by Laura Gibson
“The same thing you’ve always done. Talk to people, go places your cousins frequent, continue being unseen until you’re needed.” Casimir smiled, knowing he had Kelly on the hook.
But Kelly shook his head, “No, there’s a bigger catch than that. There’s always a bigger catch.”
Casimir shrugged and pulled the check off the table, putting it back in his pocket, “Don’t let your bitterness get the better of you, Kelly.”
“Its not that.” Kelly leaned back and rubbed the side of his neck, staring at the table where the check used to be.
“Then what?” Casimir tilted his eyes, studying the young man.
Kelly shook his head, “I’m not the man for the job.”
“You don’t even know what it is yet.” Casimir shifted forward, “How do you know you’re not perfect for it?”
“Because it’s me.” Kelly laughed, “You don’t know me.”
“Kelly Hill. Tested with an IQ of one forty-seven at the age of fourteen, granted full scholarship to Phillips Academy, kicked out for numerous reasons, foremost being the fact you set fire to the admissions building. Described as patient, loyal, understanding, intelligent, and clever. Offered several jobs before leaving Phillips, accepting none of them. Brother to social delinquent Anna Hill, son to alcoholic and absentee mother.” Casimir stared at him, daring him to say anything to the contrary.
“Yeah, didn’t you hear yourself say it? I was kicked out of the place that was supposed to get me jobs like this one. You shouldn’t trust me with something so important.” Kelly argued his case against himself.
“Kelly, I need someone loyal and clever. Two traits that are rarely found together.” Casimir was clearly getting tired of the debate, “But if you don’t want it, you don’t want it. I can’t make you.”
Casimir set down some money on the table and stood up, “I’m sure you can see yourself back to The Reliant from here.”
September 1st, 2007
Charleston, West Virginia
Anna
Normally secrets didn’t bother Anna. Everyone had secrets. Everyone lied. Everyone filled their little words with half truths to protect themselves or to make them feel better. Secrets were the lifeblood to any functioning society and anyone who said different was lying to themselves. Lie to who you needed to, but keep the truth close. Because when it comes out you want to make sure you’re the one still on top. Everyone lied. No one was exempt from that rule. No one was safe.
Anna seemed to lie more frequently, and with less guilt, than others. She felt the words on her tongue before she said them. She rolled them over in her mouth, tasting their very essence, perfecting them until they were more beautiful than the absolute truth. Because if your lie didn’t sound more reasonable than the truth than it wasn’t worth saving.
Anna would never begrudge someone their secret or their lie, but there was something about Kelly’s secret that was gnawing away at her, like she knew she needed to protect Kelly from whatever it was that he had gotten himself into. Like the truth he was hiding was a fire threatening to consume everything they had. Everything they had worked for. And no matter her feelings towards her little brother at moment, she wasn’t about to let him throw everything away for a little side business, or whatever it was.
The long and short of it was Kelly had turned into a prick since he got back from Russia, that was a fact. He was always sort of chummy with the idea that he could be an asshole, but something had changed in his mind overseas that made him want to make it a full on commitment. His monosyllabic attitude had worsened and he spent far too much time in his bedroom than Anna thought was appropriate.
She had considered the option of removing his door from its hinges and secreting the thing away as to not give him any privacy, but she knew that wasn’t the real problem. The real problem was in Kelly’s brain. His fucked up, ‘screw the world’ mentality that told him to keep pressing forward, pushing everyone that mattered out of the way. Steamrolling right on over familial commitments. He was selfish and he was impulsive. He needed someone looking out for him, always had.
Their parents hadn’t made a comment about his recent change, but then again, their parents rarely noticed anything that wasn’t about themselves, so Anna knew it was up to her to make sure that Kelly hadn’t gotten himself into some serious trouble. Or if he had maybe she could help him out of it. She had been in her fair share of jams to know she was pretty good at sweet talking her way out of them.
Kelly had left earlier that morning with Ryan, promising they wouldn’t be back till late that night. Those two were fast friends since Russia, another oddity to add the list of things to be suspicious about. She knew how Ryan felt about Kelly. He confided in Connor Bronen many times, revealing far too much of his sickening character to ever walk cleanly away. Connor, being too trusting and dimwitted, told Anna everything there was to know about her cousin, even the bits she could have gone without knowing. Anna knew Ryan had ulterior motives to spending so much time with Kelly, but then again, she had supposed Kelly was smarter than that. Maybe he too had ulterior motives.
And that was how Anna found herself standing in Kelly’s bedroom, holding a phone that she didn’t recognize and looking through its contacts list. It wasn’t an expensive phone, but still, Anna knew Kelly didn’t have the money for a second line. For all she was aware of, he didn’t even have a job. Anna clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Everyone had secrets. Everyone lied. But what was so wrong with sussing out those secrets? With revealing the truth behind the lies? It was your own fault if you got caught in them.
Yes, the phone had been locked with a password, but just like Kelly to be less than imaginative, the password was his pin number. How Anna knew his pin number, she would never reveal. That was her secret as the older sister. One of several she kept from Kelly, in fact. Like the one where she had been paying for the family’s bills since she was fifteen, because no one else would do it. She put food on the table because her parents couldn’t be bothered.
