Rock Hard: A Stepbrother Romance (Extreme Sports Alphas) (27 page)

“Okay.” I wasn’t going to cry.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Text me, okay? I can’t wait that long.”

“If I have a signal, I will.”

I nodded. “Okay.” I walked over and pressed myself against him. “You have to come back.”

“I will.”

One more kiss and then he turned and walked away.

I watched as he disappeared into the forest. I watched as the leaves blew across his path, covering his tracks. The sun rose higher in the sky.

He never looked back.

I felt like a part of my heart was marching away with him.

I
had never smuggled anything into Canada before. Usually, I was only smuggling stuff back into America.

As it turned out, smuggling in was the same as smuggling out, only in reverse.

The money wasn’t too heavy. At least it wasn’t as heavy as the last drug shipment I had carried the week before. Still, by the time I found and crossed the river, I was drenched in sweat. The cold, fast-moving water felt good as I got past without incident.

I made my way through the woods toward the campsite. I was a half hour early, which meant that I would have plenty of time to set up and to dry out my socks.

Mostly to dry out my socks. Nobody likes walking around with wet socks.

As I sat down on the bench and peeled off my shoes and socks, my mind wandered over the course of events of the past few days. My biggest wonder was whether or not I would have gone through with any of it had I not started seeing Becca.

The answer was probably no. I would have put in my time, like normal, and suffered under the increasing demand from all sides.

But with Becca in my life, I suddenly had a reason to get out. Other than protecting my family, I finally had a reason to live. Climbing sometimes took me beyond the usual day-to-day difficulties, but I was beginning to feel like that wasn’t enough.

And besides, I couldn’t exactly have a serious career if I was smuggling drugs for the mob.

What was I going to do once it was all over? I realized I had been running drugs for so long that I didn’t know anything else. I could still climb, and wanted to get back into it, but it almost felt strange to have the freedom to get back out there.

Fortunately, I didn’t have much time to follow that train of thought. I looked up as I heard a car winding its way down the road toward the campsite.

It was the same car as the last two times. It parked, waited a minute, and then Rigley climbed out of the front seat.

I stood and went to meet him halfway through, the black duffel held tightly in my fist.

It was the moment I was both dreading and excited for. A mix of adrenaline and fear spiked through me and all I wanted to do was throw the money at his feet and leave. But it wasn’t going to be that easy.

I had to make my case. I had to give him a reason not to kill me on the spot.

“Hello, Mister Smuggler.”

I nodded to him. “Rigley.”

“Uneventful trip?”

“Easy as always.”

He stood staring at me for a second, his arms crossed. I could see the unmistakable bulge of a gun in the front of his waistband, barely concealed by his tight white T-shirt.

“What’s in there?” he said, nodding at the bag.

I dropped it onto the ground. “It’s full of fifteen thousand dollars.”

His eyebrow shot up. “And why did you bring that today?”

“I wanted to give it back to you.”

He took a moment to absorb that. “Give it back to me?” he said slowly.

“Yes. It’s your money.”

“I’m afraid I do not understand.”

“I’ve heard some rumors about your organization,” I said.

“My organization is none of your concern.”

“But it is, actually. I heard you and Jacques don’t get along very well.”

He studied me for a moment. “It is true that there are certain disagreements between us and the people in your country.”

“I heard it called a war.”

“My patience is not unlimited, Mister Smuggler.”

I nodded, getting to the point. “I learned some things about your people in my country. I learned where they’ve been hiding and laundering all of the money they’ve been making off your drugs.”

“That’s a very dangerous thing to say to me.”

“But it’s true. And I learned exactly how to get ahold of that money. Do you know a diner called the Blue?”

“I have not heard of this diner.”

“It’s the business they run. It’s the place they use to filter their money.”

“Where did you get the money in that bag?”

He looked agitated, annoyed. He was glancing around him like there was something about to happen. I realized I was making him much more paranoid than I needed to by beating around the bush and coming at it slowly.

“I stole this money from the Blue.”

His eyes widened. “You must be stupid.”

“I stole it from them to give to you.”

“You stole from me.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m giving it back to you. So that you can win your war.”

He suddenly pulled the gun out from his waistband and held it out at me. My heart skipped a beat and I took a step back. In all my time running drugs, I had never had a gun pointed at me, and it was terrifying.

“I think you’re mistaken. That money is our money.”

“You’re telling me that you wanted them to have this much cash on hand? Even in the middle of a war?”

He stepped closer, his eyes narrowed. “Even in the middle of a fucking war. That money was meant to stay where they had it.”

“But you didn’t even know about the diner.”

“Because I didn’t need to know. But once laundered, the money would have come back to us through other legitimate ways.”

Fear jolted through me, fear I never imagined. “I want to help you pay for your war.”

“You stupid boy. You robbed us.”

“I’m giving it back.”

“I do not want it back. The American dollar is stronger than the Canadian dollar. We make more money in your country.”

“This is only half,” I blurted out.

He stopped in his tracks. “There’s more?”

“Yes. This is only half.”

