Page 88 of Stand: Part One

“Sure.”

Sliding the drink across the table, I watched Jaden take a small tentative sip and immediately scrunch up her face. “That’s disgusting,” she griped, setting the glass back down. I chuckled at her reaction, taking my glass back.

“I’m sure I’d find yours as equally disgusting.”

She shook her head with a scoff. “Doubtful since mine doesn’t taste like flavored rubbing alcohol.”

I grinned, lifting the glass to my lips, enjoying the burn of my flavored rubbing alcohol. Until my phone rang again with another call from Dan.

I sighed and answered the phone. “Fucking what,” I nearly snarled. He knew I was busy with this, so he’d better have a damn good reason for calling me this much.

“Sam Larson has been compromised. The South Docks are swarming with feds.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m aware.”

“What the fuck? How?”

“Who do you think set it up, genius?” Scott and I had been working on it all fucking week, which was why I hadn’t been able to take Jaden out until now.

“You deliberately compromised one of our own fucking docks without telling me? What the hell?”

Sighing, I stood from my chair and shot Jaden a warning glare to stay where she was before moving to a private corner where I could still watch her.

“In case you forgot, I don’t have to run my plans by you before I act on them.”

He groaned. “Well, what the fuck do you expect me to do? Now is not a good time to have the government sniffing around with all the shit we’ve got going on.”

“No shit. That’s why I got Sam to take the fall to keep the feds distracted for a while.”

He paused. “That’s a lot of labor you just cost us.”

“People are easy to restock.”

He scoffed at that. “You could at least give me a heads-up before you invite the FBI onto our doorstep.”

“You would know if you’d been around for the past week. Sorry you missed the fucking memo.”

“I’ve been busy,” he groaned.

“And right now, so am I.” Hanging up the phone, I slipped it back into my pocket and released a deep exhale. I rolled my shoulders, then my eyes tracked Jaden back to her seat, exactly where I left her.

She was quiet as she stared off at the beach, her eyes capturing the setting sun as the breeze blew through her hair. I could easily watch her just like this for hours, mesmerized by the slightest flicker of her angelic features.

It was why I made sure to fill this place with plenty of plain-clothes security, knowing I’d be too damn distracted to pay attention to anything else. This was our first public outing since she’d been shot, and I wanted to enjoy it without issue.

When our dinner arrived about ten minutes later, Jaden grimaced at her plate.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She pursed her lips and sighed. “This isn’t real perch,” she answered, her voice slated with disdain.

I frowned in confusion. “What do you mean it’s not real perch? Of course, it is.”

She picked up one of the pieces of fried fish and took a bite. She then scrunched up her face and shook her head.

“Certainly not yellowtail perch.”

I furrowed my brow. “California has an array of perch species. What difference does it make?”