Walk on the Wild Side

Chapter 6: Once I Had a Secret Love

>< Ciara ><

"Is this is it?" I asked, somewhat unimpressed with the particularly small bag in front of me. I raised my gaze to the tall boy in front of me who shrugged. We were stood inside the school's stables a black duffle on the ground in between us. The cold night air nipped at my ears and I shivered again. I was always the one who was forced to go and ensure that the stock was all present and correct in the late hours of the night, no matter what the weather. I trudged to the stables where I met Owen who presented me with our order and we would sit and take inventory and then I would go back again and report that everything was ok and we were set to go again. However, tonight was not one of those nights, for tonight our stock was looking bleak.

"That's all they gave me." He admitted and ruffled his shouder length chestnut-brown hair. I sighed and ran a hand down my face in exasperation. I was going to get murdered by Branna for this and not to mention the rant that Alanna would give me about inconsistencies in her files.

"We paid for twice this. You know how high the demand for this shit gets in the first week or so. Fine, just go and put it away, you know the place." With that I dismissed him with a flick of my hand. He nodded, zipped up the duffle and swung it over his shoulder. He whirled on his toes to walk away from me but waited for a second.

"Hey, Ciara. Emmett says 'hi'." He called as he walked away. All the muscles in body tensed up and I clenched my fists. I gritted my teeth at the mention of Emmett Garrison, a man I hated to the marrow of bones and with every fibre of my being.

"Just do your job, Owen." I snarled menacingly and Owen just chuckled at my threat and continued on his way. I pulled out my phone and punched in a number, letting it ring.

"Did you get it?" Branna demanded from the other end of the phone. She always appeared quiet to everyone else but with Alanna and I, she was the oldest and therefore in charge. We didn't mind because she did a damn good job of leading us. She could be the loudest, most outspoken and brash person I knew but she was always in control of every situation.

"Yeah, about that. We've got a problem." I spoke slowly, trying my hardest not to aggravate my older sibling.

"What's wrong now?" She was just as tired as I was and from the edge in her voice, pissed off.

"Garrison's only delievered on half of the stock. Owen's gone to store what little we have but I figured you should know." I waited at the end to hear her reaction and from the almighty thump that I heard; she had hit something and hard. Her curse was muffled and after a few seconds of shuffling and deep breathing, she returned.

"Fine. What have we got then?" She huffed and I pulled out the folded up sheet of paper from the back pocket of my jeans and read over its contents, the blood rushing from my face at the small numbers.

"x50 bags of 12 E, x100 packets of Pot, and x20 of Coke." She sucked in a deep breath at my words. I could just see her clenching the bridge of her nose in irritation. I bit my lips, anxious and desperate to calm her. She may have been cool and collected the majority of the time but she was also extremely hot-headed when it came to the Business. Any mistakes or anomalies were unacceptable and she made sure we knew it.

"Shit, okay. Just get back here and I'll call Garrison." She quipped and ended the call. I removed the lighter from my back pocket and threw the sheet into a black bin which was filled with straw. I set fire to the paper and left it there in the bucket after taking a photo of it for Alanna's records. My phone began to vibrate in my pocket as I watched the paper and straw burn. The name on the caller id made me grin.

"Hey!" I chirped as I clicked on the small green answer button. My heart skipped with excitement and a smile automatically broke out on my face.

"Hey you, what's up?" He chirped. I felt like a total fangirl with the way my heart rate had increased and I was acting like a 12 year-old speaking to her crush for the first time despite the fact that he couldn't see me. I quickly thought up a lie to replace the truth. No one outside of school could know the truth, it was the basic rule of the Business. This was an inside job except for two specific cases and he was not one of them.