Page 35 of Wandering in Darkness
“If we can check the money,” Grayson says.
“Of course,” he agrees. “Not really a table or any other shit in this dump. Not sure why the boss loves this place. I guess it’s out of certain jurisdictions he’s wanting to avoid.”
They swap and when the guy opens the box, I peer at it and find that it really is just some marijuana. But what’s so important about it? Is there something underneath it? Is there something else going on with this?
I wander over to Grayson, who is counting the money, before leaning in so I can whisper in his ear. “Was this planned before we arrived?”
He shrugs. “I’m not sure.”
“That’s a lot of fucking money for some weed.”
The three guys glance over at us, and the first one asks, “Good?”
Grayson, who obviously can’t count this many bills in the two minutes they’ve allowed him, looks up. “Yeah.”
“Perfect,” he says before the three guys start toward the door.
“I don’t like this. I want to get back to the car,” I mutter to Grayson, feeling uneasy about the whole thing.
Turning to the guys, I say, “Great doing business with you,” as I try to slip through the door first.
The third guy gives me a peculiar look before he tries to ram me back, allowing his two buddies through first.
“What the fuck?” I ask as I grab his wrist and drive him down, causing him to fall into the room with us. And in that brief moment, the door slams shut.
An expression of absolute horror crosses the man’s face as he leaps up and dashes toward the door while he anxiously glances at us, like he’s prepared to be shot in the back of the head at any second. “Open the fucking door!” he screams as he hammers on it.
I shove him out of the way and try the doorknob, even though the man’s desperation has made it quite apparent that they plan on keeping us in this room for some reason.
“It’s Antonio,” I realize.
“What?” Grayson asks, brow furrowed as he drops the cash and rushes over to help.
“Your fucking boss is trying to sell off Antonio. If whoever they’re dealing with had some fucking drug lord’s son in their hands, they could establish control they couldn’t formerly touch.”
“He wouldn’t do that. He’s not that bad of a guy,” Grayson says while he slams against the door.
“You also didn’t think Devon was too bad of a guy!”
He grimaces. “It’s… it’s complicated, Cal. Not everything is just perfectly lined up like you wish it was!”
“Use your head to open the fucking door. Your skull should definitely be thick enough.”
“Well, your attitude alone should be able to bust it down.”
“Myattitude? My attitude is perfect.”
“Maybe if you two worked together you could open the door?” the third guy asks, seemingly relieved that we haven’t murdered him over this. We just haven’t murdered himyet. Evidently, his buddies don’t care about his existence.
I kick the door hard, but still it doesn’t budge.
It seems like Ned is going off the misconception that I really am Antonio’s bodyguard. He tried to convince Grayson to send me and Antonio in, where they’d have tried to take Antonio from us. But since we left Antonio alone in the car with a gun that he doesn’t know how to use, it would be more than simple to just snatch him up. Really, it’s like we hand delivered Antonio to them.
Why did I let my own stubbornness put Antonio in danger? Why did I even leave the car when I should have stayed with him?
“I fucked up. I really fucked up. Why the hell did I leave him alone?” I ask, feeling panicked. Just because Antonio isn’t naïve to this world doesn’t mean he’s prepared to deal with any of this shit. Suddenly, I hear a gunshot and my stomach squeezes tight as I beg that it was Antonio who fired the gun, not them.
“Help me,” I plead.
