by A. L Long
Table of Contents
Title
Copyright
Acknowledgment
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EPILOGUE
About the Author
Other releases
Contact
Contents
Title
Copyright
Acknowledgment
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EPILOGUE
About the Author
Other releases
Contact
Ryan
Jagged Edge Series #8
A.L. Long
Copyright © 2017 A.L. Long
Ryan: Jagged Edge Series #8
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior consent of the author
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictionally, and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Interior edited by H. Elaine Roughton
Cover design by Laura Sanches
ASIN: B07716GYP
ISBN: 978-1979311212
Acknowledgment
To my husband of many wonderful years, who is with me heart, body and soul through each word I write. If it weren’t for him my dream of writing would have never been fulfilled. I love you, sweetheart. And to my family, whom I also love dearly. Through their love and support, I can continue my passion for writing.
To the many readers, who took a chance on me and purchased my books. I hope that I can continue to fill your hearts with the passion I have grown to love.
Most of all I want to thank my incredible PA, Barbara Danks. I don’t know where I would be without her and to my wonderful Street Team (Athena Kelly, Lori Hammons, Kristen Ann Tanner, Marsha Black, Heather Swan, Sallie Ann). You ladies have been a godsend.
CHAPTER ONE
Ryan
I tried everything I could think of, but nothing seemed to work. I could have strangled my brother. He was well aware of how important it was for him to be a part of the last mission. Luckily, it went smoothly without his presence. With everything I did for him, I always made sure he felt like he was a part of the team, but still he never really put forth any effort to do his part, which brings me to now. We were supposed to meet at the shop and then head to Riley’s Pub for a few. We had been waiting an hour for him, but he never showed. I texted him several times, and also left several unrelenting voice messages, with no response. I really thought my efforts to get him hired with Jagged Edge Security would keep him out of trouble. Not to mention that it eased my mind knowing that I could keep an eye on him. At first, everything was going great, but now I’m not so sure. He comes and goes whenever he wants with no regard for the Jagged Edge team and his commitment to them. I got the feeling that his priorities were somewhere else and that somewhere wasn’t a good thing. Trying his number once again, I finally got through.
“Bro, what’s up?” Josh answered like this was just a casual call.
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for the past hour. Where the hell are you?” I asked, perturbed as hell from his obvious lack of consideration.
“A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”
I could have choked him with that remark, but instead I said one thing, “Put it on the back burner and get your ass to the shop,” before ending the call.
I could feel six sets of eyes on me as I threw my cell on the long table. I was pissed and by the look on the men’s faces, they knew how much. Trying hard to stifle my anger, I looked at Peter, and then to Chavez and waited for one of them to continue with the conversation.
“So, as you know, the debriefing on the Gateway mission went just as we suspected. Chavez was cleared of any charges for killing Elliott Crawford, aka Ernest Gates,” Peter reported.
Peter continued explaining how the debriefing went while my mind remained focused on my brother, and what kind of mess he got himself into. I just knew in my gut that he was back to his old ways and it was high time that I found out what was going on with him. Speak of the devil, Josh entered the conference room looking like he had been on a binge.
Taking him by the collar of his shirt, I looked him square in the eye and ordered, “Back room, NOW.”
It didn’t take him long to sober up. His eyes opened wide and his posture became erect. Following behind him, my annoyance was beginning to flare as I watched him sway like a rocking chair down the hall. The minute we were both through the door, I laid into him. There was no way that his behavior was going to be overlooked. Grabbing him by the back of the neck, I sat him in a chair and came around to face him.
“Whatever this is that you have gotten yourself into, it stops now,” I ordered. His eyes showed something I had never seen before.
“You know what, bro, I’m done. I’m done being told what to do. But most of all, I’m done with you and Jagged Edge.” The indignant expression on his face blocked what was really going on with him. There was something more than anger. Whatever it was, he needed to get rid of it before it took over.
“Whatever is going on with you, Josh, you need to talk to someone. I know there is something eating at you and it is clouding your judgment,” I expressed truthfully.
