Page 85 of Levee

“You don’t know that.”

“I’ve got Cato and Seeley here with me. Trust me, we’ve handled bigger shit.”

“You’ll be careful, though, right?”

“Don’t worry. I got every intention of coming back to you,” I said, leaning down to press a kiss to her head. “You have everything you need?”

“I think so. But I can’t be gone more than a day or so with the fish.”

“It shouldn’t take longer than that. But if it does, someone will feed them, I promise.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Oh, wait. I should grab my sketch book in case Teddy wants to talk about the art,” she said, pulling away to go grab her book.

“That’ll be Teddy,” I said as I looked out the window and saw a sleek limo pull up out front. As soon as it parked, someone climbed out of the passenger side.

Security, I’d bet.

“He rides in a limo?” she asked, following my gaze.

“He usually uses a town car, but he likes to pamper the women. Ready?” I asked as she clutched her sketch book to her chest.

“Yeah,” she agreed, nodding, but her body language was tense.

I put an arm around her then grabbed her bag before leading her out of the apartment.

A part of me wanted to stop and spend the time to comfort her. The other part just wanted to end this shit once and for all for her, knowing we’d have as much time together as we wanted afterward.

We walked out of the building flanked by Cato and Seeley, getting the eyes of all the people hanging about outside of the building.

As soon as we got to the limo, the guard opened the back door to reveal Rynn sitting there.

“We have slushees!” she declared, holding out a pink and blue swirled one. “I got you blueberry and strawberry. It’s the best combination,” she said.

Some of the tension left Jade’s shoulders then as she took the slushee and climbed in.

“I will be in contact soon, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Be safe.”

“I will. Let Teddy spoil you. He likes it,” I told her, slipping her bag in at her feet, then closing the door.

I waited until they pulled away from the curb to look at Cato. “Is Rynn armed?”

“Always,” he said, nodding.

“Okay. Let’s get to work then,” I said, looking over at Seeley. “Who do you think is gonna talk?”

“The group of kids,” Seeley said, nodding back toward the building.

“I think that tall one is Terrance. He’s the one who saved Jade,” I said, reaching for my wallet, though I didn’t know how much cash I had on me.

“I stored up,” Seeley said, reaching for a wad of fifties.

With that, we made our way toward the kids. Two of them scattered immediately. But Terrance eyed me closely as we approached.

Seeley pulled a couple of fifties off of the wad. “Point us in the direction of a guy named T,” he demanded.

Seeley was good with this shit. Taking charge. Getting information. It was why he’d been the one to get involved with the Henchmen first, got on their good side, made himself invaluable, then asked to bring us in with him.

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