by M. Tasia
“My friends, these are the people I’ve told you were coming. An evil man responsible for terrorizing them has gone as far as trying to kidnap this mother and child. You all know who James is, from previous visits, and this man is Detective Ross. His sister and niece were targeted. There’s no doubt in my mind that this Avante will try to kill all four.”
Ross felt the sting of those words straight to his heart. He’d do anything in his power to keep Jac and Becca from being hurt, even if he died ensuring that.
“Like to see him try to get past us,” a man with a lengthy handlebar moustache called out.
“That’s right,” an older woman with greying hair agreed. “We’ve prepared for this eventuality. We’re ready for whatever this joker sends our way.”
Ross watched as more than thirty people began agreeing, making plans, and setting up watch schedules. He looked over at James, who was grinning.
“Safest place you could be.”
Well, damn. James had been right.
***
James laid Becca on the soft bed in the guestroom where Jac and Becca would be staying. The room was plain but had everything they needed. A dresser, bed, lights, and surprisingly, a TV. That was new. He wondered how they were getting reception, considering they wouldn’t allow the satellite guy to come moseying in to setup a connection.
When he stood back up, Jac wrapped her arms around him as far as she could reach.
“Thank you for all this.”
Before James had a chance to respond, she released him.
“Now go out there and come up with a plan to stop Avante. Between you and my brother, you’ll figure it out. You two make a good team.”
James wasn’t sure what to say about that, so he said nothing and simply nodded before leaving the room. Team, yeah, right: a police detective and the man responsible for the deaths of his unit. There would be no team. James never wanted to be a part of one ever again.
“What’s got you so worried,” Ross asked, as James entered the kitchen.
“Nothing.” James replied.
The last thing he wanted to do was rehash that memory, and sure as fuck he had no intention of sharing it with Ross. Bad enough James had to carry that shit around in his head. No way was he “sharing,” especially for reasons he had no desire to explore. He didn’t want Ross to think worse of him than he already did.
Ross didn’t seem to be buying it, but the squeal coming from the porch, quickly followed by a young woman running through the door took everyone’s attention.
“You’re back,” she cried, as she jumped into James’s arms wrapping her legs around his waist. “Finally. It took you long enough.”
James glanced over to see Ross studying the situation, and Wallflower noticed as well. Nothing got past her.
She jumped down and said, “I’m sorry. I’m only his friend. Are the two of you together?”
Ross looked at James before saying, “We’re friends.”
“Why? He’s prime. Aren’t you gay?”
Leave it a twenty year old to stab right at the heart of the matter.
“James is gay. You know that, right.”
“It’s never come up,” Ross answered without answering the question directed at himsaid.
“So?” Wallflower wouldn’t let it go until she got an answer.
“Wallflower, now is not the time,” James admonished.
“Yeah. I’m gay.”
Wallflower brightened and said, “Perfect.” She eyed them. “You look good together.”
James shook his head in an attempt to clue this wild child to get herself under control. Of course, she didn’t pay attention.
“You two will be sharing a bedroom. We’re all full up. Maybe you guys can explore the possibilities later.”
If James could’ve thought of any way out of this situation, he would’ve taken it, but he was speechless. Shot through the heart by a short, wafer-thin technical genius.
“Wallflower, that’s enough.” Jack said as he set three coffees on the kitchen table. “You stay out of your uncle’s love life.”
“But don’t you see how they look at each other?” she argued, waving her hand between Ross and James.
What? James looked at everyone the same way. Or at least, he thought he did.
More shocking than the implication of the statement was Ross appeared unfazed by the conversation. He sat back in his chair with his cup of coffee and seemed to be getting great joy out of seeing James squirm.
“Not going to help?” James asked.
“No, I’m good.” Ross answered flashing that cat-had-a-saucer-of-milk grin he wore when he was getting his way.
“I like him already.” Wallflower announced as she removed her messenger bag from over her shoulder and pulled out her laptop.
They may’ve been survivalists, but to them technology was yet another tool to ensure their continued safety.
“Got something for you to look at.” She opened her laptop, hit a few keys, and turned it so James, Ross, and Jack could see the screen.
“What are we looking at?” James asked. Other than numbers, he had no idea what he was seeing.
“These are Avante’s bank records,” Wallflower said without any apparent concern she’d hacked into a mobster’s accounts. “Don’t worry. I’ve rerouted this sucker so many times that it would take a wizard with a golden ring to find me.”
James looked at the numbers more critically this time. At first, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This couldn’t be correct.
“Is this everything?” he asked.
“Yes. Every penny.” Wallflower looked proud of herself.
James had to hand it to her. She was a prodigy.
Ross asked the question that was on James’s mind. “Avante’s broke?”
“Yep. All his accounts now have negative balances.”
“He’s been cut off,” Ross stated.
“Cut off?” James had no idea what that meant for a mobster.
Ross couldn’t hide his shock. “I’ve always suspected that Avante had someone to answer to. Now I’m sure of it. Is there another name on those accounts?”
