BOW DOWN: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Barone Crime Family) (29 page)

“I know, Cincinnati.”

“Call me Nate. All my friends do.”

“Friends?”

“Sure. Hundreds of them.”

“I find that hard to believe. Did Jim fake them, too?”

He laughed and we pulled up a spot. I felt a little better, but I still kept going over the facts in my head.

This was the first time we were coming across an authority figure. In all our time driving stolen cars and shooting guns, we hadn’t come up against the police yet. I was nervous they were going to spot the problems with our story right away and throw us in handcuffs.

“What if they’re looking for you?” I asked suddenly.

He sighed. “I was hoping you wouldn’t think of that.”

“You mean that’s possible?”

He looked at me. “I killed three people in the last week. Yes, it’s possible.”

I sat back, stunned into silence as we advanced another car. We were one away, and I could see the border guards eyeing us up from their booths. I suddenly felt like a criminal, and the full magnitude of what was happening sunk in.

I was in a car with a man who had killed. We had cash in the trunk, guns up front, and we were traveling with fake documents. If something went wrong, we were both going to jail. 

“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “I’ll get us through this.”

My heart was racing as the car in front of us pulled forward.

“Ready?” he asked.

“No.”

He pulled up and stopped, rolling down his window.

“Documents, please,” the guard said.

Camden handed him both of our fake passports. The man made a show of looking at them and glancing up at us.

“Names?”

“Cincinnati Benadictus,” Camden said. “But call me Nate.”

The guard looked at me. “Name, please.”

“Lucy May.”

He looked back down, studying the documents. After a second, he looked back up. “Reason for your visit, sir?”

“Vacation.”

“You, miss?”

“Same for me,” I said.

“Where are you guys headed?”

“Vancouver. We hear the beer there is fantastic.”

The guard didn’t smile, just handed him back the documents. “Anything to declare?”

“Just my love of your fine country.”

He frowned. “Please, sir. Anything of value to declare? Any cash or illegal substances we should be aware of?”

“No. Nothing.”

The guard stared at us for a second. “What about you?” he said, looking at me.

“Me?”

“Yes. Anything to declare, miss?”

I shook my head. “No, nothing.”

“Baby formula? Plants? Grains or seeds?”

“None of that,” I said.

He nodded. My heart was about to jump out of my ribcage.

“Have a nice trip,” he said, and the gate in front of us rose.

Camden accelerated smoothly past the guards and over the border.

“Welcome to Canada,” he said, grinning.

I felt like I was going to pass out with relief.

“I never thought I’d be so happy to be here,” I said.

“Nobody feels this excited for Canada.”

“Except criminals.”

“Obviously.”

We drove north for another few hours, the miles flashing by. I felt elated, terrified, confused, and ready.

Alaska wasn’t far away.

T
he drive
through Canada went surprisingly fast.

We stopped at a Tim Horton’s, like I promised her we would, but otherwise we stuck to whatever we found that was convenient and dingy motels. We ditched two different cars, moving up along the coast into colder and colder weather.

At one point, we were forced to stop and buy heavier clothing. I hated using our money for that, but I couldn’t exactly let Lacey freeze to death on my watch. Once the clothes were purchased, we were surprisingly light on cash; it would last us until we got to Juneau, but not much longer. I hoped, at least.

And worst of all, I wasn’t sure if Trip’s people could be trusted, if they even existed. It kept nagging at me as we drove. I couldn’t plan for what was going to happen because I genuinely had no clue.

I wasn’t sharing my reservations out loud with Lacey, though I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

“What’s going to happen when we get there?” she asked me one night, lying side by side. We hadn’t slept together since the night in the car, but there was a tension between us.

“I really don’t know.”

“I hope we see our parents.”

“We will.”

“Do you still trust Trip?”

I looked away. “I don’t know.”

We lay there in silence for a while. I couldn’t tell if she was sleeping or not until she let out a long, low sigh.

“It’s me they want, you know,” I said finally.

“What do you mean?”

“They don’t really care about you guys. They just want me.”

“What are you saying?” she asked.

“I’m just stating a fact.”

“You’re not going to sacrifice yourself for us.”

“That’s not high on my list of things to do.”

“But you will.”

I looked over at her in the half moonlight. I wanted to kiss her lips, but I had no clue where we stood. The tension between us was so thick it was hard to breathe.

“I will if I have to.”

She propped herself up on one elbow, frowning, her hair spilling all around her.

“I’m not letting you do that.”

“You don’t have much of a say, Lace.”

She put her hand on my chest. “Don’t be an asshole.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed her hair, pulling her face toward me, and kissed her hard. She returned the kiss, at first. But after a moment, she gently pulled away.

“Another night,” she said, climbing into her own bed. “Now I’m tired.”

I sighed, clenching my jaw, my cock rock hard but throbbing, wanting her sweet pussy. I watched as she turned over and pretended to sleep.

