J Speaks (L & J 2) by Emily Eck Read Free Book Online Page A

park our bikes. When I bought the bar for Bill, the shed was already on the property. At the time, we didn’t have much use for it, but now it was proving to come in handy.
    I initially called Dig from the hospital. He wanted to dismantle Burn’s MM, and he’d been waiting for me to get on board. He claimed he had a plan. I didn’t want to hear it five years ago. I had nothing to live for, but I wasn’t ready to die either. His plan offered freedom—or death. Those were the only two outcomes, and the chance of death outweighed the chance of freedom about a hundred times over.
    Dig shut off his bike and rolled it into the shed. I closed the door behind him, putting a two by four through the handles. No one knew we were there, and no one knew what we were planning, but I was taking every precaution. Even though we weren’t on anyone’s radar yet, we both knew we would be soon.
    This wasn’t just about getting out of MM or bringing Burns down. I wouldn’t have been here if that was the only reason. It’s why I wasn’t ready five years ago. I was here for Elle, because my only shot at ever having her light shine on me again was to do this with Dig. To bring down MM, even if it killed me. If we couldn’t bring down Burns, the prospect of continuing to be his pawn was enough to make death sound appealing. Plus, if we failed at dismantling Burns’ empire, there was no way I’d ever get Elle back. It would be a man with Elle, or six feet under. Those were the only two options. I wasn’t going back to being a monster.
    “Good to see ya, brother. Been way to long,” Dig said, slapping me on the back in a half hug. “Ya never come visit the shop when you’re in St. Louis.”
    “Sorry, Dig. I avoid all Burns’ enterprises when possible. You want some of your brother’s jambalaya?”
    “Nah, I’ve been eating that shit since we were kids. Bill was the good one, ya know. Takin’ care of everything when my ma died, since he was the oldest. I was the bad one,” Dig told me with a devilish smile. I’d heard this story from Bill already. I wasn’t trynna reminisce with Dig. I was about making a plan.
    “Well , have a seat,” I said, motioning to the table. “Tell me what I got myself into.”
    Dig sat down at the table, picking up my shredded label and letting the pieces of paper fall through his fingers. “What’s this about? And you’ve got your Gramps in a vice grip. I knew something tipped the scales for you to make that call to me, but I didn’t realize it was this big.” Dig nodded towards the papers fluttering through the air, back down onto the table. I pulled my hand away from my shoulder , and ran it through my hair with a sigh.
    “We can have a heart to heart later. Let’s just figure out this plan of yours for now.”
    “If that’s what ya want.” Dig leaned back in his chair, kicked his long legs out, and crossed them at the ankle. He was a few inches shorter than me, with a thick, white goatee. I didn’t know his age. Ratchet would’ve been in his sixties by now. So Dig was maybe forty? He’d aged since I’d last seen him. Five years seemed like a long time all of a sudden. “Burns gets his product from Mexico. MM buys the drugs that keep one of the biggest Mexican drug cartels in operation. MM’s business is a large chunk of their empire. Before Burns stepped in, the Delmarco’s were the main player in Missouri’s dope game. They’ve been waiting for their opportunity to take it back from Burns, but needed an in. That’s where we come in. If the Delmarco’s take Burns’ business from the cartel, they got no use for Burns or MM anymore.”
    “Can the Delmarco’s handle that kind of business? And do we want the Delmarco’s running drugs through Missouri?”
    “They already own eastern Texas and most of Oklahoma. Missouri would be a welcome expansion for them, and accessible through states they already have presence. They just need Burns’ Mexican pipeline to get the product