“Why, yes, Detective, there is. But I ran B. Gen’s name, and I wasn’t able to find anything under that alias.”
“You can’t track them down?” James was surprised.
Wallflower had never come up against something she couldn’t unravel.
“I’m not done with this. I’ll find out who this is.” Wallflower assured.
“So, this B. Gen took the money?” James asked for clarification.
“That’s what appears to have happened,” Wallflower confirmed.
“When was it drained?” Ross asked.
“Seven this morning. Coincidently, the same time news broke about gunfire in an alley in a residential neighborhood north of DTLA.”
James watched tThe lines between Ross’s eyes goetting deeper as Ross he concentrated on the screen. If anyone could figure this out it would be him.
“He didn’t kill us,” Ross said as if that were news to James.
“Yep, and I’m happy about that,” James said. “Your point?”
“No, whoever this B. Gen is, he cleaned Avante out when he failed to kill us. He’s been disavowed by the family.” Ross went on to explain, “When Avante lost us, the higher ups cut him loose. He’s now become a liability.”
“Does that mean he won’t be able to come after us?” James asked.
“I’m not sure. Until he’s back behind bars, there’s no guarantee he won’t do it to make a point.”
“The police are searching for him. Avante won’t be free too much longer,” Jack said before taking a sip of his coffee.
James reached for his and downed half the cup in one gulp. For obvious reasons, he hadn’t had a cup of the coffee he’d brewed that morning.
“Wallflower, lunch is ready,” a teenaged girl named Rainbow hollered, as she walked through the door.
Rainbow and Wallflow
er were sisters.
“I’m off. Lots to do,” Wallflower said before pointing between him and Ross. “Now you two play nice, unless you want to get kinky, then go for it.”
Once Wallflower got something in her head, she was unstoppable. He was prepared to suffer a long couple of days of ribbing.
CHAPTER 8
His hands shook as he clenched his jaw even harder. How could they do this to him? He had been loyal, done whatever was asked of him. Now they act as if they don’t even know me.
“Another drink, boss?”
Avante looked up at one of his faithful crew who had stuck around even after everything he’d worked so hard for was taken away. He couldn’t remember the guy’s name, and never cared to learn it along with the other ten of them, but since he held out a bottle of whiskey, Avante acted like the guy mattered.
“Fill it up,” he slurred. How many have I had?
Whatever the number was, it still wasn’t enough to dull the betrayal.
Once his glass was full, the other man left to join the others. Avante didn’t share his room with anybody. They could all bunk in the next room. He wanted to be left alone so he could think of a way out of this.
Over twenty years of taking all the bullshit, back-stabbing, and hits taken at him, only to be hung out to dry. He had worked his way up from being a street dealer to having his own crew. Years of scrounging for his share of the pie had been washed away in a matter of minutes. No warning or second chance.
“To hell with that,” Avante bellowed, but his men knew better than to answer him. He was close to losing his shit and no one wanted to be in the line of fire. He’d had prestige and power. Gorgeous women threw themselves at him, and nobody dared to tell him no.
Gone, all of it.
All because one cop got all bent out of shape when Avante killed his low-life brother-in-law. By rights, the wife and daughter were his, as the debt remained unpaid. The asshole had begged to leave his family alone, but a contract had been agreed upon. Honestly, he didn’t care how, but he would get his money back, one way or another. The lives of two people meant nothing to him unless they proved useful.
Avante looked around the dingy motel room. Vinyl drapes covered in green and yellow flowers, cockroaches lying dead on the floor, a bed that looked ready to collapse, and strange noises bubbling up in the toilet. This was what he had been reduced to. His downtown condominium, his cars, his suits, his money, everything was taken from him. Fucking Bastards.
The room reminded him of the life he had grown up in. His mother was a prostitute, and his father a drug dealer. He had spent his childhood living in motels, barely able to go to school and always hungry. His clothes had holes and his shoes were always either too big or to small, depending on what Goodwill had available.
His mother brought home men, even with Avante and his dad there. How fucked up to allow a child to watch his mother having sex with different men almost every night. No wonder he was quick to pledge his loyalty to the first group who offered him a job as a runner when he was fourteen. After he was “jumped in,” Avante had never looked back from that day, until now.
No matter how bad things looked, he’d sworn this was far from over. First, he would kill that cop, his family, and the asshole that’d decided to be a hero. Then he’d go after those who took everything away from him and forced him into this hellhole. It was time to clean house. Out with the old and in with the new, leaving Avante on top.
No more rules, answering to anyone, or being told what to do. Those days were over. He would usher in a new era, where everyone who worked for him wasn’t afraid of the cops and didn’t rely on the “old ways.” Where old men sat back, making the decisions and expecting others to follow them. The last time they’d walked the streets, Carter was president. What did they know about the reality of the city when they lived in mansions in gated communities? They were so far away from the reality of getting their hands dirty that they had lost their edge.
