Page 43 of Hell & Back

“Hey.”

“You’re usually the first one here. Started to worry that something might’ve happened to you.” Lance slid closer to the wall, giving Jed room to sit down.

“Got a call from Jackson right before I left.”

“Oh, yeah? What’d he have to say?” Tulsa smiled at the twenty-something waitress offering to top off his coffee. “Thanks, darlin’,” he winked at her, causing her to flush a pretty pink. She was just his type. The more innocent they appeared, the more he was compelled to try and dirty them up. Not that he wouldn’t fuck any woman who made herself available. Jedpersonally thought his friend pursued the more introverted shy women because he enjoyed the chase so much.

“You want more?” she asked Lance.

He pushed his mug closer to her, then thanked her.

“And how about you?” she asked Jed. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

“Sure. That would be great.” He turned to ask them if they’d ordered breakfast yet. “Did you guys order?”

“No. We were waiting on you,” Tulsa replied. To the young woman, he said, “We can go ahead and order now since he’s here.”

She pulled out a pen and a pad of paper to take their orders. She hurried off to put their order in and quickly returned with Jed’s coffee.

“What’d Jackson have to say?” Lance started adding sugar to his coffee.

Tulsa frowned at the number of sugar packets Lance was dumping into his mug. “What the fuck?

“I like the caffeine hit, but not a fan of the taste of it black.” Lance stirred his coffee, the spoon clinking around inside.

Jed drew their attention back to the conversation they’d started before they’d gotten sidetracked by Lance’s sugar consumption. “They finally got a hit on one of the properties last night. It was Avery from Bottom’s Up.”

“No shit?” Lance paused with his coffee halfway to his mouth after hearing that.

“It gets better.” He leaned in with his arms on the table.

“I can hardly wait,” Tulsa grumbled as he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

“This morning they followed her to a rest stop. She went in with an overnight bag and black hair and came out a blonde.”

“She had time to color her hair in the bathroom?” Lance’s brows dipped in confusion.

“No. They think she wears a black wig when she’s Avery.”

“What do you mean when she’s Avery?” Tulsa reached for his mug.

“She’s Sadie Swallow.” Jed would have thought their reactions comical if not for the seriousness her dual identity presented.

“Seriously?” Tulsa asked.

“Your Sadie?” Lance questioned.

“She’s not my Sadie.”

Tulsa and Lance both frowned at each other like Jed was crazy.

“She’s not,” he denied again.

“Are you sure? Because it seems you’ve gotten awfully friendly with her since you’ve gotten into town.” Tulsa smirked knowing he was pushing Jed’s buttons.

“No I haven’t,” he denied with a growl. He took a breath, then said, “She’s just a job. A means to an end. She’s hopefully going to lead us to Darren and we can finally end this shit with the Phantoms and go home.”

They paused their conversation long enough for the waitress to place their plates in front of them. She asked if they needed anything else and with none of them needing anything, she left to help other customers.

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