Permanent Lines (19 page)

“What is his job?” Miles asked.

“He’s a dealer,” she answered, “but he wants out.” She paused, her eyes all of a sudden
lighting up. “He could help us!” she exclaimed like it was the best idea in the world.
“He totally would!”

Immediately Miles was shaking his head. “No. Absolutely not. We don’t talk to anyone
involved. Too risky.”

“But he’s our in.” I stepped up, liking the idea.

“No. We don’t know his loyalty. Bringing someone from the inside here could be detrimental
… for us all. If our location and involvement got back to Antonio and his guys …”

Amelia was shaking her head. “No! No, he would never,” she said, full of energy and
confidence. “He would do anything to get out.”

“I need to do a little research on him first, okay?” Miles acquiesced. “Then we’ll
go from there. I don’t like the idea, but I do agree that having support and the assistance
of someone on the inside could be an immense advantage.”

We all nodded in unison. It was a legitimate concern. Before jumping in and contacting
someone on the inside—family, no less—we should get the 411 and make sure he was legit
and against the ring, wanting out like Amelia said. But the excitement of getting
closer was also there and humming through my veins full force. I pulled Amelia into
my side again, kissing her head. It was progress. The ducks were lining up. I couldn’t
wait to see this fucker fall.

Just after two in the morning, my cell started buzzing. I stared at it. I knew I wasn’t
supposed to answer it. It could ruin our cover, but it was Micah. Micah was my best
friend for fucking ever. He had no clue what was going on.

Giving in, I answered. “Hey dude,” I whispered, not wanting to wake Amelia.

“Where are you? Where’s Amelia?”

Immediately, I knew something was wrong. He was panting, his voice shaky. My stomach
dropped as I pulled back the blankets and crept out of the bedroom, waiting until
I got into the living room to respond.

“What’s wrong, man?” I asked, trying to hold back my panic.

“Are you okay? Amelia?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we’re good. What the hell is wrong, Micah?” I was getting antsy; I hated
how he was delaying.

“It’s Ken.”

My eyes shut.
Fuck!
Ken was Amelia’s father.

“Don’t even say it.”

“What the hell is going on, Merrick?” I hated that he didn’t know anything. He was
genuinely lost and confused as hell. “My dad just called and said that they think
it was an intruder. There was a break in, but it looked suspicious. Nothing was taken
and no one can get a hold of Amelia.”

I sat down on the couch, crouched over, my head in my free hand. Amelia was going
to be devastated, especially because I highly doubted that her dad knew
anything
. We hadn’t discussed who knew her situation, but I knew Ken. He was a huge sponsor
in motocross and a nice ass guy, and he loved his daughter—he’d do anything for her.
When Amelia took interest in racing, he did everything in his power, making her comfortable
with it and molding her one of the best racers I had ever seen, like his little protégé,
but in a good way. There was no way he could know about Antonio and not do anything
about it.
Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

“Merrick?” Micah questioned my silence, making sure I was still on the line.

“Yeah bro, I’m here.”

“Tell me what the fuck is going on,” he demanded.

“I can’t talk about it on this line. I’ll call you in the morning. Promise. It’s a
clusterfuck of crazy, dude.”

“I’m fuckin’ worried, bro.”

“Just answer when I call; it won’t be this number.”

“All right. Be safe, man.”

“Will do.”

I sat there for a minute after hanging up. How the fuck was I going to tell Amelia?
She was already feeling like shit for bringing me into this situation. Now her dad
was dead and there wasn’t a fucking doubt who did it. He was throwing his power in
Amelia’s face, showing her what he was capable of.
Fuck him! Fuck him all to hell!

I crawled back into bed, facing Amelia, watching her sleep. It was a time I’d learned
to cherish. She looked so peaceful when she slept—no worries, no heartaches, no blame.
I took my thumb and lightly grazed her cheek, pushing back the few hairs that were
hanging in her face. I just couldn’t understand it … why? Why did she have to be involved
in such shit? I knew she had an edge. She wasn’t like most girls; she was real, but
she wasn’t bad news. She wouldn’t get involved in bad shit willingly. I believed her
on that. This … this life she was involved in wasn’t something she got into on purpose—
she wouldn’t … she was too good for it, above those sons o’ bitches.

I exhaled. I hated it. I couldn’t wait for it all to be over, to be able to live a
normal life, just her and me. I just couldn’t wait. To be able to wake up together
and walk the streets without a care in the world, not worrying about who saw us or
what would be waiting around the corner. It would happen. Dammit, I would have that
life with Amelia. I didn’t care what it would take to get there. One day that life
would be ours … mark my words.

I made sure to be up before Amelia and took the time to call Micah to fill him in
on our shit show and ask for a favor. I knew the news she was about to get was going
to tear her to shreds. I couldn’t just tell her, I needed a plan. As much as I hated
relying on Miles for
everything
I needed to ask him another favor, too. I needed to make things as painless for Amelia
as possible; it wouldn’t bring back her father, but it would be something that would
help her cope.

