“But that has worked well for me.”
“It has not. You’ve been smacked, kicked, bit, chased, and that one girl, what was her name? She actually put a curse on you, Eli.” I lean back in my chair shaking my head at him, “Oh yeah, it works well for you.” He shrugs with a laugh. “What was that curse anyway?”
Elijah laughs. “That my dick would shrivel up and fall off. That crazy bitch, my dick has got superpowers, it’s immune to all curses. I think it actually grew after that. You want to see?” he says undoing his pants in front of me.
“Get the fuck away from me, dumbass. I don’t want to see your dick, I have seen it more than I care to, as it is.” I laugh and push him away from me.
“Hey that was your dumbass fault,” he says pointing back at me. “Oh, I know Eli. Let’s take the girls to a motel and go skinny dipping in their pool. It’s late, and no one will ever know. Hey Nicky, next time don’t leave our clothes in a bag with your dinner. Fucking dog.” I laugh and he snarls me. “It’s not funny, I had to walk home with nothing, but that stupid kids floaty around my waist and shoes.”
“You had shoes! And I graciously let you have the floating panda, I had to take the swan,” I reminded him.
“The swan was better, Nicky!”
“How do you figure that?” I ask holding my hands out.
“Oh shut up,” he huffs, plopping back down in his seat. I laugh until he shakes his head and smiles.
“Hello Nick, how are you?” Elijah’s father, Aaron, comes in and greets me. He always puts one hand on my head and one on my shoulder when he greets me, an encouraging manner I have always appreciated.
“I am good sir.” I reply back to him.
“Tell your father, Nick, I have his machine working again.” Glancing at Elijah, I wonder if he knew that my father visited his and by his expression apparently he didn’t.
“His machine, sir?” I ask.
Aaron looks over at me with furrowed eyebrows, “Yes, I think it is something for a friend of his. Or really I think it is simply an excuse to visit. You know your father helped me save my business. I was sure I was going to lose everything until he stepped in. Ever since, I have promised to help him with his little machine projects. I am not sure what he uses them for exactly, but I have to say it is nice to still have something to occupy my time that doesn’t make me sick. Dante has so many projects for me, I accused him of building a small city underground.” He smiles, patting me on the shoulder and returning to his room.
“What is your dad up to?” Elijah asks me.
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know they were still friends.” My father has always had secrets, but I never cared enough to ask about any of them. I suddenly have hope that maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with my father’s secret, maybe he simply cares about his friend. Considering my father has no other friends, it is nice to think that he does take care of the one person who considers him a friend. Looking down at my hands, I begin to consider my friend, my best friend. “You know, Eli, you shouldn’t go out with Leslie tonight. Stay with Brandi. You like her, I can tell, and that is a good thing. And your father likes her. It makes him happy to see you happy. Try a relationship for once. What’s the worst that could happen?” I don’t know if he will listen to me, but I want to make sure he knows that I prefer that he is happy, and not trying to prove to me that he is a bigger player than I am or was.
“Yeah you too. It’s nice that you like Franky. She’s a nice girl. Maybe we could double date or something?” I nod for a second before looking back up at him oddly. “I mean, maybe we could split the cost of a nice hotel and both have sex all night. Lots of dirty sex with the girls, while watching porn. Did I tell you she has big … ?” I nod and change the subject.
~
I could hardly wait to finish up work and get back to Franky’s. I carefully scope out her house to verify that her father has left already, before knocking on her door. Opening her door, she stands in front of me in nothing, but her underwear. “Oooh, I was going to see what you made for dinner, but maybe … hmmm.” Picking her up, I kick the door closed behind me and growl my appreciation in her ear.
“I will make you whatever you want,” Franky says.
“Right now, I only want you.” Kissing my face, she makes me feel more loved than I have ever felt before. Her innocence makes me feel the same, like a kid again, a chance for normality that I never thought possible.
The next night Franky decides she has to study, and has a plate of food waiting for me to distract me. I finish my food quickly and move closer to her while she studies. I don’t make it easy for her, I kiss her neck and feel under her shirt.