There were a lot of names in the contact list Anna recognized as city officials, police officers that she had had run ins with, a couple senators, one of which was Connor’s father.
As Anna held the phone, looking for any sort of clue as to why Kelly owned it, it began to ring. The name on the caller ID read as ‘Cas’ and Anna couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Cas, the name that seemed to be on everyone’s lips but the one person they refused to talk about. She swallowed and touched the name with her thumb. Why did it feel so familiar?
Without too much thought of her personal stakes in the matter, Anna decided to answer the phone. After all, it was Kelly’s fault for leaving it home when he knew Anna was curious about something. He knew his sister better than that, or at least she thought he did.
“Hello?” Anna accepted the call and waited for Cas to respond, her heart beating steadily in her chest. She wasn’t one for anxious nerves after all, this was just one more piece to the puzzle. If anyone had a problem with it, they could talk to her about it. At this point in the venture, she would be honest because she had no reason not to.
“Anna.” A Russian voice purred out of the speaker, sending shivers down Anna’s spine, raising goosebumps along her forearm.
“This is.” Anna swallowed, not afraid. Never afraid. Interested in how he knew it was her, but not worried by it. Fear was the driving force of mistakes and Anna wasn’t a woman to make mistakes.
“I’ve been looking forward to speaking to you for some time.” Cas sounded just as unsurprised as she was.
“So why are you calling my brother’s phone?” Anna asked, not one to give into the charms of a sultry voice. But it was sultry. She licked her lips.
“Kelly missed a meeting today, I just wanted to make sure he had everything handled.” Cas responded.
“Does Kelly work for you?” Anna narrowed her eyes, her suspicions finding validation.
“We’re partners.” Cas clarified,she could hear h
im almost chuckle, “I thought you would have known that by now.”
“Doing what?” Anna pressed. Unafraid. Never afraid.
Cas was quiet for sometime before responding, “Meet me in one hour at the hotel on West Third.”
Before Anna could decline the offer, the line went dead and she was left holding her brother’s secret phone, wondering just what Kelly had gotten himself into. Partners? With a Russian named Cas? That didn’t make sense, unless more malarkey had gone down in Russia than Anna had already suspected.
There had been rumors in certain circles that there was a new dealer in town. No one really knew who or why, but he was bringing in some premium shit from across the ocean. Stuff was almost legendary from what Anna heard. People gushed and raved and it had just been over the past couple of months.
Anna had paid little attention to this because she wasn’t into dealing harder stuff than the regular every day pot. If someone was bringing coke into the country, the feds would be all over them before they would have time to spit. Unless a lot of people were in on the cut. Or got a discount on the drugs.
She had attended a party one night with Phillips kids and someone had offered her some of it, but Anna declined. She didn’t do drugs, didn’t see the point in them when her hard earned cash could be spent elsewhere. Drugs were for the weak minded and the pathetic. People who couldn’t crawl out of themselves to see they were only digging their holes deeper.
Substance abuse made people weaker than they started off as and Anna wanted all the strength she could get. She had no qualms selling to people because they were making their own bad choices. There was no shame in exploiting those choices.
It wasn’t a question of morality to Anna, it was a matter of survival of the fittest. Darwin had it right, the stupid would weed themselves out in the end. What was wrong with giving them a little push in the right direction? Nothing as far as Anna could see.
Anna cleared her throat, tossing the phone onto Kelly’s bed. Is that what had happened? Did Kelly get himself mixed up with petty criminals? She ran her fingers through her hair. And here she thought he was doing something interesting.
Just for good measure though, she told herself, she would meet this Cas and find out what all the fuss was about. Sure, he might be nothing but a coke dealer, but still. She had to know.
Juliet
“You need to go to grief counseling.” Juliet was scolding Rhett again while he laid on his back under her kitchen sink, fixing her garbage disposal for the third time that month.
“Jules, this needs more than just my slap and fix job.” Rhett grumbled as he tightened something, “I won’t be able to do this again. You’ll have to replace it.”
Juliet sighed, “I’ve called the landlord five times, he won’t respond.”
“Then stop throwing food down there and start acting like you don’t have a disposal.” Rhett climbed out from under the sink and turned on the faucet to test while flipping the switch that activated the blade.
“Stop trying to change the subject.” Juliet pulled the conversation back to where she wanted it to be, “You need to talk to someone about Jane.”
Rhett’s genuine smile faded and was replaced by a sad imposter. “I know.”
“Rhett.” Juliet knew she was bringing up a sore topic of conversation, but someone had to be the one to do it. He couldn’t just keep on pretending like this wasn’t happening. Like he didn’t love Jane completely, mind, body, and soul.
His whole being was crying out for comfort and even if he had been cleared for active duty again, Juliet knew it was only a matter of time before he lost himself again. And what if next time there wasn’t something keeping him from getting into some serious trouble? What if next time he wasn’t able to get himself back under control in time?
“What do you want me to say, Juliet?” Rhett was almost scowling at her, but not really. He was hurt and he knew she wanted to help him.
Juliet sighed. She loved this man in front of her, maybe not in the conventional sense, but in every which way she could imagine.
