Tipsy (Take It Off #5)(44)
Author: Cambria Hebert

I hefted several of the boxes into my arms and made my way out to the truck. It took quite a few trips, but I moved quickly and managed to get all the drugs stacked into the bed of the old truck. I filled the entire bottom up with short stacks so no one would even know there was anything back there unless they physically approached the truck and looked.

After making sure the salon was the way I found it, I pulled out of the lot and didn’t look back. Not too long later, my cell phone went off. I glanced at the screen and noted who was calling.

Show time.

“Dom,” I answered. “What’s up?”

“What are you doing right now?” he asked.

“Cruising the streets.”

“It’s time to move the shipment. Get here so I can take you to the stuff.”

I agreed and then hung up. I couldn’t help but wonder about the timing of this. Yeah, I’d been on standby for days now for the call to deliver the drugs. But the cop in me wondered if it wasn’t a coincidence. Did he know the cops found the stash? Did the owner of the salon call him and brag she’d turned him in?

No. That would just be stupid. Susan Highland might be in bed with drug dealers, but she wasn’t stupid. Hell, if she’d set up anyone besides Julie to take the fall for those drugs, it probably would have worked without an issue.

But she did set up Julie.

And Julie was more involved in this than people realized.

It didn’t matter anyway. It didn’t matter if Dom suspected anything because this was my shot, my clear shot at getting these guys. I was going in. I’d keep my eyes open, but I wasn’t backing down.

I drove to the back street where the Mustang was parked. After sitting in a vacant lot across the street and watching the traffic (or lack thereof) and making certain there was no suspicious activity near my car, I steered the truck to the very end of the street and parked it beneath a broken streetlight.

I decided not to carry the Ford’s keys with me. It would seem odd if someone in the crew saw me with more than one set of car keys. Instead of jamming them on my person or stashing them in the glove compartment of my car, I reached up under the wheel well of the back tire and found a small area to place the keys.

Yeah, it was crazy.

Crazy enough to work.

I mean, who in their right mind would leave the keys to a truck secretly stashed with millions of dollars worth of drugs in the back?

Me.

Without a backward glance, I drove away, heading straight for Dom’s place.

His house had an attached one-car garage that was on the side of the house. When I pulled in, I noticed the garage door was open so I figured I’d just go in that way.

A few steps up to the garage and I realized my mistake.

My muscles tensed as my brain registered I wasn’t alone.

The first hit came out of the darkness. His fist slammed into the back of my head, sending me stumbling forward into another punch that knocked my head back on my shoulders. Pain radiated from one side of my head to the other as I stumbled to catch my balance.

Three guys stepped out of the darkness, forming a triangle around me, closing in. Three against one. They weren’t great odds. But I was pissed. I was tired and a fight didn’t sound like a half-bad idea.

Shaking off the pain as best I could, my feet planted solidly on the concrete floor of the garage and I reached out, grabbing the front of a man’s shirt with a great yank. I pulled him off balance and sent him flying into the bumper of the car parked in the garage. The man hit and I saw his back bow against the metal frame. He made a groaning sound as one of the others punched me in the jaw.

I struck out, my fist connecting with his gut, and he doubled over and I brought my knee up into his face. The sound of crunching bone gave me satisfaction. Using my leg, I swept out the broken man’s feet and he fell back on the ground.

Preparing to knock him out completely, I yanked my arm back to throw down a punch, but someone caught it and spun me from behind.

The darkness swayed a little as I spun, and my stomach lurched. I caught another fist to the ribs and all my breath whooshed out of my body. Pain lanced through my chest and I bent over at the waist, fighting the urge to hurl.

Arms caught me from behind, linking through my biceps and twisting my arms back so I was rendered useless. The second man approached, and I kicked him. The kick didn’t keep him down and he came back to deliver a series of blows that caused blackness to swim before my eyes.

I felt the warm ooze of blood as it trickled down my face, tracking a single line over my cheekbone like a tear. I twisted, catching the guy pinning me off guard, and fell to the side out of his embrace. I hit the floor, my knees taking the brunt of the fall, but I pushed up, not allowing myself to feel the sting of pain.

I grabbed the guy looming behind me and slammed his face into the side window of Dom’s car. The glass didn’t break, but the guy crumpled to a heap on the floor.

I squared off, facing the two remaining men. I knew they were both hurting, but so was I. This wasn’t a fight I was going to win. We started at each other, throwing fists, taking hits, and I felt my skin swell as blood gushed from cuts on my face.

Several minutes later, the overhead light clicked on and the three of us drew back, blinking as our eyes adjusted to the new harsh lighting.

The sound of footsteps behind me caused my feet to move quickly, twirling my body around to see who was there.

It was Dom. “Maybe I should have sent more than three guys out here.”

“Do I not looked fucked up enough for you?” I asked, squinting through the dripping blood and swelling facial features.

“You’re still standing,” he said, flat.

“It’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than three guys to put me down and keep me there.”

“I saw something today that was very unsettling,” he said, ignoring my remarks.

I swiped at the mess on my face. “You look in the mirror?”

He lunged, snapping out his arm, connecting with my face, and then composing himself like he hadn’t moved at all.

The insult was worth it. He disgusted me so much that I knew if I was packing heat, I would already be holding him at gunpoint.

“You should have told me the hot little piece you like to keep to yourself worked for one of my employees.”

“What hot little piece are you referring to?”

“The one you so kindly let me know was off-limits.”

I wiped at the blood on my lip. “You telling me you keep a hair stylist on your payroll? Do you not like making appointments like everyone else?” I snapped.