Page 28 of DOG Part 2
10
Kane
Sayinggoodbye to Kim again was hard, but better than it had been the time before. This time, everything was different. We had DiEmanuele, and I had a plan that was bulletproof.
At dawn Kim had slipped away to the back of the house after I’d kissed her goodbye, grumbling something about needing to be alone. After promising my parents that I was going to take it easy, Tom and I climbed into the pickup truck, albeit slowly in my case, and headed to the Rugged Angels hideout that was about forty-five minutes away.
Tom took every twist and turn possible, sometimes going in circles, and always keeping an eye in the rear view mirror to make sure we weren’t being followed.
“Kim nearly lost it while you were out,” he said after a while of not speaking.
“What do you mean?”
He gave me a quick glance. “I mean the girl looked like she was about to go crazy. She spent every minute she could in the kitchen watching you, even when it wasn’t her turn to.”
I smiled down at my lap and pressed a hand against the bandage at my side, covered up by the shirt I’d borrowed from my dad. Kim had saved my life, no doubt, and there wasn’t enough I could ever do to properly repay her.
Except love her with everything I had.
The last five years of life had been full of pain, full of running. First Amanda. Then Deuce. I was tired of the agony; ready to let go of everything that hurt and embrace what felt good.
“So you think this will be the end of it all?” Tom asked.
I chortled. “Is it ever really the end of it all?”
“Good point. But with DiEmanuele?”
I nodded grimly. “We have something over him that no one else has. DiEmanuele was right to try and hide his plans from us, because if I had known about what he was doing I would have gone ahead and taken everything he has.”
Tom shot me a questioning look but didn’t press further, instead just nodding before going back to driving.
The west side hideout was in an old warehouse that had been converted into offices. We rented a couple rooms near the end, under the cover of an accounting business. It was a quiet building, with only half of the space in use, and likely to be deserted so early in the morning.
When we pulled up to the back parking lot Skate and Kyle were there, standing near the doorway to the main entrance.
“You’re looking better,” Skate nodded, a grin on his face.
Kyle was smiling too, and the whole air was full of a lighthearted feeling. I hadn’t revealed my plan to anyone yet, but they had faith in me, and we were minutes away from taking care of the problem that had killed our friend and caused us to live in anxiety for days.
I eased myself across the parking lot, one hand against my side to help keep the pain in check. We were almost at the door when, from behind us, a phone blared. Tom cocked an eyebrow at me, pulling his gun of out its holster. I shook my head and put my hand on his own. The ring tone was an Abba song, so not exactly something an Arroyos Bandidos would pick.
I knew what kind of person would pick it. Or rather, what kind of woman would. The kind that would sneak into the bed of a truck to follow me after I explicitly told her she needed to stay behind for her own safety.
Ambling over to the pickup truck, I tore the tarp in the bed off in one clean swoop. There, rolled up and pressed against the metal, was Kim, dressed in short shorts and a tight shirt.
Quickly, she sat up. “I wasn’t going to stay there.”
Anger surged through me as I gritted my teeth together. At the same time, a familiar feeling filled me, one brought on by seeing her long, smooth legs spread out. “You know you’re the thing that’s going to be the death of me.”
“Ditto.”
I looked her up and down, not trying to hide anything with my gaze. She blinked and shifted her weight, looking uncertain. I leaned forward over the side of the truck, stopping with my face only an inch from her ear.
“I’ll make you pay for it later,” I whispered.
Her shiver was so intense that I felt it rolling off of her. I smirked as I pulled back. “Tom,” I said over my shoulder, still gazing at my girl. “Send a couple men out here to watch her.”
“Watch me?” Kim hissed immediately.
