Go, Rook.
“OK.” I take over since I’m the planner. “Tonight we’re gonna send Ashleigh out to Drake’s neighborhood. She’s gonna run out of gas and pull into the parking lot. Call a cab and go home.” I look at Ford as I say all this and since he doesn’t stop me, I look over to Ashleigh for acceptance. She gives me the nod. “Tomorrow, just before Drake does his usual dunchtime getaway to the Cat Call, when the whole f**king world is up and about and we’re in plain sight, we’re gonna send Ashleigh back with a gas can. While she’s busy getting the gas in her car, me and the Shrike Bikes boys will take a little run over to Drake’s and start some shit. Our new BFF Scott the townie cop will show up—”
“Wait.” Ronin stops me. “Scott’s on board?”
“Not yet, but he will be. Just let me handle it. So Scott’s gonna come by a few minutes after we arrive, we’re gonna start some shit. Ford will be up on the roof of the building across the parking lot, keeping an eye on Ashleigh and driving the bot out of the bay. Ashleigh will pick it up, stick it in the car, and leave.”
“How’s Ford gonna get on the roof?” Rook asks.
“He’s gonna stay the night up there. Keep an eye on the place tonight. Ronin, you and Rook need to go out in public while this is all going down tomorrow. I think you should go to church. It’s only three blocks from your apartment, so you can walk. And it’s right across the street from the courthouse, so no one is gonna follow you in and bother you. When the shit’s all done, we’ll text you and I’ll have Ryan swing by and pick you up. This also makes Rook look sympathetic for next week’s testimony.”
I pause to gauge reactions. “Questions? Concerns? Comments?”
Everyone looks at each other, but nothing more is said.
“OK, then. Ryan’s got an old piece-of-shit VW that he drives in the winter. That’s what Ash will drive tonight. We can’t afford to f**k up the details, so Ashleigh really will have to run out of gas, coast into the lot, and then wait for a taxi. Ford, we need to siphon out the gas and then you can calculate the exact volume of fuel we need and how far she has to drive on that tank to make it to Drake’s place.”
“The approximate gas mileage for a seventy-four VW Beetle is close to twenty miles per gallon, so she’ll have to coast over there on fumes.”
“Damn, Ford,” Rook says with a smile. “How do you know this shit?”
Jesus Christ. I shake my head at him and shoot him a look.
“I once read the owner’s manual during Right to Read Week at school—”
“Enough, Ford.” Fuck. He shuts up and I continue. “OK, so I think Ashleigh should go home with Ryan so Ford won’t be seen driving her around later. You never know who’s watching.” I wait for Ford’s tantrum. In fact everyone waits for Ford’s tantrum.
But he stays silent and I swear to God, he is so lucky.
“You’re OK with that, Ashleigh? Ryan’s a good guy. He’ll cook you dinner. It’s just for a few hours.”“What about Kate?” she asks with a frown. “Who’s gonna watch Kate if Ford is up on the roof and I’m busy doing all this stuff?”
I’m just about to open my mouth when Rook blurts out, “I will! I’ll watch her tonight. She can stay at our place.”
“OK, yeah. That’s a good idea,” I say, looking over at Ford for a reaction to this, but he stays silent. Just calmly looking at Rook, who is tickling a now-smiling Kate under the chin. “OK, we’re set.” I get out my phone and text Ryan. A few minutes later he texts back a little picture of a upturned thumb. “Everyone goes their separate ways and we regroup tomorrow out at the farmhouse after the fake throwdown.”
We all stare at each other.
“Don’t we have a goodbye chant? Like, All for one and one for all?” Ash asks with a smirk, apparently at ease with things now that Rook is gonna watch Kate and this plan is stupid simple.
“Yeah, sure we do,” Ronin says. “Ours is, No good deed goes unpunished.”
No one laughs. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a joke.
Ashleigh and Rook leave first, talking about Kate’s needs for the night. And Ronin follows.
Ford arches one brow at me and I shake my head. He follows Ronin out and I’m just about to grab my jacket when my phone buzzes. Carson. I press his face. “Yeah.”
“First of all,” he says, gasping out each word and totally out of breath, “this is not my fault.”
I get a sinking feeling in my gut. “What’s not your fault?”
“I mean,” he says, ignoring my question, “I ran after her, OK? I ran all the way down Mason from Sick Boyz, to her condo. Left my f**king car and everything, because I wasn’t sure where she was going and I didn’t want to lose her around the first corner, so I ran.”
“So she went home? She lives in that condo right now, Carson.”
“No—yeah, I mean, I know. But it’s not where she went, but who she went with.”
“Who?” I ask, but I already know the answer.
“That Bobby Mansi guy. She says they have a date.”
That motherfucker. He wasn’t kidding when he said he was gonna ask her to dinner. I had to feign indifference to keep the charade going, but I am so f**king jealous. I can only imagine that this is how Ronnie feels every time I pretend to go out on dates with other girls. If she’s gonna leave me for this new guy, well—she’s not gonna get the chance. I’m gonna make damn sure of it.