His face said it all.
“Yeah, it is.”
I felt fear jolt through me.
Chapter Twenty: Reid
I woke up in the back of the van, wrapped in three layers of blankets but still cold, as the morning’s first light broke in through the front windshield.
I’d had dreams. I couldn’t remember all of them. In one, I was skidding down a steep hill, the ground turning to sand under my feet. In another, I was climbing up a sheer wall, apparently made of glass, and Becca was strapped to my back. In both cases, I knew that I would die if I ever stopped.
It took a minute to clear my head as the last dregs and images of the dreams began to fade away.
But in those moments, in the half-awake liminal space of partial sleep, where you’re both there and not quite there, your lizard brain running things on autopilot but your forebrain not quite woken up, your personality not fully booted up, the little voice that narrates your life and establishes memory eerily quiet, in that moment the plan came to me.
It wasn’t divine inspiration. It had been simmering there in some unconscious part of my skull, spooling along, my brain putting unused energy into the task of solving the problem, of fleshing it out. For some reason, it took being in that half-awake twilight state to really grasp it.
But when I did, it hit me like lightning.
Initially, I felt elated. For the first time in what felt like years, I could see an end to everything. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and although it was still far away, it was there.
But soon, that first jolt of excitement began to wear thin as it dawned on me what exactly I was going to have to do.
I climbed out of the van, stretching my legs. I had a bit of a hike to get back home, but I needed to do it as fast as possible.
I had work to do.
I sat on Becca’s bed, looking up at her. My dick was already pushing at my pants, hard as fuck from seeing her breasts barely concealed by her black bra. I wanted to get up and tear it off her body so badly, but I resisted the urge.
She shut the door and looked at me. “Is this serious?”
I frowned. How exactly could I explain this to her without freaking her out completely? Her tits were so fucking distracting, but I really didn’t want her to cover them up.
“Yeah, it is.”
She nodded and grabbed a shirt from her drawer, pulling it over her head. I was still rock hard, but that made it a little bit easier to concentrate.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine. I’m good, actually.”
“Then what’s going on?”
I stood and nodded at the bed. “You should sit.”
She sighed and sat down in the spot I had just vacated. I walked a few feet away and leaned against the wall.
“Spit it out.”
“I need your help.”
I paused for a second and let that sink in. She narrowed her eyes.
“With what?”
“My mob problem.”
“I’m not sure what I can do for that.”
I crossed my arms, still deciding how much I wanted to tell her. “I found something out recently about the Blue.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Really? What?”
“I don’t want to go into details, but the guys I’ve been working for own that place.”
“Seriously? I’ve never seen them around.”
“Remember that Jay guy I pulled you away from last night?”
“Yeah, I remember. Asshole.”
I ignored the insult. “He’s the leader of the mob down here. Are you sure you’ve never seen him in there before?”
I watched as she screwed up her face, trying to remember. “I’m positive.”
“Well, my info is reliable. The mob definitely owns the Blue.”
“What do you need from me, then?”
“Do you know what money laundering is?”
She shrugged. “I’ve seen Breaking Bad. So yeah, I guess.”
“Okay. The mob is using the Blue to launder their drug cash.” I paused, steeling myself. “And I want to fucking rob them.”
She laughed. “Yeah, great idea. We can rob them together like Bonnie and Clyde.”
“I’m not kidding.”
“Be serious, Reid. How is robbing these guys going to help anything?
“I owe money to someone for helping me out, and he needs to be paid. And there’s something else.”
She huffed, frustrated. “If you want my help, just tell me everything.”
“Apparently, the guys still in Canada and the guys down here don’t get along very well. I plan on stealing from the guys here and paying off the guys up there, with the hope that it can help tip their little war.”
She shook her head. “This is absolutely insane. You have to be joking.”
“I’m not. I know I’m asking a lot.”