Undercover: Book 4 — Chapter 13

Clover’s Point of View

I glanced behind me and looked at Riley who was watching me carefully. She wasn’t dressed in her normal attire; instead, she wore all black clothes with chains on her pants and combat boots. Her bright blue hair stood out, making me cringe. She definitely took the whole going undercover thing seriously. Joey sat next to her wearing a green wig and all black as well. They looked to be on a date, but I knew, in reality, they were watching me make the first move with a man named Keith Mabry.

Facing forward again, I knew it was time to finally enter the building a couple steps away. I glanced at the glass windows and took in my reflection. My hair was up in a high, tight ponytail, and I wore skin tight black capris and a gray sports bra. I had black headphones in and one of those phone holders on my arm for joggers. My black fingerless gloves were on, along with my all-black Nike shoes. My eyeliner and mascara were perfectly in place, yet I still looked as if I had just gone jogging with my semi-wet shoulders, forehead, and hair. Anyone who knew me could easily tell I was Clover Thompson since everything about me was the exact same except the new highlights I got put in. Instead of plain blonde hair, I now had caramel and blonde highlights. Yes, it wasn’t a huge change, but I needed something new to show that I’m not that same girl I use to be. I’m now seriously in some risky business, and I needed to put my game face on. This was only the beginning.

Inside of this store awaited the one and only Keith Mabry, the same guy who Claire had no idea was faking to be her doctor. If going undercover was the new thing around here, then that’s fine. I’ve done it before I could do it again. This was all a test to see if this guy knew who I was, a risky test I may add, but still a test.

Ding, ding.

The door jingled as I opened it and entered. It was a small, inconvenient store, but apparently it was where Keith was currently located.

I glanced around the small store. There were only about five aisles, which meant it should be fairly easy to find him since Riley showed me a picture beforehand. I headed over to the back where the drinks were located. I reached my hand out to grab a bottle of water but paused when another hand reached out for the same item. I immediately retracted my hand and removed my headphones, holding them tightly in my left hand. “I’m sorry!” I said looking up at the handsome man wearing a low cut black shirt, black jeans, and a black leather jacket. I saw his hair was all styled to one side, and it made me curious to how Claire couldn’t realize this man screamed bad.

He looked at me closely and raised an eyebrow at most likely my appearance. “Just get done with a marathon?” he asked me.

I shrugged sending him a smile.

“Something like that,” I winked before grabbing the water. “I went on a short jog.” I shrugged and his eyes skimmed my body, making me mentally shutter in disgust. This body only belongs to one man, and it is definitely not this one.

“You sure you’re going to be able to pay for that?” he asked me, noticing my lack of pockets when I placed my headphones around my neck.

“Would I do this if I wasn’t going to?” I asked, opening the water and taking a long sip out of it.

“I don’t know. I probably would,” he said.

I bit my lip, turning my head to the side a little as I rubbed the back of my neck.

“Why am I not surprised.”

“Hey, you never gave me a name,” he said as he leaned against the cooler.

“You never asked,” I said simply.

He smirked.

“The name’s Keith.” He held out his hand. I put the water bottle underneath my left arm and shook his head carefully.

“I’m Key,” I said.

He chuckled.

“I’m guessing you don’t have a lock on you?” he said.

I gave him a blank look.

“It’s short for Keara,” I told him.

He rubbed his chin, looking like he was thinking.

“I don’t like it. I’ll call you Ky.”

I didn’t question it and only nodded.

“Where did that nickname come from?” he asked, following me as I headed toward the snack aisle.

“One of my friends gave it to me in grade school when I complained about everyone having a nickname besides me. Somehow it stuck all these years later.”

I lied as I pretended to look at the chips carefully. I wasn’t doing too bad at keeping this act up and it seemed he honestly didn’t know who I truly was.

“So do you run often?” he asked me.

I glanced at him with an amused smile.