“Nick, I am trying to study and you know I can’t resist you, so please allow me a little while longer,” she asks trying to resist me, but failing miserably. “Why don’t you help me with this so I can finish quicker, you are so smart.” I ignore her request shaking my head and turning her back around, so we can get back to what I want to do. “Nick, please, you never studied for anything, and you knew the answers all the time. You can’t fool me. You are so smart, way smarter than I ever could be and you quit … why?”
“I didn’t quit. I got my diploma. I just didn’t go to class to do it. It was boring. School was a nuisance. I didn’t belong there, and you know that.”
“Nick, you can do anything you want to. I bet any college in the world would give you a full scholarship. You just have to …”
“Franky, what the hell are you talking about? No one is going to give me a scholarship, they don’t want me anywhere near their campus. They would get one look at me and call the cops immediately.”
“No they wouldn’t, not if they saw what I see. You can do anything Nick. You shouldn’t spend your life working for someone else. You’re too smart for that. You should be working for yourself, working with what you have. I believe in you, Nick.” She takes hold of my face and looks right into my eyes. “Don’t waste your life earning for others when you can do better. I know you are better than that, I know you can do anything you want to.”Grabbing her hands I look into her sincere eyes and smile.
“Thank you, but no. College isn’t for me, Kitten. I appreciate the support though. I will support you, I will visit you at school every chance I get. And if you need anything, I will be right there.” I kiss her, holding her tight to remove the pout from her face. “I will be right there whenever things get hard, and I won’t let anyone hurt you ever. I will sleep outside your window if I have to, anything to make sure you sleep well at night. I will take care of you forever. Besides I make good money now, in fact.” I reach over to my coat and pull out a box and hand it to her.
“What is this?” She turns the box around and admires it entirely.
“A gift, so open it.” Franky opens the box and pulls out the charm bracelet, with the ruby heart dangling from it. “Do you like it?” I ask, enjoying her smile.
“Yes, very much, but Nick this expensive. How did you?”
“Don’t worry about it, just put it on.” She pauses looking at me with questioning eyes. “Please. I really wanted to get you something nice.” She puts it on and smiles. Franky crawls into my lap and allows me to kiss down her neck. “I love you, Franky.” I say watching her closely as she looks up at me.
“I love you. I love you so much, Nick, that it hurts.”
She looks into my eyes with a look that makes me groan with happiness. I tear off our clothes and make love to her the best way I know how. I will protect her forever, that is all, I want to do. Sleeping next to her at night is rough in her tiny bed, but when she turns her face towards me and smiles, I don’t care about the damn bed. She simply smiles beautifully and trusts me for no reason other than she loves me. My world changes at that moment, I want nothing more than to protect her, to love her, and to make sure she is happy. Something my father would never understand.
Chapter 17
~Nick~
Elijah and I have spent the last few days g
oofing off, while Luke is promoted up into Harvey’s crew. Elijah and I both decided a long time ago we wanted to hold out for better, but after Luke was promoted, I couldn’t convince Elijah to wait any longer. Luke is now considered our boss, and if we don’t agree to Harvey’s terms, we will be behind him. Not something Elijah is comfortable with. Harvey knows he has me now and is being overly friendly to Elijah to show how much better off I could be. The only problem with that is, no one else understands that several people on Harvey’s crew are already talking in Harvey’s ear, that Elijah will fail.
They want him to fail, “No kid should be allowed to come in and take over my position,” Matt Drake said the other night while we were working a party for Harvey. Matt, Harvey’s once right hand man, the man Elijah replaced hates us all, but especially Elijah now. No matter what Elijah has against him, Luke and I have his back, and with us no way he will fail.
