Playing for keeps

09. Tread Carefully

K A L E B

Snores fill the entirety of the jet and all I want to do is suffocate the son of a bitch.

The bunk room isn't that small, but I feel as if Aiden is right inside my ear, clawing at my brain. 

I glare at him from the bunk across, as he lays peacefully asleep on the top bunk.

Logan has endured years of Aiden and his snores and has gotten used to it, so he sleeps equally as peacefully on the bottom bunk below him, a book open and spread across his chest from where he fell asleep. 

Griffin is in the bottom bunk below me and when I climb down from my top bunk, he's also fast asleep, despite the ruckus Aiden is making with his nostrils.

The bunks aren't that tall, so the top bunk reaches my neck when I stand over Aiden, debating whether his mother would forgive me if I killed the little shit in his sleep.

But Mrs Ford is ruthless if you cross her, and I don't think I'd have the backup from the others if she did come after me.

In the end, I let out a sigh and head into the main part of the jet with the comfortable chairs and tables.

Natalie is already out there, sitting at one of the tables, clicking away on her laptop.

I take the seat across from her and she doesn't even lift her eyes from her screen. "Aiden?" she asks.

I hum in response, pulling out my phone from my sweatpants pocket. It's only four-thirty in the morning, we don't land until late afternoon.

I'll just take a nap when the guys have woken up. That way I won't nearly murder them.

"What you doing?" I ask, leaning back into the soft, plush leather of the chair.

"Covering up our tracks," she answers, still not taking her eyes off the screen. "Thanks to Griff, we caused a bigger mess than what was planned."

I nod, thinking back on the last three days.

For the past few days, all five of us have been in Tokyo.

The Tokyo mafia decided it would be a great idea to ambush our Colorado safe house and everyone in it six months ago. And for those months in between, we've been planning our attack, making them wait it out and sweat.

In the midst of it all, a hotel ball room got caught in the fight, needing multiple repairs in the aftermath that will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not thousands, then millions.

But the Tokyo mafia now know that we don't come to play.

We expect them to come after us again, and we'll be ready. We caused them some irreparable damage in their mafia.

"Have you had a chance to look at the drive?" I ask, glancing to the USB drive sat next to Nat's computer, untouched.

That was another thing Boss asked us to retrieve. He assured that the Tokyo mafia leader, Haruto Hayashi, would have it on him. And he did

Natalie shakes her head, briefly glancing up at me. "No, Killian said not to. He wants to do it himself."

"What do you think is on it?" I ask curiously.

"Some secret spy shit maybe. Who knows?" Nat shrugs. "Killian's a man of secrets."

Yeah, that's an understatement. He's been more busy and distant than usual, since we re-located to California. 

As a mafia leader, he's supposed to be everywhere, leading, sorting business. He should have been on this Tokyo trip, but he'd sent us alone.

"So," Nat lets out a long, deep sigh before closing her laptop, turning her full attention onto me. "What's going on with you? We don't talk that much anymore."