The Bloom Series Box Set: Bloom & Fade by A.P. Kensey Page A

him
before in my life. Looked very political, though,” said
Reece.
    “ So you dropped off the
briefcase, then went and got Chloe’s phone number?”
    “ Wellll…” said
Reece.
    “ You went to the record
store first.”
    “ I knew you would be okay,
and look at you!” said Reece. He slapped Colton on the shoulder.
“Like nothing ever happened.”
    Colton shook his head and sighed. “So
what’s the catch?”
    “ Catch?”
    “ This guy gave you a
briefcase—probably full of money—and told you to use it to get me
out of jail. So what’s the catch?”
    “ That’s the best part of
the whole thing! He didn’t want anything except to meet you after
you were released.”
    Colton frowned. “What do you mean,
‘meet me’?”
    “ Exactly what I said. He
wants to talk to you, in person. He said I could go, too. I think
he might have some sort of business offer for us. Great timing,
right?” Reece turned left at the next street but Colton kept
walking toward the apartment building. “It’s this way,” said
Reece.
    “ He wants to meet now ?” said
Colton.
    “ That’s what he said. I
had to agree before he handed over the briefcase.”
    Colton looked down the unfamiliar
street.
    “ This doesn’t feel right,”
he said. “How does he even know who I am, or who you are?” Colton shook
his head. “How did he know I was in jail in the first
place?”
    Reece raised his eyebrows. “For a guy
who just survived a few hours in the lion’s den with cutthroats and
thieves, I would think you’d be a little less of a
chicken.”
    “ It doesn’t seem weird to
you?” asked Colton.
    “ It seems like this guy
wants to talk to us, hopefully about how we can both make tons of
money with minimal effort. Of course it doesn’t seem weird to me.”
He pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out if his jeans pocket and
squinted at a written address, then looked up at the street signs
next to the road. “I was right. Not much farther,” he said, and
started walking.
    Colton thought about it for a moment,
then followed Reece down the dark street.
    “ I’m not going to bail you
out of trouble again,” said Colton. “That was a one-time
thing.”
    Reece held up his hands. “Totally
understandable. And again—thank you.”
    They walked the rest of the way in
silence. Reece led them down quiet streets to a tall, unmarked
building in University Heights. All of the windows were dark and
the brick face was crumbling from age.
    “ This is it,” said
Reece.
    “ He told you to
come here ?”
    “ Yeah. Spooky,
right?”
    They walked up the small set of stairs
that led to the front door.
    “ I feel like I’m about to
have my organs harvested,” said Colton.
    “ Look, if you want, you
can just say ‘thank you’ and then we’ll leave. We owe the guy that
much at least. But there’s still the matter of all that potential
cash…”
    Colton sighed. “Let’s just get it over
with.”
    “ Atta boy,” said Reece
with a grin. He pushed open the old, wooden door and walked
inside.

 
     
     
    11
     
    C olton followed Reece into the old building. They stepped into
a single large, dark room. The entire first floor of the building
had been gutted except for a few structural pillars which propped
up the ceiling. Debris from interior walls that had been torn down
years ago was piled into small mounds throughout the
room.
    A single, naked light bulb shined in
the middle of the huge, cavernous space, hanging from a wire that
ran up to the ceiling and over to an outlet on the wall. A man
stood beneath the light, alone. He waited with his arms at his
sides, feet planted on the ground in a wide stance. The man wore a
long, dark coat over black clothes. His face was hidden by the
shadows cast from the overhead light, but Colton could tell he was
staring at them.
    “ This guy really knows how
to make an impression,” whispered Reece.
    “ Is that him?” asked
Colton.
    “ Yeah. Come
on.”
    They walked over to the edge of the
light,