Cas
We arrive before Lopez and park up in a half circle, giving them no choice but to be cornered wherever they park.
“If this doesn’t go well, we’ll have to find a new supplier in the next few weeks,” I say, more to myself but to everyone around me as well.
After paying Hank for the diner renovations, it hasn’t left us much in the club funds. It’s enough to last us three or four months if we go easy, but I want to be comfortable again. I don’t like living on the breadline.
“Look lively, brothers, we’ve got company,” Slade says, putting his phone away.
Three SUV’s drive off the road and come to a stop opposite us. This is it. We’ll either strike a deal or we won’t.
Suited men climb out of the cars, each holding automatic weapons, as if they can intimidate us.
Fucking hell, we have our own arsenal and we’re not afraid to pull the trigger either. Still, we need the income, so we stand and wait for the main man to grace us with his presence.
He keeps us waiting an extra minute before one of his men opens his door and his shiny shoes hit the dirt. I snort. I’ve seen older socks than this guy. He can’t be no older than twenty, or he has one hell of a baby face.
“Do you think he has babysitter in the car?” I mutter to Sparky, itching my nose to cover my mouth moving.
Sparks laughs quietly and lights a cigarette.
“Samuel Lopez?” I ask, stepping forward to meet him.
He nods, “Cas Jackson?”
“The one and only,” I grin, and shake his hand.
“This is Marco, if we do business, he’ll be your point of contact.”
I nod once at him and he steps back.
“Since taking over from my father, I’ve made it my mission to find out everything about everyone. Word spread quickly when Denzel disappeared, it was easy enough to pick up every single business venture of his. Do you know your club is the longest lasting partner he had?”
“We worked well together.”
“I hope we can too, the only downfall is, I don’t know you and I can’t be sure you’re worth the money he used to pay you.”
Is he for fucking real?
“We were paid well because we delivered every single time. We’ve never lost a shipment.”
“I only have your word on that.”
“I thought you said you checked us out?” Sparky puts in and it doesn’t go down well with Lopez.
“Ten per cent, and I’m not here to negotiate.”
“That’s less than half of what we’re used to,” I spit.
“No negotiating,” his bulldog grunts.
“Then we don’t have a deal.”
With nothing left to be said, Lopez briskly turns and starts walking back to his car. He abruptly stops and faces us once more.
“I’ll give you a few days to think it over. Call me when you come to a final decision.”
As soon as he’s in his car, his men disappear into their cars and all three SUV’s back out onto the main road.
“What a waste of our time,” Slade mutters.
“Ten per cent is an insult,” Pope growls.
“Let’s get out of here, we’ll discuss it back at the club.”
There’s nothing to discuss, but it’s not wise to talk out here about our business or lack of.
Everyone waits for me to ride out first, and each of them follow me back to town.
Sparky wants me to go home and sort things out with Alannah, but I signal to Sparky that I’m breaking away once we cross the town border. They carry on to the club, while I ride and circle the motel. I circle it twice before I ride into the parking lot. I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I park up in the furthest bay from her room as I can find empty and cut the engine. I don’t move. I lean my arms on the handle bars and watch her door. I’m not interested in talking to her, but I’m not interested in ignoring her either. I haven’t got a fucking clue what I’m interested in anymore.
The meet with Samuel was a shit show we didn’t need and now finding a new supplier is on my list to sort out.
I could knock on her door, fuck knows what I’d say, and that’s my problem. I know what I have to do and what to say to everyone in my life. I don’t know with her. I have no idea what to say or how to be with her.
I still don’t move.
A part of me is in that room.
Someone I share my blood with.
The woman who pushed me into this world.
I’m about to turn the engine on when her door opens, and she appears. She must’ve been watching me through the window. She walks over, crossing her arms over her chest. She looks even smaller without her jacket on, but she looks well put together clothes wise.
She stops five feet from me and the silence hangs in the air between us. I once imagined a reunion between us, it was shortly after I became a Lost Soul. I imagined she showed up and I couldn’t believe my luck, I had a family in my brothers and I had my mom. In my imagination, I forgave her without hesitation and I forgot she abandoned me on the steps of a church.
In reality, I can barely utter a word to her.
“I was hoping you’d knock,” she says.
“I gave up on hope where you’re concerned when I was six and cried myself to sleep because my foster dad had whooped me for a second time that day just cause he could.”
She flinches, and I enjoy it.
“What? You didn’t think you were the only one in the world to have it hard, did you? What did you think was going to happen to me when you left?”
“I…”
“Doesn’t matter, I didn’t come here to outdo you on who got beat more.”
“Why did you come here?”
“I don’t know, but while I am here, tell me why you didn’t take Alannah’s cash offer to leave town.”
“No amount of money will make me leave. It doesn’t matter if you never speak to me, I’m not going anywhere.”
“How are you paying for this?” I ask, gesturing to the motel.
“I’ve been putting money away for years, I can afford to stay here for as long as we need. I’m going nowhere,” she insists.
I want to believe her, so fucking bad.
Instead of letting her in, I turn the key and bring my bike to life. She tries not to jump out of her skin as I peel out of the parking lot.