Fallen Duet: Brody & Lola: Free Fall & Down Fall (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 1)

by Abigail Davies

  Sal placed his hand on her shoulder and dipped down. “I’m sure it’ll slow down soon enough.”

  “That’s what he keeps telling me, but it’s been over a year now, and nothing’s changing.” She shook her head, her light-blond hair fanning around her. “Listen to me complaining about him when he’s trying to do good in the world.” She clutched the strap of her purse and turned to face me. “I’ll speak to you soon?”

  “Yep. I’ll take a look at my schedule after my shift is finished.”

  “Thank you.” She waved her hand at both of us and walked out of the diner, her head held high and shoulders squared.

  “You know…” I started, looking up at Sal. “It’s rude to stare.”

  “Shut it,” he murmured, grabbing the two used cups off the table. “There’s a pile of dishes in the kitchen with your name on it.”

  “Ugh.” I followed after him, narrowing my eyes at the shake of his shoulders. “You’re so mean.”

  The door to the kitchen swung open, and I placed my palm on it. He wasn’t wrong, the dishes had piled high since I was in here not fifteen minutes ago. My hands would never be soft at this rate.

  LOLA

  The lull of the cars on the train had me in that state of almost asleep with my eyes open. My body was pressed against the window, my head leaning on the cool glass. I’d never been so comfortable in my life, but I couldn’t allow myself to fall asleep, not when my stop was coming up next.

  I’d contacted Moira to let her know I could start the sessions a week from Thursday, and they’d be at 3:30 p.m. every week. Sal had managed to work my hours around it and said he’d do it each week so that I could keep the sessions at the same time.

  All you needed sometimes was a little luck, and I seemed to have been getting it in spades the last few days. I hadn’t seen Hut and his crew since Saturday morning, and if luck were really on my side, they wouldn’t be there when I got home either.

  The train shuddered to a stop, and the doors whooshed open. I darted from my seat, grabbed my bag, and ran for the doors, making it out just in time. The sun was starting to set, and I stared up at the sky, fascinated with the colors that mixed together. It held the promise of a sunny day to come, and I couldn’t help but smile. Tomorrow was my day off. No college. No work. Just me, myself, and my bed.

  I made the walk home in record time, and as I got closer to the house, nothing could be heard—none of the usual music blasting through the walls, and no one shouting and fighting. Luck really was on my side today, huh?

  I smiled wide as I skipped over the broken step and pushed the front door open. But it soon fell off my face with what I was greeted with. My stepmom—Hut’s mom—was sprawled on the sofa, a needle hanging loosely from her hand. To anyone else, they may have thought she was asleep with her eyes open, but I could tell that she was in the midst of a high.

  I slammed the door closed, causing her to jump, but when she met my gaze, she relaxed back. “Ugh. It’s you,” she sneered, her movements slow and heavy.

  “Yep.” I stepped closer to her, wrinkling my nose at the stench emanating from her. I was guessing she hadn’t showered for weeks. The dirt and grime under her fingernails was just a patch on the dirt caked into her skin. “What are you doing here?”

  “This is my house, ain’t it?” Her light-brown eyes narrowed on me, eyes the same color as Hut’s. “Where’s that shithead of a dad of yours?”

  I raised a brow and shook my head. “I’d like to know the same thing. I’m sure you saw him at one of your spots in the last couple of months.” I grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and walked back into the living room to head up the stairs, needing to get far away from her.

  “If he ain’t gonna be here for me, then you can fuck off.” She tried to sit up, but the effort must have been too much because she let her body sag against the arm of the sofa. “I ain’t gonna have you leaching off of me, you little whore.”

  I laughed so loud that it startled her. “Me, leaching off you?” I rolled my eyes. “Wake the hell up, you stupid woman. I haven’t taken a goddamn thing off you since I was thirteen. I pay my way, unlike you and Dad.”

