Chapter 17

Something wasn't right. Kate didn't know what it was, but something was off. She sat on the couch in Johnny's house, waiting for Rico to show up. She could hear Wes and Johnny arguing in the kitchen.

She didn't want to hear it anymore. She went out the front door and sat on the step. The night was cooling off and she burrowed down in her jacket. Inside the house, she heard Johnny raise his voice and her stomach knotted.

Kate pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed.

"Carlos?" she said when he answered.

"What's wrong?" His voice was calm, but on alert. She knew he heard the edge in her voice.

"Have you heard anything about Johnny's new deals?" she asked. All her information came from the men within the Dime Boys. She knew Carlos and Joe had a wider range of information coming from competing gangs, other neighborhoods.

"He's ruffling some feathers," Carlos said. "Hux had his territory marked and Johnny's moving out past it. Word is the Latin Aces are making a move with Johnny soon."

Kate winced as something in the house slammed. "Yeah, we're meeting with them tonight."

"What do you mean?" Carlos asked, his voice growing taut.

Kate's free hand curled into a fist. She looked down at the tattoo on her inner wrist. "Johnny's talking with Riaz later. He's bringing a van full of guns. I don't know what Riaz is bringing."

"You're going?"

Kate's shoulders tightened at Carlos' tone. "Johnny doesn't speak Spanish."

She heard Carlos take a breath and blow it out. It reminded her of Danny. "Look, just stay put. Where are you?"

"At Johnny's. We're waiting on Rico."

"Rico's going?" Carlos cursed quietly. "Just stay there. I'm on my way."

The line went dead and Kate stuck her phone back in her pocket just as the door opened.

Wes stalked out, letting out a string of curses. He looked down at Kate and his eyes narrowed. He reached into his pocket. Kate stiffened, but didn't flinch.

Wes gave her a smirk as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He lit his smoke.

"You ready to help your boyfriend expand his empire tonight?" he asked sarcastically.

Kate's lips pressed together and she didn't bother giving Wes an answer. She stood to go inside. Wes let out a harsh laugh that ended in a cough. He took another drag from his cigarette, his blond hair glinting almost silver in the glow from the streetlights.

"Lacey home with your kid tonight?"

Kate froze, her hand on the doorknob. She slowly turned back to Wes.

Wes' smile turned feral. "Lacey never was as much fun as you."

Kate waited, not daring to say anything that would antagonize Wes. Not when he was talking about Lacey and Frannie.

Wes took a step toward Kate, another puff from the cigarette. He held it out towards her. Kate shook her head and he scoffed. "That's right, you quit when you got pregnant."

Kate didn't waver. She held Wes' eyes, waited for him to finish his game so she could get away from him.

"Remember when you told Johnny you were pregnant, Kate?" Another step closer. He blew his smoke right into her face. "Fool thought it was his. Still does, doesn't he?"

Whatever was going on between Wes and Johnny tonight was riling up Wes in dangerous ways. Kate clenched her fists. "She's mine," Kate clarified. "I'm the one raising her."

Wes' smirk didn't falter. Kate finally turned away, wrenching open the front door to get away from him.

"Tell Lacey I said hi. And give Frannie a hug from me."

Kate shut the door on him. She pulled out her phone, but it was blank. No messages from Carlos. She put it away and ran her fingers over her wrist, feeling the slightly raised lines of her tattoo.

Johnny came out of the kitchen, his face dark after his argument with Wes. "Rico here?" he asked.

"Not yet," Kate answered, thankful she was able to keep her voice level. She went back to the couch, forced herself to sit rather than pace with agitation. No matter how far she walked, it wouldn't be enough to carry her away from the decisions she'd made.

"Thought I heard the door open," Johnny said.

"It was just me."

Johnny looked at her then, studying her. Kate schooled her face into neutral stone. Johnny had known her too long, and she couldn't risk him reading her thoughts.

Voices sounded outside and then Rico came through the door, followed by Wes. Johnny and Rico shook hands, bumped fists. Johnny gave Wes a look and Wes returned it with a sneering smile. Kate just wanted to make it through this night.

