“I have to do this.”
“Does your dad know? Did he call you?”
“He doesn’t know yet, but he will. And yes, he’ll call, but I’m going to have this handled by then.”
He cursed on his end. “Talk me through it first.”
“That’d make you an accomplice.”
He swore again. “Zeke, I swear. Cut me in. Tell me what you’re doing.”
“You know what went down?”
“I heard you swung on Banker Mitchell. Taz informed me he’s known to be a perv among the female population. Knowing you, hearing about him, I’m guessing he was saying some shit about someone you care about. Ava?”
I relaxed, just slightly. My boy was smart. I always liked that about him. “Yeah.”
“You swung, with witnesses, and let me guess? You’re backed into a corner unless you force your way out somewhere.”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Logan’s your lawyer?”
“Your phone must’ve been burning up today.”
He grunted. “The voice messages, yeah. Can Kade get a lower sentence? A plea deal at all?”
“I’m not doing a plea.”
“You could be charged on assault—”
“I hacked him.”
He was quiet. “You did what?”
“I hacked him.”
“Banker Mitchell?”
“Perv Mitchell.”
He was quiet again. “You’re going public with your skills?”
I had to grin. “I’m a late bloomer and my rep is firmly that I’m a dumb jock, well; now I’m sure it’s probably that I’m a has-been. You’re not a has-been, though. You’re a pro-fes-sional athlete. Yes, you are.” I was almost singing the last five words.
“You’re stalling so I can’t talk you out of doing whatever you’re going to do. Stop. Pull over. Talk me through it. Come on, Zeke. I’m usually your partner in crime.”
“You’re across the ocean.”
“Yeah, well, I won’t always be over here. Talk. To. Me. You told me a long time ago that you needed guys to look up to so you wouldn’t become the guy you were becoming. That’s when your dad was working all the time and not around. Me and Kade. You aspired to be like Mason, and I was the only guy who’d stand against you. You said you needed that. Consider this the same fucking shit. Talk to me.”
I tightened my hold on the wheel. “I don’t want to stop. If I do, I might not go through with it.”
“That’s a flag right there. Whatever you’re going to do, think. If it goes wrong, what’s the worst thing that could happen?”
“Extra criminal charges on me.”
“Okay. Let’s focus on that. Look, I’m not saying don’t go through with it. I mean, fuck. You know I’ve done some seriously shady shit in the past.”
“Shit I helped you with.”
“Yes. Shit you helped me with, so the situation is reversed. I want to help you, but I can’t help you unless you tell me what you’re doing.”
I checked the time, and I had ten minutes. Only ten. I pulled over but let the engine idle. “I got a small opening. I need to get to him, get in place, when he’s alone.”
“What are you going to do?”
I set a timer and told him.
22
AVA
My phone was waking me up, ringing over and over again, and I couldn’t understand why Zeke wasn’t shutting it off. He always did if I got a call. I’d roll over as he would hand me the phone. I’d either take the call or not, but in both situations, he’d want me to stay so I’d flip to my back and answer while he would pull me in closer and settle in more firmly at my side.
None of that was happening.
I woke enough to look around. No Zeke.
My phone kept going, so I grabbed it and answered without looking at the screen. “Hello?”
“Ava?”
I frowned, looking at the number. “Who is this?”
“This is Aspen. Blaise’s—”
Holy shit!
I sat upright, panicked but controlled panic clicking in immediately. “Where is he?”
She was quiet, for just a moment. “Okay. That was fast.” If she was calling me, it wasn’t good.
“Where is he?” I repeated.
“Blaise is on the phone with him right now. He just left your place. We know where—”
I threw the bedsheets back, grabbed a robe, my purse, and I was running out the door. “Where?” I nabbed my keys on the way, going into the garage. Zeke tended to park outside, which I had no idea why because he had a four-car stall garage, but he had insisted I use the first slot.
I reversed as soon as the garage door lifted.
“He’s heading to Roger Mitchell’s house.”
I was disgusted, just on principle.
And I must’ve made a sound because she asked, “You know him?”
“He’s disgusting, but yes. I know where his house is too. My ex used to drive his wife home. I’m pretty sure he still does.” My ex had been the local Uber driver. I’d been along a couple times back then, and I couldn’t imagine Mitchell moving. The house was massive. So I swung in that direction.
Zeke would’ve taken the main highway, but there was a short cut around. I could maybe get there first.
“Blaise is making him wait and tell him what he’s planning.”
That was all I needed to hear. “I’ll try and get there first.”
“Okay. Good luck. Also, it’s super cool that you’re coming into the mix.”
That made me smile. “Thanks.”
“We can talk later, but it’d be awesome if you and Zeke could come over sometime. I know Blaise really misses him.”
She was right. That would be awesome.
But first, I pressed my foot down on the accelerator.
23
ZEKE
He liked to swim in the mornings, and he swam alone. They had their own pool, set back, in a building all by itself. I parked behind their wooded lot and made my way over their land. The door wasn’t even locked, which made my task easier.
He was in the pool, swimming, with his head down. Front crawl. He had goggles. A hair cap. He wore a speedo, so as he kept swimming because according to his schedule, he had five more minutes to go, I went about getting everything ready.
The doors were locked.
The windows were shut.
I made sure the security cameras were off, or when he’d look back, he’d see they had been paused. No alarm.
He had the side wall pulled back with the screen still shielding against animals, bugs, but I moved to start sliding that closed. I had moved to a back chair before he stopped, resting a bit at the end, before heaving himself up and to the edge. He sat there, feet and legs still in the pool and taking deep breaths, his head slightly folded over his stomach. Then, as if deciding it was time to go, he swung his head up and back, climbing the rest of the way.
He was padding halfway to the table where his towels were before he noticed the side wall had been closed. His hand closing around one of the towels, he began looking around, and he started to wrap it around his waist, the ends not quite together when alarm finally settled over him. He jerked around, seeing that each window was closed. The smaller doors were as well.