Page 12 of One (The Towns Syndicate #2)

Ally

M y body still ached a few days after Boogie and King reminded me who I belonged to. I had bruises in the shapes of their hands and fingertips all over my body and at one point it felt like they were trying to make us one. It was like any amount of space between us was abhorrent.

I shivered from the memory as I walked to the car for a delivery with Arthur. This was going to be his working interview, and if this went well, I would bring him on to help me run deliveries and take on more of the drug related responsibilities.

“How are you feeling?” Lance asked as he joined me from the kitchen.

Maverick exited just after him and I couldn’t help the smirk.

“How are you feeling?” I raised a brow.

“Don’t start,” he deadpanned.

“I’m curious how the dynamic works,” I grinned.

“There is no dynamic,” he said, keeping a straight face.

“Oh, come on, Lance, ya gotta give me something,” I said, as he opened the door for me.

“There's nothing to give you,” he replied in a bored tone.

“Bullshit,” I said, pulling my blood-red jacket closer to me. “She looks at you like you’re her next meal.”

“She wishes I was her next meal,” he murmured.

“Wait.” I stopped holding onto his arm and looked him over.

He still looked like a college guy who walked in, a little innocent looking, but I knew there was a wild child in him.

That’s why Lance was great to bring along to these meetings.

They assumed he was useless, but I had seen him take down a few men with a lethality that no one saw coming as Maverick had started to train me for.

“Does she not bat for the right team?” I asked seriously.

“Does it matter?” he sighed.

“No, it doesn’t, and I’m just being a nosy bitch,” I said, suddenly feeling protective of him. “If she’s bothering you, I can tell her to fuck off.”

“I can handle her,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Ok, but if she is bothering you and not in a good way, you let me know, ok?” I gave him a stern look.

“Ok,” he said with a small smile.

“Honestly if it were me, I’d just fuck her to say that I had and to see what all the fuss is about,” I said softly, as we got closer to the car.

He chuckled.

“I don’t think it's that simple with her or any of the triplets,” he said.

“You might be right,” I said, watching the men load up a truck.

“I don’t like staying here,” he said, as we reached the SUV.

“I’ll be fine, this will be good to see if Arthur is as good as he says he is,” I said, finding the man we were talking about. “Plus, Winchester and Maverick are going with me.”

“I know but, I still feel like I?—”

“I need you here working on the security system and on what I asked you to,” I said, touching his arm. “I’ll be fine, plus you’ve been doing every single drop, you can sit this one out.”

Lance’s jaw clenched as he looked around. He opened his mouth before he closed it.

“Ok, but if you need anything, let me know,” he said as he handed me a phone.

“What’s this?” I inspected it.

“Just a security precaution. It’s a burner but you keep that to yourself,” he said, pushing it up against my body. “It has Boogie and King’s numbers, the only two you need if you get in trouble.”

A tingle of worry slithered down my spine.

“If you know something I should know, then tell me,” I clipped.

“I don’t,” he sighed. “I’m just going on instinct here.”

I pursed my lips, searched his face for a clue, but all I saw was uncertainty.

“If—”

“You ready, Noelle?” Arthur asked, coming up to us.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Lance, make sure you take care of those files and the system before I get back.”

I slid into the back seat wondering what it was that had Lance on edge. Was it Manuel? Arthur? Or did he find out something else and he was keeping it from me?

Arthur spoke with our driver whose name I kept forgetting, he walked around and spoke to Winchester and Maverick before getting into the back with me. He looked like he had his shit together and a part of me liked that he was used to this type of work.

“We are ready to go,” he said, closing his door.

“Let’s do this,” I said, putting my seatbelt on.

“Let’s go,” Arthur said, and we pulled out.

The great thing about Arthur was he didn’t have to fill the silence. He was fine looking out the window or on his phone. For this trip, we were taking a jet up north instead of driving. It was too far to drive, and I wasn’t comfortable moving that amount of product on the roads.

It was an hour and half flight, made better by a snack and in-flight drinks which would be saved for afterwards. Winchester, Maverick, Arthur and I played poker with a buy-in of a hundred bucks. My cover was blown by the fourth game as I took out Winchester and half of Arthur’s money.

I was a devious angel and a cheater, but it’s not my fault that they assumed I didn’t know how to play. When we landed, it was even colder in Oregon and thankfully someone was smart enough to have the cars warmed up when I got in.

