Starting my life anew.
“Mornin’.”
I reach the top step and look to my left to see Cohen and Samson sitting on a few old stools, clearly deep in conversation before I stomped up and interrupted them. I give them a sharp nod, avoiding eye contact with Cohen.
“How’s the head?” Samson asks.
I look to him. “It’s fine, why wouldn’t it be?”
“You had a big night.”
“Was that before or after you fucked me?”
Cohen visibly flinches, a reaction I certainly didn’t expect from him. He can’t stand me; he’s made that very clear. Why the hell should he care who I’m sleeping with? He likely doesn’t, it was probably just a shock. I shake it off and give Samson a smile, a small one that’s mostly sexy, mostly empty. “I’m up for round two any time. You just say the word.”
Then, I walk inside.
Not before I hear Cohen growl, “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’?”
I’ll let them sort that one out.
I walk down to Alarick’s office and step inside, not pausing. He looks up from a phone call he’s on and very quickly tells the person he has to go and hangs up. Then, he stares at me, his expression cold and mostly empty. “You here with the information we need?”
“Yeah, I’ve got what you need.”
“Spill it, then.”
“The man you’re looking for, his name is Benedict. Don’t know if that’s his first name, hell I don’t even know if that’s a nickname, but I do know that he is the person running all of this. I know exactly where you can find him, but I’m not telling you how I know that so don’t bother asking. My business is mine, as is yours. Once you have him, you have the upper hand. Without him, the whole show crashes. You take him down, you take the rest of them down, and you no longer have a problem on your hands. I will tell you this, though, don’t go in there without a good plan. You fail this, I promise you he’ll take down your entire club.”
Alarick stares at me. “Anything else?”
“That’s all. I will give you the location I know he frequents and, as for my uncle, Blanche and Dax, they’re in a location that is quite a distance from here. I’ve been there once before, but I recall how to get there again. It’s well secured and hidden, it’s where I met Benedict a few years ago. I, ah, spent some time with him. Because of that, I can lead you to both locations.”
“You fuckin’ him?”
I glare at him, my rage expanding in my chest. “Don’t you fucking insult me, Alarick.”
“Was askin’ a question, Aviana.”
“I wasn’t fucking him. I was with him against my will when the monster I did live with took me there for business, but he took a liking to me, and being the incredible actress I am, I played along. That’s exactly how I walked out of there alive and not sold to someone else, though I’m starting to wonder if that might have been a better option. You don’t need to know the details; all you need to know is that I can get you there.”
Alarick nods. “You can be involved in coming up with a plan to get us there, you know the ins and outs, we need your input.”
Of course he does.
They’re helpless without me.
That’s exactly how I need it to get what I want.
They’re not going to know what’s hit them.
5THEN – COHEN
“Hey, wait up.”
I turn to see Aviana jogging toward me on the sidewalk, backpack flying behind her, bright smile on her face. She’s always smiling, there isn’t a time I don’t see her making a joke and then laughing hysterically at it. She’s the most bubbly, happy person I’ve ever met and, considering the life she’s been given, that’s something.
She’s younger than me, god knows by how much, but that doesn’t mean I don’t notice how utterly fucking beautiful she is. Thick dark hair that frames the most incredible eyes I’ve ever seen. She’s got the skin of a fucking doll and the body of a goddess. She’s going to go places with looks like that.
Today she’s wearing a pair of jeans that fit a little too well, a tank that makes her tits bounce in ways not even I can ignore, and her hair is flowing around her, wild and untamed, much like her, really.
She’s fucking spectacular.
If I didn’t already have a woman, I’d be looking in her direction, no doubt about it.
“Aviana, what’s goin’ on?” I ask her, bringing a cigarette to my mouth and lighting it. I inhale deeply as she watches me with some sort of weird fascination.
“I didn’t know you smoked,” she says, falling into step beside me, puffing from her run toward me.
“I do what I gotta do to keep sane around here. Were you at school?”
She snorts. “How young do you think I am? No, I’m done with school. I was working.”
“Didn’t know you had a job.”
She laughs. “There are probably a lot of things you don’t know about me, Cohen. Where are you off to?”
“Lunch, then back to the club. King has got us on some fuckin’ mission. I don’t know, don’t really fuckin’ care right now, to be honest.”
“I thought you like being part of the club?”
She raises a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun as she stares at me. I take another long inhale of the cigarette smoke, slowly pushing it out once I’ve let it sit in my lungs for just a moment.
“I fuckin’ love the club, I’m just sick of doin’ the little crappy jobs. Be good to have somethin’ real good to be chasin’ after.”
Aviana rolls her eyes and grins at me. “Always chasing the danger. I don’t know why you’d want to risk your life like that.”
I shrug. “Why not, Avi?”
She