I waited until just after seven to call Miles. He’s always to the office early, so
I knew he’d be awake.

“Miles Blackwell,” he answered, making me shake my head. I didn’t get his greeting—who
the fuck else would be calling him from this secret phone? Did he not have caller
ID at work?

“Miles, it’s Merrick,” I told him for shits and giggles.

“Yes, good morning. Is everything okay?”

“Not exactly.” The somber tone was back in my voice. “They tracked down Amelia’s dad.”

I heard him exhale, not pleased. “I was afraid they’d start hunting down loved ones.”

“Micah said that the house was torn apart, but nothing was taken. He was found by
the front door; bullet to the head.”

“Killed two birds with one stone.”

“Huh?”

“Killed him immediately to search the interior for Amelia, but also as a threat,”
he paused, “for the both of you.”

I took a deep breath. I was fully aware of that fact, but hearing it poured alcohol
on the open wound … it stung even more than before. “Yeah.”

“How is Amelia taking it? I imagine not well.”

“I haven’t told her yet.”

“The sooner the better, Merrick.”

“Well, that’s kind of why I was calling you …”

“Mmm hmm?”

“The walls are already closing being here, so I wanted to get her out doing something
she loves, maybe let her get her anger and sadness out.”

“Merrick, you know it’s too dangerous. You can’t be seen.”

“Where I want to take her, we won’t—no one knows about this place but Micah and I.
I just need help getting out of here.”

There was silence for a minute then a sigh of giving in. “I own the garage below the
building you’re staying. I keep the cars there that we don’t use often. There’s a
black Tahoe with dark tinted windows. No one can see in, so you can borrow it for
the day as long as you don’t go anywhere else.”

I exhaled, relieved. “Thanks so much, Miles. She’s really going to need this.”

“Understand the danger you’re both in,” he reminded me. “Nowhere else!”

“Trust me, I know. Even making this decision took a lot of contemplation, but I know
that this place is safe—I wouldn’t take her there if it wasn’t.”

“I believe you, but I’m going to highly recommend you’re not away long, especially
with the series of events that have occurred. We need to get working on our plan of
action.”

“I completely agree.” The sooner the better for me. I was ready the minute I found
out about this fucker.

“I received some positive information regarding Antonio’s cousin, Joseph. He seems
to be of very little use to the ring. Amelia could be right about him.”

Elation was started to build inside me. “You think we could use him?”

“I think so. We need to discuss a
flawless
plan of getting in touch, though. I’m sure he’s just as tracked as Amelia was. I
think we should meet tonight to compile information.”

“Name the time. We’ll be here.”

“I think seven this evening would be suitable.”

“Sounds good, and Miles … thanks again for today—I really appreciate it.”

“Send Amelia our condolences.”

“I will, thanks.”

After getting the plans straight for the day, I joined Amelia back in bed. I wanted
to be there when she woke up. I normally slept later than she did, so my not being
in bed would be her first sign that something wasn’t right. I didn’t want to tell
her straight out of bed.

At just after eight, her eyes started to flutter open. I watched as she rubbed her
eyes and stretched her hands above her head. Waking up like this would never get old.

“Morning, baby,” I whispered before kissing her forehead.

A groggy smile appeared on her face before she replied, “Morning.”

My stomach was already turning seeing her wake up so peacefully. My plan was to make
the day sound exciting, a secret getaway with just the two of us … until we got there.
But I didn’t know if I could do it. I didn’t know if I could make everything look
like hearts and flowers when it was anything but. I was torn.

“What’s going on?” She smirked. “I can see the wheels turning.”

“I wanna show you something today.”

She squinted at me in wonder. “I’m pretty sure we’d already checked out this place
top to bottom.”

“Not here,” I scoffed, grinning as she sat up on her elbow, intrigued. “I pulled some
strings. Go get ready.”

She didn’t move though, just stared, expressionless, at me. I could tell she was trying
to see through me, to understand what was going on. I felt bad keeping the truth from
her, but I didn’t want to tell her here.

I managed to scrounge up a grin and a little enthusiasm. “Go!” I gently pushed her
to her back, making her giggle. “Go get dressed!”

She climbed out of bed, still laughing. “Fine! I’m going. I’m going.”

As soon as she disappeared into the bathroom, I fell onto my back and took a deep
breath. This was going to be harder than I thought. Telling the woman I love that
her ex-boyfriend murdered her father because of her was ranking as the worst thing
I would ever have to do.

I rubbed my face before getting out of bed to get ready myself. It was going to be
a shitty day, there was no sugar coating it, but I was pretty sure the next few days
were going to be just as shitty, so I might as well get up and face them as they come.
The sooner I did, the sooner it would be over.