Chapter 15

Jackson fell asleep on the bed next to Ari, she couldn't sleep with him so close and she knew leaving him alone in it would be worse than the over tired feeling tomorrow morning due to lack of sleep. So, she stayed put.

In the morning, Jackson opened his eyes to see her laying on her back, staring at the ceiling. He snorted, completely amused.

"Didn't sleep, did you?" Jackson asked.

She shook her head, staying still.

"Maybe you'll be able to nap in the car."

"What?" Ari turned her head to look at Jackson.

"We have shit to do today." He said, sitting up to get out of bed.

He went to the bathroom, closing and locking the door. Ari assumed he went to go talk to Sid, so she got up to get dressed. It was Jonah who came in to get her about ten minutes later.

"Come on, babe. Time to go."

She looked up at Jonah, he didn't seem his normal cheerful self, but she was afraid to ask. She nodded, following him from her room to the elevator. Sid and Jackson didn't join them until the parking garage.

Sid didn't even look at Ari, he just got into the driver's seat, Jackson next to him, Jonah and Ari climbed into the back.

They stopped after about an hour of driving, at a coffee shop. Jonah and Jackson both got out of the car, leaving Sid and Ari alone for the first time.

"Are you mad at me?"

Ari asked him from the back seat. Sid turned in his seat to look back at her.

"Why would I be mad at you?" He seemed legitimately confused by her question.

"I just..." She hesitated.

"Ari, relax. I wish you had told me what Jackson was doing, but I know why you didn't."

He reached back to her with his hand, resting it above her knee.

"Don't hide from me anymore. That's our deal, no hiding, no avoiding each other, right?" He added.

"Yeah. I promise."

Ari answered just before the other two came back with coffees and breakfast. Jonah handed her a coffee as Sid turned back to the front. Jonah offered her a sandwich too, but she shook her head no. He put it beside her as if no was not an answer, so she ate it a few minutes later. They drove for most of the morning on the highway, with Ari still having no idea where they were going, and no interest in sleeping.

Jackson picked up his phone as it rang. He put it to his ear and before letting the person on the other side say anything, he said;

"Hey, 20 minutes."

He hung up and put his phone back in his pocket, without another word.

Closer to a half an hour later, they pulled into a giant auto wrecking yard, and parked by a contractor trailer just beside the big main building in the lot. Ari looked around in awe at everything, never seeing anything to this scale before.

Dom's truck was parked beside them, but he wasn't in it. Jackson looked back at Ari before they all got out of the car, to tell her:

"Stay here until Dom comes out for you."

"Okay."

She answered keeping even her seat belt on, as the 3 got out of the car and went into the trailer. She sat quietly staring out the window until Dom came out about ten minutes later.

When he did, he waved for her to get out of the car, and he headed further into the lot. She jumped out, locking it and ran after him.

"You look like shit." Dom said as she caught up.

"Good to see you too, boss." She replied.

He chuckled. "I need a few replacement parts for that build, go find some shit you want."

"Really?" She couldn't hide the bit of excitement peaking out in her voice.

"Be quick about it." He answered.

Ari was gone in seconds, and Dom waved an employee of the place down to follow her around to make sure they get everything she wanted. The guy nodded, but saw no sight of anyone else.

"She's around here somewhere. You'll have fun trying to keep up." Dom said as he went off on his own.

When the employee finally found Ari, she was digging through a pile of car, truck, and trailer lights. He saw she already had a small pile collected beside her of other things too.

"You finding everything you want?" he asked her.

"Yeah, um.. I found a bunch of other stuff, so the car numbers and shit are on my phone." She replied, still digging.

"Mind if I get a look? I'll get it all written up and ready." He had a clipboard with paperwork to fill out on it.

She shook her head, not minding and handed him her phone. He scroll down the list, writing it all down.

"Can you start a second sheet where I left the big space between the #580 rims, and #48 hood and doors." Ari asked.

"You goin' over your limit?" The employee with the name tag Gary asked.

She shrugged, "Probably, but they didn't exactly give one, either. Better to give them the first one and see if their eyes pop out of their heads."

Gary laughed. "Alright."

He handed Ari's phone back to her, and they walked back to the front on the lot when she said she was done. They found Dom talking with another employee.

"What'd she find?" Dom took the list from Gary, but he frowned, and looked up again. "This is it?"

Gary laughed and handed Dom the other full page of stuff she had him write down.

"That's more like it. Alright, can we get everything sent over for Tuesday, Mark?" Dom asked the other employee, who nodded.

"Sure thing." Mark and Gary both nodded.

When Dom led Ari back around the building, where their vehicles were parked. She noticed Sid's car was gone.

"They went ahead, I figured you could use a break from those 3." Dom walked her to his truck, and opened the passenger door.

"How long is this next trip?" Ari asked

"Long enough for you to sleep a bit, if you want. I don't think we'll be back to Bearhaven til tomorrow." Dom answered.