"Alright, let's go," Johnny said.

Kate forced herself not to check her phone. She followed Johnny out the back door, Rico and Wes behind her, to the dark SUV they would drive over to the bar to get the van loaded with guns before meeting with the Latin Aces.

She sat in the backseat, staring out the window as they drove down the alley. Her hands clenched, unclenched, fisted again tight enough to ache. Everything in her wished Carlos would have made it in time.

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Carlos didn't say anything to Joe when he got in the car. Carlos barely waited for Joe to close the door before pulling away from the curb.

"Where are they?" Joe asked.

Carlos shook his head. "They were at Johnny's place, but heading to the bar. We'll look there first."

"Kate's ok?" Joe asked.

Carlos checked over his shoulder, changing lanes and passing other cars at a speed that bordered on dangerous. "For now," he said.

A block from the bar he slowed his speed. He tried to slow his heart rate, but that didn't work. He drove up to the bar like they had all the time in the world, got out of the car and walked around to the back the same way.

Johnny was on his phone, watching Rico and another man cart boxes from the bar to a dark van. When he saw Carlos and Joe, he lowered his phone, narrowing his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Johnny asked.

Carlos kept his stance relaxed, but his eyes took everything in. "We could ask you the same thing."

Johnny clicked off his phone call. "I'm running my business. You going to try to tell me how to do that?"

Carlos didn't see Kate. He didn't see Wes either, which was enough to make his gut clench. He tried to keep his focus on Johnny. "I'm not going to tell you anything. But we had a deal and now word is you're going to be selling guns to the Latin Aces. Guns that were supposed to come to us."

Johnny looked him and Joe over.

"Come on," Joe said quietly to Carlos. "If he's backing out, there are other places for us to get what we need." He turned to go and Johnny stopped them.

"Hold up." Johnny said to Joe. He glanced over his shoulder at Rico and the other man, motioned for them to keep loading. "This deal is going to move our boundaries out of the neighborhood, probably out of the east coast. You two want a piece of that?"

Carlos looked at Joe, shrugged noncommittally even though everything in him wanted to grab Johnny and shake the information out of him.

"This is going to take us past guns, into moving H, Cocaine, girls…There's a lot more money than just guns." Johnny eyed them. "Why don't you come with? See where I'm taking the business and then see if you really want to walk away."

Joe started to shake his head, but Carlos shrugged again. "Can't hurt to see." He gave Joe credit for looking like he'd rather be somewhere else before agreeing with a nod.

"How long before you're ready to go?" Joe asked. "I need a drink. I was supposed to be with a girl tonight."

Johnny's lips moved in a smile, then. "Go on in. Kate's in there and will get you whatever you want." He paused meaningfully. "She could make up for that girl you're missing out on."

Joe nodded and headed into the bar. Carlos knew it wouldn't make sense for Johnny to see him going in, too. He stayed outside, leaning back against the brick wall of the bar, watching them load an alarming number of guns into the van.

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Kate sat at the table across from Wes. He was scaring her. The way he looked at her, the way he was talking about Johnny, and especially the way he was bringing up the past. Something was really wrong and she knew Wes was going to make someone pay.

Wes took a drink from the glass she had poured for him, then lit another cigarette.

She shifted and Wes looked at her sharply. "You going somewhere?"

Kate settled back into her chair. "No."

Wes nodded. She wasn't going anywhere. She just hoped that whatever power struggle was going on between Wes and Johnny didn't get her caught in the crossfire.

The door to the back room opened and Joe came into the room.

"What do you want?" Wes demanded.

Joe's eyes flicked to Kate and she couldn't stop the relief that swept over her. She quickly shoved the relief down before Wes saw it.

"I came in for a drink," Joe said.

"We're busy," Wes snapped. "Bar's closed."

Joe moved to the table and took a seat like Wes didn't say anything. "Johnny invited us along. I need a drink," he said to Kate.

Kate quickly stood, thankful to have an excuse to put distance between her and Wes.

"What do you want?" she asked, going behind the bar.

"A shot of whatever's handy."

