He thought by kissing the hell out of her she'd back away and not be so damned cute. That didn't work. It seemed to do just the opposite. She was smiling like the cat who got the canary and chattering on about the town and Stan, wasn't breakfast so darned good and how much she loved missions. Every time he glanced over at her, her eyes sparkled, her smile was perfect, her giggling - well dammit, her giggling was adorable.

He past the gas station and Josh was right, it was lonely. A sad older neon sign flickered in the window and actually only said, "pe" the O and the N didn't go on at all. The Beast pulled out of the lot then passed them not more than a mile down the road. Dodge followed the Beast through some winding roads and wondered where they were going. Finally pulling out of town the road sign said they were entering Jasperville and it couldn't have been more different from Kingsdale. The buildings were plentiful and well kept. Cars and trucks were parked outside of the local stores and restaurants. Hell, there was even a hotel, though not a huge one, still it looked clean and decent.

That's where Josh led them, through the parking lot and to the back of the hotel. Parking at the edge of the lot near the grass, the three men exited the Beast each of them stretching.

"You caught some great stuff. As soon as Gaige has it all uploaded and secured, he'll send us the audios and you can listen to them yourself. Mags has a protection scam going on in town. Those men you were seeing come and go were bringing her the extortion money. Local farmers are paying to keep Mangus’ men from stealing from them and killing them."

Jax responded. "Holy shit. It was obvious she was organizing something with each of those men. And the way they waited to be allowed to sit at her booth is positively weird. She's feared for certain."

Wyatt added his two cents. "The best part is for you guys," his eyes met Wyatt's. "We think she has the diamond. Or at least the jeweler who is getting ready to cut the diamond up into pieces.”

"You heard that?" That was huge. He wanted that diamond back, it would be a boon to them, no doubt.

"Yep." Josh added. "Or at least that's what we think was said. Gaige is trying to magnify the audio now and see if he can clean it up. The word jeweler was said at the same time the waitress began talking to you so it was a bit muffled."

"Shit." The most important piece of information they got or a huge portion of it and that waitress had to come right then. She likely knew how important the information that particular man had for Mags and purposely came to their table then just to make sure they didn't hear anything. Not that she knew who they were. But, clearly strangers in that town were noticed and not trusted.

Ford finally spoke up. "We'll get it. We could clearly hear “pink” and “jeweler” but the other words were muffled. It certainly seems as though they at least know about the diamond, which confirms that Mangus is responsible for stealing it as we assumed. The puzzle pieces are coming together, Dodge."

He shook his head as he mulled over this information. "I saw two men unloading what looked like food stores from a truck parked outside the kitchen door, into the kitchen. But, since we were there for about an hour and no one but us ordered any food, I can't possibly imagine what they're using it for. When we left town the truck was gone, but if I see it, I'll recognize it."

Wyatt shook his head. "She's running a tight ship there and we also think we heard her order the murder of one of her minions. Though we aren't a hundred percent sure of that either."

"Holy fuck. That explains why I felt creeped out." He exclaimed.

Jax twisted and looked into his eyes. "You too? I couldn't wait to get out of there."

He chuckled. "Is that why you're waiting at the door for me?"

"Definitely. She's eerily quiet and watchful."

He laughed then and so did she. He looked over at the guys and Ford was grinning so was Wyatt but Josh looked like he was eating a sour lemon.

Jax changed the subject. "So why are we here and what's next?"

Josh responded. "We're going out to locate Mags's house and see if she has monitoring equipment and/or security and what that looks like. Why don't you follow us and we'll spread out once we find it? We're here because Kingsdale is small and everyone knows everything going on. A vehicle like the Beast is noticeable and likely already targeted. So, stopping to talk to you anywhere near that town is dangerous. Even here, though close to twenty miles away, is probably not safe for long. But we're here because we have one friendly in town that we know about."

Friendlies were local law enforcement that weren't on the take. Dodge felt disappointed in his police brethren who were, but assumed in a town like Kingsdale, it was likely a losing battle to fight against a group like the Santarinos, with strength and money.

"Okay." Jax turned to get back into the car but Josh asked, "If you want to ride in the Beast, Ford can ride with Dodge."

She smiled at her brother and shook her head. "I'm good. Ford, you okay in the SUV?"

"Yep, it's all good." Ford responded, that goofy grin still on his face.

Nodding at Josh, he and Jax quickly jumped in the car before Josh could say another word. He didn't want to have an issue with Josh. With any of the guys for that matter and he and Jax were finally finding some comfort level with each other, so it would be nice if that would continue. Going to work sucked if you didn't get along with your peers. Especially in the line of work they were in.

"He'll be okay; he just doesn't want me to get hurt."

"What?"

"Josh. He just doesn't want me to get hurt. He still thinks you were leaving my room this morning and he's just being a protective brother."

"You didn't straighten him out on that?"

"I haven't had the time, Dodge. And, besides, it's none of his business who I sleep with."

"We didn't sleep together."

"Doesn't matter. It's none of his business. I don't make judgments on the women he sleeps with and believe me, there have been some doozies."

"Has he ever been married?"

She wrinkled her face, "Almost. She left him at the altar."

"That sucks."

"Yep. What about you. Have you even been married?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah. I was married for eight years."

She visibly swallowed a lump in her throat and he wondered if that bothered her. Then she continued, "Do you have any kids?"

Running his left hand down the side of his face he fought the urge to tell her to change the subject. His quick glance at her had their eyes locking briefly before he turned back to the road. "One. My son, Adam."

She nodded and turned to look out the windshield. Her voice grew softer, "How old is he?"

Now he had to swallow his own lump. "He's forever four."

She twisted in the seat and looked at him. His eyes darted to her then back to the road and he felt his nose begin to tingle as if the tears might come. Sniffing once he stared at the road. "Car accident. His mother was drunk and driving with him in the backseat. She hit a ditch and flipped the car. Bitch survived, Adam didn't."

Her words came out as whispers. "I'm sorry." Silence followed for a long while before she turned to him again. "So when you and Ford said, "For Adam", you're working to make him proud?"

All he could do was nod. Proud, make up for him getting killed, helping his grandparents out who loved him so much, all of it.