“It should be about a twenty-five-minute drive from here,” Arthur said, getting into the car with me.

“Ok, will it be an easy sell or will this person be giving me a hard time?” I wanted to hear his opinion.

“Shepard is a man who is willing to change with the times,” he said, looking over at me. “I’ve met him a few times and I don’t suspect him to give us a hard time, but his second is a finicky asshole so, if it’s him we have to deal with, I suspect a lot of snide and crude comments.”

I rolled my eyes. “And how am I expected to deal with that? I suppose keeping?—”

“I say you stab him in the leg and warn him if another disrespectful comment leaves his mouth, you will make sure you take a prize home with you,” Arthur grinned.

I smiled back. “Good, I’m getting tired of being disrespected and acting right to keep the peace.”

“That's not what I heard about what happened with Jay,” he said.

“I could have done a lot worse with Jay, but I played on the edge to keep peace,” I sighed. “If I had done anything worse. Jay would have retaliated.”

“Well, I think if you don’t start making a name for yourself, people will start stepping all over you, and we can’t have that,” he growled. “No one is going to take advantage of you while I am here.”

I nodded, appreciating his honesty and his dedication.

“It’s a lot harder than it looks but I think we might be going in the right direction,” I said, noticing we were turning on to what looked like a ranch.

“Did I forget to mention, Shepard's cover is ranching?” Arthur laughed as he took in my shocked expression.

We passed a sign that said Ember Ridge Ranch.

“Yeah, next thing you're going to tell me is he’s gonna come out in chaps and a?—”

I didn’t finish my sentence, most of the men were dressed in dirty blue jeans, plain t-shirts or plaid button-downs, some had cowboy hats.

We stopped in front of an enormous barn and a big man with blonde hair and green eyes dressed like someone who had just come from the rodeo opened my door.

“Noelle, my queen,” he said with a slight accent, as he held out his hand for me as Winchester and Maverick ran out of the car scowling at the man. “Name’s Shepard.”

“Hello, Shepard,” I said, putting my hand in his. “That kind of flattery will get you everywhere.”

“I’m hoping it will,” he said, as his eyes darkened, and I willed myself not to blush.

Winchester growled, which earned him a glare from Shepard.

“It seems you have quite the security team,” he said, looking between Winchester and Maverick. “I hope they are house trained.”

“They are if we are treated right,” I sighed. “It seems we've been having problems with people who don’t know what the meaning of respect is.”

Shepherd studied me as I attempted not to squirm.

I feigned boredom as every part of me wanted to look away from his dominance.

He commanded the room, not because he was good looking, but his presence was bigger than life with that smile.

I recognized a predator when I saw one. He might be smiling, but he had that same lethal look in his eyes my guys did that said, “fuck with me and I will kill you with my bare hands.”

“Well, let's get you out of this cold, Noelle,” Shepard said, as he led me inside the barn-like structure with Winchester and Maverick at my side.

I felt a little exposed like I might be walking into a trap as two enormous doors opened. The gun against my ribs and the knives on my upper thigh provided a little comfort. I might not be able to kill a man like Shepard, but I was going to try my hardest to injure him before I escaped.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Shepard asked, while I took in my surroundings.

“No, thank you,” I said, motioning for Arthur to bring the suitcase.

“Right to business,” he smirked. “All work and no play?”

“I like to play closer to home and not with people who buy my product,” I said, motioning to the open suitcase.

He studied me like I was fascinating, like I was a wild animal he had never seen before, and it was unnerving.

“Rumors are you have Halloween Town under your thumb too.” He quirked an eyebrow at me. “At your beck and call?”

“Under my thumb?” I closed the briefcase before Shepard could reach for it. “What are you insinuating with that?”

“I don’t think he means anything?—”

“He’s a big boy, he can speak for himself, Arthur,” I snapped.

“Just an observation,” Shepard said, his face growing hard.

“I thought it was a rumor?” I was getting irritated. “So, what is it, a rumor or an observation?"

Shepard studied me as I let my face show everything I was feeling. This fucker made it sound like just by spreading my legs they were under my command, and it made me want to put a bullet in his head. When he said nothing, I grabbed the suitcase.

“This isn’t going to work out,” I said.

“If I offended you, that was not my intention,” he said, as I turned around.

“It was your intention,” I said walking away. “Have a nice day.”

“Noelle, I think—” I glared at Arthur as he immediately shut up.