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Chapter 2: Hamlet and Ophelia

I watched Jake take a seat next to Nathan on the back deck after dinner. We'd spent the meal talking about Jake's trips and all the people he'd met. It was nice to hear about the way he'd helped people there. I was amazed at Jake and the fact that he was so selfless. I was absolutely positive that he would do anything to help anyone. He was the type of guy to give away his last nickel to someone who needed it.

He really was the perfect man, it seemed like he had it all together. And that's what made it so hard for me to realize I didn't, and I never would be in love with him. Sometimes I thought about what it would be like to be with Jake. I was sure there wouldn't be anything that we would argue about; we could live a perfect little life together. He was the type of guy I'm sure my parents would love me to be with. But it would just never happen.

Nathan and I argued… a lot. We argued about the most ridiculous things. But when we make up, it always makes me realize how much I love him. Everything with him is so passionate. He brings out a side in me I never knew existed. There was a bravery I found in myself because of him and I wasn't sure I would have ever known it was there without him.

I finished cleaning up the kitchen from dinner before walking towards the back deck. They sat in front of the unlit fire pit and faced the water just miles away. I stopped by the door and listened to them talk.

"When did you get that video?" Jake asked, not looking at Nathan.

"Right before you got home. They don't fuck around. Anyone who's not with them is against them and they don't take rejection too well."

"Apparently not. That makes me a little nervous for our meeting with them that's coming up."

My heart began to pound in my chest. I didn't know the Baja Cartel was trying to set up a meeting with Jake and Nathan. I'd only heard bits and pieces of information about them, but what I saw on that video made me fear them.

Whoever was in charge didn't show their face. They let the dirty work be done by their men. Everyone assumed it was a man in charge. In history tyrants and leaders have been known to be men, but this person, was a woman.

Victoria Davis now lead the Baja Cartel from a mansion in Tijuana. Her right hand man was a 29 year man named Ian Banks. Before then I'd only heard rumors about him. I heard that he'd murdered a father of three in front of his children because he didn't pay the Cartel what he'd owed. Any sort of man like that must have been crazy.

I walked through the door and out to the deck. "You're meeting with them?" I asked before sitting on the edge of the fire pit. I was sure they could see the apprehension in my eyes because I could see the guilt in theirs. "Were you gonna tell me?"

"Hales it's not something you should worry about," Nathan replied, "they're gonna probably want us to give part of what we grow to them but they aren't gonna get it. We have to be strong about-"

"You said they don't take rejection well," I interrupted, "and you're gonna turn them down. How is that smart idea."

"We don't know that we're gonna turn them down," Jake said before sitting forward in his chair and placing a hand on my knee. I was sure the action was meant to comfort me. "We haven't decided yet."

"Yes we have," Nathan said with a bit of harsh tone. "We're not getting into business with them. That's gonna make us think they own us. We do what we want, not what some cartel isn't telling us what to do." Nathan turned slightly in his chair and faced Jake. "You need to learn to be stronger, you let everyone walk all over you."

"Nathan," I said, "stop."

Nathan let out a frustrated sigh. "They don't own us. And they never will."

"But maybe you can come to some sort of agreement with them," I said trying to make him reconsider. "I don't want you to become those men on the video. I can't see you like that. I won't."

"That's not gonna happen," Nathan said with conviction in his voice. "I won't let that happen."

I stood up and walked back inside before making my way up the stairs to my room. I couldn't stop thinking about the video I'd seen earlier in the day. If they didn't play it right, they could end up like those people.

I laid down on my bed and let my mind race. I wasn't sure when my life had turned into this. My life in high school had been just as normal as any other girl. I had my friends and my family and I studied hard and went to class. But now my life was… so complicated.

I turned and stared at a picture of my family on my dresser. I felt a slight smile as I looked at the happy faces of my family. My family had never been exactly normal. My dad worked all the time and it felt like the older I got, the less I saw him. My brothers and sisters and I grew up close to each other and at times I felt like I knew too much about them. Maybe it was good to know everything about them, but I was sure I didn't want them knowing everything about my life. My mother is an English teacher and her obsession with Shakespeare has inspired her to give us all middle names after his famous characters. Matthew Laertes, Vivian Gertrude, Christopher Lennox, Brian Ross, Taylor Rosaline, Quinn Juliet and me, Haley Ophelia.