“Every morning. I usually go to the gym at night as well,” I told him, acting like it was nothing. In reality, I did run often to stay in shape, which was something that stuck with me from when Mary was my manager.

“Funny, I go to the gym sometimes at night too. I’ve never seen you there,” he said.

I bit my lip as I felt his gaze still on me.

“I don’t usually come down here often. I just so happened to go on a longer jog and found myself on this side of town.”

I told him trying to hide my nervousness. C’mon Clo, you can do this.

“That’s probably a good thing since it can get a little wild around here, especially with all of those recent murders,” Keith said.

I couldn’t help but look at him.

“Careful now, you don’t want me to think you’re the one doing the killing,” I said, lightly elbowing him and cracking a smile to show I was joking.

“Has a pretty thing like you ever fought anyone off before?” he asked me, grabbing a few snacks and adding them to his basket, next to the 6 pack of glass beer bottles.

“I don’t think I should tell you that,” I said, taking a step closer and sending him a challenging look. I hoped I was actually giving off a seductive look like I give in magazines instead of some constipated look that some models get when they try it.

“How about tonight, you meet at the gym around the corner from here, and I could see how talented you really are,” he suggested, taking a step closer so he was only a couple centimeters away. I smirked as I looked up at him.

“Most guys just ask to go out to dinner. You must be feeling a little too confident,” I said, causing him to shrug as he smirked.

“I have a good feeling you won’t be denying my offer,” he said, bringing his face even closer to mine. I silently panicked at the closeness and took a step back, turning around and grabbing a random bag of chips.

“We’ll see,” I said, starting to walk away.

“See you at six,” he yelled.

I didn’t look back as I left the aisle and went to check out my two items. As soon as I left the store I released a long breath, looking up at the sky. Damn, I’m good. I didn’t think I could pull something like that off.  I guess living with Claire had some perks, seeing her and Caiden flirt when they thought no one was looking really helped me just now. Next time I need to stick with it, though, no matter where it leads. Unless it starts leading to sex, cause Andrew and I both agreed that’s a definite no.

Riley and Joey stood up as they saw me beginning to head their way again. They slowly walked to their car and slid in. I glanced behind me when I got a good distance away to see Keith was still nowhere in sight and quickly got into the car as they pulled up next to me. Joey sped off and Riley finally looked back at me.

“How’d it go?”

“I’m meeting him later at the gym up here,” I muttered.

She frowned.

“That’s good, so what’s wrong?” she asked me.

I looked out the window.

“I think I’m going to puke. He thinks I can fight. Does it look like I can fight?” I asked, getting louder at the end.

“Yes, you look very fit, which is why this is the perfect job for you. We can have someone back at the house help teach you a bit, but overall you did great. Now, what do you do if someone questions you about being Lucky?” She asked me again for what felt like the millionth time.

“I just tell them they must have me mixed up with the wrong girl because my name’s Keara. But I’m sure any paparazzi in Seattle is down by all of those top notch clubs,” I said rolling my eyes. “Now tell me what exactly is the point of all of this again?”

“Claire is going to keep Jesse distracted, you’re going to keep Keith distracted, and while you both have the two men’s hearts in your hands, the rest of the gang is going to start falling apart and we’re going to let it. Then eventually, I will get them all to turn against the two, and I’ll find out all their dirty gang secrets,” she said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

“And finally, we’ll be able to let the gang fall apart by itself and put an end to all of this once in for all, ” Joey added.

“What about me and Keith? And how long is this suppose to take because I think Andrew’s sister will eventually get tired of taking care of our kids like my mom did,” I said.

Riley looked at Joey.

“Don’t worry it should only take a month at most. It just depends on how long it takes you to get a cold-hearted man to fall in love with you,” Riley said.

I didn’t respond. Andrew and I had it easy. We were like soulmates. We fell in love so easily all through that Katy situation. Even Damien wasn’t that bad before he turned into a cheating jackass. We knew each other for quite some time.

“He’s not as cold as Claire's boyfriend, so it shouldn’t be that hard,” I said.

