Now I wasn't just pretty, but the kind of white that's insulting to a whole race—the kind he hated, clearly. “Selling, dealing, making money. You don't have to like me. Hector does though.”
That stung just as much as his gringo comment. His mouth tightened like he was ready to shoot off insults... or maybe bullets.
I watched the boats head straight to the shore in the pitch black water, with no kind of lights. The only light was from the car headlights, which would have to be illuminating enough to transport drugs from the boats to the SUVs. I was piecing together every part of the puzzle they were aiming to create, and I saw the missing pieces already.
“Where's the decoy car?”
Viktor laughed, like it was the stupidest question I could have asked out loud. “Welcome to the real deal. It's real time if you fuck this up, gringo.”
Addi squeezed hand that I didn't realize she was holding until now. She leaned in and whispered, “I don't trust them.”
Neither did I. They all had their fingers on the trigger, like they expected this to go sideways. It was a drop and transport. This should be easy and wrapped up in forty minutes to get on the road, but I didn't even know the exit strategy.
My criminal senses were tingling.
I left Addi far enough away on the shore to be out of the way while I investigated. Leaning forward I placed my unlaced boots on the edge of the boat and demanded to speak to the captain, or whoever was in charge of this part. A middle aged, unassuming, dad-bod guy took off his cap and nodded in my direction.
“Load four cars, not five. We need a decoy.”
He shouted something to the guys unloading the boats; his team was easily fifteen guys. Some guys worked with tools to rip off the side panels and bumpers to hide the product without being easily seen in a seize and search. The other guys started loading the military grade trunks onto the shore for others to start unloading into the hiding spots.
I had respect for how quickly they worked. I knew by how creative they got that they must have been caught before, which didn't help my distrust in these people.
I stood next to Addi, again watching them work, when Viktor shouted my new nickname. “Don't get lost on the way to the airstrip!”
A text from an unknown number landed on my phone with the address—well, not the exact one, but of a gas station on the same road. Hector’s idiots weren't that dumb, I guess. I waited as the last bumper was being drilled back into place, and the men loaded into the boats to leave. I waited for the last two idiots Hector paid to get into the SUV with their guns still in front of them, as I watched them drive off, and that's when all my distrust imploded.
The sirens blurred the dark sky with red and blue, while the high pitched sound made you want to go deaf, even from the distance. All my priors, all my love affairs I had with the law, and all my bad intentions were finally going to condemn me to safety behind bars—the home I had always been destined for.
I passed Addi my keys. “I need you to leave before you get caught up in this too.” Her manicured nails fingered the rental set of keys, but made no moves. I shouted at her, hoping the side of me she never saw scared her enough to take off in the opposite direction. It didn't. She stood there silently as her wheels turned.
“No, we’re in this together.”
I stood in front of her, trying to cover up her existence as the sirens got louder and closer. “Don't be stupid. I have priors, Addileigh. You don't.”
Her features vanished into nothing but sadness. “I can't love you and leave at the same time. I'm all in.”
I tossed the gun I never wanted to the side, letting it land heavily in the sand before I slowly pushed my arms up into the air, assuming the position I knew all too well they'd demand.
“I'm unarmed!” I shouted into Addi, while it was meant for the cops behind me. I was too busy examining her face for validation and reason. She was getting in trouble only because I was getting in trouble. All because she loved me?
No one would risk this kind of trouble for love.
She was a mad woman, and I was her bad company.
Her glossed over grays told me every part of her was authentic and every part of her wanted to weep in the ultimate act of loving me: risking it all on me—something no one had been willing to do, until her.
I leaned forward, catching her lips with mine, right before someone behind me crushed my wrists together and pushed me down to the sand of the quiet beach. All I could hear was the ocean rhythmically fading out as it met the sand. I felt his knee dig into the center of my back—a feeling I hadn’t felt since high school, yet never forgot. He held me in place, until the cold metal of the cuffs were secure, and I watched Addi from this vantage not raise a single hand or surrender.
She started yelling that they were hurting me with tears running down her face freely, smearing the foundation I've seen her match to her body’s kind of bronze. They indulged her before a female cop had enough and started cuffing her too.
My anger was dormant until I heard Addi’s breath hitch in her throat and a sharp “ow” creeped out instead. “She's never been arrested. Go easy!”
The cop with the sharp knees and decent grip stood me up next to Addi, while they called whatever they needed to in on their walkies. I watched Addi shift slowly, not enough to draw anyone’s attention, until I felt her fingers brush mine.
Crazy bitch just wanted to hold hands while we were in handcuffs.
The cop barked in my direction first, “What's your name? What are you doing out here?”
“2000761317.” My juvie file number. “I'll be in your system.”
The cop didn't think I was funny when I felt something solid knock against my eyebrow, making me double over. “You think breaking the law is funny? We got tipped off there was a deal going on out here.”
“Did you stop for donuts too?”
Another swift hit elicited blood this time from the corner of my lip, and I couldn’t keep the laughter down. Something about being beaten down always had that effect on me. A couple hits wasn’t going to knock my personality into some alignment they wanted, and I was the only one who knew that. It made the chuckling uncontrollable.
Another cop, probably his partner, came behind me yanking the cuffs and forcing me forward until I was leaning over the trunk of the car, while he searched me without warning.
“Stop it! You're hurting him! We’re being compliant!” Addi shrieked in voice that sounded broken, like every hit they gave me was shattering her heart, just because I was the one she risked it on.
Suddenly, every part of their fucked up puzzle made sense. Viktor, the idiot who loathed me, decided to get rid of me in a very creative way—the only way that would get me blacklisted from Hector’s affection: being labeled a rat.
In my line of business, there was nothing worse than wearing your handcuffs for a shorter period of time, because you gave up information in exchange. I wasn’t a rat. I didn’t break under the pressure. I grew up in small, plain rooms, perfecting how to lie so well that the truth sounded honest to everyone around me. A few one night stands with the boys in blue gave me all the practice I needed.
Hunter
Addi went in a separate car, which was done on purpose so we couldn’t get on the same page, but she was quick on her feet and carrying a concealed weapon: She was an actress.