Always Crew

They genuinely grew apart.

Tabatha got more ambitious in her sorority, and she started dating a pre-law guy, or so we were told through the sorority/fraternity gossip mill that was named Zeke. Tabatha’s new guy was rumored to have a high potential to run for Congress one day, and Tabatha seemed happy. Her dad’s loan went away with the disappearance of Harper, Sr., and I never heard another word about either Harper again.

I made peace with what I knew.

Back to Jordan.

He dated Jade and they lasted longer. A year and a half. They seemed happy-ish. Jordan didn’t talk much about Jade. She was nice, but quiet toward the end, and it wasn’t long after they broke up that we realized why.

He and Jessinda Hinckley got hot and heavy, almost immediately.

They’d been together since and were now on their second-year anniversary. And the two were dynamo, almost literally. Jordan never moved out from our house, so Jessinda was over, a lot, and the two fought, a lot. They also made up, a lot, and the heavy pants and wall thumping (even from the basement) became like background noise at times.

But Jordan was happy.

Spying Zellman and how he was grinning at Angeline, or Angeline’s ass, he seemed like he was going to be happy tonight.

Everyone was over at the house because they were graduating. We were having an out-and-out rowdy party. Sometime during the summer, Jordan and Jessinda were planning on moving to where she was going to law school in Los Angeles. Zellman hadn’t talked about the future with Angeline, but it was known that he’d be going wherever Jordan was going.

As for Cross and me, we were following right behind.

My brother had a solid network of bounty hunters, and with my own reputation expanding, I got a job down there. Cross was going to attend graduate school. Turns out, he enjoyed architecture, and was heading to get a masters in the field.

Jordan got a business degree, so he’d be getting a business job and starting the advancement process in whatever company he applied for. He decided not to join his dad’s company, instead letting his sister take the reins for after their dad retired. It seemed to make everyone happy.

As for Zellman, he got a communications degree, though he was going to study for his fugitive apprehensive licensing test.

Yes.

He was going to be a bounty hunter right alongside me.

BREN

“Bad news.” That was my greeting from Hawk the second I walked into work, as she was holding out my coffee.

I took a breath, just inhaling and had to decline. “Not today.” I eyed her warily as she frowned before handing off the coffee to Bonbon. Yeah, that’d been a shock to me, too, when we learned our new employee had passed her test. She was a certified bounty hunter, and I’d never been more terrified in my life, for the bail jumps.

“And what’s the bad news?”

“We got a Red Demon on the boards today.”

I groaned. That meant I was staying in the office, and seriously, not today. I was needing some action.

“But,” she piped up, smiling, and after working with Hawk for this last year, that smile never got old. She was my second or third type of family. I didn’t want to decipher the different groups, but I knew Hawk would take a bullet for me and the feeling was reciprocated. “We got a call from your brother. The guy they’ve been chasing popped up down here. They’re heading down, but wanted to see if a couple of us could help out.”

“That’s more like it.” There was a whole blooming feeling in my chest.

Hawk’s smile just got wider. “I thought so. Also, your brother said since he’s sending Congo. That you’re more than able to call in some of your own crew members.”

The door opened. The sunlight flared inside before a silhouette blocked it, shading us. As soon as the door shut, I saw Zellman heading our way with his own special glower on his face, but I already knew it was him because he pulled into the lot right after me.

He was still texting when I walked past his truck and rapped on his window.

“Fight with Angeline?” Please. No more. I thought they got their shit together, finally.

The glower turned into a scowl, which was totally different from Zellman. He growled. “Not because of why you’re thinking. She just texted, said Veronica needs a place to stay. The Nut Buster is going to be staying with us for the next two months. I’m going to go crazy. I’m going to turn into Bonbon.”

She breezed past us, saying, “White van. Offer is always there.”

His head reared back as she went into the bathroom and he visibly shook. “Will she ever stop with that?”

Hawk shook her head. “No way. Not until someone actually takes her up on the offer. Then she’ll probably hump them from happiness.”