Riley shared a look with her fiance.

“Yeah, but at the same time from what I’ve come to find out is that Keith isn’t stupid. If you mess up and do anything suspicious, he would immediately stop trusting you and at the point you’re better off dead, so watch your back,” Joey warned me.

I nodded, not responding. How did my life change so fast? I missed being at home and hanging out with Tori as our daughters tried to chase after Xavier to paint his nails. I only silently hoped I could go back to all of that soon.

***

Jasmin’s Point of View

I walked up to the house, not caring that blood was all over my hands and on my face too. I was done hiding – they needed to know everything. Jesse was a monster. Chris only stated a simple fact that was true for many people in the gang, yet he shot him without a single drop of remorse. He killed him. He killed my brother and then threatened my life. If he thought everything was going to fine, then he was wrong.

“Jasmin?” Clover asked, getting out of a car with unfamiliar faces. She looked at me wearily and I only stared back blankly.

“Is that blood?” she asked.

I looked down at my hands.

“Yes.”

“Jas, who’s blood is that? Is it yours or is it someone else’s?” Clover asked slowly.

I couldn’t help but let out a dark chuckle.

“Oh, how I wish it was,” I said before closing my eyes and shaking my head. I felt my knees hit the concrete, and Clover ran over to me. She placed her arms around my body.

“Shh, it’s okay,” she whispered, rocking me back and forth.

“What happened?” a woman asked, stepping out of the passenger seat of the car. I didn’t respond and Clover repeated the same question as her.

“They killed h-him,” I stated, my voice cracking at the end. “They killed him.”

“Jasmin, who killed who?”

“Chris, the gang killed Chris,” I said, looking up at the woman.

She stood up, looking at the man in the car who was getting out.

“Okay, Jasmin, you’re going to have to tell us how they killed him.”

I didn’t respond and only stared at the grass.

“You can tell them, they’re agents, they’re here to help,” Clover reassured me softly, but I could hear by the tone of her voice she was upset, and my eyes snapped up to theirs. No, no, this is bad. This is really bad.

“You can’t be here,” I hissed at them.

“Why?”

“They’re watching me. They’re watching you, every single one of you,” Clover slowly released me and stood up.

“We should go inside,” Clover stated. We all nodded. We all entered Claire’s house and I was silently thankful her and Caiden weren’t home. It would only make this even more, difficult.

“How do you know?” the woman asked. I looked at her carefully as I sat at the kitchen table.

“I know because I’ve been following Jesse Farone for over 10 years,” I said, not even hesitating.

“You’re an agent?” the man asked.

I smirked looking at them.

“An agent? Now that’s a crazy idea. I’m a gang member. I followed Jesse’s order in high school, and even when he was in prison I was still following his secret notes and helping get things ready for him so he could come back and start his new business, his assassin business.”

“You’ve been watching me this whole time?” Clover looked disgusted with me as she dropped the glass cup she was holding.

“Yes, but I didn’t have a choice. When we met you in New York, Chris told Jesse about you and Jesse wanted you, but he knew it wasn’t the time then. You were too big, too new, and too known.”

“So then you know why Jesse’s after her then? It’s not just about a death wish,” the woman said.

I looked at her carefully.

“Who are you?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes and took off a wig.

“The name’s Riley Scott and that’s Joey Maxwell. I’m sure you've heard of us,” she said, staring at me without any sort of friendliness.

“So you are here then,” I said, staring at the blonde. I’ve seen her before. She was that new girl in the gang. “You’ve been going undercover.”

“Yes, that’s a discussion for another time. You’re going to explain to us why Clover was being hunted and why you are telling us all of this now,” Joey said seriously with his arms crossed against his chest as he leaned against the counter.

“My brother Chris told Jesse about her years ago when we first met Clover in New York. As a result Jesse got interested in her money, but when she came here another case was opened up about her. A woman offered to pay over hundred thousand dollars to get this girl assassinated so Jesse wants all of her money and then he wants to dispose of her forever,” I said.