Hell, this might’ve been the kick in the ass Avante needed to bring about this change, and he would take full advantage of it. Now, he needed to find Ross and end this.
“Boss, you’re going to want to take this call,” Viper, his second-in-command, said as he raced into Avante’s room.
“Who are you to decide what I want. Get the hell out.” He had plans to make.
“But they say they know where Ross is.”
That got Avante’s attention as he ripped the cell phone out of Viper’s hand. Things were looking up already.
***
Ross stood at the end of the bed and had no clue how this was going to work. He looked over at James, who seemed as uncomfortable as he was.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” James said.
“That beat-up old thing, hell no. You need to get decent sleep if we’re going to make it out of this. We’re adults. We should be able to sleep in that bed together without it being a problem.”
Yeah, right. Sleep with a handsome, half-naked man who I’ve had a hard-on for. Shit. Okay, so maybe James wasn’t half-naked. He had sleep pants and a t-shirt on, and he looked damn fine in them.
“Sure, I bunked with my unit.” James stopped and got that pained look in his eyes once again.
“Why do you get upset when you talk about them?” Ross asked. It had happened on multiple occasions.
James’s head shot up so fast Ross was amazed it didn’t go flying off his neck.
“I’m not upset. Now remember, keep your hands to yourself, Detective.”
Ross wasn’t surprised that James was defensive or that he was trying to steer the conversation away from him and onto their sleeping arrangements. Ross would let it go. If James wanted to tell him, he would.
“No problem. You stay on your side of the bed, I’ll stay on mine,” Ross shot back.
He knew James was smart enough to realize that Ross was giving him a way out of the conversation and he took it. “That’s all worked out. Which side of the bed do you sleep on?”
“Right.”
“Good. I like the left side.”
Neither moved from the foot of the bed. If anyone saw them, they would laugh their heads off.
Ross gave in and made the first move. He rounded the right side of the bed and pulled the covers back.
“Let’s get on with it,” Ross said. “I need some sleep.”
“Don’t sound so excited,” James replied before going to the other side of the bed.
Ross could feel the mattress dip when James sat down. He had been sleeping alone for so long now that something as simple as the bed shifting felt odd. Ross reached over his night table, and turned off his lamp.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” James replied before Ross heard the click of James’s lamp turning off, blanketing the room into darkness.
At least they couldn’t see each other, though Ross was acutely aware of the man less than a foot away.
After a few moments, Ross relaxed. It had been a long day, so he began drifting off to sleep. He would deal with whatever else came their way, in the morning. One night of peace was all he wanted, and thanks to James bringing them there, Ross would have it.
Handsome bastard was never wrong, even when he was doing something wrong.
***
James woke and the first thing he noticed was the muscled arm wrapped around his waist. The second was Ross’s warm breath on the back of his neck. Hearing the occasional snore, James was sure Ross was still asleep. What now?
In truth, what was really pissing him off was that he couldn’t bring himself to move Ross’s arm away. James wasn’t a cuddly guy. He didn’t snuggle and all that shit. Apparently, that had changed, along with a few other things. Starting with how attached he’d become to Jac and Becca. It was simpler when it was only Finn. Even the big bad detective had wormed his way in, and James wasn’t sure how to get him out. Or if he even wanted to.
He looked at his watch surprised to see it was only three in the morn
ing. Which meant he would likely be in this position for hours if he didn’t move. He searched for reasons that it was a bad idea, but came up empty. Confirmation he was fucked.
Decision made, he laid his head back down and simply enjoyed the closeness. He couldn’t remember a time he’d been held in comfort when sex wasn’t on the table. It never crossed his mind before. He had grown up without any affection from his parents, and believed that was normal.
The next time he woke, the bed was empty. James sat up and looked around, but Ross was gone. He could see the sunlight filtering in around the drapes, so it had to be morning. He couldn’t help but wonder if Ross had woken up and bolted when he realized his arm was wrapped around James.
Who cares? Get your head on straight, deal with Avante and make your break from LA as planned.
He didn’t need this complication, and kicked himself for allowing it to happen. He should’ve moved Ross’s arm away the moment he saw it around his waist.
“Good morning,” Ross said as he walked into the bedroom, still dressed in his sleeping pants. “I know how much you need coffee when you wake up.”
Ross handed James a mug before taking a sip from his own. James didn’t know what to say so he took a gulp of his coffee. The pain was immediate as the hot liquid burned his mouth. Coffee sprayed out of him as quickly as it had gone in.
“Shit, I should’ve told you it was fresh out of the pot,” Ross said as he set down his mug and grabbed a towel from the attached bathroom “Here, let me see.”
James laughed. “You shouldn’t have had to warn me. Hell. Coffee is hot.”
“Open,” Ross instructed as he loomed over James. “Let’s see the damage.”
He followed instructions and Ross took a look inside.
“Well, you might get small blisters forming on your tongue.” Before Ross backed off, he stopped to wipe the remaining coffee off James’s chin.