Ophelia is the love of Prince Hamlet's life. I suppose she didn't exactly have the life she thought she would either. Having your boyfriend go crazy and try to murder his step-father probably wasn't the easiest thing to deal with. Not to mention he also saw ghosts. I guess I could sympathize with her. She didn't have it easy. I might have killed myself too, if I was her.

There was a knock on my door and a few seconds later Jake walked in. He sent me a crooked smile before walking over to my bed. He sat down on the edge and placed his hand on my ankle. "I don't want you to worry O," he said using my nickname he'd come up with because of my middle name. "I'm sure we can come up with something that'll keep them happy."

"And if you don't?" I asked before sitting up, "what then?"

"I don't know. I really don't. Nathan's better with negotiating than I am, he'll come up with something."

"I can't lose you two, Jake. You guys are my life and without you… I-"

"You won't," Jake said while grabbing my hands. "Nothing's gonna happen to us Haley. We're a lot stronger than you think we are."

"I know you're strong," I said while sitting up, "but these people are evil. It's not that I don't think you can protect yourself from them if you needed to, it's that I don't want you to have to."

"Everything's gonna be ok," he said before squeezing my hand in his. "I promise you. Everything's gonna stay the way it is. Just the three of us, happy here. No cartel is gonna ruin things for us."

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to push all the terrible thoughts from my mind. It would have been so much easier if I could have just felt at ease when he reassured me that everything would be ok. But I couldn't. Not after what I'd seen on that video. Not after I found out that my boys were going to meet with the very people responsible for the dead men on the video. How could I possibly be ok with that?

"Ok," I said, "I believe you."

When I walked down the stairs the next morning I saw Nathan standing at the counter in the kitchen with a gun in front of him. Today was the day of their meeting. I wanted to ask him why, if everything was going to be ok, did he need a gun? What was the point of the gun?

He turned when he heard me coming down the stairs and I could tell by the look on his face that he wished he'd hid the gun before I came down. Nathan liked to hide things from me when he thought that it would make me feel better. He'd rather make the situation just go away then tell me what was really going on. I guess that was his way of protecting me. Or at least of trying to protect me.

"This isn't for me," he said, motioning to the gun.

"Who's it for then?" I asked and took a few steps into the kitchen.

"Skills, Fergie and Junk."

Skills, Fergie and Junk had been in the war with Nathan. He'd met them on his first tour and he had stayed close with them after they were all discharged. They even worked part time for Jake and Nathan in the business. They mostly did security in the shop, but they could get in tell on where the best pot was growing. And they had all been trained at Sniper school and they were some of the best shots in the country. Nathan and Jake kept them close when they went into dangerous territory.

"They're coming with you?" I asked.

"They'll be outside the hotel a few miles away watching. Just in case."

"Do you think it'll come to that?" I asked. I could trust Nathan to be honest with me. While Jake liked to sugar coat things for my benefit, I could always count on Nathan to be brutally honest with me.

"It might," he said and took a few steps towards me before grabbing me gently by the arms. "They aren't gonna take too well to us saying no to them. Think of it this way… The BC is a huge department store. They want a Jake and Nathan aisle. We'll bring them more business and if we don't say yes… they don't get our customers."

"And if you do say yes, you lose your customers?" I asked.

"Yeah. They all start buying from the Cartel and stop buying directly from us because we sell the majority of what we make to them."

"How much do you get if you do join with them?"

"My guess is they'll suggest a 50/50 partnership. And later on they'll push us out altogether. After they find out where and how we grow, they don't need us anymore."

I sighed and then crossed my arms over my chest. I still hated the idea of them going to this meeting, but I couldn't deny the fact that having Skills, Fergie and Junk there made me feel a little bit better. I knew they would keep a close eye on them. And they really were they best shots in the country.

"You ready to go?" Jake asked while walking into the kitchen. He was dressed in a respectable button up shirt and black pants; he looked like he really was going to any ordinary business meeting. Nathan was dressed in a pair of jeans and plaid button up shirt with his sleeves rolled. It was the green shirt I'd stolen from his closet just the day before.