Kate grabbed the first bottle she saw and poured two fingers for Joe. She waited until Wes was looking at Joe again and tossed half of it out, adding water instead. She wouldn't risk Joe being less than full speed tonight.

She brought the drink over to him. He took a drink and one of his eyebrows lifted slightly. "That's good."

She started to move away, but Joe caught her wrist loosely. "Johnny said there was time for you to make up for me missing out on the plans I had to cancel."

Kate looked down at his hand around her wrist, pretending to be annoyed. "What plans?"

Joe tossed back the rest of his drink. "Carlos got a preview of Johnny's new business. Seems only fair I should, too."

Wes was grinning at her, his eyes hard. "Does seem fair," he agreed. "Why don't you take our friend upstairs, Kate?"

Kate didn't have to feign disgust when she looked at Wes. He let out a laugh at her anger and Kate turned on her heel, heading toward the stairs.

As soon as they were in the dusty space, Joe apologized.

"Sorry. I didn't know how else to talk to you."

Kate shook her head. "It's fine," she said, a dull edge to her words.

Joe grimaced.

"Is Carlos here?" she asked.

"Yeah. He's outside with Johnny."

Kate's eyes fell closed and she let out a breath she had been holding.

"What's going on?" Joe asked.

Kate shook her head. "I don't know. Something's wrong. Johnny and Wes don't get along, you know that. But something's going on with Wes. He's…" she shrugged, feeling like an idiot now for calling Carlos when she didn't even know what was wrong. It wasn't like she hadn't gone with Johnny or Hux before when they had deals going down.

"Gut feeling?" asked Joe.

Kate looked at him and for a second she had the feeling she was back with her brother Joe. She could remember when she knew something was wrong with her tenth grade boyfriend, had told Joe about it, and he had told her not to discount that gut feeling. Joe had also found that boyfriend and threatened him when she found out he was dating a girl at another school at the same time.

Kate shook herself back to the present, shoving down the memories that this Joe brought back with just an expression on his face. "Yeah. Just a gut feeling."

"Don't discount that gut feeling," Joe said. "It's saved my life a time or two."

Kate nodded.

"We'll keep an eye on Wes," Joe promised.

Someone pounding on the door at the base of the stairs jolted Kate.

"Let's go!" Johnny called.

Like she had with Carlos, Kate tousled her hair and told Joe to untuck his shirt.

Joe grimaced and did as she said. "Sorry," he muttered. "It's just weird. Like I pretended to do this with my sister."

"Same." Kate agreed. "You…" Joe looked at her when she trailed off. "You remind me of my brother," she said quietly.

"Are you close to him?" Joe asked. He gave her that look again, the one that felt like she was looking at her brother Joe again. The one that mixed pain and memories and love all together in a painful knot in her chest.

"I was," Kate said, looking away and starting toward the stairs. "He died."

"I'm sorry," Joe said quietly.

Kate shrugged off the sympathy and tried to get herself back in the present. Back to her current reality.

Johnny was at the bottom of the stairs when they opened the door. Kate avoided looking at him, following Wes out to the SUV parked next to the van. She got in back and the opposite door opened. Carlos slid in. In the split second before Johnny opened the driver's side door, Carlos reached over and brushed his fingers across her hand, his dark eyes silently asking her if she was alright.

She wasn't, but she didn't say anything. Just gave Carlos' hand a tight squeeze, not wanting to let go.

But Johnny opened his door and she quickly pulled her hands back to her lap, and Carlos slouched down in his seat with his hands nowhere near her.

Joe got in the passenger seat, glanced back at her without saying anything.

"Let's go," Johnny said, starting the engine.

Carlos' presence filled the backseat, warming Kate in a way she didn't expect, chasing away the chill of dread that had filled her since the evening started.

She looked behind them and saw Wes and Rico in the van behind them. The look on Wes' face made her shiver.

Carlos caught her eye and gave her a nearly imperceptible movement of his mouth, one side barely twitching in a reassuring smile. A silent show of comfort.

Kate drew in a deep breath and hoped that calling Carlos, getting him and Joe here for whatever was about to happen, hadn't been a terrible mistake. Or a fatal one.

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