Rock Hard: A Stepbrother Romance Page 0,27
it back alive and with the shipment intact, I was beating the odds.
And suddenly I was making runs way more often.
I checked the sun and decided that I had gotten far enough away from those guys. The actual meeting spot was another mile or two back toward them, but I would be deeper into the woods on the Canadian side by that point. They’d never know I was there.
Resigned, I hid in some brush and waited. The spot I had chosen was relatively shallow and slow moving, so I knew I could just walk across.
There was no sign of life aside from the animals. Nothing moved on the other side.
After a few minutes, I slowly began to slog out into the open river.
The water was cold and refreshing against my legs as I walked. It went up to the middle of my thighs, just under my pack, at the deepest part of the river. I felt exposed, incredibly exposed, and anyone within a mile of me could easily spot me there. I moved as fast as I could without being too loud.
And when I made it to the other side without incident, I quickly collapsed behind some bushes, willing my heart to calm down.
What would Becca think if they suddenly got a call from the border patrol? I’d hate to let down my mom, but on some level she had to already know. Truthfully, I was most afraid of disappointing Becca, perfect fucking Becca.
After a minute, my heart rate came down and I started my hike back toward the meeting place. I checked my GPS unit, looked at my compass, and knew I was going to make it just in time. The fishermen had put me back longer than I’d realized.
Canada, oh Canada, I thought.
Not long later, I emerged into an empty campsite.
I didn’t know how the local mobsters knew about it, but from what I could tell it had once been a popular spot. But over the years, because of economic factors I couldn’t begin to understand, people moved away and stopped going to it altogether.
Which made it a perfect site for us to meet.
I dropped my pack down on a bench and looked around. The guy hadn’t showed up yet, which wasn’t too surprising. They didn’t like to linger as much as possible. I couldn’t blame them.
I stripped off my shoes and socks and laid them out next to me in the sun to dry. I looked around at nature slowly reclaiming the campsite and wondered if the whole world would look like that one day, half man-made and half natural. The weeds would grow beyond just weeds, into full-fledged plants, and would wind their way through dead-wood structures until everything man-made was rotten and everything nature was green.
Not long later, I heard a car. I watched as a black sedan pulled down the dirt road and stopped at the other end of the site, not wanting to risk coming in any farther. Once, early on, a guy had driven his car all the way down to where I was sitting, and he had gotten stuck in mud. Not only did I have to smuggle drugs that time, but I also had to push a car free.
Two doors opened and two men climbed out. I watched, a little surprised, as they walked toward me.
The man on the right was bald and wore a black suit with dress shoes and sunglasses. He could have been twenty or he could have been forty: I had absolutely no clue. But he looked strong and he walked with an air of confidence that was unmistakable. He was definitely the muscle.
The guy on the left was new. There were two or three people that usually showed up, but none of them looked nearly as nasty or professional as this guy did. His face was scarred down one side and he had a constant scowl. I stood up as they approached.
“Why no shoes?” the scarred man asked.
I stared at him. “What?”
He nodded at the bench. “You took off your shoes.”
I almost laughed. “I had to cross a river to get here. I’m drying them off.”
He nodded as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Who are you guys?” I blurted out.
The scarred man smiled. “I am Rigley. This is Jenner. You will always speak with me. Pretend like he does not exist.” Rigley waved his hand at Jenner, dismissing him. Jenner didn’t move an inch, just stood there like a statue.
“Okay, Rigley.