"Yeah," Nathan replied, before grabbing the gun off the counter and walking out toward the deck where he met up with Skills, who I hadn't even noticed arrived.

I turned and faced Jake again who smiled at me and I felt my nerves ease up just a little bit more. "Look Beautiful," he started, "you've got nothing to worry about. Go to the beach or shopping or something to take your mind off this. It's just a meeting. Besides that video… That's Mexico, we're in Laguna. The cops here ride bikes and wear shorts. It's not as scary here as it is there."

"Ok," I said with a nod of my head. I would do what he'd told me. I would try to keep from thinking about that video and this meeting, but it would be hard. "Just come back safe ok?"

"You know we will."

Jake took a step towards me and cupped my cheek in his palm before kissing me lightly on the lips. I pulled away from the kiss and smiled at him before wrapping my arms around his waist and hugging him tight to me. Something about the way he hugged me made me feel a little bit safer. Jake always had that effect on me.

He placed a kiss to my forehead before turning around and walking towards the door. As he walked out Nathan walked back in and over to where I was standing. He checked behind him to see that Jake was no longer standing there before turning around and planting a kiss on my lips. His kisses always took my breath away and caused a shiver to run up my spine.

His arms wrapped around me and I wound my arms around his neck. His lips continued to move softly over mine, his tongue running lightly over my tongue. When he pulled away he placed another quick kiss on my lips before looking at me. "I love you so much Haley."

"I love you too," I said, still staring into his eyes. "So much."

"We'll be back soon," he said before squeezing my hands. He kissed each one before turning his back to me and walking out the door. Every part of me was keeping myself from yelling at him not to go. But it was too late, he and Jake were already gone.

Their drive to the hotel was silent. Both Nathan and Jake were trapped in their thoughts about how this meeting could go. They could be understanding about them not wanting to join with them, or they could be pissed, which was the more likely scenario. But how pissed would they be? Enough to kill them on the spot? Or would they wait until later, when they thought they were safe?

They pulled up outside the large hotel that sat next to the beach. It was a large resort that was mostly filled with the touristy types of people and their families. Nathan parked the car and they both stepped out. I wondered if they were scared. Did they want to just leave the meeting and never come back? That's what I wanted them to do.

"Are you ready for this?" Jake asked while looking at Nathan.

Nathan nodded before locking the door to the car and they both walked towards the doors of the hotel. They walked past the desk heading straight for the elevators. Once inside they pressed the button for the 10th floor. They were going to a suite with a lovely view of the beach. In my mind, it seemed like it was too pretty a place for a meeting like this.

When the elevator stopped they both walked out and down the hall towards the room. Standing in front of it, they both knew this was it. This meeting could make or break them.

Knocking on the door, Nathan could feel his nerves running through his veins. He always tried to come off as the strong one, and maybe he was, but that didn't mean he still didn't get scared sometimes.

When the door opened they were met with a middle aged Mexican man in a suit. He smiled at the two of them like they were all old friends and motioned for them to step inside. When they did they saw two, large men, dressed also in expensive suits. They took a few steps towards Jake and Nathan and began to pat them down. They looked for any guns or weapons that they might have kept on them. When they cleared them, they motioned for them to take a seat on the couch.

The man who'd answered the door sat across from them on one of the chairs next to a young, blonde man. Ian Banks.

"Gentlemen," the man started, "I'm glad you agreed to meet with us."

"You say it like we really had a choice," Nathan replied and Jake elbowed him in the ribs.

"Excuse my friend," Jake said, "we're happy to be here and see what you have to say."

"Right," the man continued, "well our boss has been thinking about it for quite some time and we're very interested in going into business with you two. As you can imagine, going into business with us would be great for you two. We could get you places you'd never even imagine."

"What are you offering?" Nathan asked, "you still haven't really told us what you'd be wanting."

"We just want to go into business with you. We buy some product from you and we sell it to our customers. They tell their friends and everyone starts buying from you."

"Everyone already buys from us," Nathan replied, "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're pretty popular already. I don't really know that we need you to make us more popular."

