Hate or Love?

Chapter Eight

Jayce had pulled off the road a little ways away from the gas station and got a terrified Lucas out of the trunk, who thought for sure he was being kidnapped. He'd gotten back on the road and they hadn't stopped anywhere else, they couldn't afford to.

"Is that guy okay? The hitman. Did you kill him?" Lucas asked curiously, turning to look at Jayce. Jayce was a little amused at the fact that he was worried about the guy that was trying to kill him.

"I didn't kill him, no. He almost killed me." Jayce responded, and Lucas nodded slowly, turning back to the front and looking out.

"He's probably behind us." Jayce added, looking in his rearview mirror for that stupid Impala. It was nowhere to be found, much to his relief.

By the time they reached the wharf with the boat, it was sunset. Jayce parked his car, hiding it behind a building. He knew he'd be back for it when he returned, and he didn't want to risk it being stolen. He grabbed his bag of guns, slinging it over his shoulder and grabbing his laptop case and shoving it in the bag, leading Lucas over to the boat.

"Hey, Jayce!" a man called, a thick German accent accompanying his words. Jayce turned, smiling widely.

"Hans! I thought you went to see your family today?" Jayce greeted the man with a handshake.

"Oh yes, that's today, but not to worry. A little later." Hans waved a hand, and then looked beyond Jayce to see Lucas.

"Who's this?" Hans questioned, raising a brow.

"This is my client. I was going to use your boat to take him to Colombia." Jayce gave as little information as he could. Hans nodded, going back into his office to get the keys for the boat.

"I'll see you soon?" he inquired, and Jayce nodded.

"A few days. I'll have your boat back to you in no time." Jayce replied, and Hans beamed happily.

"Good luck Jayce." Hans patted his shoulder.

"Thanks." Jayce tossed his car keys in the bag on his shoulder, adjusting it quickly and then went over to the boat, Lucas following behind him. The boat was an old vessel, painted white, but there were little bits where the paint was chipping off. One of the cabin windows was chipped, and there was a small portable space heater that wasn't on in the corner of the room. Along the back wall there was a small cot with a blanket folded neatly on top of a pillow.

"Alright, you sit on the cot, I'll start. This is going to be a while, so just... get comfortable." Jayce sighed, starting the boat up. Hans was below, untying the boat from the dock, and he gave a loud whistle to tell Jayce that he was good to go. Lucas sat down, and Jayce left the dock behind, setting off to Colombia.

"How do you know that guy?" Lucas questioned from the cot, and Jayce stared out at the water.

"He's an old family friend. I've known him for years." Jayce responded, and Lucas nodded.

"Now that we're out here... why don't we talk about that hitman?" Lucas suggested, and Jayce's heart dropped. He didn't want to talk about that unbearable son of a bitch.

"No." Jayce spat, his tone sharp and cold. But, he knew that only encouraged Lucas to talk more.

"You two obviously have a history, Jayce, and you're stuck with me for the next while. So just tell me." Lucas went over to him, crossing his arms. Jayce was silent, choosing to look out on the water and focus on that.

"Fine." Lucas gave up, going back to his cot.

It had been five hours at sea, and Lucas was asleep. Jayce was alone with his thoughts, which he strongly disliked. He found that he was thinking about Andreas a lot. Wondering if he had the slightest idea of where they went. Wondering how his ribs were, if his injured leg was alright. If his concussion was alright. Wondered if he had gone to a hospital. He wondered if he was alright. He didn't like how many of his thoughts were about Andreas. It made him mad that he was thinking about that idiot.

He remembered the one time that he'd gotten along with him clearly, and almost wanted to laugh at how dumb he'd been back then to even think about trusting Andreas.

Jayce sat down on a barstool, tired, but happy. He'd successfully delivered a client to some important meeting, thank god. Andreas hadn't been assigned to this client, which he was very happy about. It was a reason to celebrate.

"Just a beer. Whatever you have on tap." Jayce told the bartender, who nodded and got him a glass. He felt someone sit down beside him, and didn't even bother looking over.

"I'll just have whiskey on the rocks." Andreas said beside him, and Jayce turned, glaring at the man.

"You're fucking kidding me." Jayce clenched his jaw at the sight of the man beside him.

"Oh hello there! What a wonderful surprise, I don't have to kill your client, but I have to see you at a bar!" Andreas snapped with the same amount of venom as there was in Jayce's voice.

"Eat shit." Jayce didn't want to get up, taking a sip of his beer. If he ignored him, there wouldn't be a problem right?

"You eat shit." Andreas retorted, and Jayce glared at him. Andreas' phone rang, and he frowned, answering it.

"Hello?" Andreas greeted, and Jayce could hear the other person over the noise in the bar. He spared a glance at Andreas, whose teeth were gritted together as he closed his eyes.

"Shit.. yeah, okay." he said softly, downing the rest of his drink and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger.

"Yeah. Got it Mr. Bates. I'm on it, tomorrow" Andreas added, putting his phone down on the bar and putting his head in his hands. Jayce couldn't help but feel a little bad for the guy.

"Everything alright..?" Jayce asked tentatively, and Andreas looked at him, shaking his head.

"Why would you give a shit?" Andreas demanded, and Jayce sighed.

"Listen, just talk about it okay? It's better to talk about it than keep it bottled up." Jayce retorted, and Andreas fell quiet.

"Fine." Andreas finally spoke again, and Jayce was a little surprised.

"My boss just called. Said that the guy that I shot through the heart today is still alive. He didn't die. I didn't complete the job." Andreas ran a hand over his face, falling silent.

"I have 24 hours to find him and finish the job." Andreas added, and Jayce let out a heavy sigh.

"Jeez, man. That's hard." Jayce found that was all he could muster, and Andreas nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Andreas said dully.

"You'll figure it out. You're the best hitman there is." Jayce looked at the man, and found he was actually smiling at him.