Page 14 of Explode
My heart raced as we entered. Reality had begun to sink in, and thepressure on my shoulders to prove to these people I was the right person to rule over Hollows Bay felt insurmountable. This did not feel like my life in the slightest, and yet here I was.
We entered the area which once upon a time would have been themain bar, but was now a large dusty space with overturned tables, smashed chairs, and wooden slats covering the windows. I found myself staring at four people sitting in a row at a table, their arms tied behind their backs, and hoods covering their faces.
Fuck sake.
That wasn’t exactly the best way of building trust.
“Are the hoods necessary?” I asked, glowering at Ash, who stoodwith his massive arms folded across his chest, and a surly look on his face.
“We didn’t want them seeing where they were brought to,” he repliedgruffly.
“Okay, but they’re here now, so how about we take them off, yes?” Ireplied, folding my own arms across my chest and trying to sound confident.
Ash’s face broke into a grin under his bushy beard before he nodded at Travis and Dan, who promptly whipped the hoods off.
“Hey girl,” Kimmy said as soon as her hood was off, her face lit upinto a beaming smile, and I couldn’t help but return it.
I met Kimmy during the only time I’d been to Sapphire. She was themanager, and was under Kai’s instructions to look after me. We spent the entire night talking, and I had grown to like her. Kai trusted her too, which is why she was one of the first people who sprung to mind when we were discussing who we could trust for this next step of our plan.
When Hendrix took over Hollows Bay, Kimmy remained working inSapphire, but we knew from the information we had gleaned over the past several months that she hated him. The only reason she stayed working at the club was because she didn’t want to leave the girls who also worked there to deal with Hendrix on their own.
Kimmy working in Sapphire gave her the perfect excuse to eavesdropon conversations. A lot of Kai’s old business partners socialized in Sapphire. If Kimmy agreed to help us, I’d be asking her to listen in on conversations to find out who was ready to cut ties with Hendrix. Then we’d swoop in and convince those people to work for me, thus cutting off several streams of income for Hendrix.
The next two people who had their hoods removed were people Ihad never met before, but thanks to Miles filling me in on every little detail about Kai’s businesses, I knew who they were.
The first was Ernie Joyce, the once leader of Kai’s gang, TheShadows. He’d grown up in Hollows Bay, and had been nothing but loyal to the Wolfe family. Again, from prying on every element of Ernie’s life, we knew he despised working for Hendrix, and had been trying to recruit other gang members to rebel. If he agreed to help, the plan was for him to work his way into Carlos and Markus’ good graces so he could feed us intelligence on their movements.
The man sitting next to Ernie was Graham Shaw, who, once upon atime, was in line to be the next Chief of Police. He was trumped by Max though when he somehow managed to bag the position. Since Max took over, Graham found himself demoted from Deputy Chief to Desk Sergeant. Although he’d been patiently waiting for someone to make a move against Max, his patience was rapidly wearing thin. He was in the perfect position to keep tabs on Max and tell us what the asshole was up to.
The final man to have his hood removed was Colin Andrews. He wasthe officiant who married me and Kai, and given that he had kept his word to keep our marriage a secret, I believed he was someone we could trust.
Miles, however, did not trust Colin, and we’d been at loggerheadsover whether we should involve him. Colin had a gambling habit Kai had written off in exchange for him to marry us, but in the last six months, Colin’s gambling habits had increased again. Miles feared all it would take for his loyalty to be tested was the right sum of money. I knew Miles had a point, but Colin had seemed trustworthy when he married Kai and me, so I was backing him.
Plus, he regularly sat in on council meetings where both Max andHendrix attended, so he’d be a good person to tell us what was happening at those meetings in case there was something that might help us destroy both Max and Hendrix.
“Girl, you are a sight for sore eyes,” Kimmy said, shaking her head todislodge a strand of hair that had fallen across her face when the hood was removed.
“Urgh, can you untie their hands as well, they’re not my prisoners,” Ihuffed.
“Sure thing, Boss,” Ash replied with a smirk.
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, only to get a withering glare fromMiles.
He’d lectured me the whole way here about making sure I leteveryone know who was in charge, but my response was, how can I make people think I’m in charge whenIdon’t even think I’m in charge?
He also lectured me about making tough decisions, and at somepoint, accepting that I would have to get my hands dirty. A conversation I promptly shut down.
I wasn’t ready for that.
“Miles, what the fuck are you doing here?” Graham snapped. “Ithought you were in Europe.”
“Nope, and Riley will explain everything,” Miles replied, and a wave ofnausea rushed through me when four sets of curious eyes landed on me.
Chaotic thoughts ran through my head, and I didn’t know where tostart. That was until Miles put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“You’ve got this, Riley,” he whispered in my ear, low enough so only Icould hear. “Just be you.”
With that, he walked away to take up a place at the back of the bar,leaving me alone to figure out what the heck to say.
