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I took out the pack of cigarettes from my jacket. Placing one between my lips, I took out the lighter and lit it up. Then I leaned back against the bar counter and let my eyes roam across the people in front of me. Dancing, talking, kissing.

The same old Welsh's Bar.

My view was blocked, however, when someone came right in front of me. I noticed the somewhat familiar girl in the red dress, red lipstick, and those curves.

A small smirk formed on my lips as I straightened up from my leaning position. Her eyes met mine, a look so seductive and knowing. Hot. And just the type of girl I looked for in bars like these.

I was a little surprised though when she took the cigarette from between my lips and placed it between hers. Bold move. Unfortunately, I really wasn't in a hookup mood tonight.

"Not my cigarette, babe." I took it back from her. She frowned but overcame it quickly. Drunk girls like her did that a lot.

I felt my phone buzz the exact moment she wrapped her arms around my neck, looking up at me. "We can go to your house, babe." She craned her neck to the side, giving my eyes enough access to her pale, flawless skin. When she pressed closer, I couldn't help but run my hand up her side, into her long blonde hair.

My phone buzzed again and I pulled away with a heavy sigh, sliding it out of my pocket. It was a message from one of Ryder's men.

We've found the lead. Ryder wants you to get

done with him asap.

Always me. Why the hell could that bastard not do it himself? Probably because he wasn't as good as I was.

You know how to cover up your tracks good, he'd said. You know how to kill and you know how to take what needs to be taken.

I rolled my eyes and looked down at the girl who didn't seem like a priority anymore. If I let myself touch her, things would escalate to other big things, and Ryder would be pissed.

And Ryder getting pissed got on the very edge of my nerves. Everything seemed to get on my nerves these days.

"Sorry." I shrugged her arms off my shoulders and took a step away from her. "Gotta go."

"What?" She was pouting now. "But we were having fun."

Fun. I almost laughed.

"Like I said, I'm sorry." I started heading for the exit, not meaning it in the slightest. Nights with blondes like her made me feel like shit in the mornings anyway.

I heard her say something behind me but I was already moving past the crowd. I had stuff to do. And that included a guy, tracking him down, and most probably shooting some bullets through his head.

•••••

"Where's the stash?" Ryder asked. I dragged a hand down my face, trying to wipe off the exhaustion as well. Doing stuff like this needed a hell lot of willpower (and sleepless nights). I couldn't afford any more sleepless nights.

"There." I jerked my head towards the torn-up green couch behind him, where small plastic bags were thrown across.

"Where did you hide the body?" He asked, going over towards the bags and inspecting them. "Because I hope you hid it out of sight. Getting you out of jail won't be easy, Jackson."

I inhaled a deep breath. Like I said, this guy tested my patience all the damn time. I seriously had none left when it came to him.

"That's none of your business," I replied. "You needed the stash, I brought it here."

"Right." Ryder nodded, satisfied by the bags. "Get out of here then. You look like you could use some sleep."

I could use a shit ton of sleep.

Breathing out a heavy sigh of relief, I left the small shed in between the darkest of the alleyways and went towards my motorcycle. All I needed was to go home now and sleep.

"Dammit," I muttered under my breath when a thought hit me. Out of all the fucking days, school was starting from tomorrow.

I took out my phone and saw five missed calls from Mom. Slight worry edged into me as I called her back. She never phoned me at night and even if she did, it wasn't more than once.

Seconds passed by as the phone rang. And then on the third ring, she finally picked up. "Luc?"

"Mom? What is it?" I asked her with a small frown. "Are you all right?" That, as much as I'd like to ignore, was always my first instinct. I needed to make sure she was all right. I needed to make sure of that all the time. Especially after Dad.

"Yes, of course. Everything's fine with me, Luc." She sounded strange, almost sad.

"What happened then?" I asked her, dragging a hand up my curls and pushing them back.

Mom was silent for a while, almost as if trying to make up a coherent sentence. "I...I came back from my night shift." She worked as a nurse and her shifts lasted till midnight. That wasn't a thing out of the blue. I realized that it must be way past midnight right now.

Yet she wasn't asking me where I was at this moment.

Mom used to do that but then she stopped asking me about my whereabouts when I rarely came back home at night. She didn't know I worked for drug dealers. She didn't know I went around threatening people's lives. I was the same old Luc for her, just a bit distant.

"And?" I urged her to go on.

"Luc, I...think she's back." Those words were blurted out in almost a rush.

"What do you mean, Mom?" I really wished she'd tell me, whatever this was, later. Sleep was tugging heavily on my eyelids. My muscles felt sore, probably a bit bruised from earlier too.

"I think Grace is back." She said. "I'm pretty sure--"

"What?" And it was all of a sudden that I couldn't even think about sleeping anymore. Just like that, every bit of exhaustion drained away from me. Every part of me went hyper-aware and fucked up once I heard that name.

"Lucius--" I hung up. Not because I was angry. Fuck, I didn't even know what I felt at that moment. Shock, frustration and anger, yeah. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

It was overwhelming.

I think Grace is back.

I stared at the blank screen of my phone, blinking once. Twice. Series of thoughts started circling and fighting in my head, wanting out.

I closed my eyes shut, gripping tightly onto my phone. Nothing felt right. After so long of keeping my shit together, it felt like it might blow apart any second.

"Fuck." I whispered, dragging both of my hands up my face.

And there was that slight ache in my chest, almost a little too familiar.

Fuck.

I clutched onto the handbrakes and started my bike. It immediately roared to life.

Grace is back.