Chapter Four

Adalee

"No luck?"

I glared at Garett and flopped onto the couch. "It's like these guys think I'm asking for their firstborn or something. All I want is a few minutes of their time so I don't get fired and end up living down by the river in a van."

The guys were in the empty bedroom Yarder had designated to us to use for our equipment and stuff when we were at the clubhouse.

"You know," Mark interrupted. "That was pretty dire about ten years ago, but now some people aim for that. Have you ever priced out an RV? Those things cost as much as a damn house these days."

"How about a cardboard box?" I asked. "Is that dire enough?"

Mark shrugged. "I mean, where the network has us put up right now is like a cardboard box."

"Oh, please." I rolled my eyes. "Just because you don't have four bedrooms and two living areas doesn't make it a cardboard box, Mark. I think your bougie is showing."

Mark flipped me off. "Is it a crime to want to have space? I like what I like. Garett feels the same way I do. We're living in shoe boxes next to each other."

"For the record, I think the place they put us up in is fine, but there is no way I could live there longer than a few months. So, I'm on neither of your sides. I'm Switzerland in all of this."

That was Garett for you. He never wanted to rock the boat while Mark was ready to capsize the whole thing if he wanted to.

"Blah, blah," Mark grumbled.

"We know," Garett and I called in unison.

"If you were part of the club, I'm sure your road name would be Switzerland," I joked.

"I'd call you Swizzle Stick for short," Mark chuckled.

"You always say you shorten names, but I'm pretty sure Swizzle Stick isn't shorter than Switzerland," I pointed out.

"Oh, stop, Ada-la-lee-lo," Mark smirked.

Garett shook his head. "We need to get back on track. How the hell are we going to get Fade on camera willingly? I got some pensive shit of him today watching the bulldozer, but his talking is what we need. We can't have footage of the shooting aftermath and not have the guy who was right in the center of it."

"Why don't we just tell him he has to do it, or the show will pull out," Mark suggested.

"I'm pretty sure that would be music to his ears," I pointed out. "I told him straight out that we need more footage of him, and he pretty much told me to bug off." I wasn't known for taking no for an answer, though. I just needed to figure out how to get Fade to see my side of things and get him in front of the camera.

"Ambush," Mark offered.

"Yes, I think ambushing a man in an MC that just killed someone sounds like a great idea." Garett shook his head. "I don't know about you, but I'm not looking to get shot anytime soon. I have a wife and kid waiting for me to come home."

Mark flipped off Garett. "You don't have to throw in my face that you have a stable relationship."

Garett scoffed. "You could have one too if you weren't sleeping with every woman you come in contact with."

Mark pointed at me. "Never slept with Adalee."

"Not for a lack of trying," I mumbled. The first day Mark and I met, he asked me if I fell from heaven or something. Yeah, I had shut that down real quick by telling him I was his new co- worker. He promptly told me to forget what he had said because he didn't shit where he ate. Or something like that.

"I don't know what you're talking about because whatever you said has been forgotten because it never happened." Mark held up his hands. "And I don't know why we're discussing my love life."

"Because you brought it up," Garett drawled. "We're trying to talk about work."

"Ambush," Mark repeated. "Who says we have to have him sit down in front of the camera to talk about the shooting? I say we go up to him and record him."

"Or Adalee could go talk to him, and we have her mic'd up while we record from a distance." Garett pointed at Mark. "This isn't a half-bad idea."

"I don't think Fade will like being recorded unknowingly," I pointed out. I knew I sure wouldn't like it.

"It's what he signed up for, Adalee. We need to do this. Get him to spill his guts, and then we can get on Don's good side." Mark sat back, a satisfied grin on his lips. "I think this calls for us to pack it in for the day and start the ambush tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me." Garett put his camera in the case and pulled his phone out. "You guys want to come over for pizza tonight?" he asked.

"I'll be there around seven." Mark stood and pulled his keys out of his pocket. "You in, Adalee?"

I nodded. "Sure." It wasn't like I had anyone else to hang out with in Mt. Pleasant. The ol' ladies had offered me to go do things with them before, but I never took them up on it. I figured they were asking to be nice and didn't really mean it. Besides, I wasn't sure if I would ever see them again if the TV show didn't do well.

Mark and Garett headed out, and I finished throwing my stuff in my backpack.

I wasn't completely on board with ambushing Fade, but it was the only plan we had right now.

Maybe a soak in the tub with a glass of wine would help me think of a better plan.