Chapter 35: The Damage Done

Cyrus

“A heist?” Bonnie repeated.

“Yeah,” Madoc replied enthusiastically. “Just like the movies! Sunrise Corporation has its hands in many pots. Some public and some underground. I need you to stop another organization from muling a competitor’s product and then turn said product over to me.”

“What’s the product?” Goldie asked.

“Heroine,” Madoc replied simply.

Bonnie scoffed. “Absolutely not.”

“Absolutely yes,” Madoc replied. “Believe me, Ms. Black, you don’t want to defy my superiors again.”

“Where is this cargo supposed to be?” Blayze asked, defeated.

“You’re all aware of the Mega Mart ten miles from here on the highway?” Madoc asked. “What’s now a multi-billion dollar company with twelve thousand stores nationwide started right there at the first-ever Mega Mart location. A Sunrise Corporation competitor and kingpin in the heroin trade uses Mega Mart Trucks to ship the product there. Sunrise Corporation wants you to intercept the trucks and take the contents.”

“I’m sorry,” Harlow blurted out, “You want us to rob Mega Mart?”

“No,” Madoc said. “I want you to rob five Mega Mart trucks that will be carrying $500 million worth of heroin.”

That was some serious money. And some serious smack.

“The next shipment is coming through in four weeks,” Madoc continued. “Plenty of time to orchestrate an air-tight plan.”

“What’s Sunrise Corp doing with it once we give it to you?” I asked.

“Use your imagination,” Madoc said.

I shot him a glare.

“Look, none of my employers are injecting the stuff into people’s veins,” Madoc said as if he was being judged. “Anyone who wants to do it will find a way. What Sunrise Corporation can do is make sure it’s not cut with a bunch of garbage that’ll just result in more deaths.”

“I feel like I’m gonna be sick,” Red replied.

“You’ve all had a rough couple of days,” Madoc said. He slurped down the rest of his margarita and handed the glass to Harlow with a smile that made me wanna bash his face in. “I’ll let you all go for now and we can start discussing the full plan later.”

With that, he left the bar.

Harlow came over to me and placed her hand on my shoulder, giving it a loving squeeze. I didn’t respond. I was just feeling too sh*tty about all of this. First gun-running and now heroin. Sunrise Corp was turning me into a person I didn’t want to be.

“We’re not actually going to do this, are we?” Red asked the group.

“We need to call a meeting,” Bonnie replied. “MC officers and pack elders.”

“After what old man Goode did tonight?” Blayze asked with surprise.

“It’s not just the MCs affected,” Bonnie said. “Sunrise Corp has the whole town in their grasp. This needs to be discussed on a pack-wide scale.”

“Cyrus and Red?” Blayze said. “Think you can manage to get a meeting together? The sooner, the better.”

“On it,” Red said. I just nodded.

All of the other officers left while Red and I got ahold of the pack elders to set up a meeting for a few days later. After locking up, Red went back to the wake to get Gunner while Harlow and I went down to her trailer.

Harlow

Cyrus was quiet as we walked. He seemed really down.

As soon as we entered my trailer, I realized I’d left the place a mess. Dishes were piled in the sink, and the bouquet of sunflowers that Cyrus had given me a while back now sat dead in a 40-ounce plastic gas station cup on the kitchen table. I scurried to pick up dirty clothes off the floor as Cyrus sat on the couch, head in his hands.

“Sorry about the mess,” I said as I stuffed my clothes into the washing machine.

He didn’t say anything.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” he replied with a sigh. He stood. “I think I’m just gonna go for a run. Clear my head.”

I knew he didn’t mean he was going jogging. He left his clothes in a folded pile on the arm of my couch, then stepped outside and shifted. I watched as Cyrus’s wolf ran off into the desert, disappointed that I couldn’t go with him. And even more so that he didn’t want to talk to me about what he was feeling.

Cyrus still hadn’t come back by the early morning hours. I’d spent my time tidying up the trailer. I still wasn’t used to having a place of my own, and as it turned out, I was a bit of a slob. I didn’t bother making the bed, though. I was just gonna mess it up again anyway. I sat up waiting for Cyrus to return from his run, but eventually, my eyes grew heavy, and I must have drifted off to sleep on the couch.

When I woke, it was daytime, and I had a blanket draped over me. The smell of food filled the trailer. I looked across from the couch to find Cyrus in my tiny kitchen.

“Morning,” I said, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

“Hey,” he said. “Sorry I kept you waiting up. Hope you’re hungry. How do you like your eggs?”

“Oh, however you’re having yours is fine.”

“Over easy, it is.”

“I’ve never had a guy make me breakfast before,” I said as I stood and came over to the breakfast nook. “Where did you go last night?”

“Just out to the desert.”

“With other wolves?” I asked.

“I ran into a few.” Cyrus placed a huge plate of food in front of me.

“Oh, wow...uh, thank you,” I said. “But I’m not sure I can eat six eggs.”

“Sorry,” he said, taking half of them off my plate and placing them onto his. “I keep forgetting.”

I smiled and dug into my breakfast, but I felt a twinge of concern. Little things, like the food portions, mixed with bigger things, like his shifting and running off without talking to me, had me questioning where we were headed. Even after what Cyrus had told me about his girlfriend Jenny, I still wanted to be turned. To fully be a part of his world. Otherwise, there was a barrier between us. Like we existed in two different realities despite occupying the same space. But I didn’t want to ruin our morning together. We’d have time to talk about all of that later, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

“Hey, I was thinking,” Cyrus said between bites of food. “We did this all sorta backward. I’ve never even really taken you out.”

“Are you asking me on a date?”

“Yeah, I am,” he said with a smile that melted me. “You free tonight?”

My spirits were immediately lifted.

“Yes,” I said. “Where do you wanna go?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Ooh, tall, dark, handsome, AND mysterious. You just might get a goodnight kiss out of it.”

“Considering what we’ve already done, I’m hoping for a lot more than that,” he said with a laugh.

We spent the rest of our breakfast chit-chatting about the day we each had ahead of us. The hint of somberness from the night before wasn’t there anymore. Talking like this felt nice. Almost normal. Whatever that means.

After breakfast, we each took a turn in my tiny shower and headed out for the day. When we reached the top of the hill, Cyrus kissed me before I went in for my shift at the bar.

I was the first bartender there, and Stella popped in to confirm I was still ok with putting a word in with Bonnie about her becoming a prospect. I assured her that it was fine and served her a drink on me. I was ready to let bygones be bygones between us. Girl power and all that jazz.

Brat came in not long after. She wore her dress and makeup from the day before. Her cut was zipped all the way up, and the collar was popped so that her neck was covered.

“I need a shot,” Brat said, sitting beside Stella. “Vodka, please.”

“Looks like someone’s doing the walk of shame,” Stella joked. “Are you hiding a hickey?” She referred to Brat’s popped collar.

“You know how I was talking with Liam at the wake?” Brat said in a low voice.

“From where I stood, you two were doing a bit more than talking, but yes,” I said as I poured her shot. I slid it to her and she downed it.

“Ok, so we were really drunk, you know?” she said.

“You got drunk and boned a guy,” Stella said. “No judgment.”

“That’s not all,” Brat said with a worried look on her face.

She unzipped her cut and pulled down the collar to reveal her neck. My jaw dropped.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked, looking at a sizable bite mark on Brat’s neck.

She nodded frantically. “Liam and I got mated!”