Page 49 of Exhale
Jordan hustled to catch up to Link and Eagle as they left the warehouse.
Link handed back his cell after gazing at it for a second.
“We should make good time if we cut over and go down 5thstreet,” Link said.
“Where you goin?” Creed asked, falling into step with them.
“To get Owen’s other son,” Link said, sliding behind the wheel of one of the black SUVs.
They all hopped in, including Creed.
“You got those flash grenades?” Eagle asked Creed, turning in the passenger seat.
Creed snorted. “Several, why?”
“Just thinking we might need them.”
“Tell me where to turn, Jordan,” Link said, cutting into Eagle and Creed’s conversation.
“Go right, go down 5thuntil you get to Mercer, and then hook a left.” Jordan stared at the blinking dot that was Black’s location.
Cody was hurting his arm from holding it tightly, and Elliott didn’t like it.
He cried, but silently so Cody wouldn’t get mad again.
He was glad that Cody found him.
“Just keep your mouth shut. You and your brother are worth a lot of money.”
“Where’s mommy?”
“She’s gone, and I can’t keep you so…” Cody rubbed a hand down his face. He’d thought for a moment he’d be noble and save the boys, but he was jonesing for a hit of fucking skag.
He was no hero. Maybe if he could have gotten clean and settled down with Ginny, he would be something today, but things were different, and she had loved Mark.
“So, keep your mouth shut and keep walking,” Cody finished.
“Hey man, I’ll take the kid.”
A hooker stepped away from the shadows of a building. Wearing short shorts and a cropped top, his eyes were heavily lined in black, and his straight inky black hair hung past his shoulders. Fishnet stockings covered his legs with runs in both, and incredibly high heels put the willowy guy over six feet tall. The man was fucking gorgeous, and it was hard to imagine someone that good-looking was a whore.
“You got cash?” Cody stopped.
“I got H,” the hooker said.
Cody’s heart pounded, and he licked his lips. He could wait and get a lot more money for Elliott, but he really wanted that hit. He could give the guy Elliott, do the hit, and then wrap back around and take Elliott back.
“Yeah, okay, give it to me.”
“Sure, shug,” the guy said, opening the small pouch that hung on a chain around his neck.
Cody reached for the drugs, and the hooker lifted Elliott into his arms.
Elliot screamed, but the hooker didn’t seem to mind, just placed a soothing hand down the sobbing boy’s back before disappearing into the shadows as if he’d never been there.
Cody took a step into the same shadows and met only darkness.
What the fuck?
