Page 45 of Cut Me Down

The transcripts from the meeting relay every word spoken. They talk about sending people out to follow our men, and other ways to find our operations. They did talk about the guns Cooper was supposed to supply. I say ‘supposed to’ because they can’t locate them. That either means Cooper didn’t tell anyone where he hid them, or the slimy bustard never brought them at all. Which wouldn’t surprise me. A man, as stupid as he was, would be simple-minded enough to try and betray an organization like Dust.

We’ve gone back over everything. Tried to retrace Cooper’s steps from the airport in Richmond to here, but somehow once he gets off of the plane, it’s like he vanishes. There’s no trace of him until Carter caught him on the drone watching over Ashia’s apartment. His name isn’t anywhere on any rental car companies, public transportation, Uber or taxi services, and we couldn’t find any credit card transactions from him since Seattle. No wonder we couldn’t see him coming.

If he can hide his movements so well, and obviously hide this merchandise just as well, then we may have a bigger problem than I originally thought. Cooper may not have been in town before that night, but someone was helping him. Someone who knows the area and Dust just as much, if not more, than Cooper.

“Damn, you’re still listening to that band?” I react to Carter’s voice and look up to see him walking through the roof access door. Keeping my attention on him, I reach over to turn the music down some.

“Of course, I am. ‘Sleep Token’ is her favorite.” I grin as he holds out a stack of paper to me. “Is this the information on Emmett?” He nods and I put down the meeting transcripts to read over what Carter found. Taking a long sip of whiskey as my eyes rake over the information. My concentration doesn’t break, even as I notice Carter taking a seat across from me in the corner of my eyes.

“I’m not sure why you are even thinking about working with him, D. I doubt any of their clientele is involved with Dust, and even if they were, I doubt they would be stupid enough to spill their guts to their barber.” He crosses his arms and sits back.

“You’d be surprised. Plus, it’s not just about that.” I say sternly.

“I get it. Ash lives and works there, but I just don’t see how paying him for minimal information, if any at all, would benefit us.”

“Cut Me Down is positioned right in the middle of downtown. They probably see more there than we think and can report to us.” I finally look up to see Carter’s questionable gaze.

“So, it has nothing to do with Ashia?” We stare at each other intensely. Stuck in our own stubborn war. Carter has a way of getting under my skin. We both see and talk to each other almost on a constant basis, and he always has my back, but when it comes to business decisions, we tend to disagree.

I understand that while, yes, this does in fact have everything to do with Ashia, there are also other reasons why working with Emmett could be beneficial. I just have to make him see that. It’s not just the fact that Emmett is struggling with money and obviously doesn’t have the monetary capabilities to maintain my girl’s apartment like he should. Things like giving her a decent set of locks, fixing the creaky floor boards, or even maybe a new coat of paint. It’s also because Ashia would be much better off if she didn’t have such a good heart and give him half of her earnings, unlike her coworkers. I understand that Emmett is a friend of the Andersons, and he helped Ashia achieve her state licensing, but that's not an excuse for taking advantage of her. I don’t want to pull the arrogant ‘this is my organization’ card with Carter, but I’m not really willing to negotiate on this topic.

“The barber shop could be another good hideout for us. With its location, it could mean a quick escape if need be. There’s the alleyway behind it, which makes it a good switch-off point. Plus, one of the tenants is about to move out, so we can use that apartment space.” I can’t help but grin as Carter scoffs amusingly.

“What brought you to that conclusion? There isn’t anything in those papers that says that.”

“Call it a hunch.” I shrug my shoulders and stick a cigarette in my mouth. Lighting it and taking a long drag as I think of Ashia walking around my house like it’s hers. Her hips swaying back and forth as she walks around. Those big brown eyes widening as she takes in the vast space. Carter just scoffs and shakes his head.

“How is she doing since the other night?” He asks sincerely. His voice laced with concern.

“She’s alright, I think. She hasn’t really mentioned Cooper.” I say dismissively.

“Oh, so she’s more concerned with you stalking her then?” He says playfully and reaches out to take my whiskey glass and takes a sip.

“Is it really stalking? For a while, she was calling me her admirer.” I wiggle my eyebrows as a smirk blooms on my face and steal my glass back.

“Oh, it’s stalking. Admiring was your first step. Sending flowers, writing cute little notes, and fantasizing. You then quickly escalated to hacking into government databases to find information, broke into her apartment, hacked her phone and location, followed her everywhere she went, and now you’ve invited yourself to stay in her apartment. It’s definitely stalking.” I laugh loudly at that and look down as I cross my arms. Cleary unable to deny it. Carter chuckles as well, even though he fully understands the seriousness of the situation. “Stalking is a pretty serious offense, you know. I’m not sure Matt could get you out of that.”

“He won’t have to. She likes me.” I say with a cocky grin curling at the edge of my lips. “Plus, she can’t prove anything.” He looks at me with an eyebrow raised and squints his eyes.

“You told her almost everything you did.”

“Objection. Hearsay.” I playfully slam my fist down on the table like lawyers do, and Carter flings his head backward. Cackling out boisterous laughter.

“Do you even know what that means?” He asks as he drags his hand down his face.

“Mostly.” I laugh. “Nah, I'll be fine. She may not admit it yet, but she does like me.” His face sinks slightly at my statement.

“How sure are you about that, D? Because if you end up in jail, I don’t know what the hell we’re going to do.” He retorts. His tone much more serious than before. Dragging my good mood down with it.

“Calm your virgin dick, Carter. I’m not going to jail.”

“You’re a real pain in my ass. What does that have to do with anything?” I laugh again. A little more heartedly this time.

“You’re right. My bad.” He shakes his head and clears his throat.

“I just hope you know what you’re doing, D.” I take a deep breath, pulling my serious side back out. Just for him.

“I’m not going to lie, I don’t. I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. All I know is that I have never felt so compelled to have something. I have never felt more right about anything else in my life. Maybe that means that I’ve finally lost it, and I’m going to start seeing ghosts soon, but even if I have to drag her down to insanity with me, she is mine. She is mine to protect, to hold, to tear down, and build back up. She’s all mine, and there’s nothing that is going to change that. Including your opinion.” We resume our staring war, and it’s not but a few seconds before he breaks. Turning and shaking his head before looking back at me with a rock-hard stare.

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