CHAPTER 13
RYAN

Holy hell, the vixen Grace was. Classy, intelligent, independent, and the tightest pussy I could’ve ever had. The sex had been fantastic, and I couldn’t get my mind off it. How beautiful she looked over dinner and how wanton she had been on my couch. She parted those legs for me with ease and was more than willing to bend to my every whim.

I loved a woman who could cave to me like that.

Sitting in the kitchen, I was mindlessly munching on some chips. I could still smell her in my room. It was an intoxicating scent that made me long for her even more. I recounted the night. How hard we laughed over dinner and all of the amazing stories she told me from college. She talked about Grant and some of the things they did together and I told her a few more stories about my father. The positive memories I had of him and all of the cars we had worked on when I was younger.

“You should keep your head in the game, you know.”

My eyes panned over to Jason, who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“It’s obvious what’s happening.”

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“You’re falling for Grace. And that’s not good when you’ve got a job coming up.”

“What the hell would you know about something like that?”

“I know that’s what got Dad in trouble on his last job.”

“You have no idea what happened on Dad’s last job. You were eight,” I said.

“I know he got friendly with some of the guys he was running with. Put his trust where it didn’t need to be. Falling for a chick right now isn’t a good idea. It’ll tank what you’re trying to do.”

“I don’t even have the mental capacity to break down everything wrong with what you just said.”

“Ryan, if this is going to be successful you can’t be daydreaming over a piece of ass.”

“You shut your mouth right now, Jason. You don’t talk to me like that and you don’t talk about women like that.?”

“I don’t want to see you go down like Dad did,” he said.

“I won’t. Because there’s more to life than robbing banks.”

“I think there’s nothing cooler. You and Dad are awesome.”

The guilt I felt welling inside me felt like it was about to choke me of the air I was breathing.

“You just keep your head in the game for college. That’s where your life is headed.”

“But what if I don’t want that life?” Jason asked. “What if I want yours?”

“I’m an uneducated, unemployed criminal, Jason. Is that what you wanna be?”

“You and Dad turned out okay.”

“Dad’s in prison for the rest of his life, Jason!”

“But I want to be cool. I’m tired of being picked on! I’m tired of being the scrawny kid at school with glasses and his nose stuck in a book!”

“Who’s picking on you?” I asked.

“No one,” he said.

“No. Don’t play that game. This is coming from somewhere. What’s going on at school?”

“They pick on me for wanting to go to college,” he said.

I remembered those days. It was one of the reasons why I didn’t go to college, despite what I told everyone else. In Tell City where the factories were a mainstay, it was like making something more of yourself was some sort of idiotic fantasy to be mocked.

I never did understand where that mentality came from. But it was a mentality that sunk both myself and my father.

But I wasn't going to let it sink Jason.

“Do you think Grace is cool?” I asked.

“I like her, yeah.”

“But do you think she’s cool?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, Grace got her cool because she went to college. She didn’t give a damn about what any of those other bullies thought about her. And yes, she was made fun of in high school for wanting to go to college too.”

“She was?” he asked.

“A lot. I remember standing up for her all the time back in those days. But she didn’t let it affect her. And now? She’s got her own house and her own moneyand she’s providing for her daughter all on her own. She’s one of the best people in this damn place, and it was because she didn’t let those bullies in high school get to her.”

“But no one stands up for me like you did for her,” he said.

“Then stand up for yourself. Learn how to fight without throwing a punch. If you’re not going to tell anyone about it so someone can intervene, then you have to learn how to stand up for yourself, Jason. Don’t let people push you around.”

“Does Grace know about what you do?” he asked.

I shook my head and put my hands on my hips. “No, and I plan to keep it that way. The fewer people know the better.”

“You don’t think she’d tell the police, do you?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I know she likes me, but she’s also got a daughter to raise. I don’t know that she’d want me around if she knew that I did what I do. And I wouldn’t blame her one bit if she didn’t.”

Jason shook his head. “Do you ever get tired of it? Lying and sneaking around and not being able to tell people who you really are?”

“Yeah, I do. I am. That’s why this is my last job,” I said.

“It is?”

“Yeah. This is my last one, Jason. Everything I wanted to do for us will be set once this goes down. Then I can make a decent life for myself; one I can tell people like Grace about without having to lie.”

“I thought you only lied to Dad because we were in a prison visiting him.”

“No. I lie to keep people safe,” I said. “A life of crime isn’t glamorous, Jason. It’s dangerous. It rips families apart and destroys futures.”

“Then why are you doing it if it’s so bad?” he asked.

“Because—I let those bullies get to me. I let them convince me I was no better than Dad. I let their hatred and their asinine comments push me into the ditch, but I won’t let that happen with you. You’re smart, Jason. You can make something of yourself. You can be the first kid in our family that goes to college and fucking graduates. And I’m not letting you throw that away because of some skewed notion that the life I lead is cool. Because it’s not. It’s dangerous and lonely and risky, at best.”

“If you let me help, I could help you get out of it without getting caught,” he said.

