Page 33 of Traitor

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“Someone’s toying with us—get back and we’ll talk.”

No shit. And that someone was pretty powerful if they were yanking the Feds around.

Nikolay offered up his cabin in the mountains—some place called Cedar Ridge. It sounded like the perfect place to relax. I was using my vacation time to work, so I obviously wouldn’t know jack shit about the concept.

Katya shrugged and answered, “Papa, I’m fine. I’ve built a life here in the city. I just need some time away while Mike resolves this…issue. I’m not giving up my condo or anything permanent.”

I nodded with a relieved sigh. One fire out. Eight million to go. As if on cue, my phone began ringing. It was the station. “Get someone on this now…”

Lauren

May 2015

“No, wait. I can do it. Stop making me laugh!” I leaned forward again and placed my arms on the rest with a giggle before grabbing the bar. I’d always done bicep curls while sitting down, but Jimmy had me standing up to work my core at the same time. It turned out that I wasn’t as coordinated as I’d previously thought.

I had somehow kept my promise to meet him that Friday. Tuesday morning, I’d woken up to an entire body that ached, both from my encounter with the stairs and the subsequent adrenaline rush of almost dying. Sandra hadn’t seemed surprised that I was calling in, but I was too tired to argue my case. I’d quickly fallen asleep again, only to be woken by the sounds of male voices in my living room an hour later.

I’d felt around on the floor near the bed until my fingers bumped against my gun. Then, I’d hastily rubbed the sleep from my eyes before creeping down the hall.

“Freeze!” I’d yelled, like some cop in a drama on TNT.

Torch, Isaac, and Josué had thrown their arms up, knocking over half-full cardboard boxes.

“Mija, put the damn gun down before you shoot someone,” Josué had scolded, while Torch and Isaac grinned amusedly.

“Why are you guys here and not in Austin?”

The three of them had stood in my living room, sheepishly looking to the other for an explanation. Apparently, Mike wasn’t content to leave well enough alone and had reached out to my fathers and Torch to get me somewhere safe.

More than anything, I’d been surprised. I hadn’t known that Mike stayed in contact with Torch, or my fathers, for that matter.

After some hesitation, the truth eventually came out. I was being moved into Torch’s house. The safest place they could find for me was in the same home as a biker.

I’d refused, but it soon became apparent that everyone there was under strict orders to get me out of the apartment that day, whether they had my consent or not.

Friends didn’t behave like that.

It was just another painful reminder that this was Mike’s world and we were all just lucky enough to live in it. I hadn’t faulted him for the decision, but the execution was awful. It was as if he had no idea how to have a normal relationship; everything had to be shrouded in lies and mystery. And the realization that he was never going to change pushed me back into a state of numbness. I wasn’t going to allow myself to feel anything ever again for him.

A pop on my ass brought me back the present and I looked over my shoulder with a grin. “What was that for?”

Jimmy winked. “You got lazy with those last two reps…and, my hand got lonely.”

He was, in a word, amazing.

Where Mike was closed off, Jimmy was an open book.

I’d moved in with Torch under the condition that I was still in control of my life, and that included me going to the gym. When I’d shown up that Friday evening, Jimmy had seemed surprised.

We started working out together. Working out together had led to coffee dates. Coffee dates had led to dinner and movie dates. And I had a sneaking suspicion that dinner and movie dates were going to lead to sleepovers.

I hadn’t slept with him. We hadn’t done anything more than hold hands. He’d leaned in to kiss me after our first coffee date and I’d exclaimed that my shoe was untied and dropped down, just to avoid it.

I’d rushed things with Mike and look where it had gotten us. I just wanted to know what I was getting into this time around.

We finished up our last set and walked out together, hand in hand. “Do you want to come back to my place?” Jimmy asked and I stumbled. He caught me by the arm before I faceplanted on the sidewalk. “Easy there.”

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