AN: so, I'm not sure if I told you about the timeline. The epilogue of SoCal had jumped ahead 6 years from the last chapter and that's where this story takes place. The character ages are Bean 24 and the boys 30.

I hope you're still liking the story. As before, dialogue plucked from the movie, but I had to change a few things around, relationship wise to match SoCal. In the movie, O doesn't live with Chon and Ben, and I think they are less committed than what I made Bella and her boys.

Day Four:

Tuesday, July 11th

Laguna Beach, California

Jasper

For the first time since starting our weed business, I felt fearful. Edward and I had always made these connections with people involved with the cartel to get our product past state lines, but it wasn't that major. I liked the idea of expanding my business to help people who weren't in Laguna, and it never crossed my mind that it would lead us into such dangerous territory.

"This is bad, man," I said to Edward as we got the Tesla from Valet and left the hotel.

"What did you expect from them? An actual fucking courteously? They're animals."

I'm going ninety by the time we got to the coast highway and I'm replaying the meeting over in my head. I couldn't believe what happened. It was humiliating how we walked right into their hands. We looked like fucking amateurs. I felt stupid and naive.

"I thought they just wanted our business, but it's more than that," I said, disappointed and grasping to understand.

Edward barely glanced my way. "Your grass was bound to draw attention from the wrong people. I'm surprised we got six years."

Yeah, my cultivation talent used to be an ego booster, but now that my vanity has brought death to our doorstep, I'm questioning my motivations.

"This is my fault," I said.

Edward wouldn't entertain my self-loathing. "We're running then."

I nodded. What choice did we have?

He held up his watch for me to see. It was almost four in the afternoon. That meant we had less than twenty-four hours.

"Do you think it's doable?" he asked.

Probably not, but we were going to try.

"Let's go talk to Spin."

Thirty minutes later, Edward and I arrived at Ocean Ranch, one of the fake businesses we were laundering money through. It was a web-based digital media company run by one of my college friends, Daniel Spintzer, whom we just called 'Spin.'

About four years ago, Spin was an investment broker for a big bank - think Goldman Sachs. He used to buy weed from me, and one night, we tested out a new batch, and he got so fucking high. Spin told me about his coding, hacking, and ability to predict how the stock market would turn and, best of all, how to invest in companies. I had a lightbulb moment and offered him a job to launder Edward and my profits.

Spin jumped at the chance.

Fast forward, he was making a hell of a lot more money working for us than he ever did working for a soulless bank.

"Hey, what's up, guys?" Spin stood up from his multiple computer stations and greeted us as we walked in. "How's it going?"

He and I embraced while he and Edward fist-bumped. That was our dynamics in a nutshell.

I said to Spin, handing him a mason jar filled with my best primo. "Got a little something." It was a payment for the job I was about to give him.

"Shit. Sweet." Spin took it from me and popped the top. He took a big appreciative sniff. "Whoo."

Edward nodded at me. Let's get on with it.

The clock was ticking.

"We need to get off the grid for a while," I said.

Spin put down the bud and turned to face me. "Cool."

"Yeah, no, it's not really."

"Oh," Spin took in my face and tone. "Uh, okay." He called to his receptionist, "Annie," gesturing with a tilt of his head for her to leave the room. She got up and exited, closing the door behind her.

"I need you to set up a new line for us. Double-blind, all right? Everything washed fresh, a whole new cycle. Make it disappear somewhere so no one can trace us."

It was a heavy order and communicated that Edward and I were in a bad spot.

It wasn't lost on Spin. "What? Are you kidding me? How long?"

"I don't know," I replied.

Spin raised an eyebrow. It was hard to keep myself from breaking down. The life we had built together was crumbling in front of my eyes, and I was powerless to stop it.

I tried not to let on, so I bullshitted. "Botanical research, call it a sabbatical. Up to a year."

"Huh. Okay, no problem. Grab a seat." Spin took his chair as I sat down. Edward preferred to stand. "A year for two of you."

"Three," I corrected him.

"Three? Who's three?" Spin asked.

Edward and I kept our business and personal lives separate. People like Spin and others, who were instrumental in the success of our business, assumed that Edward and I were more than best friends. They weren't wrong. But they never met or knew about Bean.

"Bella," I said, and they sure as shit weren't privy to her nickname.

"Okay, three. One of them is Bella. So, that's a whole new clothing line on its own. 12 months. Housing, meals, entertainment. You're going to need access to a least a mil, anyway. Where are you thinking?" Spin asked.

I replied, "Indonesia."

"Where in Indonesia?"

Edward said, "Can't say."

Spin ceased typing and spun slowly towards me in his chair with a startled but questioning look on his face. If he had any suspicion that we were in some shit, Edward just solidified it for him.