“Thirty thousand dollars?”

After we took our cut
, I thought.

“Yes, thirty thousand.”

“Interesting.” He seemed to relax. He lowered the gun slightly. “And it was all in cash, in that diner?”

“They had it in a safe in the back room.”

He didn’t respond and began to stroke his chin thoughtfully. I stood completely still, like a deer in headlights, terrified that I would spook him if I moved.

I had completely miscalculated. The Canadians had wanted the American group to launder the money in America. Of course they did. The money was better served in America where they could expand and invest.

They didn’t want it back. In his eyes, I had robbed him as much as I had robbed the southerners.

“You are a very, very lucky boy,” he said finally, putting the gun away.

I let out a breath. “Why?”

“Because there was only supposed to be ten thousand in that diner.”

I blinked. There had been a lot more than ten. “What did you think this extra five was?”

He shrugged. “If they had a little extra cash, who’s to complain? But an extra twenty thousand, well, that’s a lot of money.”

I nodded. “It’s yours. All of it.”

“And what do you want in return for this money?”

“Two things.”

He laughed. “You’ll be lucky if I don’t murder you here and take this money.”

“You’ll never get the rest.”

“Which is why you aren’t dead yet. Go ahead, tell me your two things.”

“First, I want my debt erased.”

“Okay. And?”

“I want you to completely destroy Jacques and his men.”

Rigley stood silent for a moment, staring at me with his insane and intense gaze before breaking out into laughter. He threw his head back and roared, practically shaking with it. Finally, he calmed down after what felt like an incredibly unnerving minute.

“You have balls, Mister Smuggler.”

“I’m only trying to do what’s best.”

“What’s best. Yes, that’s a good way of putting it.”

He walked over to me and threw an arm around my shoulders. “I will think about this. If it is as you say it is, then your debt will be erased and the fucking cockroaches down south will die.”

I almost laughed out loud. I almost broke down in excitement.

“Does that mean we have a deal?”

His arm tightened around my shoulders. “Not yet. I am going to look into this story of yours first.”

“It’s true. They had that much money in their safe.”

“Yes, so you say. If they did, they’ve been stealing from us. Or, worse, they’ve been hiding extra profits. Maybe to fund this war you speak of.”

“That’s what I would do if I were them.”

He released me and then bent over and picked up the duffle. “Pray that is the case.”

“How will I know? If we have a deal, I mean.”

“You have a contact down south?”

“Thom.”

“Yes, Thom. I know the name. I will leave him a message if we have a deal.”

“The rest of the money will be yours.”

“The rest of that money already is mine. The only difference is, if we have a deal, then you will survive all of this.”

I nodded. “Fair enough.”

He unzipped the duffle and dropped it onto the hood of his car. He looked through it, briefly counting a stack. Once he was done, he looked up. “If we don’t have a deal, then you are dead and the money is still mine.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“Good. We will talk soon, Mister Smuggler.” He paused then grinned. “Or should I say, Mister Thief?”

I didn’t respond as he turned away, laughing to himself again. He climbed into his car and pulled away from the campsite, driving faster than usual.

I watched him go. Once he was out of sight, I released a breath and collapsed back onto the picnic table, steadying myself.

That was close. It was way closer than I thought it would be. But everything I told him was the truth. I was confident Jay and his people were stealing, preparing for a war, and that Rigley would figure it out.

It had to happen. Otherwise, like he had said, I was a dead man.

But I had a reason to live. I had a person I wanted desperately to see again.

I quickly put my shoes and socks on, only marginally dry, and slung my pack over my shoulders. It felt light since I wasn’t smuggling any drugs back over the border.

For the first time in a long time, I crossed back into America without a pack full of illegal substances.

I hiked double-time, trying to get back home as soon as possible. I had someone I needed to see.

I
was exhausted by the time I got back to the house.

Reid was gone, up to Canada, and I had no way of knowing how things were going. I was stuck in limbo wondering if the gangsters he had robbed were going to forgive his transgression or if they were going to murder him in cold blood.

I sat on the back porch.
Don’t let yourself think that way
, I admonished myself.

I had to keep it together, at least for his sake. Even if inside I was a mess of conflicting emotions, torn apart in a hundred directions, filled to the brim with fear and confusion.

Even if it felt like my world was teetering on the edge of a knife.

As I bent over to untie my boots, my phone vibrated. My heart almost skipped a beat, but that wouldn’t be Reid. Not yet at least. He hadn’t even made it to the border.

I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the message. It was from Lindsey.

Hey can you come meet me at Clark Park in a half hour? I got something important to talk to you about.

I narrowed my eyes. Why did she need me to meet her at a park to talk? She could always just call me.

Can you just come over here or something?
I sent back.

She responded immediately.
Gotta be at the park. It’s rly important I promise.

I sighed.
Okay. See you in a half hour.

I didn’t know what she was up to. She probably wanted dating advice or something like that. Or maybe Jay had gotten violent with her and she needed my help. Whatever it was, I was her friend and would do what I could for her.