by April Zyon
“Fuck that, cuz. You come here, and these assholes will be very fucking sorry that they messed with you.” I heard him talking to someone. “My cousin is on the road to here from New York. I need a meet along the road with her. She’s got trouble following her, and I need to be there for her.”
“She’s your family, Sarge, she’s our family,” I heard a sexy-as-sin voice saying.
Holy shit, if a voice could make a woman orgasm it was whoever was talking to Charlie right now. I had no idea who he was talking to, but the man’s voice was incredible and made me want to get to talk to him directly, but I didn’t dare ask Charlie to ask to talk to him.
“She is. She’s the only good one of the whole fucking bunch. You’ve met all of them except for my cousin Ava. She moved away years ago when her momma finally wised up and left her old man. Thanks, Prez,” I heard my cousin telling the man. “Okay, listen to me, Ava. I’m on my way with friends. We’ll meet you on the road. I will have someone take your car and drive it to another state. The last thing we want is a cop to track you because knowing you it has GPS and all the gadgets.”
“Oh, shit.” I felt my stomach rolling at the thought of someone tracking me through my car, and ditching it, but he was right. “How do you know how to do something like this?”
“Oh, Ava, sweet cuz, there is a hell of a lot that you don’t know about me,” he said and then added, “I’ll call you back soon. Right now, just stay on the interstate. Are you taking I-85 or I-81?”
“I’m taking 81 and then 59 because of the construction on 85. I know that there are tolls, but I have cash for them.” I felt a bit of relief. The drive was what I was dreading, more than 1300 miles of road, and he was coming out to meet me with friends? Who does that? “Thank you, Charlie. So much. I don’t know how to repay you.”
“You’re family, cuz. I will do whatever I have to in order to protect you, and so will my friends. Just don’t be afraid of them. You are family of mine, and that means something to these men.”
“You’re talking about them as if they are some kind of gang,” I said with a laugh. It was that nervous laugh I had when I was stressed.
“It’s because they are—we are. There is a lot you’ll have to learn fast about my way of life down here, cuz, but I’ll protect you from as much of it as I can. Just know that you are safe, no matter what.”
Oh, shit, I thought to myself. What have I gotten myself into? “I trust you,” I said finally and realized that I did. Charlie was there, and just like when they were kids he was going to make it all better.
“Good, keep trusting me, Ava. Do what I say and we’re good.” Charlie then ended the call, but not before I heard the start of engines, a lot of engines. How weird because they sounded like motorcycles, the big kind that scary bikers rode.
End of sample chapter
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