An Ember's Touch

Background Info

“What happened?” 



“I don’t really know.” Reagan shrugged, flicking ash and anxiously rocked side to side. Kassandra crossed her arms and scowled at the packed parking lot. “One second, we were drinking. The next second he said he went to go take a piss and Beef was suddenly freaking out that he spotted him out in the alley out cold. I assumed he passed out until I saw blood. He was banged up pretty badly.” Reagan frowned at her.

Kassandra’s eyes fell to the sidewalk. There could be the chance he’d passed out and hit the wall but if he was banged up, then it wasn’t self-inflicted. Then her mind flashed back to Sebastian’s sudden interrogation. Anything weird. Any insignias, weird cuts, messages?

“Was there anything weird?” When Reagan gave her a weird look, she ignored it and went on. “Like weird cuts or markings on him?”

“I mean besides him knocked out in the alley, not really…but actually, now that I think about it. This was laying on him.” He patted his pants then fished it out, handing it over. It was a matte black business card with a scribbled skull on it. Kassandra stared long and hard at it, not ringing a bell to her whatsoever. Rest assured if anyone understood it, it’d be Sebastian. 



“There you are.” They both snapped over to see Kassandra’s mom coming over. She was currently dabbing her eyes with a tissue, Kassandra was quick to shove the card into her purse before she got reeled into a hug. 



“How is he?” Reagan switched hands to respectfully distant his cigarette from them. 



“They said he’ll be fine. He’s got a broken eye socket, a nose, a concussion but thankfully no brain bleed.” She sniffled some more, Kassandra swallowing hard from her mother’s sorrow. What was Balter doing now that he got his face pounded in? Was it Vincent like Sebastian had assumed? She could see it all: a couple of goons pounding her brother’s face in like he was some bobblehead, laughing it off. “Kass, where’d you park?”

Kass perked up, alarmed then. “I didn’t.” She started, both of them looking oddly at her. Her mind quickly flashed back to Sebastian briefly dropping her off on the other side of the hospital, telling her to get a hold of him if anything new came up then sped off. But what she had already learned over the last twenty-four hours, she couldn’t peep a word to them about the System nor even about Sebastian. Think of something, Kass! She shifted her purse more on her shoulder, “I forgot to tell you, Catherine dropped me off. We were out for lunch when you called.” She shrugged, knowing she would gladly freak out of excitement that she got pulled into a lie to find out that she was really with a boy instead. Should I tell her about Sebastian? Would it endanger her if she knew about him? Would it endanger me? “Where’s Dad?” She shifted, feeling her throat was dry.



“Up with Balter now.” She frowned at Reagan then. “How long was he gone before someone noticed?”

Reagan stared the ground, thinking. “I don’t know, maybe like five minutes. It wasn’t that long. Well, it didn’t feel that long.”

Kassandra stared at him. Beef found him. He was another one of Balter’s friends, a nerdy, chunky kid. But why did he go outside?  



~~~~~*~~~~~

Sebastian parked on the side of the gas station and cut the engine. The entire drive thereafter dropping Kassandra off still left him fuming with rage. Half of himself told him that he shouldn’t be surprised that Vincent tried to go behind his back, but same time he trying to figure out why he even did it in the first place. Why pin an attack on a little s**t like Balter? Motivation to make sure he gets his bargain. It didn’t make any sense, he’d usually wait three or four days before f*****g everything up. He melted into the seat and hid his face behind his hands then groaned deeply into this. Why would Vincent do this? “My day is just getting worse and worse.”



An obnoxious crackling peaked his attention then, dropping his hands to his lap and saw in the side mirror that Nate’s hot rod pulled into the gas station and cruised over. Nate pulled in on his left and parked, spotting Dank in the passenger seat. He nodded off to Sebastian as Nate killed it and reached into the back, Sebastian nodding off to him in return. “Just got back in town, huh?” 



“Yup.” He settled his phone down to his lap. “I forgot how Bora Bora was.”

Amused, Sebastian smirked down at his lap. He heard a car door open then shut, “Glad you enjoyed yourself. But we’re gonna have an interesting job here soon.”

“Does it involve this?” Nate held a small duffle bag out as he came over, Sebastian taking it.

“It’s big.” He nodded, unzipping it on his lap. With that said, he heard another door open then shut. Out the corner of his eye, Dank was now standing outside the car and leaned against the door. Both of their faces read that they were listening. “We’re gonna steal some stolen guns back from the police department.” He opened the bag and saw his custom pistol. He pulled it out and brushed his fingers over it, intently examining it.

“The police department?” Dank grimaced. “How the hell are we gonna do that? We can’t just walk in there and ask for them. I’m pretty sure they’re gonna tell us to get the f**k out.”

“I’ll finish briefing you guys when I get back.” He reached into the bag and found the matching silencer, putting it on. “Make sure Hunter is home. We’ll meet at the clubhouse.”

“And your sister?” Nate slipped his hands into his pockets and leaned on the car, “When we left, she was organizing your movies.” 



“Fuck.” He scowled at his lap. “Jus-f**k. I’ll text her, tell her I’ll deal with her tomorrow. How the Limited deal?”

“Waiting for the green light then they said they’ll set up a meeting. Your sis is happy about but I think she knows you did it to smother out her deal.”

“Don’t remind me.” Sebastian grumbled, loading the pistol. “I’ll try to be back before dark, I’ll text one of you.”

“Alright, mommy.” Dank pushed off the car. “Oh, by the way. Charlie’s hoochie got a hold of Hunter this morning. I guess they exchanged a few, nice words.” 



Sebastian glance at Nate then Dank, sighing heavily. “Fuck.” He dropped the gun back into the duffle bag then zipped it up, going for his cigarettes next “I’ll talk to him when I get back. Like I said, clubhouse meeting so be there sober. Got it?” He shot Dank a lengthy look before starting his car up. 



Dank held his hands up and chuckled. “Alright, Alright.”

Nate nudged him. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Good, because I’m not in the mood to go on about another lecture tonight. Behave while I’m gone.” Sebastian tossed his lighter in the cup holder and took a drag. He put the Jeep in reverse.

Dank flipped the bird with a grin while Nate nudged him, Sebastian sped out of the gas station. Down the road, it wasn’t soon after till his phone started ringing. He rolled his eyes out of instant annoyance, getting the vibe it was Dank or Nate. He found his phone and rose it up to see it neither of them.

It was Vincent.