She shakes her head. “What’s going on, Logan? You’re scaring me.”
“Kitten,” I whisper, pulling her into me and pressing my lips to her forehead, “I promise to tell you everything when this is over but right now, I need to go. I’ll fill in the guys, and I need you to stay here. Please?”
She nods, reaching up to kiss me. “I love you. Please be careful.”
“I made you a promise, Baby, and I intend to keep it. I’m going to end this, and then I’ll tell you everything. I just hope you don’t hate me when it’s over because I don’t know how I would survive losing you.”
“I could never,” she says but I cut her off with my lips, kissing her with all the love and pain and desperation that I feel in this moment, and when I pull away, she wipes a tear from her cheek. Planting one last kiss on her forehead, I walk toward the door and throw it open, bright sunlight almost blinding me.
“Want to fill us in?” Blaze asks, waiting by my bike.
“Ian hired someone to kill Ali.”
“Shit,” Blaze spits as Fuzz runs a hand over his hair.
“What’s your plan?” Fuzz asks.
I stop and look at them because honestly, I hadn’t even thought about it. My girl was threatened, and I just jumped into action without thinking over my options.
“I’m going to take your silence to mean that you have no fucking clue,” Blaze says, and I nod. He glances over at Fuzz, who shrugs.
“When this all started, Fuzz came to me with an idea that might be our best option.”
“All right, well, let’s hear it.”
Blaze sighs and shakes his head, looking off in the distance. I know he hates this situation coming to this since they all left the violence behind six years ago, but there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect Ali.
“I’ve got this friend up there, who is a guard. I’m going to give him a call, and he’ll meet you outside the prison on his break at five. Slip him a note to give to Henn, telling him to call you. When he calls you, tell him to recruit someone to take Ian out, someone who has no chance of ever getting out, and we’ll deposit two grand into their account over the next six months as payments,” Fuzz says, and I just stare at him for a moment, thinking through his plan. It might just work.
“I don’t fucking like this,” Blaze says, turning back to look at us. “But we ain’t gonna let your girl get hurt. It may be time to rethink some things if y’all are gonna start settlin’ down. Smith was right. We can’t let people think they can hurt our women.”
I nod. “We’re not regressing here, Blaze. Maybe just tweaking a few things.”
He nods and slaps my shoulder. “You should take Fuzz with you.”
“You ready to go?” I ask Fuzz, and he nods. Blaze heads back inside with a promise to keep my girl safe, and Fuzz and I climb on our bikes before pulling out of the parking lot. The entire way to the prison, I’m assaulted by memories of six years ago and everything that this worthless motherfucker did to Fi and I. I can’t stop them this time, and I stop trying, letting them come so I’m prepared to face him as we drive up to the prison. It feels so damn good to know that I’m ending this for real this time; that Ian Blackwell will never bother me again. Then, Ali and I can move forward and start planning our life together. There’s nothing I want more.
* * * *
I shift in the chair, waiting for Ian to appear on the other side of the Plexiglas so I can get this over with and get back to Ali. Fuzz’s plan didn’t require that I come here and confront him but I needed it. I needed to look in his eyes and let him know that he doesn’t get to win. He doesn’t get to take anything else from me. And then I see him. He limps into the room, a guard on either side of him and his wrists and ankles cuffed. When he looks up and sees me, a wide smile stretches across his face but his eyes look like death.
“Well, well, well,” he says as soon as they sit him down in the chair, and he grabs the phone on his side. “Gotta say, never thought I’d see you here.”
“This isn’t a social visit, asshole,” I snap into the phone but it only makes him smile wider.
“Ah, are you here about your new little toy? Let me ask you something, how could you do that to our sweet Sophia?”
“Shut up,” I growl, dropping my head and taking a deep breath to calm me. He laughs, and my head shoots up as I level a glare at him.
“No, I’m not going to stop. Do you know how much you would break her poor heart if she knew that you were with someone new?”
I shake my head, keeping my glare trained on him. I really just need to know who he hired to kill Ali, and then I can leave. “No, it wouldn’t because she’s dead. You killed her, remember? You just couldn’t let her go, and even now, you’re still obsessed with her.”
He leans back in his chair, a smug smile on his face. “I don’t know. I guess looking at sweet, sweet Ali, I can understand how you moved on. Maybe I’ll try and get me some of that.”
I lunge forward, and the guard behind me puts a hand on my shoulder. Gritting my teeth, I release a breath and shrug him off as I sink back down. Ian laughs. “You won’t ever fucking touch her.”
The smile slides off his face, and he leans forward, getting close to the glass as he looks me straight in the eye. “You’re right. I won’t and neither will you because you’re going to pay for everything you did. You took my beautiful Sophia away from me, and now I’m going to take Ali. It’s just a shame I don’t get to test drive her before I crash her into a pole.”
Rage simmers just under my skin, and I toss the phone down, kicking my chair back as I stand. I’ve heard enough. Turning to the guard, he opens the door, and as I leave the room, I can still hear Ian’s laughter. My only regret is that I can’t be the one to choke the life out of him. But knowing that very soon he’ll be six feet under eases that desire slightly.
As I stomp back out to my bike, I try to calm myself down because I feel like I could rip someone apart with my hands right now, and I don’t want to go back to Ali like this. Fuzz jumps off his bike when he sees me coming, quiet as he studies my face.
“How did it go?”
“He confirmed it.”
Fuzz watches me for another moment before nodding. “My guy should be here any minute. You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
“What are you? A chick? No, I don’t want to fucking talk about it,” I snap at him and instantly feel bad about it. Crossing my arms over my chest, I lean back against the bike and just stare at the prison, trying to get my anger under control.
“Sorry, man,” I mutter a moment later.
“Don’t worry about it. I can’t even imagine how I would react after talking to my fiancée’s murderer. Yell all you want. Hell, I might even let you hit me.”
I snort a laugh and shake my head. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“Yeah, you’re right, but it’s the thought that counts.”
“Bullshit.”
A guard crossing the lot to us interrupts us, and Fuzz climbs off his bike and meets him, shaking his hand. He slips a piece of paper into his pocket, and they both walk over to me.