My job for the day, is to be Elijah’s and Luke’s lackey. I have to drive them around while they make pickups, my punishment for fighting for something more than I apparently I have a right to. Harvey is pushing us to our limits. We spend all day running for him and on into the night. Eli and Luke are both beyond exhausted and beginning to make stupid mistakes, and as only their driver, there is little I can do to help them. By the end of the night, we are nearly ready to head back to Harvey, when Elijah begins to panic. He searches the car, frantically. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I can’t find the cash from the last run. I know I had it in my coat, but it’s gone.” We both tear up the car, his coat, Luke’s coat and mine, searching for the missing money. Luke stalls for us, by making a call that we are on our way. “Oh fuck. Fuck!” Elijah sits back with his hands on his head. “I’m dead. He is going to kill me.”
“Don’t worry, we will figure it out.” I say.
“Harvey said not to move. He is sending someone to come get the money from us. I think he suspects something is wrong,” Luke says climbing back into the car.
“They are going to be here any minute, Nicky. What am I going to say?” Sinking down into his palms Elijah begins to shake in fear. “I was so tired, I must have dropped it, or … left it.”
“We need to go back and look for it,” Luke says.
“You know as well as I do that it is gone now. No way has it gone unnoticed this long.” Elijah sighs.
“Harvey is going to kill us all if we come back even a dollar short.” Luke slams his head down into the seat in front of him.
“They’re pulling up behind us,” Luke says, watching the headlights coming in closer.
“Give me all the money,” I say, holding my hand out. “You two leave as soon as I reach their car.” Neither of them speak, they simply stare at me as if I have lost my mind. I stuff the money into my coat and jump out of the car without thinking any further. Someone is going to have to take the blame, and with Harvey wanting me to agree to join the team, I am hoping I have a better chance of survival. We can get him the rest of the money if he gives us some time, but Harvey has never been one for negotiation. My only hope is a miracle.
Squished between two of his goons, I am taken back to Harvey for my sentencing. They throw me in front of my judge, and I wait for the puff of smoke to pass from in front of his face before I attempt to speak. “Harvey, if you will give me a day, I can get the rest of the money for you and I agree to your terms. I will be a part of your crew, in whatever manner you want me to be.” I plead.
“Shut up, Jayzon. You know damn well that I don’t give second chances, or extra time, but lucky for you it wasn’t your responsibility.” Elijah is pushed into the room and thrown down in front of Harvey. He has already taken a bad beating, but he is surely about to receive a lot more. “Your friend here left the envelope behind at one of his meetings. Luckily, Matt was following along and prevented a complete disaster.”
“He was following us?” I ask looking over at Matt and his smug attitude. “Bullshit,” I say, causing everyone to snap his head in my direction. “Eli would never leave money behind. He didn’t leave any money behind.”
“He obviously did, Jayzon.” Matt says with a smile. “Too bad for him, but once he is gone that opens up an opportunity for you.” He moves towards Elijah and begins to beat him in front of me. Elijah lies on the ground bleeding and waiting to die, while I am held back from stepping in. Matt looks over at me, an takes out his gun. “Your punishment is … you have to clean up the mess.” Matt grabs Elijah by the back of his head, and pulls him to the point of the gun. “You should have been more careful, Elijah.”
The anger that has built up in me is too much. I have no control over myself and neither do my restraints. Reaching out, I grab Matt’s neck, and stare deeply into his eyes. “You set him up,” I accuse him. Matt begins to sweat and struggles to breathe. Two more guards take hold of me and pull me away from him, but I stay focused on my target. I don’t even realize what I am doing, nor do the others in the room. Matt falls to the ground clutching his chest, gasping for breath, and looking up at me with pleading eyes, but he finds no mercy. The scrambling around me does nothing to break my focus. It is not until Elijah stands up and forces me out of the room, that I begin to then hear the yelling and the commotion. “What happened?” I ask him.
“You were right, Nicky, he set me up … and then you killed him. Harvey thinks you slipped him something.” Elijah looks back at Matt’s body through the open doors of Harvey’s office, “Take me home, Nicky, I think we both need to call it a night,” Elijah says holding his ribs and still bleeding from his mouth. I only look back once at Harvey as we leave. He nods silently, but I have no idea what that means for me exactly.
Elijah glances back at me for the hundredth time as I drive him home. “What was that, Nicky?”
