Free Ride with Me by Chelsea Camaron, Ryan Michele Page B

my boy, and I make it a point to kiss my girl and boy before I head out on a run. He stayed the night over at Ma’s, though.
    I thought about stopping by Ma’s, but there is no time. The guys are waiting for me. I need to hurry my ass.
    ***
    Rhys drives the box truck with GT and Tug in the back and me shotgun. We pull up to the warehouse in Custer, Georgia. Looking around, nothing is amiss. When I pull out my cell and call Buzz, he answers on the first ring.
    “Clear. No activity.” And then he hangs up.
    “Good,” I tell Rhys as he backs the truck up to the large steel door.
    The green building stands tall in the middle of nowhere. We own two acres here, and the building is in the center of it.
    “Let’s do this,” GT calls out, opening the hatch to the door. I keep a lookout, making sure nothing is out of place. Sure, Buzz is our eye in the sky with all his technology bullshit, but we can never be too careful.
    Everything looks clear.
    We got here an hour earlier than we are supposed to in order to meet Tripp and Rex, wanting to get our shit loaded before they got here. We load the last crate just as a large red and black International rig pulls up, the trailer hooked already.
    All four of us come to attention, our eyes on the truck. We met Tripp and Rex before at a rally, but one can never be too careful. They are cousins yet look so damn much alike you can’t really tell the difference until you see their eyes or their ink.
    Tripp has brown eyes with an arm piece of a broken chain that goes all the way to the top of his right hand, and Rex has blue eyes. They both wear their long, blondish-brown hair in man buns and typically wear shades until they are up close and pull them off.
    The doors open, and the two men step out, coming in our direction. We move in unison, meeting them halfway.
    I hold out my hand to Tripp. “Thanks for coming.”
    He takes it, shaking back. “It’s what we do.”
    I nod as I move to Rex, and everyone says their hellos.
    “You wanna pull the truck up?” I ask Rex, and Rhys grunts in his usual way.
    “Yeah.”
    Rex then puts the truck in its place while I take Tripp into the warehouse. The only thing left inside is the shipment he needs to deliver.
    I point to the large stack of crates. “This is it.”
    “Y’all weren’t shittin’ when you said large load.” He’s not wrong.
    “Yeah, there was no way to get this shit delivered with what we already loaded in the truck. You’re headed to Consequences, New Mexico, right?” I ask, making sure they know the destination.
    “Yep, got it all worked out. Let’s get loaded and get the fuck out of here,” Tripp says, putting his shades back in place.
    I lift my chin and proceed to help load the crates.
    “You’re not gonna ask what it is?” Rhys asks with a quirked brow. He’s testing them. Rhys doesn’t trust easily.
    “That’s not how we roll,” Tripp answers, not skipping a beat.
    Rhys lifts his chin to him in affirmation.
    “We’re all loaded. Got the cash?” Tripp asks when Rex is loading the last into the truck.
    GT hands him a manila envelope containing the payment for transport.
    Tripp feels the package. “Thanks, we’re rolling out.” With handshakes, we lock up the warehouse and take off. “We’ll be in touch when it’s complete.”
    ***
    We drop our load off late and decide to stay the night in a cheap motel outside of Petersburg. Surprisingly, everything went smoothly on our end. Pops called during the drive, asking if we had a tail. Fuck no, we didn’t. We would have called that shit in, but Rex and Tripp weren’t as lucky. They had one, but Pops said it was handled.
    I roll over on the musty-ass bed that has probably been here since before I was born. GT’s ass snores in the bed next to me as I look at the clock and grab my cell, dialing my woman. I was going to call Princess once we got settled, but it was late, and I knew she had to get up early for Cooper.
    “Hey, baby,” Princess answers in