Chapter 20

BRYCE

Uriah spent the entire day with me at the hospital by my side. Despite all of my protests, I couldn’t get him away. It wasn’t any reason for me to complain though. I seemed to forget about all of the stress that was getting to me when he was around. I’d grown so comfortable around him that I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I never got the chance to see him.

The next day, Uriah headed back to the station. The investigation was more important than anything else. He had a job to do.

I decided that today would be different. I grew tired of sitting around my apartment twiddling my thumbs doing nothing. My pregnancy was my main focus but I was still capable. So when I checked out of the hospital, I headed back to Brickstone to occupy myself. Nothing could keep me away from work.

It was the middle of the afternoon when I arrived. The Chargers were scattered around the place as usual, too busy to ignore me. A few patrons were there, too, workers from the docks just trying to have a beer in the middle of the day while they were on their break.

Judith leaned up against the bar counter, sipping on a glass of beer that barely had anything in it.

“You need another one?”

The older woman turned toward me. Her lips curled into a grin as she looked me up and down.

“I haven’t seen you in a bit,” she said. “How are things with you?”

“Things are just fine. I’ve been a little… busy.”

“Must be real important if someone like you is stepping away from work.”

“You could say that.”

I put my hands on my stomach. There was a noticeable bulge in my stomach but Judith didn’t say anything when she looked me up and down.

“I did miss you,” she sighed.

“Did you? It’s nice that you think that way of me.”

“Oh, you’re a nice guy, Bryce. But your brother… His gang… They’re pretty cheap when it comes to the drinks.”

“Cade is running a business. You can’t expect him to hand out free drinks like I do.”

“It’s nice to have you back then.”

She gave me a wink. I couldn’t help but smile at her.

“I’ll tell you what,” I said as I made my way around the bar. “I’m in a good mood…”

I poured another beer and set it down in front of her.

“…On the house. Just this once.”

“I really did miss you, Bryce.”

Her attention was focused on her beer like she was hypnotized by it. She gulped half of it down like she’d had a long shift. Everybody at the docks worked hard and Judith wasn’t an exception. I didn’t hold it against her that she drank with that kind of enthusiasm. If anything, she deserved a chance to relax.

I looked around the bar and noticed that things were a little different from what I was used to seeing. Bottles had been rearranged and some were nearly empty. Glasses weren’t stocked. It would’ve bothered me if I didn’t need something to do.

I hadn’t been working long when I heard a voice next to me.

“Bryce!”

I looked up at my brother then went back to work.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he said.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“You know you shouldn’t be working right now—”

“Cade, I’m pregnant, I’m not sick. I can still do what I always do. You can’t expect me to stay at my apartment.”

“I just don’t want you to strain yourself, bro. You just got out of the hospital—”

“I got out of the hospital because you were stressing me out. If you want what’s best for me, you’ll do what I tell you to do.”

“It’s not that. It’s…”

He hesitated for a second. I shook my head in confusion.

“It’s what?” I said.

Before he could answer, the front entrance suddenly opened up behind me. I turned around and stared at the man that had appeared.

Expensive-looking black suit. Expensive watch on his wrist. Even his shoes were shining like they were freshly polished. The man didn’t look like anybody in the West Bay. Hell, he would’ve stood out even if he were in fancy parts of the Northside.

He looked around with a couple of imposing personal guards right next to him. It didn’t take long to figure it out.

Rivera.

I looked at Cade and whispered through gritted teeth.

“What the hell is he doing here?”

“It’s business,” Cade said. “Don’t worry.”

“Cade,” Rivera said as he walked toward the bar. “This is an… interesting place you have here…”

Hair slicked back over his head and face clean like a dozen barbers had worked on him, Rivera stuck his nose in the air like he was better than everybody else. He had the kind of disdain in his eyes that I expected. Everything about him seemed so sleazy, regardless of how much money he was worth.

“It’s our place,” Cade said. “The Chargers and I get all of our business done here. No better bar in the West Bay. No better bar in all of Snow Falls than Brickstone.”

“I see…”

Rivera eyeballed me. I didn’t bother holding back my contempt for him. I clenched my jaw, trying my best to keep my emotions in check.

