Chapter One

Cash

I t has been a couple of months since everything went down with Boyd and the drugs. There have been no more overdoses since, which we’re all fucking grateful for, and last we heard, he was getting the help that he needed and was doing well since he had absolutely no hope of getting any drugs in juvie, or at least that’s the hope. We all know that people can sneak things in if they really want to. It is, at least, more difficult to get them, which means he is doing better.

While Billy and the others may be relieved about that, possibly even happy, they aren’t exactly pleased that we put him there, and tensions have been the highest they have ever been. If we aren’t careful, things are going to come to a head in a big fucking way, and that isn’t going to end well for anyone involved.

One big thing that has happened, is that just after we blew up, or rather Jensen blew up the drug house, Atlas’s cabin went up in flames too. There was talk around town that there was an arsonist on the loose, but fortunately, those fears were squashed pretty fucking quickly when no more fires were lit. It had us on high alert for a while though, and once things had calmed down, we all went up to have a look and see if we noticed anything that the cops missed. We didn’t find anything, but then again, none of us really knew what we were looking for. We did keep an eye on any strangers in town, but there weren’t any.

Obviously, we know that it has something to do with Atlas; it was arson, and there is absolutely no doubt about that. We just don’t know why they bothered since Atlas hadn’t been there for months. In the end, we figured that they were trying to send a message and had disappeared pretty fucking quickly after they had done it. We had everyone on high alert and keeping an eye out for a month or so, but no one reported seeing anything concerning.

It’s summer break now, so most of the guys that we usually rely on are on vacation, so any backup is pretty sparse. To be honest, with it being the summer break and with so many people from both schools being away, it means that we actually get a break from the fights and shit that keep kicking off as well. Most of Billy’s crew are elsewhere; there is only Billy, Lucky, and Evan around, which means that anything that they may be planning to do in retribution for us putting Boyd in juvie should wait until they get back.

“Cash!” Trick calls, riding his dirt bike to where I’m waiting, Rafe wanted pointers on his jump, so I thought I would wait here, watch, and see what advice I can give him.

“What’s up?” I ask, his shout pulling me out of my thoughts.

This place was given to us in order to keep us out of trouble after everything to do with the Pit came out. It hasn’t stopped us from getting in trouble, but it has been pretty cool to race around the track here, build more jumps, and change the track, making it bigger. It’s given us a place to go that no one knows about, and that is just for us. We are so often called upon to sort shit out or found if we are hanging out at all the usual places, that this really has become like a sanctuary. We have even got an old shipping container out here where we put the bikes and some of our gear in, so we don’t have to lug it back and forth.

“The yard is on fire,” Trick says urgently.

I don’t bother asking questions, as I simply follow him back to where the truck is parked and practically throw my bike into the shipping container, just as Trick does the same.

“Grab the fire extinguishers,” I say, and Trick nods to let me know that he has heard me.

We grab all the ones that we can carry, launching them into the truck, and then head back for more, before we both jump into the truck where the others are already waiting.

We have more fire extinguishers at the yard just in case, since we have got our cars there and a garage set up so we can work on them, and it just seemed like a smart idea.

As soon as we are on the road and racing toward the yard where we keep the cars, I ask, “Fill me in. What’s going on?”

“We got a call from one of ours,” Trick starts to explain, “he said that he had seen Billy, Lucky, Evan, and a couple of their people who are still around, scaling the wall around the yard and carrying gas cans.”

“Fuck,” Jensen curses, “I guess it’s unlikely that they’re going to burn some of the garbage we’ve got there, and not set everything on fire?”

“Yeah, I’d say it was pretty fucking unlikely,” I reply. “The good news is that our guy saw them and called us immediately, so hopefully, we will get there in time and before they have done too much damage.”

“I fucking hope so. We don’t need the cops called there; how the fuck would we explain to the parents that we own a fucking yard with a decent amount of land too?” Riot asks.

“That’s just asking to open a can of worms,” Luc adds.

As soon as the yard comes into view, I can see the smoke, but fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be too much yet. Trick presses the button and has the gates opening before we need them to, so by the time we get there, they are open enough that we can get the truck through.

I watch as Billy and the others panic, clearly not expecting us to be here this quickly, and they each throw more gas on the fires that they’ve set and then make a break for it.

“Do we go after them?” Jensen asks.

“No, we need to put the fires out before they gain attention,” Trick replies, and we all jump out of the truck.

“Grab a fire extinguisher and start putting them out,” I order, and then add, “be fucking careful.”

We all grab one and spread out, trying to get as many fires as we possibly can. Fortunately, we caught them pretty fucking quickly, and we should be able to put them out if we work fast. They’ve set alight all of the fucking cars, but thankfully, we must have interrupted them before they got to the garage, and that’s been left alone. It takes us a while to get them all under control, thanks to the extra gas that Billy and the guys threw on the fires before they left, but thankfully, we manage it.

Once everything is just smoking and there are no more flames, Rafe hands out beers and we just stare at the damage it’s caused.

“Well, fuck,” Jensen curses sipping his beer. “We’re going to have to get rid of the cars.”

“Yeah, there is no point keeping them. At this point, they would cost more to repair and repaint than the cars are worth,” I reply.

“We should probably think about getting rid of this place completely,” Luc suggests. “It’s become a risk, and if Billy has decided to up his game, then we don’t want to risk him getting into this place again. Even if we got rid of the cars, they could still set the garage on fire and then it will be like we said in the car, the parents would find out.”

Trick sighs, taking a long chug of his beer, “Yeah, I think you’re probably right.”

“We’re going to have to be careful how we sell it; we can’t go through traditional means because they’re going to ask questions, and then the parents will get involved,” Rafe signs, making a very good point.

“We’ll sell it how we bought it then,” Riot suggests, “with cash and anonymously.”

“I can set that up,” Jensen says, “it shouldn’t take too much to do, people are always looking for places to buy around here that have a bit of land. If we offer it for a discounted price, then we might be able to sell it as sold as seen, and the cars will become their problem.”

“That’s a good idea; we just need to make sure that they don’t have anything that could lead them back to us if they were so inclined to look,” I point out.

“The cars are clean,” Rafe signs, “I double-checked them after our last job. They are cleaner than they were when they were first built.”

“Fucking awesome,” Trick replies, “well done man.”

“How soon do you think you can get the ball rolling on selling this place?” I ask Jensen curiously.

He shrugs, “I can probably get it all advertised and up for sale tonight; I can’t tell you how quickly someone is going to want to buy the place, though.”

“Great, get that done as soon as you can.” Trick replies.