They climbed into the truck and Dom drove them out of the wrecking yard, towards the highway. Ari used her jacket as a pillow and leaned the seat back a little to relax. She was already falling asleep within minutes, Without the worry of Jackson near and coming down from her excitement, running around in the yard, she realized how exhausted she was.

"The next stop isn't the best place for you. I'm going to try and get in and out of there quickly, but I need you to stay in the truck if you wake up and I'm not here, you hear me?" Dom said before she fell asleep.

"Stay in the truck. I got it." She yawned.

He turned on the radio for the ride and to leave her alone to sleep, which she did quickly. He sighed with relief when it happened too, knowing it was going to be a long day even for someone who actually slept last night.

When Ari woke up again, the truck was parked in front of a bar, and Dom was no where to be seen. She stared at a row of bikes beside the truck, and looked around to see nothing but motorcycles in the rest of the parking lot. She shrunk back down into her seat, and waited for Dom to come back.

It hadn't been anymore than a five minutes before three more motorcycles rolled up. Ari looked to see Dom had locked the truck, so she held her breath and hunkered down into her seat.

Suddenly the three bikers were behind the truck, one jumped into the back as the others walked up either side. The guy in the back hit the window, yelling at her. He started jumping to make the frame of the truck wiggle around trying to scare her. His friends were laughing.

She gave him the finger and hit the horn, holding it long enough that a crowd came out from the bar, Dom in the very front. When he saw what she was doing, and she looked annoyed, not scared, he chuckled. The guys around him relaxed, seeing Dom, the owner of the vehicle laughing at the situation.

"Sean, leave the girl alone." Dom yelled at the guy on the back of his truck.

The guy named Sean stuck his finger in his own ear and wiggled it.

"What??" Sean yelled with a smirk.

"Get off my truck!" Dom yelled.

Sean and his friends left the truck alone and walked over to the group in front of the bar. Sean watched the girl in the truck use her jacket as a pillow. He laughed as he realized she was going to try to sleep at a time like this.

"Did you bring us a present, Dom?" Sean smiled.

"Sure. Just let me hand over Sids old lady. He'd love that." Dom snorted, daring Sean to do something.

"That explains a lot, actually. She's literally trying to go to sleep at a time like this? I was really trying to freak her out."

Sean said while watching her again. The others seemed to get even quieter as they looked over at the truck too.

"Why do you have her, than?" Someone else asked Dom.

"She works for me." Dom answered.

Sean snorted. "Fuck off. You won't even let me work for you."

"I'll let you figure that one out on your own."

Dom winked and unlocked the truck, walking toward it.

He knocked on Ari's door and she sat up to look out the window. Dom opened the door, so she climbed out to reveal all 5 ft of her. She said nothing, didn't even give a smile.

"Come on, water break." Dom told her.

Everyone went back into the bar, mostly watching as the girl they now know as Sid's old lady walk in looking like she hadn't a single worry, and headed straight to the bathroom like she had been there million times before.

"Cute." The bartender commented, seeing her for the first time. Sean shook his head at him.

"Yep. We give her adorable nicknames, too. It help us forget she can kill you at the drop of a hat." Dom laughed, sitting at the bar.

"Who the fuck is she?" The bartender looked towards the ladies bathroom after her.

"Sid's old lady, apparently. " Sean answered.

"Well, that's frightening. I think I left something in the cellar, and I need to find it with the door closed and locked from the inside." the bartender walked away. Sean and Dom laughed.

Ari came out of the bathroom and walked over to Dom at the bar.

"Sean wants to talk to us before we go." Dom said and Ari nodded.

They sat down at a table with Sean and another biker, his cut read President. Sean's was VP.

"Listen, we're in a bind, and I hear you're in some debt. So.. Let's solve each other's problems." Sean started.

Ari glanced at Dom, who nodded at her approvingly. The bar went quiet, as only members of this group were currently present besides Ari and Dom. Ari returned her gaze back to Sean and his President.

"I'm John." The president introduced himself.

She nodded. "Ari."

"I'm going to be straight with you, the less we tell you the better. I need someone dealt with, but I can't seem to get him alone to deal with it. I think you can." John admitted.

"So, what is it your asking from me, exactly?" Ari didn't feel she should be asking him directly about whether she was supposed to just lure him, or do the killing herself, if that was even his end game.

"I just need you to get him alone. I'll take care of the rest." John.

"You realize you can hire someone a lot cheaper to do this, right?" Ari admitted, her debt being worth a lot more than the favour they asked.

"If something goes wrong... I'm going to need you to step in." John responded.

She nodded. "I understand."

They spent the next hour planning every detail of the rest of her night. She didn't bother to ask Dom if he had spoken to Sid and Jonah about it. She didn't care.

"Ready?" Dom asked.

"Yeah."

Ari had fallen asleep in the truck again, as to Dom's instructions. He said it was going to be another few hours before they hit their next stop to meet the Sid, Jonah and Jackson again. After they meet with them, they can carry out their plan in the evening with John.