Just relax… Stay calm… Remember what the doctor said…

The man responsible for all of my troubles stood there right in front of me and there was little I could do.

“And who might you be?” Rivera asked.

I didn’t bother responding. I didn’t care about getting to know him better or being courteous.

“That’s my brother,” Cade said. “Don’t mind Bryce. He’s been dealing with a lot lately. Besides, you’re here to do business with me. How about a beer?”

“No thanks,” Rivera said as he eyeballed me. “Let’s get to it.”

Cade moved away from me and headed toward the backroom where nobody could hear them talking. I didn’t have to think twice to know what they were doing. The rest of the Chargers joined him. But Rivera remained standing at the bar. He just kept staring at me, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

“Cade’s brother,” he said as he looked me up and down. “Are you always in a bad mood?”

“Listen,” I responded. “You might have a deal with Cade but that’s not enough to make me pretend like I like you. I know who you are. I know what you’re capable of. The only reason I haven’t kicked you out is because of Cade.”

“Hmph.”

The smirk on his face grew even wider. But the longer he looked at me, the slower it started to disappear. He stared at me, eyes unblinking. The kind of intensity that would intimidate anybody else. I didn’t care though. Nothing would change my opinion of him.

“Now you listen,” he said as he leaned forward across the bar. “Your brother is smart enough to realize how big of an opportunity this is for him. You should be grateful that I’m even allowing someone like your brother in on this deal. Cade will be a rich man when all is said and done. You will reap the benefits the same as him.”

“I don’t care. You came to Snow Falls to taint this city. You’re the last thing we need. If having all of the rewards in the world means having to deal with you, you can keep ‘em.”

“Unfortunately for you, that’s not your decision to make.”

He stood up straight and fixed his tie. He kept looking down his nose at me before disappearing into the backroom.

I pulled my phone up and brought up Uriah’s number. I wanted to tell him that Rivera was here… But something stopped me.

Damn…

Uriah couldn’t do anything. Rivera hadn’t done anything wrong and he wasn’t foolish enough to pull anything here. I had to do this myself.

I moved to the back and saw the closed door. Rivera’s security guards were standing there. I had to think of a way to get into that meeting but nothing came to me.

I hadn’t even finished thinking when the door suddenly opened up. Cade’s gang walked out followed by Rivera himself. I stood in the hallway as they all passed me by. I couldn’t even look at Rivera. I just checked to make sure that he’d left for good. A sense of relief washed over me when he left with his guards but I still didn’t feel as comfortable as I wanted to.

Cade was the last to leave the room. I stood back in the hallway and stared at him. He gave me a half-smirk as he walked up to me.

“I can’t believe it,” I said as I shook my head. “I can’t believe you’re still going through with this. I don’t know how you can deal with a man like him.”

“You have to trust me on this, Bryce.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? Rivera is going to get caught. And everybody else with him. That man will do anything to get away from the law. He’ll throw you under the bus, too, if he has to.”

Cade moved forward and put his hands on my shoulders.

“I know how much you care about me,” he said. “I really do.”

“Then why won’t you listen to me?”

“Because… you’ll understand when this is all done.”

“Cade—”

“Just trust me, Bryce. I’m on your side.”

He put his arms around me. Despite all of my concerns, I couldn’t push him away. I let him hug me until he finally released me.

“I’ve got some business to take care of,” he said. “Get things all set. I’ll leave a couple of the boys around in case you need help.”

“I don’t need any help, thanks…”

I headed back to into the bar. Cade gathered his gang and they all left one by one. He looked at me one last time. A subtle smile on his lips appeared. The smallest reminder that I could never hate him, no matter how stupid he was acting. He turned around and left and the bar went back to being as quiet as it always was.

“Thank goodness they’re gone,” Judith said. “It looks like things are back to normal.”

The woman managed to put a smile on my face.

“You know what…”

I walked back around the bar and poured another beer.

“…Thanks, Judith.”

I set it down in front of her and her eyes widened like she was staring at gold.

“You shouldn’t have.”

From everything I could tell, Cade had gone through with the deal with Rivera. There was nothing I could do to stop him. My only hope now was that Uriah had the answer I was looking for. From the way things were going, that answer didn’t seem to exist.