“Leave me alone,” he choked. “Don’t you even care? How could you forget what happened so easily? It hasn’t even been a year.”
“I haven’t forgotten, bro. I think about it every day, but I have moved on and you need to as well.”
Pushing to his feet, Josh pushed me out of t
he way and strutted to the door. Before he could open it, I demanded, “Where are you going?”
“What difference does it make? At least I won’t be here.”
~****~
When Josh left the Jagged Edge shop, all I could think about was how insensitive I was to his feelings. I knew the loss of our parents hit him harder than it did me. Out of every plane that took off that day, they had to board the one that crashed. If that wasn’t bad enough, it had to crash over the Atlantic, leaving all of the passengers lost forever. When a memorial on behalf of all the lives that were so wrongly taken was held, I thought for sure it would give him some sense of peace, but it didn’t.
So many times, I wanted to tell him about Mom and Dad, but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth. I guess it was because I didn’t feel it was my place and it was up to Mom and Dad to tell him. They never should have put it off until he was old enough to understand. They waited too long because now they’re gone and will never get the chance. If he knew that I wasn’t his real brother, it would kill him.
~****~
Stepping out through the sliding glass door, I took in the view of Manhattan from my rooftop patio. Thinking back, it was crazy how I came to own this place. I guess doing a favor for no other reason than to be a good Samaritan really did pay off. I never thought in a million years that the man who collapsed in the park would turn out to be one of the richest men in New York City. The only reason I accepted his kindness was so that I could be there for Josh. He deserved so much more than the life he was given as a child. So, when I came to own this place, I put it into a trust with explicit instructions that it would be sealed until my death. Josh would be the benefactor and would always have a place to stay.
Heading back inside, I figured that I had given Josh enough time to sober up. Grabbing a cup of coffee for him and one for myself, I walked towards his room at the end of the hallway. His door was slightly opened, so I pushed it with my shoulder as I tried not to spill the coffee from both cups. Setting both cups on his nightstand, I nudged the mattress with my knees, hoping that it would be enough to wake him. When he didn’t budge, I knew there was only one thing that was going to raise his sorry ass, and that was a nice cold shower. Since he was too heavy for me to carry to his bathroom, a little splash of water on the face to get him going was going to have to do. Entering his bathroom with a mischievous grin, I turned on the faucet and filled the glass sitting next to his battery-operated toothbrush with the cold water.
I wasn’t planning on dumping the entire contents on his head, but when he didn’t move with a few drops I knew I needed to take a more aggressive course of action. As I poured the full glass over his head, he came to an upright position and cursed at the top of his lungs, “What the fuck?”
Before he could say another word, I handed him his cup of coffee and ordered, “Drink.”
As he took hold of the cup with a shaky hand, it was obvious there was more going on with him than a hangover. Based on the way he looked, I was pretty sure that he had consumed more than just alcohol. Lifting his chin with my hand, I got a better view of his eyes. Instead of checking his arms for needle marks, I demanded, point blank, “Where is it?”
“Where the fuck is what?” he responded defensively.
“The shit you’re putting in your body.”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he grunted as he pushed from the bed, setting his cup on the nightstand.
I might have been wrong about what I saw, but usually when a person’s eyes were the size of cup saucers accompanied by dark circles, that was a pretty good indication that they were on something. Unable to get to him before the door to the bathroom closed, I threatened, “We are going to talk about what is going on with you, Josh. You are not going to walk away from this,” as I stood annoyed on the other side of the door.
CHAPTER TWO
Charlie
Another day, another dollar. I wished my life was more exciting than working a dead-end job that I couldn’t quit because I had bills to pay. When my only choice was to be on my own, I had no idea how tough it would actually be. Without a college education, and being a high school dropout on top of it, there weren’t too many job choices out there, especially in a small town. So, here I was in a small café counting what few tips I had earned.
All of that was about to change. I could always count on was my big brother Nick. It seemed he was always there for me. This was my last week at the ‘Last Stop Café,’ and then I would finally be moving from this forsaken town and packing my bags to be with him in New York. Nick said it was a step up from my current job, and even though I didn’t know a thing about bookkeeping, he assured me that he would show me everything I needed to know.