Her one true desire in life was to reach out and hold him and make his world better, to set it afire with passion and let it blaze for days after, but there was nothing that could be done right then and there. Rhett was still trying to get over the last love that he had experienced. The girl who had taken his heart and ripped it out for everyone to see. For everyone to look at for years to come.
How do you help a man like that? How do you hold them and tell them to trust you when the one before was so careless with their feelings?
Juliet licked her lips and shrugged, “I just want you to talk about it is all.”
“I talk to you about it.” Rhett crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the countertop, surveying her. Daring her to say something else.
“You know that’s not what I meant.” Juliet breathed out, wondering why he had to be so stubborn about everything.
“I know what you meant.” Rhett’s lip ticked up in agitation.
“I only want what’s best for you, Rhett.” Juliet shook her head, “Clearly, you don’t care about that.”
Rhett shook his head again and started for the front door, upset now, more upset than she was used to seeing him.
He paused by the door, his hand on the latch, “Look at me, Juliet.”
She did as he requested and felt her heart lurch in her chest because she couldn’t be with him.
“I’m not good enough for you, Jules.” Rhett’s expression had softened, “You deserve much better.”
“That’s not even-” Juliet tried to protest by Rhett interrupted her.
“Don’t tie your life to me, Jules, I’ll only weigh you down.”He pushed the screen door open and stepped out into the sunlight, leaving Juliet to process her thoughts on what had just happened. He was telling her to stay away, but in doing so, she just wanted to get closer.
She followed him out the door into the driveway, “Then let me be the judge of that.”
Rhett turned on his heel and looked at Juliet, “Excuse me?”
“If you’re really so terrible to be with, let me find out on my own.” Juliet jutted out her chin and stood a little taller. She was a grown woman, she could make these decisions for herself.
“Juliet-” Rhett was going to tell her ‘no’ again but she didn’t let him get the words out of his mouth.
“No, you listen here, Rhett Samuels, I’m not some delicate flower to be coddled and taken care of, I’m my own person and I’d be damned if I let someone else tell me what I want and what I don’t want.” Juliet had her hands on her hips and was daring him to challenge her.
He bit the inside of his cheek and she could see him mulling her words over in his mind, weighing the pros and cons.
But Juliet wouldn’t let him get that far, she shortened the distance between them and stood on her tip toes as her hands grabbed his shirt collar and captured his lips with her own.
Rhett’s hands wrapped themselves around her waist and finished off the gap separating them- making their bodies one unit.
If this was a mistake, then Juliet was happy to make it.
Anna
Anna knew the hotel that Cas was talking about. It was a swankier place on the side of town where money talked and she was most definitely not welcomed. But she didn’t bother to get dressed up. Why try to impress the wealthy masses when she knew it wouldn’t matter anyway? No one liked anyone as it was, so why even bother? Plus, if Cas was just a petty drug dealer, she didn’t really feel the need to look good for his viewing pleasure. She was just a petty drug dealer too. They were one in the same. It shouldn’t matter what she looked like to him. But the memory of her name on his lips sent shivers down her skin, ripples in the regular tide that was her cool exterior.
She kept on the jean shorts and the white tank top that showed a little too much skin than what would be considered appropriate, and to add to the ensemble, she slipped her white feet into black Chuck Taylors
. As she pocketed her cell phone and wallet, she grabbed her leather jacket from the hallway closet, feeling something close to apprehension at the fact that this had such an effect on her. Even from over the phone, she could sense a magnetic pull.
Anna had never really been nervous about anything before in her life, so the shiver held close between her two shoulder blades was an interesting feeling, one she didn’t feel like exploring quite yet even though exploration might yield interesting results.
Driving to the hotel took maybe ten minutes, but Anna spent an extra fifteen in her car, waiting, making sure this Cas person didn’t think he was anything special. She wasn’t one to get her knickers in a twist over a sexy phone voice. Although, Anna smiled as she applied a light coating of strawberry flavored lip gloss, she wouldn’t mind hearing it say her name again.
Even Connor had never had this much effect on her before. Connor with his perfect family and his perfect teeth. He was everything she was looking for. But he couldn’t say her name like Cas did.
Anna found herself smiling at it, even though she had planned this meeting as something to show Cas he wasn’t anything to her and he didn’t scare her. Petty criminal he was, she didn’t want him to believe she was anything less than only kind of impressed. Sure, he had managed to boss around a bunch of high school kids, but even your average playground bully could pull that off on any given day.
Finally, feeling as if enough time had passed and she had gotten herself under control, Anna got out of the car and walked towards the lobby. She was finally going to meet this mystery man everyone was so worked up about.
She couldn’t mistake him. Anyone with half a brain would know that voice was connected to that body. On impulse, she put her shoulders back and stood up a little straighter than before, feeling her stomach align with her spine.
Covered in a black suit with a deep violet shirt underneath, he looked rather dashing. His cheekbones, high and hollow, usually an off putting combination, seemed fitting on him, almost as if he were born to wear that amused expression. His lips playing at the thought of a smirk, his dusty blue eyes studying her like he already knew everything she was getting ready to say.