Clover started to hyperventilate.

“I thought you were my friend!” she yelled.

I stared at her sadly.

“I am! Maybe, at first, it was all fake, but then you grew on me and I realized I cared for you and Andrew. You became my best friends—”

“Best friends don’t try to get each other killed!” she hissed.

I bit my lip – if only she knew who was trying to get her killed.

“I know and I’m sorry! It was either you or me, and I couldn’t die. I was only eighteen back then and if I backed out and ran I would be like Caiden who has a death wish too. I would be tracked down until I’m killed,” I told her and she shook her head, trying to wipe away any of the tears forming.

“You’re disgusting. I hope Jesse knows you failed, then you can have the same fate of always running and I won’t have to deal with you anymore,” Clover yelled at me before leaving the room.

“Why are you telling us all of this?” Joey asked.

I looked at him.

“Because Jesse killed my brother and that was the last straw. My brother didn’t want to kill and as a result he got killed for it!” I told them.

Riley stared at me.

“You’re going to be a great use to us.”

I stared at her confused before it clicked.

“No, I won’t work against Jesse. Anyone who works against him ends up dead, and I’m not ready to die. I have a husband back at home! My brother had kids and a wife, and he lost all of that by making one simple comment against him. I won’t risk it.”

“You really don’t have much of a choice. You just admitted to helping to try to get Clover Thompson killed, and I’d say murder is a pretty big crime that I’m definitely sure the agency around here won’t mind dealing with. Who knows what other murders around here you helped with?” Riley said.

I looked down ashamed. I may not kill people myself, but I can’t say I haven’t helped with leading people to their death. Disgusting, I know.

“Hello?” Claire yelled out.

“In the kitchen," Riley yelled out.

“Hurry, come here, I’m in the living room,” she said, sounding out of breath. We all ran to the living room to see her turning up the volume on the TV.

“What’s going on?” Joey asked.

She glanced at him.

“It’s all over the radio and the news. A small plaza a couple blocks from here just got  blown up,” Claire said looking at us. Her eyes glanced at the blood on me but she didn’t question it.

“A whole plaza?”

“In the broad daylight?”

“Jesse wouldn’t be that stupid,” I told them.

“So far they said 30 are announced dead and ten injured. They’ve only been in one building out of the four that were down there,” Claire said, looking disgusted.

“There are no other big gangs around here that would make such a move,” I said.

I heard Clover scoff from behind me.

“You would know, wouldn’t you?”

I looked back at her to see her send me a glare. I knew I deserved it so I only turned around again.

“Okay I don’t know what’s going on between you two, but what are we going to do about this?” Claire asked.

Riley raised an eyebrow.

“We?”

“Yes, we’re a team now. We can do this together.”

Clover agreed and I watched a wide smile appear on Joey’s face. Riley just stared at the two of them for a moment before the corner of her lip started to twitch as she tried to hold back a smile.

“You two are already doing your jobs, you don’t need to help with anything else. There are plenty more of us to do this job,” Riley assured them.

“We can kick some ass. You told me you’d help learn how to fight,” Clover said, doing a quick kick in the air.

“Claire’s pregnant,” Joey pointed out and she frowned.

“I can still help. No one said I had to fight,” she retorted.

Riley bit her lip thinking.

“Plus I’m still pretty good when it comes to charming people.”

“We’ll see how this goes. Let’s go then,” Riley said before looking at me.

“You’re staying here. You can try to go back and tell Jesse everything, but we know your complete identity, and you just spilled everything so you’ll either be killed by him or we’ll lock you up. I’d make a wise choice and just listen,” she told me and I nodded.

I wasn’t going to go off to Jesse. He was the enemy now and couldn’t be trusted. I watched as they all left the room, and I settled on a spot on the couch, bringing my feet up to my chest and placing my chin on my knees. I really felt all alone, and I wasn’t sure if I could pick myself up from this.