Page 6 of Blade
“No. If he wasn’t comfortable telling me outright that it was a person, he wasn’t going to tell me who it was.” Raptor’s mouth pressed flat as he tapped restlessly on the table. I studied his every move to see if he was keeping the person’s identity from us for some reason. He didn’t sound like he was, nor did he look like he was.
“Why?” I asked, my brow raised.
Raptor stopped and looked me dead in the eye. “He thinks they have a rat.”
Since Raptor, Phoenix, and I had all come from the Ankeny chapter, that was a hard pill to swallow. Those brothers had been our family. We had been tight.
Things were obviously beginning to change.
And that just didn’t sit right with me.
“IWouldDieForYou”—InThisMoment
Twelve Years Old….
Iblame myself for Luis ever finding out about Sage.
I’d gotten hit on my bike, so I was late dropping off the money for him. Luis didn’t play about his money, but my bike was trash, and my leg was skinned up and bruised really bad. Knowing I was going to be late, I cringed, but I needed to put something on it, or I was gonna draw attention to myself.
Standing in my underwear in my kitchen, I was trying to get the bleeding to stop from the gash on my knee and then planned to hurry over to Luis’s. I knew a few shortcuts that I could take, but I needed to be able to run without looking super suspicious.
Instead, he came to me.
“Fuck!” I muttered when I saw the black SUV that was way too nice for my trailer park pull up in front of my house. I didn’t even make it to the door before there was a banging on the other side.
“Hey, you little shit. You better have my money. So help me, if you took off with my money or my product, you’re dead, kid.” Luis wasn’t loud and threatening. Oh no, not Luis. He said everything in what some might consider an almost playful tone.
I swung the door wide. “I was on my way, I promise. I got hit on my bike and I was bleeding bad,” I blurted out.
His dark gaze dropped to my mangled leg, and though he didn’t apologize, he did lift his chin in acknowledgment.
I hobbled over to my backpack and withdrew the Ziplock full of cash and the remaining weed wrapped in small pieces of plastic wrap. I handed them to Luis—my friend’s dad.
Slowly, he counted it, then recounted it. When he seemed satisfied, he peeled off several of the bills and was holding them out to me. Before I could catch them in my fingers, there was a knock on the door.
A quick glance at the clock on the stove had me cursing inside my head.
The door flew open, and Sage blew in with her infectious exuberance and a huge grin.
“Finley!” she called out, but her smile fell when she saw Luis and the two men he traveled with in the small living room.
I didn’t like the gleam in his eyes as he looked at her.
“Well, who do we have here?” he asked with melted sugar practically dripping off his tongue.
“She’s just the neighbor kid,” I replied, trying to act like I didn’t have a care in the world. In reality, sweat coated my palms.
Luis studied her closer. “I think I know yourmama.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat at the same time I saw Sage do it. She was eleven to my twelve, but she was so small, she looked like she was no more than eight.
When Luis reached out and ran a section of Sage’s honey-brown hair through his fingers, I wanted to roar and swat it away. His presence alone tainted her. I’d become extremely protective of Sage over the last year, and I didn’t like the way he looked at her.
I’d also heard the rumors. I knew the things he did with girls way too young for him.
Maybe that made me an idiot for working for him, but I saw it as a means to an end. He was my ticket out of this shithole. Once I saved up enough money, I would take my mom away from here. She’d never again have to work two jobs just to keep a roof over our heads.
I didn’t know what I’d do about Sage, though. The thought of leaving her behind made me sick to my stomach. Yet she wasn’t my little sister, no matter how much she felt like the sister I never had. Seeing Luis circling her like a vulture made me furious.