Chapter 2
I eye the thick black coat with brown fur lining the hood and even sleeves. It is dated in terms of fashion but I bet it does the trick against the fall wind. My gaze then travels down the hand that holds it out and meets a pair of baby blue eyes.
"No," I say firmly before turning around to grab the last handful of cloths and shove them into my bag.
"Yes."
Landon doesn't seem to understand that I do not like Niki. I don't like her voice, her cloths, her smell- god she reeks of cigars and nicotine but I know she doesn't smoke.
"I'm not wearing it," I sing to him as I swing my bag over my shoulders.
"Theo it's 36 degrees out tonight and you missed the 1am bus. Where the damn coat," his firm tone surprises me as Launch is usually a easy going guy.
I turn to look at him and am met with a pair of green bags under soft eyes, "Please, you could catch a cold."
The pins and needles feeling spread through my chest and my heart feels like its slowly being eaten away. One look from him and I am already in pieces it seems.
"Are you alright?" I know it is a stupid question the second it's out of my mouth. Of course he's not, life just gave him a countdown with his own mother.
"I mean all things considered, yes. I'm just worried about you," he says with a small smile and I look down towards the ground.
I don't want to have the talk not while he's already hurting, "Landon," i begin but he cuts me off.
"I care about you Theo," the sincerity in his voice causes guilt to wash over me línea total wave.
Truth be told if I wanted an easy life, if I took the obvious path, then I would be with Landon. It makes sense. He has a similar career path, parents who care for me, and would be a tentative husband & father. But the reality of it is I don't feel that way about him, which seems absurd to anyone with eyes. How could I not want to marry an attractive and honest guy?
"Maybe more than you would even notice," he continued and I tense up because for the love of god how do you reject your best friend when his mother is dying.
"Landon we agreed that-" I try and reason with him, not longer having energy after another exhausting day in the ER, where I truly belong.
"I know," he sighs, "but that doesn't mean I can just stop my feelings. Even this distance you're putting between us isn't going to make it go away."
"You know it would never work. I'm fucked up and my dad-"
"You still haven't told me his name," he reminds and I roll my eyes.
"That's because you don't want to know," my tone leaving no room for argument or disagreement.
His sharp gaze shoots to the floor and he runs a tired hand down his face as he just shoves the coat out once more towards me.
I take it wordlessly, and allow Landon to help put my arms through and even zip it up for me, "feel better?" I ask quietly with a teasing smile.
Thankfully, he returns my smirk and shakes his head, "I will when I get your text saying you made it home."
I hum back a reply as I fix the strap on my shoulder, "right well I'll see you tomorrow."
Ace
Running a hand through my own dark hair, I let out a sigh and I roll my shoulders hoping to ease the tension in them.
Nichole Johnson is a smart women whose made a very dumb decision. Screwing me over, more importantly El Jefe, who is not a forgiving man. I should know. After working with him for years as his second and enforcer, even I will admit the man scares me. His Spanish roots run deep in the Cartel and his power rivals the Italian Mafia, but more than anything he is loyal yet cruel which is a hard combination to understand and sometimes people being to think it makes him weak. So when I got a call saying he wants Nikki brought in for silencing, I wasn't surprised to hear she tried to pull a fast one.
"Hey Ace," a rough hard voice grumbles to my right. I glance over at Frankie my eyes tracing the scar along his cheek. His crooked finger points outwards and his dark eyes looking out the front of the van.
I follow the finger that points to a black coat walking out of the hospital and right past our van blending into the dark. The way the black material hugs her curves and outlining every detail is making me regret passing up on Nikki when the offer was given. Any sane man would have thanked the gods for his luck, but I suppose she just screamed trouble and it's today I am thankful I trusted my gut. But then again that's what I'm known for. My gut instinct has never failed me and it's what let me climb through the ranks. That and this insatiable hunger for control over everyone or anyone and it's as much apart of me now as my limbs. Which I will admit isn't the best quality to have outside of work but it's a defining feature I can't run from and has given me the powerful position I have always craved.
"That her?" I murmur from the divers seat refocusing as the two men nod their head from beside me.