  My words must have woken the beast and given her strength because she pushed up off the sofa and stumbled toward me. I’d have normally kept my mouth shut and gone right up to my room, but something had changed recently. Maybe it was because I was out there on my own, trying to make an honest living and better myself, or maybe it was because I’d taken enough bullshit over the last seven years and it was time I said what was on my mind.

  “You little bitch!” She made a grab for me, but I sidestepped her with little effort. Her hands slapped on the spindles on the side of the stairs, and she growled. “You’re nothing! You’re trash just like that mom of yours was.”

  I inhaled a deep breath, trying to keep my calm. Crystal had always known exactly which buttons to press to get me riled up, and she’d used them often. When I was younger, Hut would protect me and pull me away. He’d take me for frozen yogurt, and we’d stay out of the house long enough for her to get high, and for Dad to either join her or disappear for a day or two.

  So many things had changed since then.

  “You wanna talk about trash?” I fumed, stepping toward her. She was only a couple of inches taller than me, and yet, I felt like I was towering over her. “Because the only trash I see right now is you.” I gritted my teeth, the plastic of the water bottle crinkling in my hands as I gripped it harder. “What are you here for this time, Crystal?” I raised a brow and waited for her to answer, but her high was taking her under, her burst of energy waning. “You want more money again?”

  “I’m gettin' what’s owed to me,” she sneered, pushing off the spindles and stumbling back to the sofa, her anger forgotten about.

  “What’s owed to you?” I couldn’t believe the gall of this woman. She’d never provided for us, never been there to see us on the bus or have dinner cooking when we got home. She never asked how our day was, never even knew the names of our friends. And yet, she thought she’d done an awesome job. The woman was certifiable, living in a fantasy land where she was the perfect woman and everyone else was out to get her.

  I waited with bated breath for her answer, but she was gone, flying high in her own head. What I should have done was call Hut and told him she was here, but the prospect of seeing him again after Saturday morning wasn’t one I wanted to face up to. Besides, she was out for the count, which meant he’d probably be home by the time she woke up.

  I took one last look at her almost-black hair hanging limply around her, and the grime caked to her face, and then turned to head upstairs.

  I was too tired for this shit.

  Chapter Five

  BRODY

  I pulled to a stop at the meeting place, the same building that we’d been running this operation from for over a year. On the outside, it looked like a run-down house that had seen better days, but inside it was anything but. We’d been given special attention to make sure Hut was off the streets, which meant a better off-site office and more equipment. Not that I gave ten shades of fuck what we were given. None of it mattered if I couldn’t get the intel and evidence to bring him down.

  I pushed out of the car and glanced around, making sure no one was watching me. The last thing we needed was for some low-level guy to find this place and tip Hut off.

  Once I knew I was clear, I ambled over to the door, typed in the twelve-digit code into the makeshift mailbox, and let myself inside. Voices immediately greeted me, one louder than all the rest.

  Kyle was the loudmouth of the team. He’d say what he thought when it was on his mind, and not give a shit what people thought about it. He was honest to a fault, and it got him in trouble more times than not.

  I closed the door behind me, the metal clanging on metal alerting the others that I was here, and all conversation stopped. We’d stripped the inside of the downstairs, leaving one giant room with a table and a station set u
p toward the back corner. It always made me laugh in cop shows when they showed people sitting in the middle of the room, working away with a board covered in suspects next to them.

  That wasn’t reality.

  Why would you situate yourself in the middle of the room, open to be shot at from all sides—you’d be too exposed. It didn’t make logical sense. At least in a corner, you were covered by two sides and could see the door clearly.

  Three heads swung my way, all their focus entirely on me.

  I hadn’t managed to get away for three weeks now, which meant all they had were messages from me. It was the longest any of us had gone without having direct contact, but it was to be expected with this case.

  This was what we did, we specialized in putting the people who ran drugs in prison. We weren’t your normal beat cops or detectives who did what we could when it was placed directly under our noses. No, we were special agents in the DEA—we went out looking for them before it had a chance to get to that stage. We weren’t interested in the guy selling baggies on the corner. We wanted the person at the top, the one funneling out to the streets and rolling in both money and drugs.

