Underground

34

Joel woke me up two more times during the night and by the time I woke up in the morning I was exhausted. Rolling over, I saw another note on Joel's pillow and groaned as I got out of the bed.

Shower & get dressed. Jon & the others are already here.

I frowned and looked at the time. It was almost twelve in the afternoon. Grabbing my towel, I walked into the bathroom and could smell the food from the kitchen. I peeked at myself in the mirror and blushed. There were hickeys almost everywhere on my body and I knew exactly who my culprit was. My eyes also looked at the earring on my left ear and I touched it lightly. I stepped into the shower and turned it on, letting the warm water hit my skin. I groaned as my muscles loosened up.

"Justine?"

I flinched a bit as I saw Joel's silhouette from behind the shower door come into view. "Relax. I'm leaving your clothes on the counter. We won't eat until you come down," was all he said as he walked out of the room. I washed and got dressed in record time. After putting my hair in a bun, I put on the hoodie and shorts Joel left out for me and walked downstairs to see Jonathan, Carter, Dorrian, Tommy, Alex, Staci and Cherine in the kitchen with Joel. They were discussing something important so I made sure to be extra quiet as I walked into the kitchen.

Jonathan was speaking and Joel glanced at me quickly before handing everyone their plates filled with food. I looked at the one I silently claimed as mine but Joel took it and handed it to Carter who winked at me and already had another plate in his hand. They all walked towards the dining room and I frowned at Joel. "Where's mine?" I asked.

"That was yours. He's setting it on the table," Joel said grabbing a bottle of white wine and tilting my chin to give me a quick kiss. "How are you feeling?"

I bit my lip, "Sore."

Joel's eyes lit up in amusement and I pinched him. Such a guy. He put a hand on my lower back and led us to the table where everyone was settling in. I sat in the chair on Joel's right side, who sat at the head of the table and licked my lips at the smell of the food. "So what's the plan? If this guy is running a kartel he's got a lot of brass in his pocket," Alex said looking at Jonathan.

"You met him, Joey," Cherine piped up. "What do we know?"

Joel opened the bottle of wine and poured my glass first before grabbing Staci's cup. "He knows too much about the organization. If I asked him what the base looked like I'm sure he could give me a full map out," he said gruffly. Holy shit. Jonathan leaned forward, prepped up on his elbows that were on the table. That earned him a very stern look from Joel.

"Valentine would want him dead," Dorrian stated.

"That's another thing," Joel sat down and tapped his lip. "He has a personal grudge against Valentine. Krash knows something about Valentine and I think that's why Valentine wants him gone."

I frowned, "What could Valentine have done for Krash to hate him?"

"A number of things," Carter said crossing his arms. "Valentine is not a well liked man but because he runs the Council and the Underground he's not an easy person to take down."

Go figure. If Krash knows something personal about Valentine then it would make sense why he would want Krash dead. I looked over at Tommy who nodded. We need to get inside his mansion. "We need to get a layout of his mansion before we even think of rescuing the hostages," Staci said which made Cherine nod.