not this asshole.” He gestured at Flynn.
“Hey,” Flynn said. “I’m pretty good at killing, you know.”
“Yeah. That’s pretty much it, though.”
Flynn knocked his drink back. “And drinking whisky.”
“You’re okay at that.” Gage knocked his drink back. “But I’m better.”
The two men started arguing about the finer points of drinking whisky, and I just leaned back against the counter and watched. I couldn’t help but smile at them, despite the fear growing inside me.
Travis was the best, and I knew it. He made me feel things I couldn’t explain and he took care of me, even when I didn’t deserve it. He had saved my mother and me from Culver, and he was going to save us from everyone else, too.
I didn’t deserve this, which was why I had to see it through. I couldn’t sit on the sideline and let it all happen.
I was lucky I had Travis. I knew I was lucky. I felt it every time he walked into the room.
That man sent chills down my spine and made me want to never leave his side.
Chapter 24
Travis
Hartley seemed okay. For someone who had just witnessed a violent and intense gun battle in their kitchen, she seemed like she was holding it together. Normal people would have fallen apart, but Hartley was clearly far from normal.
Gage and Flynn were probably a big help. She needed to see that I had this under control, and bringing them in probably helped with that.
I left the room and heard the two idiots already joking. They were playing it up pretty hard, probably trying to make Hartley forget about this morning. I couldn’t tell if it was working or not, but I was grateful. I felt bad that I couldn’t sit and just talk with her, but things were going to move fast now.
I got outside in the warm air and leaned up against the front of the building. I got my burner phone out and dialed the number I’d been saving for just this moment.
It rang three times before he answered. “Who’s this?” he grunted.
“Hoyt, it’s Travis.”
“Travis. How’d you get this number?”
“Never mind that. I have an issue.”
Short pause. “What’s wrong?”
“Culver. He stopped answering, disappeared last night.”
“We haven’t been able to get in touch with him either.”
“What the fuck are you people doing over there?”
“I don’t know, man,” he said. “Culver is a weird one. I never liked him, but the big boss brought him in to oversee this operation.”
“Yeah, well, he’s fucking gone, and I’m making a move on the shipment tonight.”
Another pause. “Seriously? Tonight?”
“Fuck, are you listening to me, Hoyt? This is serious.”
“Yeah, okay. So you’re doing it tonight. What’s the plan?”
“I’m not sure there is a fucking plan now that your boy Culver is missing. He gave me certain assurances.”
“Like what?”
“For starters, he was the only one saying you people weren’t trying to fuck us over. How can I trust you guys when your boy Culver disappears like this?”
“Nobody is fucking you over, Travis.”
“Culver seems like he is.”
“How?”
“The guy disappears on the day I let him know I’m taking the shipment. You don’t think that looks odd?”
Hoyt sounded stressed, just how I wanted him. “Yeah. It sounds strange. But I don’t know what’s happening with him.”
“Listen to me. You still want this shipment?”
“You know we do,” he said.
“I need two things from you.”
“Go ahead.”
“First, I want to deliver this to your boss personally.”
“I can’t do that,” Hoyt said immediately.
“Then you’re not getting shit.”
“Travis, man, come on. He doesn’t go for this sort of thing.”