14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Drake

I never thought I could be capable of doing something like what I had done.

After I discovered what we had truly been protecting on this job, I lost my shit.

Literally.

I had called Josh and to my dismay, that brave little bastard had the nerve to answer. I reel over our conversation while I drive back home.

***

“Hello?” Josh answered on the second ring. His perky and upbeat voice annoyed the hell out of me.

“Don’t fucking say hello to me you asshole,” I scream. I hold the phone in my hands and I loosen my grip or I may just crush it in my hands.

“Why are you upset?” Josh asks, a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“You know damn well why I am upset. Why didn't you tell me I was helping to transport drugs across state lines?” I ask.

My brothers all crowd around me while the truck drivers laugh as they finish transferring the load.

“What does it matter to you what was in that truck? You got paid didn’t you?” Josh asks.

I put him on speaker phone so my brothers can hear, too. They all look just as enraged as I feel.

“Because the Raven’s don’t do that. We work with the police not against them. If we had gotten caught, we could have gone to jail,” I shouted again. Thoughts of Lacy fill my head and the idea of never seeing her again has me seeing red.

“So what? You didn’t get caught because I am careful. You also transported machinery and tools, just like I said you would. The warehouse where you were scheduled for drop off, will come out and retrieve their shipment. Your driver has already arranged for the second truck to get all of the illegal contraband off the truck before the warehouse employees come out to unload their orders. It is perfect, I run a very meticulous business. It would be smart for you to just go with the flow and not ask questions,” Josh finishes, and his voice takes on an evil tone.

“That is where you are wrong. I have you now, Mr. Raven. You try to run to the police, well, you will go down too. Now, I will continue to pay you well, as long as you cooperate,” he seethes.

“Fuck you. We aren’t going to be blackmailed by scum like you. How the hell did you find us?” I ask, my arms and legs shaking with anger.

“Oh, I am sure you already know. But since you seem ignorant to it, does the name Chuck ring a bell?” Josh asks.

I look up and my brothers and I all are stunned. Chuck? We had ended our turmoil with Chuck months ago. What did he have to do with this?

“What about Chuck?” I ask. They all lean in closer, especially Storm and Axel who had their own dangerous run-ins with the bastard known as Chuck.

“Well, it seems you didn’t do your homework. Chuck and I are cousins. He was the last bit of family I had left, well besides that bitch sister of his,” Josh snorts.

Storm leaps forward and takes the phone out of my hands. “You watch what you say, or I will kill you myself,” he screams. Axel has got his own vendetta when it comes to Chuck, and Josh just pushed a button he should have stayed clear from. It’s like he detonated a bomb inside of Storm.

I take the phone back from Storm and hold up my hand, trying to calm down my brothers. If they don’t stop now, they all might just kill Josh themselves.

“What do you want?” I ask.

I realize now, that Josh came after us for a reason. It wasn’t to just get his drugs to the next driver. He could have hired anyone, but he chose us.

Laughing, Josh waits a minute before he responds. He has us all right where he wants us and he knows it. “I want vengeance for what was taken from my family. I will take down the Ravens once and for all,” he shouts. “I will be in touch soon with your next job. Make sure you don’t tell anyone about our little arrangement. I would hate for any of your beautiful girlfriends to get hurt or come up missing,” he threatens and then the line goes dead.

I drop my phone on the ground and fall to my knees. I felt like the air had just been knocked out of me. I feel my brothers as they try to help me stand. They are talking and asking me questions, but all I hear is white noise. Nothing makes sense and right now, all I know is that I have to get to Lacy.

***

Now, as I drive through the outskirts of Hollow Cove with Lacy on the back of my bike, those same fears almost paralyze me. I have to tell her what is going on. Josh won’t stop and I can’t let anything happen to Lacy or my family. She has to understand why I am about to do what I have planned. Maybe, she will find a way to forgive me.

I know she is nervous; I can feel it in the way her fingers tremble as they hold onto my jacket while we drive.

Once Hollow Cove disappears behind us, my own nerves start to get to me. We drive through the country and this once peaceful drive, is now one of the longest of my life. I used to come out here to find peace and get away from the world. Now, I just don’t know what I am going to find.

Finally, we pull up and I park my bike along the gravel drive to the property I had once envisioned buying for me and Lacy.

Lacy carefully gets off the bike and watches me nervously as I take a few steps. The gravel crunches beneath my feet and that’s the only sound I hear besides the beating of our nervous hearts.

“Ok, Lacy. I have to show you something,” I say.