"Of course not; but we can offer you more money than you'll ever get selling medicinal marijuana."

"With all due respect," Jake began, "we do pretty well on our own. The Medicinal Marijuana business is booming lately and it's helped bring in a large income for us and we like that we can help people who are really hurting. And it's not like they're the only people who buy from us. We make a pretty good living doing what we do."

"I'm sure you do, but we can make it better."

"What's the offer?" Nathan asked again.

"60/40," Ian said, finally speaking up.

"Not good enough," Nathan replied.

"Well," the other man began, "why don't you two take some time to think about it," he said motioning to the balcony behind him, "and tell us what you decide."

Nathan already knew what he wanted to tell those guys. He wanted to tell them to go fuck themselves but I was glad that he'd kept himself from saying such things at this point. Nathan could have a smart mouth sometimes and it had a tendency to get him in trouble every once in a while.

They stepped out on the balcony and Nathan turned to face Jake. "This is bullshit. Let's just tell them we're not interested so we can leave."

"You know it's not that easy. We have to at least consider it. Or make them think we are."

"There's no point. I'm not considering anything. We're keeping the business with us. Besides you said it yourself that you want out soon. I do too. I don't wanna be in the weed business forever Jake and if they own us, do you really think they're ever gonna let us out?"

"I know Nate. I want out soon too but we can just give them a flat out no. You know that."

"What I know is that you need to stop letting people make your decisions for you. You don't want to go into business with them, then don't. Go in there and tell them how you really feel. Tell them they can take the deal and shove it up their asses."

"Yeah right, like that's a smart idea. Come on Nathan… This is the BC we can't just disrespect them like that."

"I don't give a shit who they are. We're done here."

Nathan looked in the direction where he knew Skills was waiting and flashed him a signal to pack it up soon. They were done there. There was going to be no deal. Nathan had made up his mind and if Jake wasn't going to speak up for what they wanted, then he would.

He walked back inside the suite with Jake following slowly behind him. He was worried how they would take it. Like Nathan had said the night before, they didn't take rejection well.

Nathan sat back down on the couch and Jake quickly sat down next to him. The man in charge took his original seat next to Ian again and leaned forward. "What did you decide?"

"That this deal is bullshit," Nathan said suddenly. "We think you want us to go into business with you so you can learn all of our secrets. Find out where we grow, what we grow and how we make it as amazing as we do so you can take it all for yourselves. Sorry, but we have to turn down your offer."

Jake sighed and rested his head against the palms of his hands. This just wasn't the way it was supposed to go.

"And you," the man said, "what do you think?"

Jake looked up at him and sighed again. "Right now, we just aren't looking to go into business with anyone. We're trying to keep our company as small as we can and you guys are larger than what we'd be looking for. And we're not sure how much longer we're going to want to stay in the business. Maybe when we decide we're done we can come up with something. But right now, it's a no. It's nothing personal."

The man laughed a little before looking at Ian who was shaking his head. "I'm afraid my boss is going to take it very personally. I'm sorry that you're turning us down, but I'd suggest you reconsider it."

Jake and Nathan stood up and nodded before walking towards the door. The meeting was over and it was safe to say the cartel hadn't gotten what they wanted. They probably weren't too happy with them.

When they left the room Ian grabbed his phone out of his pocket and hit the send button. He heard the ring repeat for a few seconds before the phone picked up. "Hello Ian."

"Victoria," he said, "I trust you saw how our meeting went?"

There had been cameras set up in the room to broadcast the events of the meeting all the way to Tijuana where Victoria Davis had been sitting in her mansion, watching.

"I did," she replied, "not how I hoped it would go at all."

"No. But I think maybe we can find a way to get them to change their minds."

"I think so too. Why don't you keep an eye on them for tonight. Call me later."

She hung up after that and Ian put his phone back in his pocket. He would track down Nathan and Jake and he would find out what they loved the most. What would get them to reconsider the negotiation.

When I heard Nathan's car pull up into the driveway I hurried out to the deck and saw them coming towards the stairs. They didn't look hurt; they looked just as they had when they left early that morning. Maybe everything really was going to be ok after their meeting. Maybe I really had been over reacting.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"Not how they wanted," Jake answered, "but they know we're not interested. And now we wait to see what their next move is."

