A New Ride Begins

Chapter 17

"You know the plan, right, Tommy?" Tig asks me for the millionth time.

Yes. I know the damn plan.

I've gone over it a million times in my head. I know exactly what's probably going to happen, and I know what is bound to happen after.

I know my lines, my cues and my marks.

I just wish he would stop making me second guess them.

The plan is that I make myself appear as a rival drug dealer, of no affiliation, just looking to make a buck; A new resident of Charming who is trying to keep off of the radar because I think I might be wanted in Texas for assault charges.

My name is James Vanderbuilt. I'm 23 years old.

Tig and Chibs had ID's made for me. The professional grade fakes put every counterfeit ID I've ever owned to shame.

I'll wait on the street corner, in a location close to the school where we know the Messengers sell to kids. I'll sell a bag of cocaine to Ratboy's teenage son, Marcus.

This will, in turn, probably get my ass kicked.

The boys made sure I knew that it was a distinct possibility that I would take a blow or two for selling on Messengers turf. But once the story comes into play, they are also confident that Patton will take me under his wing and have me prospect for his club.

I'll be the best fucking prospect those guys had ever seen. I'll gain their trust, their friendship, and access to their secrets.

We hope that the whole ordeal takes no more than a month.

Obviously, I won't patch in before the allotted time, which saves me the horror of becoming part of a MC that specializes in selling drugs to kids.

In that time, I can't be seen with any Son affiliated person, including Ellie and Kenny. That's going to be the worst part of it all, if you ask me.

Chibs and Tig provide me with a burner phone, so that I can keep in touch with them all, but I have to pack my bag and leave El's house until this shit is over.

She looked like she was going to cry when we said goodbye to each other. We knew it was coming, although we hadn't talked about it. Before last night, we had only been friends. The kiss changed something between us, but we didn't talk about that either.

*-Flashback-*

El was already sleeping on the couch when I got in after the final night of training. She looked so peaceful; I couldn't bring myself to wake her up. Instead, I gently picked her up and deposited her in her bed.

She slept through the transfer and I stared down at her for at least five minutes, willing her to wake up to no avail.

This morning, she found me in the living room, packing my bag.

"I wish you would've woken me up, Tommy," she said as she watched me shove the last of my crap into my bag.

"I'm sorry, El," I apologized as I slung the bag over my shoulder and looked down at her.

Her arms were crossed over her chest. Her bottom lip was stuck out in an endearing pout that made me want to reach out and grab it with my teeth.

"Shit, Ellie. Don't look at me like that," I said, holding my arms open to her.

She shuffled into my embrace, her arms still crossed over her chest defiantly, and I wrapped my arms around her. "It's only going to be a month or so. I'm going to call you all the time. You're going to be so sick of talking to me that you'll be happy I'm hiding out with the bad guys."