  “Look who finally decides to show up,” Kyle shouted, leaning against one of the desks with a smirk on his face. Out of the three of them, he was the one who I’d known the longest. We’d grown up in the same area, dealt with the same shit, and managed to come out on the other side.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’ve been busy, unlike some people.” I sauntered over to where they were set up and crossed my arms over my chest. “Got any new intel?”

  “Nope,” Jordan said, pushing his chair away from the computer he’d gotten set up. He was our resident computer guy, but he hated it. He’d much rather be chasing people down the street than tapping away at a keyboard, but someone had to do the job, and Jordan was one of the best hackers the DEA had ever seen. “We lost your watch tracker last night.”

  I raised a brow and let my arms drop at my sides. “What? What time?”

  “Around eleven. It didn’t come back on until two this morning.”

  “Shit.” I started to pace in front of the desks. “They must have some kind of blocker in the area.”

  “Blocker?” Ryan asked, pushing forward. When I wasn’t here, he was head of the team. We may all have the same badge, but that didn’t mean we were on the same level. Every team needed a leader, and I was ours.

  We were effective, and our conviction rate was one of the highest in the country. Other states requested that we come and train the local cops and other units, but you couldn't teach life. We’d all lived in it, breathed it, begged to get out of it, which meant going back into those situations made it not only easier but gave us an insight into how bad we wanted to make things better.

  “Fuck.” I dug my fingers into my temple, feeling a lack of sleep headache coming on. “Let me just process this for a second.” I yanked the closest chair toward me and sat down, trying to figure everything out so I could tell them.

  “Why don’t you fill us in on what’s happened since we last saw you?” Ryan asked, sitting in a chair to my right, his blue eyes focused on me.

  “I met the girl.”

  “The pretty one?” Kyle asked, his grin wide. Only he would ask that.

  “Yeah.” I shook my head. “The pretty one.”

  “What’s she like?” Kyle was all sorts of interested.

  “I dunno, want me to find out what her favorite color is? Maybe her favorite movie? Jesus, Kyle, will you let me talk for once?” They knew that the one thing I hated more than most was to be interrupted, especially when I only had a limited amount of time here.

  Kyle held his hands up. “You got it.”

  My nostrils flared, but I tried to keep my cool. “I think she may be my in, but I need to find out more. Hut strangled her on Friday at his party which made—”

  “Jesus,” Jordan spat. “Ain’t she meant to be his sister?” He shook his head, his fists clenched on his thighs.

  “Yeah,” I growled, remembering Hut’s hand around her throat and the look in her eyes as she stared at me, begging for me to step in. “Let’s just say that it took strength I didn’t know I had not to blow my cover then and there.” I ran my hand through my hair, making a mental note to get it cut. “I’m gonna work on her more and see if we can use her, but in the meantime, I got more intel.”

  I told them about the warehouse Hut had taken me to yesterday and gave them directions, telling Jordan and Ryan to scope it out. “Just log everything and everyone who comes in and out, we may be able to turn one of them into an informant. The more eyes we got, the better.”

  “On it,” Ryan replied, standing up and packing up some gear.

  “Kyle, I need you to follow Hut. Don’t take your eyes off him. Rotate out with Jord and Ryan. We need eyes on him at all times.” I leaned back in my seat. “When I’m not with him, I’ll try to take a shift watching him. There’s more than he’s letting on.”

  “He won’t take a shit without me knowing about it.” He grinned wide, his green eyes crinkling at the corners from the force.

  “You’re so disgustin', bro,” Jordan said, his nose wrinkled up. “Why you gotta talk like that?”

  “Like what?” Kyle asked, shrugging and acting like the innocent that we all knew he wasn’t. “I’m just sayin' I’ll be watchin' him.”

