customer. He probably knows what he wants is all. Sarah was at the cash register and she’d ring him up and it’d be fine. She listened to see if she could hear Sarah talking or the cash register printed a receipt. After several minutes, when she’d felt officially stupid for hiding from this customer, she took a breath and went back out to the floor.
The man walked up beside her and Fiona almost jumped across the room. Her heart pounded as she kept walking.
He leaned in and said quietly, “You need to be more aware of your surroundings.”
Then he brushed past her and left the store. She stood there for a minute, watching. She stood there so long that Sarah asked if she was okay.
She shook it off and went back to her inventory. But her mind wouldn’t settle, even if the jolt of adrenaline had started to. Who was he and what did he mean be aware of her surroundings? What wasn’t she aware of?
Well, it seemed she would listen to him whether she wanted to or not. For the rest of the day, every customer, every little sound, made her look around. She felt paranoid. This had to be connected to Jasper, right? Or could it be Sam hunting her down? Had he only been waiting? Had it taken him this long to find them?
That night, she didn’t sleep well and she started to wonder if maybe she shouldn’t have her own gun and learn how to shoot.
***
Jasper stood at the head of his basement, looking out at his boys. They all wore their Crimson Hawks leather jackets, like they always did. He’d need a replacement as soon as possible. It wasn’t right for the leader to be the only one without it. Still couldn’t believe those bastards had trashed his. He’d had it for years. It was all broken and perfect and everything.
“I don’t know how much you’ve heard or how much you’ve assumed,” he said, “but let me set the record straight. Leo was pissed when I started making cheaper deals and taking his coke business. He was pissed before that when we recruited so many new members and grew to have ten more than he does. And the other night, he took his anger out on me. Him and six of his guys set me up and beat me, leaving me for dead.”
“We thought you were dead, man,” Alex said. “Why didn’t you call anyone?”
“Couldn’t. Didn’t have my phone and I could barely move.”
“So what’s our plan?” Derrick asked. “They won’t stop when they find out you’re alive. If they wanted revenge, they’ll just keep going until you’re dead.”
“You need protection,” Aaron said.
Jasper nodded. “We’ll need to hit them where it hurts. The Rose Blades aren’t like the Crimson Hawks. If we take out Leo, they’ll fall apart.”
“They’re barely together now,” Alex said.
“Exactly. It’ll be easy to take down anyone else who comes at us if Leo is out of the picture,” Jasper said.
“Who were the other six?” Aaron asked.
“Not sure. I only saw two or three of them and I didn’t know them. I might recognize them, but at this point, I want Leo. We’ll worry about decimating the rest of the club once we get him.”
“And I already decided I’m staying here for a while,” Aaron said. “You need one of us with you at all times. You should’ve had someone there that night.”
“You’re right,” Jasper said. “I want you to all be in teams as much as possible until we get this settled. Who knows when he’ll attack next or where or who he’ll come after this time. I’ll be laying low for a while. Hopefully he won’t know I’m still alive until he sees my gun in his face.”
“When are we doing this?” Derrick asked. “I see no point in waiting and drawing it out.”
“No,” Jasper said. “But we do need a plan. Do we get him alone like he did to me, or just gang up on a few of them? Where do we do it? And where are we going to put the bodies? All this needs to be planned before
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