Page 39 of Ride or Die
"Be safe," I respond. Minx is at my side as Ryan walks away. Every day with Ryan, another brick falls from the wall around my heart. Am I ready to hand it over to him again? We watch them climb into the cars and as they drive away, I realize I already have.
24
Buster
We just leftand have been on the road for half an hour and I can't stop thinking about Cali or how I should propose to her. Neither Rascal or I have said a word to each other. He turned music on, but I'm so consumed with my thoughts, I'm not paying attention to it.
"You wanna talk about it, sugar?" Rascal jokes.
"Fuck off, Ras."
"Is it shark week?" He doesn't miss a fucking beat. I glance at him and he has his classic smug face. I look out toward the road again.
"I'm trying to figure how to propose to Cali," I admit to him.
"Whoa! No shit?" By the tone of his voice, I can tell he's smiling. "First Raze, now you, huh?"
"It'll happen to you soon enough." I laugh.
"The fuck it will. No chick will ever tie me down," he claims and I laugh more. Before I get a chance to respond, he turns the music up louder. Highway to Hell is playing. We have around seven hours to go before we get to Amarillo. We're going straight to Declan's to pick up the guns we're taking to Taras. We have six crates to get, so Declan is going to loan us a box truck to transport them.
After driving for a few hours, we pull over to a gas station. I pull up to a pump so I can fill my car up.
"Thank fuck," Rascal says. "I gotta get outta this fucking cage."
He climbs out of the car and heads inside. I check my phone. No new messages. It's only been a couple of hours, so I decide not to text her yet. I get out of the car and go through all the steps to get gas. I prepay with my debit card so I can go inside while it's filling up.
Inside, I use the bathroom before picking out some snacks. I grab some trail mix, beef jerky, and peanut M&Ms. I also grab a couple bottles of Dr. Pepper, while I'm at it. Rascal is paying for his stuff when I walk up to the counter.
"You good, brother?" I chuckle. He's got three times as many snacks as me.
"You know it." He smirks, then flashes the cashier a smile. Her eyes light up and her cheeks turn a deep pink. He turns back to me. "I'll meet you in the car."
I toss a twenty on the counter and tell the girl to keep the change and I walk back to the car. I place my snacks in the pockets on the door and hop in. As soon as Rascal is situated, I pull my car next to Shade's to see if they're ready. He and Kicks were a little slower getting in the gas station than we were. I roll down Rascal's window.
"Y'all ready?" I shout to Shade, who’s window was already down.
"Yeah, let's roll," he responds. We get back on the road. We're about halfway to our destination and Rascal is getting antsy. He's lucky we're not driving straight to Denver. He would go nuts.
We get to Declan's warehouse after seven in the evening. We called him when we were thirty minutes out so he knew when to meet us here. I park next to his blacked-out Yukon XL and climb out.
"Buster! How's it going?" Declan greets me as I walk over to him.
"Not too bad. How about you? Business doing well?" We shake hands and give a quick half-hug. Shade and the guys walk up behind me. Rascal lifts his head in a silent greeting to Declan.
"It's doing great. How was your drive here?" He grins at Rascal and Kicks.
"It fucking sucked," Kicks replies. Declan, Shade, and I all laugh. "I miss my fucking bike."
"So, Bull said you need six crates." Declan turns around and walks into the warehouse. Rascal and I follow him. "I have this box truck loaded. It has eight crates of bananas to disguise the crates of guns."
"Can we check it out," Rascal asks Declan.
"Yeah, of course. Go ahead," Declan responds. He moves to the box truck and opens it, letting Rascal in. Rascal jumps in and searches through the crates. It's not that we don't trust Declan. It's better to check and be safe. As soon as Rascal is done, he hops down.
"Looks good," he says, fist-bumping Declan.
"What time will you all be heading out tomorrow," Declan asks.