I had no clue what was going on with her, but she didn’t want me to fuck her. Still, maybe not that night, but very soon I was going to eat every inch of her delicious little pussy until her voice went raw from moaning.

I put my arms behind my head, annoyed that I was going another night with blue balls. She hadn’t been frigid, exactly, since that first time we fucked, but she had been distant. I didn’t know why but assumed it had something to do with the stress of the situation. Plus, she probably wasn’t sure how she felt about the guy she watched murder two men, even if it was in self-defense.

There were no easy answers here, this wasn’t just a movie or a game. It was the real thing we were dealing with. I hated how complicated it all was. For me, life was simple: I protected my family, and I fucked when I wanted to fuck. But for Lacey, though, things weren’t so easy. I wanted to make my tight little step sister come for me over and over, and as much as I knew she wanted it too, she was obviously too conflicted.

But it didn’t matter. I’d keep her safe, and I’d get that nice wet pussy again soon enough.

I rolled over and tried to sleep.

But it wasn’t long before we were through the Canadian portion of the trip and knocking on the door of America again.

We didn’t have to stray far from the border as we wound our way up toward Juneau. The biggest part of Alaska was the most northern, and it bordered Canada’s Yukon Territory It was basically one huge frozen wasteland where only the craziest, hardiest people went to live permanently.

Fortunately, Juneau was still close to British Columbia, the westernmost province in Canada. It was in the middle of a small sliver of land that fell down from the mainland toward Canada, which meant it was only a few hours’ drive from the border itself.

We were ready for the crossing, but we were nervous. I had no clue if anybody had reported our car stolen yet or not, and I really didn’t want to find out the hard way. We stole one just before trying to make the crossing, which definitely helped our chances, but it didn’t guarantee anything.

The line to get into Alaska from Canada was even shorter than the line from Washington to Canada, which meant we were put to the test almost immediately. Lacey seemed nervous, almost jittery, the whole ride toward the border, but she wasn’t interested in talking.

And frankly, neither was I. There were more important things coming, and I knew Lacey could handle herself.

As it turned out, though, it was pretty easy to get into America as an American, especially when the border guard was a young, bored Alaskan. We declared nothing and were across almost within five minutes of pulling up.

It was almost too good to be true, but neither of us complained. We sped down the highway, following signs for Juneau. I felt nervous and elated all at once.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we turned off the main road and headed in toward downtown Juneau.

“So this is it,” Lacey said, breaking our hours-long silence.

“Smaller than I expected.”

“More water.”

Juneau was a port city located in a bay. It was split between two halves, a western and an eastern half, with a bridge over the water connecting them.

But it wasn’t much of a city. I was used to Mexico City, which was an enormous urban place, and Lacey was probably used to Chicago. Juneau, though, was more like Hammond or any number of smaller cities spread throughout the US. Alaska probably didn’t have the population to support a large urban center.

“Small, too.”

“Can’t be too many people that want to live out in Alaska,” I said.

“Still. This is where we’re supposed to hide?”

“Maybe, maybe not. This is where we’re supposed to meet Trip, at least.”

She went silent at that as we slowly drove through the city streets. There were people out, though it was late in the day on a Thursday. The people were mostly dressed in outdoors-type gear, raincoats and boots and thick-looking sweaters. We were dressed similarly, which was good. We wouldn’t stand out.

“What do we do?” she asked after a few minutes of driving.

“Look for a pay phone.”

“You’re really going to call that number?”

“I don’t have much of a choice here.”

“Are you sure you don’t know where Trip might be? There’s no other way of contacting him?”

I sighed. “This is the plan, Lace. We didn’t have time to set up anything more than this.”

“Still, you’re supposed to be partners in crime.”

I clenched my jaw, memories coming back to me. I remembered the desert and Trip’s big black cowboy hat. On the ground in front of us were two men, strangers to each other, but well-known to the cartel. They owed us money, owed us a lot of money, and we were supposed to get that money. But when we showed up at their houses, they had both tried to run.

We got runners every once in a while, but usually people realized that it was useless to try to resist. Those two guys, though, they had both put up a fight, which was very unusual. Our standard practice with runners was to tie them up and drag them out into the desert. That was usually enough to scare them into talking.

But those two, they were made of stone. Or maybe they were feeding off each other’s energy. Either way, they refused to talk.

“Come on,” Trip said. “Where’s the money?”

“Fuck you,” the thin man said.

I kicked him in the face and he flopped backward.

“What about you?” Trip said to the ugly one.

“What he said.”

I kicked him, too, probably knocking out a tooth.

Trip sighed. “We can’t let this stand, gentleman. We need money and we need it today.”

“I have nothing for you,” the ugly man said. “You might as well kill me.”

“Okay,” Trip said.

Before I could stop him, he put the gun to the ugly man’s head and pulled the trigger, blowing his brains out. The blood spattered all over the thin man’s face.