He was the lucky one out of the family. Nick had the smarts to put himself through college. There was no way that Mom and Dad could ever afford college for us, having not gone themselves. Even now, after all of this time, they were still just getting by. Dad was the only one that really had any income, and when he got hurt on the job and couldn’t work anymore, Mom had to step up to the plate and start working. Even though she didn’t get paid much being a housekeeper, at least it got her off the couch to contribute to the household until Dad got his disability check. Knowing her, she was more than likely unemployed and sitting back on that damn couch. When I left East Bank and moved to Cedar Grove five years ago, we weren’t on the best of terms. I haven’t spoken to her or seen her to this day. I guess I should have kept my mouth shut instead of telling her she needed to get off her ass and find a job. I just didn’t think it was fair that she watched television all day, smoking her damn cigarettes, while I busted my ass to keep the house running.
~****~
Hearing Mabel’s angry voice in the background, I gathered my tips, which only amounted to thirty bucks, and stuffed them into the pocket of my apron. As I walked back to the kitchen where all the noise was coming from, I could hear her voice getting louder. One thing about Mabel, if she didn’t like something she’d let you know, and it seemed like Zach, who was our only cook, always got the brunt of her wrath.
Trying hard to ignore her yelling, I walked to my locker to gather my things. It was times like these that I was thankful my shift ended. Opening my locker door, I grabbed my phone first, noticing that I had missed several calls from Nick. He hadn’t left any messages, so it couldn’t have been too important. He would just need to wait until I got back to my one-bedroom apartment before I called him back. Of all the things in this town, my apartment was one thing I wasn’t going to miss. Everything about it sucked, but unfortunately for me, it was the only place I could afford. I don’t think the mice I occasionally encountered minded it though.
As soon as I left the café, my phone began to ring. I didn’t have any friends so I knew it could only be one person. Pulling my phone from my bag, I swiped the screen and said, “Hey, Nichols.” This was the name that I gave him whenever he called. I could never say Nicholas when I was little so it was either Nick or Nichols.
“Hey, sis. Got some great news for you,” he said with a happy note in his voice.
“I could use some good news after the day I’ve had,” I replied.
“I can be in Cedar Grove by tomorrow morning.”
“Wait, you’re coming here?” The enthusiasm in my voice was apparent even to me.
“Yeah, I want to help you. You shouldn’t have to move by yourself. Besides, I’ve already made arrangements for a moving truck. I thought it would be nice to drive back together. Catch up.”
“Really, you did all of that for me?” I asked, thinking that I had the best brother ever.
“You’re my little sis. I would do anything for you.”
The minute I hung up with Nick, I could have cried. He was really the only family I had, other than my dad, whom I also hadn’t spoken to for a while. He was very upset when I moved out, and about the way I talked to Mom. I could have apologized to her for what I said, but my pr
ide got in the way, and now I am paying for it by causing the distance between us. Every now and then he does answer my call. Talking with him for a minute is better than not talking with him at all.
As I walked down the block to my rundown apartment building, I began thinking about how much my life would change once I was in New York. Living in Cedar Grove, West Virginia, wasn’t the ideal place to be, but it was the only place that was close enough to my dad, yet far enough away from my mom. It wasn’t only that, it was the only place that would hire someone who didn’t graduate from high school, namely me.
~****~
I had never been as excited as I was at that very moment. Packing up the last of my things, I knew my brother would soon be here with the moving truck. In a way, I was going to miss this town. I never thought that working at the small café would be hard to let go. I guess it was because of the people I shared five years of my life with. I think of everyone here, Zach and Mabel were going to be the most missed.
My dad would also be greatly missed. When I told him about my new job with Nick in New York, he wasn’t surprised. His only words were, “Good luck.” There was no, “I’m going to miss you,” or “Stay in touch.” It made my heart ache that he didn’t show any indication that he was sad to see move away.