“Like Harvey said, I slipped him a drug and caused him to have a heart attack, or something. Knowing Matt, he probably does enough drugs that his heart was already weak,” I say, concentrating on the road.
“No, no, I know you, and I saw you. No one was looking at you. They were all watching Matt. You don’t carry drugs, Nicky, and you didn’t have a weapon of any kind.” I keep silent because I don’t know what I can tell him, or even if I know the answers myself. “I don’t understand what happened, Nicky, but whatever it was - thank you. Although, I am not sure that Harvey isn’t going to still try and kill me anyway.”
“He doesn’t trust me any more than he trusts you, Eli. I agreed to his terms too easily when I thought you were in trouble. He might keep us close for now, but only to find our weaknesses and use them against us.”
“If he goes after my father, I will have to kill him.”
“We are going to have to get him before he can get us. All we need to do is be patient and wait for the right moment,” I say avoiding his eyes.
“And Luke? We are going to need help getting to Harvey and we will need to use Luke to do it,” Elijah says glancing my way as I nod in agreement.
“And what about us, are we still …?” I ask nervously.
He is silent for a time, but finally exhales with a nod. “Brothers for life, Nicky. No matter what crazy alien eye thing you have going on.” He laughs.
We agree to talk in more detail another day, after we both get some sleep. I hope Elijah begins to believe his lack of sleep caused his delusions about me, so we don’t actually have to talk about anything.
They found the missing money in Matt’s coat and release Elijah with no apology, but he is alive and will continue to stay that way while I am Harvey’s right hand man. I accepted Harvey’s offer to save my friend, and Harvey offered me the better position since apparently he needed a new one, his old one died suddenly.
Chapter 18
~Nick~
Harvey is one disgusting individual. Following him around all day is enough to make me want to go back to school. He loves to talk to me in French, and then laugh when I clearly don’t understand what he is saying to me. “Jayzon, wait here for me, and here, read
this while you wait.” He laughs tossing me a French newspaper. Fucking bastard. To have to wait for him while he fucks one of his many whores, has got to be one of the worst jobs I have ever had to do. I only have to wait minutes before I hear her screaming, and face him coming out straightening his tie. “Clean that up for me and meet me back at the restaurant for lunch,” he says sticking that nasty cigar back in his mouth. Stepping inside, I find the woman naked and beaten severely. I should shoot her and put her out of her misery. That is what she is begging me to do. Thankfully, she dies before I can even pull my gun. She apparently wasn’t a whore after all. Damn, I hate him. I wrap her up in the bed cover and put her in another car. I have Luke meet me at a place I know she will never be found. He helps me make her disappear something learn how to do well, working for Harvey. Neither of us speaks, we simply do our job and try to get through the day.
At the end of the day, the only thing I want to do is see Franky. She is gracious enough to meet me, since her father would not dare allow me to pick her up at home. Her smile is a welcoming part of my day. She is dressed in a simple red dress, while I wear a suit and her lucky scarf, of course. “You look beautiful.” I say, with a kiss. Taking her hand I lead her to dinner. “How was your day?”
“It was good. And you? What did you do today?” she asks, clearly not understanding who I really am.
“Oh, you know, follow my boss around and kiss his ass all day.”
“I can’t imagine you kissing anyone’s ass.”
“I don’t want to talk about work. Let’s talk about you. Actually, let’s not talk at all, let’s dance instead.” I kiss her hand and escort her to the dance floor.
“I am really not that good at dancing, Nick.”
“Don’t worry, Beautiful. Just wrap your arms around me and let me show you the way.” Franky lays her head on my shoulder and allows me to hold her through song after song. I feel amazing until a sudden eerie feeling comes over me. Someone is watching us. I search the room casually, so as not to alarm Franky, but I cannot make out anyone suspicious. Still, I feel him, even if I can’t see him. “You know what, Kitten, I am really tired. Do you mind if we call it an early night?” Franky nods and follows me back to our table, where I immediately try to pay for our meal, but apparently someone has already done that for me.
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