Alliance – Chapter 69

I recognized the voice to be Chill’s, but I definitely did not recognize the man standing in front of me. His usual red hair and red eyes were a stark contrast to the jet black hair and soft grey eyes. I had to admit he didn’t look half bad as a normal person.

He noticed my confused stare and turned to me to say, “Aw, we’ve not met. I’m Crandall Covington and before you say anything I do not know what my parents were thinking with that.”

“You look so…”

Chill flashed his usual smile and cut me off. “It would hardly have gone unnoticed for me to show up at your door in club attire.” He turned his attention to Cherry.  “Shouldn’t you be hacking or something since you don’t have anyone to blow?”

His statement rolled off her. “It’s been a long time, Chill. How’ve you been?” I detected the cautiousness of her tone.

“Don’t be coy, Cherry. I’m trying very hard to stop myself from ringing your neck, you damned whore.”

“Oh really?” The insult seemed not to affect her.

“Have you no decency, Cher? How can you sleep with the man who killed my brother?  I thought you loved him.”

“Trevor?” I said in surprise.

Cherry looked over at me and rolled her eyes. She turned her attention back to Chill before responding, “I didn’t get much of a choice. I could either turn him down and end up at the bottom of a lake, or I could defile myself and live another day. I chose the latter and now I get to take him down, you pompous prick. And yes, I do have a system to hack…and I loved him more than you’d ever understand.”

With that, Cherry pushed passed him and went back to the dining room. I was utterly lost now. Even though she was with Trevor, I also knew she slept with Drake. It was possible she’d also slept with Eric. For all I knew, she’d been sleeping with Price this whole time. I was no closer to narrowing Raptor’s identity down any further.

And, apparently, everyone knew who Raptor really was but me.

Awesome.

“So, you’re Andrew Montgomery’s kid? I imagine all of this is as personal for you as it is for the rest of us,” Chill said softly.

I shot him an irritated look. “More.”

I heard Price shut the refrigerator behind me.  “That’s the last of it. Are you thirsty, Chill?”

“I’m good, bro.”

Price led us to the dining room where Cherry was working and we sat down. I still couldn’t get over Chill’s appearance. His skin actually had color to it.

…and, this was probably an insane thought to be having with three criminals sitting at my table, but it sounded like Chill’s whole way of speaking was different. Less formal somehow.

Weird. I had a blonde hacker who didn’t want to be a blonde, a guy who spoke in formal, cryptic tones when doing business as a red-eyed crazy man and…Price. And here I didn’t remember falling down the rabbit hole into whatever messed-up world I now inhabited.

Awesome.

I heard Price clear his throat and I focused my attention back on him. “Where are we, Chill?” he asked.

“The meet is set for late, late tomorrow night.”

“What meet?” I asked.

Chill glared at Price. “You haven’t told her yet?”

“Haven’t told me what?”

Cherry glanced up. “Oh. This is Songbird? Wow.” She shook her head and went back to work. “At least you being with her at the gala and last night makes sense now, Parker.”

Before I could ask what the hell that meant, Price replied, “Raptor wants to meet with Songbird before he commits to the deal. Chill has been spreading the word that you were a master planner.”

“How good of you to tell me. I thought he didn’t know I was involved,” I snapped. “If he gets to know who I am, I think I damn well get to know who he is.”

Chill put up a hand to quiet me. “You’ll be well disguised and I’ll be there with you as the broker of the deal. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Well we still have one problem, Chill. I’m not a planner of any sort, much less a master planner.”

“Correction,” Cherry interjected. “We have two problems. I can’t hack this system.”

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