"In case you get tortured," Edward said, smirking.

Spin's eyes widened as he turned back around to his computers. "Joy."

As promised yesterday, Edward and I took Bean out to dinner. It was our last hurrah in Laguna before we said goodbye. The only way to do it right was to spend a bunch of cash and drink a shit load of tequila.

Bean's favorite place to eat was this fancy restaurant on a cliffside. They had fantastic outdoor seating facing the ocean and oysters to die for. The Arizona girl in her, at first, wasn't a big fan of shellfish, but like everything else in Laguna, it eventually grew on her.

But man, out of everything, Bean looked gorgeous. She wore Edward's favorite green dress and did her hair exactly how I liked it, chaotic and messy. All the bangles and necklaces draped on her body complemented her style, like a Bohemian goddess.

"Mmm," I breathed in, kissing Bean along the delicate skin of her neck, "what are you wearing?"

"Chanel," she whispered back, her hand dropping to my thigh and squeezing it.

Without batting an eye, she had the power to bring me to my knees.

"Shots," Edward announced, trying to drag me out of our girl's pull, but I couldn't break the spell.

Bean giggled and gently pushed me back. "Baby."

Slightly dazed, I met Edward's eyes across the table. He appeared to be handling shit a lot better than me. Maybe I was looking at the situation from the wrong angle, and this unfortunate event was my opportunity to get the loves of my life out of Laguna. God knows Edward wouldn't leave unless forced.

Even though shit sucked, it was a cause for celebration.

I picked up my shot glass and held it up. "Mazel tov."

"Mazel tov," Bean said.

Edward rolled his eyes.

We all downed it at once.

It was the top-shelf Tequila that warmed your throat but was so smooth. It went straight to the head, too. We were barely into our evening, and I was already feeling relaxed.

I could tell Bean was as well. Her eyes glazed over as she gripped Edward's hand and mine.

She smiled and said matter of fact. "I knew you wouldn't make the deal."

Our connection was strong and unshakeable, but I always protected her innocence. She didn't know how dire things were, and the problem I struggled with was how to avoid flat-out lying to her.

Edward said she could handle the truth with all the gory and gritty details, but I didn't thinking scaring her would help anything.

We argued for thirty minutes until we compromised.

We decided on half-truths, but just until we were out of Laguna and safe from the cartel, then it would be full disclosure.

"We think it's time to get out," I said, sort of true, but I omitted the context. Here was the lie. "Not forever, maybe for a year or so."

"When are we going?" she asked.

I opened my mouth, but Edward beat me to it.

"Tomorrow night," he said. "They got a clock on us."

Fuck, dude, I thought. It sounded as sinister as it was, and Bean was going to ask more questions.

"Where?" she asked.

Well, I could handle that.

I smiled in relief. "Indonesia."

The excitement built up in her until it was a large, beautiful grin. "Where in Indonesia? Isn't it 10,000 islands or something?"

Her happy energy took me out of my funk, and I allowed myself to get excited again. "I put a water system in this pretty little village, by a beach," I said pointedly at Edward. He could still surf. "And they're the sweetest people you'd ever meet. I think you'll love it."

"Me too," Edward said.

Bean squeezed our hands. "We're like that movie."

The atmosphere surrounding us was quickly filled with hope and not so much doom and gloom. I found myself joking again.

"Avatar?" I quipped.

Bean laughed and playfully swatted at my arm. "No."

"What movie?" Edward asked.

"The one with Paul Newman when he was, you know, alive. And Robert Redford, when he was a total babe," she said.

It didn't ring a bell with me, but surprisingly, Edward caught the reference.

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," he said.

"Yes, I'm like the girl."

"Wait, don't they get killed at the end?" I said.

Bean thought about it and then blushed. "Well, not the girl."

Then somewhere over to our left, a waiter fumbled his tray, and dishes clattered to the tile. It was loud, disruptive, and while it only startled Bean and me, it put Edward into fight mode. He grabbed Bean's arm, and they both went down under the table and crouched on the floor, his gun out and ready to shoot the threat.

I chuckled at his overreaction, both relieved that it was nothing but also glad that I wasn't as paranoid as he was.

Edward realizing what happened was embarrassed. "Oh, my god."

"A little jumpy, are we?" Bean teased.

"You think?" he said.

I crawled underneath the table and poked my head through the white tablecloth and out the other side, where Bean and Edward were still crouched. "Are we clear?"

Edward laughed with Bean.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, reconciling his revolver.

Just in time, too. The waiter came up not even a second later and bent down to our level. "So, how about I tell you folks about our dessert specials?"

We all glanced at each other.

"I could go for something a little sweet," Bean said.

Edward threw up his hands and smiled. "Why not?"

AN: see you soon.