"You think they might do something?"

"There's always the possibility," Nathan replied, "but they know there's nothing they can do that's gonna make us decide to go into business with them. Maybe they'll just back off."

"Do you really think that?" I asked. Because I sure as hell didn't think they'd just back off.

"I guess we'll see," Nathan replied, "but I don't wanna think about that tonight. We were thinking tonight we could go to dinner. Any place you want."

I could tell that Nathan was just trying to get me to drop the subject, so I would, for now. But it wouldn't be the last time it was brought up. I knew that. There was no way this was just never going to be brought up again, even though I wished desperately that this could all just be over.

That night we walked into my favorite Italian restaurant. The outside deck had an amazing view of the ocean and we would be there for the sunset. For tonight I was just going to be with my guys. I would forget all my fears and just let myself be happy for tonight. Tonight I had nothing to fear.

We sat at the table and I scanned over the menu, even though I knew I would get what I always did. I sipped my glass of Sangria while Jake and Nathan talked to each other across the table. It was nice to see them laughing and joking with each other. It was nice to feel normal for once.

I jumped slightly when I suddenly felt Nathan's hand on mine under the table. I looked at him and he was still talking and laughing. I wished we didn't have to hide our hands under the table, but if Jake was there, we couldn't be out in the open about it. This made me think about when the time would come when we would tell him the truth.

The last thing either of us wanted was for him to feel like we hurt him. But this was beginning to feel like a lose, lose situation. If we told him the truth, it was going to hurt him; that was inevitable. We both knew how he felt about me; it wasn't hard to see it. And if we continued to keep it a secret, when he did find out, he would know that we'd been lying to him all this time. And what would happen then?

I was scared that Jake would leave us. He would be so hurt that being around us just wouldn't be a possibility. All I wanted was for it to just be the three of us. Us against the world, the way it had been for years. But if he knew about us, he could leave us. And that would mean both Nathan and I losing our best friend. I didn't want that.

But I couldn't stop things with Nathan. It would break my heart to stop being with him the way I was. To not be able to touch and kiss him when I was near him just wasn't an option. I couldn't give him up. So what was I supposed to do? I wasn't about to become some shared girlfriend and even if I did, I would always have a different love for Nathan.

"So we have a proposal," Jake said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I turned to him and smiled, "and what might that be?"

"Well we were thinking maybe we could all use a change of scenery."

My eyebrows creased in confusion and I looked between the two of them. What did he mean a change of scenery?

"We thought maybe a year away would do us some good," Nathan said, "we can travel the world together, maybe gain some perspective."

"And where would we go?" I asked.

"We thought maybe we could start with Indonesia."

"Indonesia?"

"We know you love the beach and you would hate to leave it. So we thought we could start there. It's gorgeous and we think you'd love it there," Jake said with a smile.

"And when would we leave?"

"Tomorrow," Nathan replied.

I let go of his hand from under the table and crossed my arms over my chest. "This is about the BC isn't it? You're running from them."

"No," Nathan said, "we're not running. But they might need some time to cool down, to get over us rejecting them. If we leave for awhile, they'll find someone else that they want and they'll forget about us by the time we make it back."

"Are we in danger?" I asked, "please just tell me the truth."

"No," Jake replied, "we're not in any sort of danger. But it's better safe than sorry."

Maybe they were right. The BC probably just needed time to get over things. If Jake and Nathan were gone for awhile then they'd forget about them. Things would be fine. We just needed to get out of town for awhile.

"Ok," I said, "I wanna do it. Let's go for awhile."

We were all broken out of our happy thoughts of getting out of town for awhile by the sounds of crashing plates. I felt Nathan grab me by the hand again and drag me down to the ground as he pulled out a gun. I gasped when I saw it in his hand and instantly reached for it.

When he realized it was just breaking glass I felt him relax.

"Wow," Jake said, "you've got some pretty quick reflexes. And thanks for trying to protect me, by the way."

I moved back into my seat and laughed as Nathan hid his weapon. I was amazed that no one had noticed the little scene we'd caused, but I was glad for it too. The last thing we needed was more eyes on us.