Roll For Initiative

73. Lucian

S he looks so happy hanging out with everyone. She’s been down lately, with a few side effects still lingering after the attack, so I’m glad to see her smiling and having fun. I have to finish up that campaign. It has to be good since we are going to be moving. I do have something else special planned, but that has to wait. I watch her from a distance while drinking a beer with Jayme.

"God, your love is making me sick." Jayme jokes. "But in all seriousness, I’m glad you finally came to your senses about that one. I might have had to turn up the charm and claim her for myself if you hadn't." He nudges me. "So, did you get it?" I glance around before I nod.

"Yep, it came in 2 days ago, and I picked it up this morning."

"I can’t believe you are going to propose. You’ve only been dating a few months. You sure it’s not too soon?" He asks.

"I’ve known that woman for almost 16 years. I’ve known every part of her—the good, the bad, and now the kinky, too. I can’t imagine spending even one day without her, man. She’s my everything. I hope she says yes."

I’m planning on proposing on her birthday. I have a whole thing planned. I hope I don’t get too nervous. In such a short time, she has become my everything, my will to live, my obsession.

"What are you boys plotting over here? You both look like you are up to no good." Cassie snakes between us grabs Jayme’s Corona and takes a swig.

"We were just talking about your birthday gift from us; what do you think about round 2 of the auction night?" Jayme asks coyly. This causes both Cassie and I to spit our drinks.

"Dude, what? We were not discussing that. Cass, I swear we weren’t. We were just talking about the move." He bursts out laughing, and Cassie turns bright red. We have reminisced about that night a few times. She’s eager to try more stuff that was in that room. But we haven't discussed her being shared again.

"I can’t wait for you guys to be in California. We are going out to celebrate your birthday once you guys get settled, but I figured you needed a big party here with all your friends and family before you move." He has been ecstatic since Cassie said yes to moving; he was still worried I wouldn’t go if she said no. And I mean I can’t blame him because I’m not sure how keen I would have been with moving almost 3,000 miles away from her permanently.

"Sounds like a plan. Just promise me no guns." She nudges his side, where she knows he always has a gun tucked.

"No promises there, sweetheart. Gotta keep you safe. Plus, your boy still needs more time at the range before he can carry full-time. So, one of us always needs to be carrying." He isn’t wrong. I need a bit more practice with aiming. I can hit the target, but mainly catching the chest or shoulder. Which is fine in an everyday sense, but in this lifestyle, it’s signing your death certificate. If you shoot them anywhere but the head or the heart, they can shoot you right back. I’ve already had one bullet dug out of my body, and I’m not looking to add to that count.

"Hey, can we go for a walk along the water after this?" she asks as she slides her arms around my waist and cuddles close.

"Of course, mi amor. Whatever you want." I kiss her on top of her head.

Around midnight, the last few people say their goodbyes and head out. Cassie hugs the owner and thanks him for allowing us to have the place for the whole night. I know Jayme paid him well, but it was still very nice of him to accommodate us so well. Cassie stops by their bulletin board near the door as we walk out. Her hand goes to her mouth to stifle a small gasp.

"Baby, what’s wrong?" That's when I see the picture—missing Allie Jones, missing since 6/20. There are those blue eyes I remember.

"Are you ok?" I know she isn’t, but I need her to talk through this. It’s going to hurt, but her therapist said she needs to talk more about what happened.

"It’s not fair. Her poor family is never going to get closure. He ruined so many lives." She turns into my chest and cries. "She was so young. She was only 20. I should have told her to stay away the minute he started being violent."

"It’s not your fault, baby. You couldn’t do anything to save her when you were needing to be saved yourself."

"I woke up next to her. I don’t think I told you that part. When I finally came after he kidnapped me, there was someone in the bed next to me, and it was Allie’s dead body. I haven’t been able to get her eyes out of my head. Her beautiful blue eyes were clouded over and gray. So lifeless. He choked the life out of her." She cries harder into my chest.

“Mr. Snider’s men took care of her when Theo sent her to my house, so we might be able to do something.” I try to reassure her.

"Hey, what happened?" Jayme comes walking up, asking softly. I gesture to the board, and he realizes what is going on. I wonder if there is a way to get her body back so that her family can hold a proper burial for her.

"Hey, Jayme. Do you think there’s any way to get her body back to her family? So that they have closure and don’t spend the rest of their lives wondering what happened." I whisper.

"I’ll see what I can do." He says as he walks away, pulling out his phone.

"Come on, Mi Amor. Let's go for that walk, then we will go home.