“What the fuck, Trip,” I said.

He shrugged, shaking his head. “He wasn’t going to pay up.” Trip looked at the thin man, shaking in fear, covered in the other man’s blood. “Will you pay?”

“Yes! Please don’t kill me!”

We got our money that night. But I couldn’t forget the brutal and intense look on Trip’s face as he murdered that man in cold blood. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen Trip kill before, or like I hadn’t killed myself. But it was the callous, almost careless way that he did it that made me nervous.

There was something in Trip that I didn’t understand. We may have been partners in crime, but I didn’t know him nearly as well as I should have.

“We were close,” I said slowly, “but not that close. We were the only two white men in the cartel, so that naturally made us gravitate toward each other. Plus, we were both being run by the CIA. But I didn’t know him that well.”

She stared at me. “You’re kidding, right? I thought you two were best buddies.”

“We worked well together. But other than that, I wouldn’t say we were friends.”

“Fuck, Camden. You left our parents with a guy you apparently barely know?”

“I trust him. I mean, I trusted him.”

“What about now?”

“You know I’m not so sure now.”

“Get sure. Because if we’re calling, we’re taking a huge risk.”

“I know that. No other choice, though.”

I continued driving, looking for a pay phone. There had to be at least one in the whole city of Juneau, especially considering it wasn’t exactly the most advanced placed in the world.

“We can’t just do nothing,” I said.

“I know that. But what if Trip really did betray us?”

“One way to find out,” I said, pulling over.

I walked down the block, smiling to myself. Attached to the front of a performing arts center was a single, lone pay phone. I jingled the quarters in my pocket.

Lacey came after me. “Are you sure about this?”

I dropped the change into the slot. “Not really.”

“Maybe we should look around first.”

I dialed the number. “Yeah, maybe.”

“We can find a home base. Get settled in. Take a day and see what we see.”

The line was ringing. “That’s a good idea.”

“Is that thing seriously working?”

It kept ringing and ringing. After the tenth ring, and a few long seconds of an angry stare from Lacey, I was ready to give up. My heart sank into my stomach as I realized that I had no way of contacting Trip, no way of finding out what had happened to my mother. If I forgot the number, or if it was no longer good, then we were screwed.

Eleven rings.

“Maybe you should hang up?” Lacey said, looking around nervously.

Twelve rings.

“Come on,” I said softly.

Thirteen rings.

“Leave a message,” she said.

Fourteen rings.

“Not picking up.”

I looked at the phone in my hand, ready to hang it up. Maybe I could try again. Maybe it would work. Just as I was about to slam it down onto the receiver, I heard a weird noise come out of the handset.

I pushed it up against my ear quickly.

“Hello?”

“Who is this?” the voice said, clearly annoyed.

“Trip sent me.”

There was a long pause. The voice was a man’s voice, and I listened closely, trying to hear something in the background. But there was nothing but silence.

Lacey gave me a worried look.

“Where are you?” the man asked.

“Who is this?” I asked instead.

“We don’t have time for that. This line isn’t safe.”

“Then speak fast. Where’s Trip?”

The man was clearly annoyed. “Trip is here and he is safe. We can come get you.”

“Tell me where you are first.”

“Listen to me,” the man said quickly. “If this is Camden, you must tell us where to find you. We’re all in danger.”

I clenched my jaw. I didn’t want to tell them where we were, but they were my only chance. And he was right, we absolutely were in danger.

“We’re outside the Juneau Performing Arts Center, on the pay phone.”

“I know where that is,” the man said. “Stay there. We will be there in ten minutes.”

“Okay, but—”

He hung up, cutting the line dead.

I hung up the receiver and looked at a concerned Lacey.

“You told them where we are,” she said.

“And they’re on the way.”

“Who are they?”

“I don’t know. Trip’s people.”

“This could be bad.”

“Go get in the car. Make sure you’re out of sight. Sit low down in the seat. Make sure you can see me, but don’t draw attention to yourself.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t want you anywhere near me when these guys show up.”

“No. We’re sticking together.”

“Lacey. This isn’t an option.”

She took a step closer to me. “Listen, Camden. I get it. You feel like you have to do whatever it takes to keep us safe. But you aren’t sacrificing yourself.”

“I can’t keep you safe from this,” I said angrily. “I don’t know what’s coming.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does. Drive away, Lace, if anything goes south. I can handle myself, but I might hold back if you’re nearby.”

She stared at me silently for a second, and I had the absurd desire to grab her and start kissing her right then and there. But we didn’t have time for that. The men were on their way, and I had no clue what they were bringing or what was going to happen.

“Okay,” she said finally. “But don’t get hurt.”

“I won’t.”

She looked at me for another second and then jogged back toward the car. I watched her climb in, safely far away but still within viewing distance. I leaned back against the pay phone and idly checked my gun, making sure the safety was off.