Page 132 of Live for Me

Then I laughed at myself.

Because a whole secret society was already after us.

I spent the entire drive back to Indiana listening to Memphis, Indy, and New Jersey argue over whether or not it was really a smart choice to allow Nevada and Salem to join us in the house.

It was a bad idea all the way to its core. We absolutely did not need either of them badly enough to give away the location of the only place where any of us felt even remotely safe. But my opinion hadn’t been requested on this topic, and I was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I was on Jersey’s side in this particular discussion.

Their discussion was not a pleasant one for any of them. My involvement wouldn’t help the situation in either direction at this point. They were arguing in circles and there were big feelings on all sides. Memphis sat somewhere in the middle ground; despising Nevada but able to recognize that her assistance could be valuable in what we were attempting to achieve. Indy wanted them on board but was having a hard time blindly trusting these women that he’d never met or worked with before. New Jersey didn’t want anyone new involved, period. While I wasn’t necessarily against adding new worker bees, I was not in favor of giving away our location.

Indy got word in the middle of it all that Tennessee and Akron had been retired, which left me assuming that they’d both be coming after us that much harder. We were absolutely to blame for Tennessee being picked up by the police when we visited him in that diner. No one knew how that played out with the cops, but how it played out with our President’s organization was clear. To further that issue, Akron had also reached out to the chatroom that Memphis and Indy created because she wanted to know more about what we were doing now that she was “forcefully unaffiliated” with the organization.

Things were about to get very difficult very quickly at this rate.

Memphis closed her computer and hung up the phone as we got closer to the house. I watched her close her eyes and lay her head back against the seat. I immediately started thinking about our next activity to get away from the pressure of this nightmare.

“I don’t know why I thought we could just do all of this,” she said quietly. “This was never going to go smoothly.”

“You were under the impression that ripping apart a criminal organization that has ties all across the country, and probably on an international scale, was going to be easy?” I asked and laughed. She opened her eyes just long enough to glare at me. I reached across the middle seat to put my hand on her thigh.

“If any of us can do impossibly difficult things, sugar, it’s you.”

“Me?” she screeched.

“Well, it sure as shit isn’t the rest of us, angel. You’re making the calls, and the rest of us are just trying to keep up to keep each other alive. You’ll be the one in charge of whatever new organization comes of this by the end of it all.”

“I think I’m going to be sick, Utah.”

“Knowing you, yeah,” I laughed.

New Jersey was already on his way out the door to meet us as we pulled in the driveway, with Triss and Indy right on his heels.

“You’d better talk some fucking sense into your Judge before I beat it into him, Romeo,” were the very first words out of his mouth when I had my truck door open.

“We both know I won’t let that happen, old timer,” I warned.

“Guys,” Trista chimed in instantly. “You can disagree about something without the threats. We’re supposed to all be on the same side of this one.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

utah

Icouldn’t hurt New Jersey. Partially because he was an old man, but mostly because Memphis cared for him so deeply. He’d already about worn my patience down to nothing in the short time that he’d been back here, though. Everything was a fucking fight with this guy. Whether it was about the vehicles, the jobs, or just being human. All of it. A fight.

“Tell you what, old man. I’m taking Memphis to a haunted corn maze. You guys should come too. First one there wins.”

“What?” Jersey asked in absolute disbelief. “Wins what?”

“If you win, bragging rights. You can keep being every bit as annoying as you like. If I win, I just want your fucking silence.”

He laughed. “Come on, girls. Seph has a bet to win.”

“A haunted corn maze?” Memphis asked with the most epic fucking eye roll of the last century.

After I explained to them that this maze was only a couple of these absurd backroads away, Jersey walked toward his car and held the passenger door open for Trista, but he looked back at where Memphis stood completely frozen—directly in the middle of where I stood and where Jersey was. She was uncomfortable just looking between the two of us.

“Up to you, honey,” Jersey said. “If you want to go with the man who’s going to win, get in this car.”

I shook my head and laughed. I had absolutely no way to explain how Iknewshe was coming with me, but I did.

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