I sighed and shook my head as I stood from my chair.

“Come here,” I said.

I embraced my brother and kissed him on the top of his head. The guilt was swallowing me whole I had tried to explain why he needed to stay out of it, but I still hadn’t deterred him from wanting to help. I told him I had to head into town to do a few things and to keep his nose in his books. He knew where I was headed. He knew what I was doing. And the disappointed look in his eye made me feel shittier than I already did.

Last job. This is the last job.

I headed into town to meet with Jesse to make sure our contingency plan was set up on the chance we got caught. He had fake I.D.’s made up for all of us and had our information temporarily written over in most of the basic systems the police would use to look us up. The delay in trying to figure out our identities would give each of us enough time to get away on our own and meet up at the abandoned warehouse where we stored our go bags.

It wasn’t the best plan, but it was one that would work.

Jesse handed me over my I.D. and my passport, in case things got really rough. He handed me a packet of information that earmarked the temporary change in my name, courtesy of a friend of his. I was irate that someone else had been roped into this without my consent, but something told me Kenneth had put his stamp of approval on this shit.

I really dispised that asshole and couldn’t wait to be done with him for good.

I shoved everything into my pockets as my burner phone rang. I knew there was only one person who could be calling, and I was ready to chomp into his neck. What the fuck was he thinking, telling Jesse to rope someone else into this fuckery we were doing? I didn’t know who this person was. I hadn’t vetted them. I didn’t know their credentials or what they did for a living or even what the fuck their name was!

“What the hell were you thinking?” I asked.

“Before you blow a damn gasket, All Powerful Leader, the person we got to do this is legit,” Kenneth said.

“And you think I trust you,” I said.

“You should.”

“Well I fucking don’t. I want all of the information on this person so I can vet them for myself, and if something doesn’t check out, I’m out of this.”

“You can’t bail now.”

“Oh yes I can, and I fucking will. You knew the rules coming in. When you and Jesse accepted this partnership we’ve got going on, the two of you agreed I was the one running this show. And this entire fucking time, you’ve acted like you’re calling the shots. Get me everything on this person you have and I’ll be doing my own investigation into them. And if they don’t check out? I’m out.”

“Fuck you,” he said.

“No, fuck you for thinking you could go over my head like this and I’d actually be okay with it.”

“We’re supposed to execute this heist in three days.”

“Well now, because of you it’s three fucking weeks.”

“What?” he asked.

“You fucking heard me. Don’t like it? Too bad. Two to three weeks for me to vet whoever the fuck you roped into this without my fucking consent.”

“Dude, the guy’s fine.”

“Did you ask Jesse before you did this?” I asked.

“The fuck does that matter?”

“It matters because I’m a part of this fucking team, so if you asked Jesse you should’ve asked me. What the hell’s wrong with you? Did someone drop you on your head as a child?”

“I’m getting tired of your diva attitude,” he said.

“And I’m getting tired of your sneaky antics. Get me the information. You’ve pushed this job out at least two weeks. Deal with it.”

“Whatever. Information incoming, asshole.”

My phone vibrated in my hand with a slew of text messages. With each one that kept coming through, it made me angrier and angrier. He just had this bullshit on hand and wasn’t willing to send it to me? What the fuck was wrong with this guy?

I was growing very wary of his volatility in a job like the one we were trying to pull off.

Kenneth hung up the phone and I gripped it in my hand so tightly that I thought it was going to break. Jesse was staring at me with fear in his eyes, and I hated that he was put in this position. He was definitely a follower, and he’d fallen in line with the worst kind of criminal there was.

One that didn’t respect anyone but himself.

“Kenneth’s mad now, but he’ll come around,” Jesse said. “Giving everything a couple of weeks will help him cool down. Plus the cameras you might show up on from being in the bank are usually on a week-long cycle, so pulling videos of you will be harder because they’ll either be erased or in memory banks off-site.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“For what it’s worth, I did vet the guy. He’s not the greatest at this kind of thing, but he is trusted in the community. Your father used him for one of his first jobs.”

“I’ll check him out for myself anyway. I just don’t like being left out of the loop,” I said.

“We’ll be long gone before they can draw a connection to us. Between the fake names we’ve been using around town and these I.D.s in our wallets and shit, we’ll be golden,” Jesse said.

I hadn’t been using a fake name. Grace obviously knew my name. I’d opened that fucking investment account in my name as well as the initial account because she’d fucking been there. I shook Jesse’s hand before I walked back to my car, making sure to not draw attention to myself. Shit. I’d really roped Grace into a bad scenario and I was feeling guiltier about it by the minute.

I needed to make sure Jason didn’t mention her association to me with anyone. I knew I was taking a risk with what I was doing with Grace, but that didn’t mean it had to cost me the job. Nor did it have to cost her and Harper their safety. I drove out of town to buy the last piece of equipment I would need for the job, then I headed back home.

I had to make sure Jason understood the severity of the situation and how imperative it was to keep Grace’s name out of his mouth.