18. Nick

The next morning, a hammering knock on my bedroom door makes me literally fall out of bed. I land on my ass in a tangle of sheets and tear them off my body as I struggle to shake my head of the last dregs of sleep.

“Nick!” A voice on the other side yells. It’s Reese, I think? Or Gino? Did we even hire a fucking Gino, or am I just imagining things? Maybe I dreamt that name. No idea who even works for this damn mafia anymore now that our last boss was killed.

I rub the back of my head, groan, and check the analog clock sitting on the nightstand. I haven’t even been back for a full twenty-four hours yet, so I don’t have a phone yet and have to rely on old fashioned clocks and calendars to get a sense for time. I push myself up to stand, then hobble over to the door, shaking my leg along the way because at some point, it fell asleep.

When I yank open the door, it’s a new face staring back at me, his eyes wide and eager. His curly brown hair falls in his eyes, making him look about ten years younger than he probably is. At least, I hope the kid isn’t actually eighteen. That would be too depressing.

He looks me up and down and frowns. I’m wearing only a pair of black boxer briefs.

“You, uh, sleep naked?” he asks.

Setting my jaw, I consider slamming the door in his face again. I am really, really not in the mood for any of this shit. Probably never will be. “Obviously not, since I’m wearing underwear. What do you want?”

The kid stares at me vacantly, like he just forgot why he was banging on my door a second ago, then says, “Oh, shit. Right, sorry. Maurice wants you out on the docks. Like, now. Now, now.”

I sigh and allow my shoulders to slump forward. “Did he say why?”

The kid shakes his head. “Nah. Just that it’s an emergency and he needs you. I’m Kyle, by the way. Sorry, man. Forgot to introduce myself.”

“Fine,” I say, then shut the door in his face. Nothing personal. Just don’t want to make small talk with someone barely out of high school.

I waste no time getting dressed, pulling on a pair of dark denim jeans and a black t-shirt with Sleep Token’s logo splashed across the chest. Maurice was right. He didn’t throw out my stuff, but I don’t know why not. It’s not like I was coming back to claim any of it. It’s hard to imagine Maurice being that sentimental, but after last night I realize there’s more to him than I ever gave him credit for.

When I make my way down to the docks, it’s still early enough that the sun is still cresting the tops of the trees on the other side of the channel. Back home, Oona is probably yawning herself awake and getting ready to go fishing. She always insisted going down to the stream at first light and never left me behind to sleep in. The fish were a lot more active in the early mornings and evenings. My stomach gurgles at the thought of sharing roasted trout with her, and my heart snaps in half all over again.

I wipe away a tear that’s doing its best to escape and swallow down the bitterness rising in the back of my throat. Fuck, why didn’t I jump back in after her? Because I would literally die, that’s why, I remind myself. But why didn’t she come with me?

Maurice plods down the docks in my direction with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face and I’m immediately suspicious. No one, not a single person, can possibly be this happy this early in the morning. Not unless they are on something.

“Good morning! How’d you sleep, Nick?” Maurice barks, setting me on edge and making my skin pebble in goosebumps. Chipper at sunrise and asking me how I slept? Something ain’t right, here. Not after all the booze he drank last night. He should be busy sleeping off a hangover.

“Fine,” I grind out, and look around to find that several of our guys are busy loading and unloading crates onto a large boat. The same boat that took me out to Lagoon L’Amour and dumped me unceremoniously into the murky water. “Thanks for keeping my clothes, by the way.”

Maurice nodded slowly, still grinning like he just won the Powerball. I’m hoping for a little clarification, but instead he says, “Got some brilliant news for you I think you’ll appreciate. It’s about Stim.” When my brows shoot up, he chuckles. “Knew that’d get your attention.”

“Go on,” I say.

“Well, thanks to our new tech team, Kyle figured out where Jonah’s crew are manufacturing the shit.” Maurice looks to his left, where the maybe-teenagers are still hauling crates onto the boat.

Jonah. One of the other king pins of the city and the Mackenzie Brother’s direct rival. More like nemesis, but our groups have at least managed to stay out of each other’s hair for the most part. It’s only in the past two years that Jonah’s crew has become more of a substantial threat by trying to encroach on our territory. His men will occasionally try to get into Risque’s to start shit. They’re more annoying than anything else, so this new information surprises me.

My brows knit together. “Are you serious? Where?”

If this is true, we could potentially disrupt the entire Stim business. Once and for all. No one else would have to go through what I went through. No more dead mothers, fathers, siblings. No more suffering at the hands of a lethal street drug.

“They’re setting up a whole clandestine operation in the middle of the lagoon, about a mile south of where you were….” He makes a crude gesture with his finger across his neck and makes a gagging sound. Real funny. “We’re heading over there in a few minutes to stake it out.”

My heart slams in my throat. A mile away from my and Oona’s tree house. They’re too close to her.

Now things just became doubly personal. I want nothing more than to stop Jonah’s group from making the Stim, but I also want to get them the hell away from my girl. I can’t risk anyone finding out about her. Just the thought of anyone doing anything to Oona makes me want to snap someone’s neck.

“What’s the matter?” Maurice grunts.

“Nothing. That’s great. So, what’s in the boxes, then?” I ask, gesturing toward the boat.

“Explosives,” Maurice says, as though it were obvious. “Gonna blow their whole little operation to the ground.”

I swallow thickly and say, “Isn’t that going to destroy … you know, the lagoon, too? The area around it? It’s an environmental hazard. Not to mention if that shit catches on fire and gets into the air….”

Maurice scowls and lifts his palms up. “Whoa, whoa. Okay, Green Peace. When did you start to give a shit about the environment?”

When I fell in love with a woman who lives in the lagoon, I guess. The thought of anyone blowing up our home makes me so sick to my stomach I can’t see straight. My hands ball into fists at my side, and Maurice points at them. “You … seem a little tense, bud. Do you need to go back to bed? Sorry we woke you so early, I?—”

“Take me out there with you,” I say without thinking. Take me out there. Let me get to her, before she’s found. Before Jonah’s men have a chance to ruin everything.

Maurice raises a bushy dark brow and takes a step back. “Sure, sure. We’re almost ready to go. Wanted to do it now while they’re all sleeping off their booze.”

“Sure,” I say, but my voice is hollow, and my mind is elsewhere. I don’t care about any of this crap anymore. As long as I can get to my girlfriend and get her out of harm’s way, nothing else matters.

And then once I have her? We’re going to get far, far away from here. From everyone. We’ll start over, off the grid like we should have done weeks ago.