"Yeah," James says from the back as he gets the chloroform rag ready. I look into the review mirror and watch the dirty blonde pretty boy as he makes room for a struggle. He's younger than Frankie and I, so he's eager to please. It's by the grace of god that hasn't gotten him killed
The plan is a simple grab and go. No second chances and no room for doubt.
"I'm moving up," I say and move the van about a block ahead if where she is walking and thankfully out of sight of boy street cameras.
And then we watch as she keeps her head down against the cold wind as she walks down the street in the blinding dark and crappy yellow street lights. I feel my heart speed up a little as the usual adrenaline kicks in, but it's something else. Something feels off and I don't like the feeling one fucking bit.
Before I have time to second guess our plan she is in position and I hear myself hiss, "Now," out automatically.
Without hesitation James pops the van door and it goes flying open making Nikki jump in surprise. It's the moment of shock that we usually use to our advantage. Without a second hesitation he holds the rag over her face.
"Wait! Help-" she manages to scream before James pulls her into the van quickly.
I'll give him credit the kid is a bit of a natural which makes my skin crawl. He grabs her quick and not making a show of it just like he was trained. After hearing the muffled screams of a woman quiet down and the door shut, I don't waste a second and speed off.
Finally the sounds stop and we pause in the silence as it confirms the act we did, "that was easy," Frankie murmurs staying up front with me.
I hear a heavy breath from the back "easy for you to say. You don't have fucking claw marks on your arm," James snaps and I just chuckle.
Normally the kid would get slapped for that but Frankie has mellowed in his age, even at just 38. Of course he's also more strategic and less hot headed which made him climb the ranks later than we would usually see someone of his age.
"You could always say it's from a late night encounter," Frankie suggests laughing at his own joke.
"I don't need to lie about getting my dick wet," James shoots back.
"Sure you don't," I say quietly but the both hear me and this causes Frankie to laugh even harder.
"Fuck off Ace, when's the last time you even saw a piece of ass," he hollers and I shrug my shoulders
"Not sure. When's the last time your sister came home late?" I reply and I hear James shout another 'fuck off!' as Frankie slaps my shoulder sobering up from his laughter.
"The Man works too much to think with his dick anyways," Frankie offers and although he thinks he's helping me out, the comment makes me want to pop him in the nose.
I grunt a response but we stay silent after that listening to the low hum of the beat up radio.
Only having to drive about 5 minutes down the road, it's not long before we turn into our underground parking garage.
Frankie gets up to join James in moving Nikki and I turn off the radio with a hard slap of my knuckles followed by pulling the keys out of the ignition.
"Ready boys?" I ask checking to see if anyone dare follow us down the rabbit hole.
When I don't get a response, I turn back around to see both of both hovering over her just gawking like it's the worlds 7th greatest wonder. Getting pissed by their frozen forms I push myself into the back.
"What the fuck are you-" I stopped mid sentence once I saw what they were staring at.
James next to me whistles while Frankie mumbles a 'damn' under his breath as we stare down at her.
This is not Nikki.
Long silk brown waves cascade across the floor of the van as she breaths steady from her plumb lips. Dark lashes kiss her pale skin, and I resist the urge to run my knuckles down her cheek just to see if her skin is as soft as it looks.
She looks like an Angel, in every sense of the word.
Slowly my gaze found her name tag on her scrubs reading it after admiring her curves, "Theo?" I read, ignoring how right it sounded on my tongue.
Where have I heard that name before?
It's not a common name but I swear it sounded familiar.
"This ain't Nikki," James says stating the obvious forcing me to focus.
"No shit," Frankie bites back and he goes to open the door of the van.
"What do you think you're doing?" I say sternly and watch as the two men freeze. I feel the heat of their gaze on my as I double check our surroundings.
"Taking her in, what else do we do with her?" James asks always the one with a smart mouth, but I bite back a comment because I don't have an answer for him.
This has never happened before. I've never gotten the wrong guy or fucked up enough to get an innocent involved.
"Fine. Take her into the office. I'll make the call what to do with her later. I got to much to fucking deal with today," I snarl before kicking my door open and slamming it closed. I don't even look back as I storm out of the garage and as hell.
Boss won't be back for a month at least, meaning it's my call what to do.
So what the hell am I gonna do?