  “No.” Jordan stood, his six-foot-five height towering over Kyle’s mere six foot. “You had to mention him shittin’, and now I got an image in my head that I don’t want.” He scrubbed his hand over his dark-skinned face. “All I can see now is you standing and watching that dick take a fuckin' shit!”

  Kyle’s head reeled back, but he was never one to stop his emotions when they came forth, so his blast of laughter was expected. “Oh man, Jord, you get so upset over the smallest of things.”

  “Smallest of things?” Jordan asked, his brows now high on his forehead.

  “Yep, remember back when we were in our early twenties, and I borrowed your sneakers—”

  “You didn’t borrow them!” Jordan bellowed. “You stole them, and then lost them.” He took a step closer to Kyle. “Which you didn’t replace, by the way. You still owe me a pair of Jordans.”

  Kyle waved his hand in the air and scoffed at the same time my cell vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, seeing Hut’s name flash on the screen.

  “Guys—”

  “I told you I’d get you another pair, you’ve got no patience, dude.”

  “Patience?” Jord shook his head. “It’s been over a decade and you still haven’t replaced them!”

  “I—”

  “Guys! Shut up!” I held my cell in the air. “Hut’s calling.”

  All conversations stopped, and I pressed the green button to answer the call. “Hut.”

  “Brody.” His heavy breathing came over the line, and I grimaced at the sound. “I need you to come to my place. Someone has stolen my stash.”

  I frowned, staring at the guys in turn. Kyle’s floppy, light-brown hair was wafting back and forth as he searched all of our gazes, but Ryan was focused entirely on me, trying to garner what was happening from my facial expression alone.

  Ryan could read people like he read a book without a second thought. He’d learned the skill on the streets of Detroit and brought it with him, homing in on it and becoming an indispensable member of the team. The four of us were family, a family whose ties were deeper than anything I’d ever had before.

  “Do you know who?”

  “Fuck knows!” There was some rustling over the line. “Quinn and Jace are coming back now to help too. We just got back, and I’ve been fuckin' raided.”

  “Where’s Lola?” I heard Ford ask in the background, and my stomach dipped. There was no way Lola would do this, would she?

  “Go check her room,” Hut told him. “Brody?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Be here in ten.”

  The line dropped, and I pulled my cell away from my
ear. “Shit.”

  “What?” Ryan asked.

  “Someone stole his stash. He wants me to be there.” I scrubbed my palm over my face. “I gotta go.” I pocketed my cell and backed away. “I’ll try and get away again in a week or two. In the meantime, if anything comes up, send me the code.” I didn’t wait for any of them to answer as I spun around and dashed out of the warehouse.

  Hut wanted me there in ten minutes, but I was at least a fifteen-minute drive away. I ran every light I could without being a danger to anyone else, I sped down streets that I would have pulled someone else over for, but all that mattered was not getting into Hut’s bad books. If I were late, he’d suspect me. Maybe that was why he wanted me to be there? Last in the crew was the least trusted, right? I turn up, and then a month later, his stash in his house goes missing?

  It’d help if I even knew where he kept his stash.

  I finally pulled up in front of his house twelve minutes after his call, jumped out, and sprinted toward his open door, hearing his loud voice.

  “I don’t give a shit! Wake her the fuck up!”

  “I tried,” Ford told Hut where they stood in the middle of the living room. “She told me to go fuck myself and rolled over.”

  I shut the door behind me, the bang of it alerting them of my presence.

  “What took you so fuckin' long?” Hut fumed at me, and I swear to god, it took all I had not to lay the little shit on his ass.

  “I was visiting family.” I shrugged, not offering anything else up. It was true, and the closer to the truth I stayed, the less I’d fuck up my story.

  “Go wake the bitch up,” he told me, raising his arms beside him and letting them slap back down against his thighs. “She was here, she knows something.”

  “The bitch?” I asked, having an inkling of who he was talking about, but I wanted to make sure this disrespectful piece of trash was talking about his stepsister and not someone else.

  “Yeah. Fuckin' Lola.” He stormed off into the kitchen, leaving only me and Ford, staring after him.