Pain Lived, Love Found 2

by Thalia Lake

  “What the hell is wrong with you, Ace? What are you even doing here, and why did you do that?” Lola pointed at her bloody mess of a boyfriend who was still moaning in the bushes.

  I think he said something about his nose and jaw being broken. “I was driving along, I saw your car so I looked for you. I spotted you over here, I see the two of you having a heated discussion, and then I saw that piece of shit shove you and I lost it. I ran over here to protect you, Lola!” I yelled back.

  “I didn’t need your protection, Ace; I can handle myself!” Lola yelled in return.

  I got closer to Lola and pinned her with my angry eyes and said, “I saw him clenching his fists as if he was going to hit you. He was going to hit you, I saw it in his eyes. He shoved you first, but he was going to hit you next. Trust me, I know guys like him. He’s a punk and a PUSSY!” I then glanced at David who was now trying to stand up.

  “I’m a 4th degree black belt in Tae kwon do, and I’ve competed professionally all over the world. I also teach women’s self-defense classes at night, so trust me when I say I can take care of myself. I saw his stance, I saw his fists balling up, and I was going to kick his ass before you jumped in, Ace,” Lola replied in a matter-of-fact tone as she stood her ground and looked me in the eyes.

  I couldn’t hide my surprise as my eyes got big at her revelation. “You never told me or Roman…” I started to say but she cut me off.

  “Yeah, I never told you or Roman, because it’s none of your business, just like that piece of shit over there is none of your business!” Lola yelled.

  “You are my business, Lola. I...we care about you, and we never liked or trusted him.” I softened my voice to make my next point as I continued. “You can do so much better than him, and I never understood why you wasted so much time on his pompous ass. You’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re kind, and you’re funny. You should be cherished and loved for who you are, not changed into something you’re not.”

  Lola’s eyes softened at my words. She saw the sincerity in my eyes and I know it caught her off guard. I didn’t intend on spilling my guts to her this way, but I had to. She had to know that she deserved better than that cowardly asshole that was still struggling to get out of the bushes.

  Lola’s eyes turned sad and she looked down at her hands. Her voice softened when she said “Thank you, Ace. You didn’t have to say all of that.”

  I gently lifted her chin so she had to look me in the eyes. “Yes, I did because you clearly don’t know how special you are, Lola. You deserve better, and what I did is what any real man would have done if he saw a woman being mistreated.”

  Lola now looked at me with worry and concern in her eyes. “What if he presses charges against you, Ace? You could go to jail! You were a boxer; your fists are considered weapons. Look at what you did to his face.”

  “Let me worry about that.” I reached out and caressed her soft cheek, trying to ease her fears.

  “His family has everyone from top to bottom in their pockets. They can make life miserable for you and Roman,” Lola pleaded.

  “And I can do the same to him.” I glared over her shoulder at David and then back at Lola.

  “I’m not afraid of anyone, especially people like him. I might be a little afraid of you, Miss Tae kwon do,” I smiled.

  “This isn’t funny, Ace,” Lola said, the worry still in her eyes.

  “Stay here,” I said before I walked over to David who finally managed to stand up.

  He jumped when he realized that I was standing before him. “I’m calling the cops! You’re going to jail for this!” he yelled, sounding like a sniveling nerd.

  “You’re not calling anyone. Here’s what you are going to do: you’re going to stay away from Lola. You will not go to her home, her job, or try to physically see her ever again. You will not call, text, email, write letters, send faxes, or attempt to contact her in any shape or form, nor will you use second or third parties to contact her. The minute I find out you have done any of those things, I will hunt you down and cut off your balls and feed them to your two precious dogs Cuddles and Duke, before I slit their throats and then slit yours,” my voice was low and full of venom when I spoke.

  David’s one good eye that wasn’t swollen shut got big in surprise.

  I’m sure he was wondering how I know about his dogs and the violent way I plan on ending their lives, and his. I did my homework on David Preston a long time ago.

  “If you go to the cops I will make sure you and your family disappear off the face of this earth with your body parts scattered all over the world. Don’t believe me? Try me. Lola was always too good for you. I knew you were bad news from the very beginning, you spineless waste of skin! Now, I suggest you call yourself a cab and act like this never happened, and remember what I said.”

  I pinned David with a long, steely look until he nodded his head in understanding and scrambled off. I walked back over to Lola who was standing with her arms crossed angrily across her chest. “What did you say to him?” she demanded.

  “Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about,” I smiled.

  “Ace, I’m serious!” Lola yelled.

  “I told him in no uncertain terms to stay the hell away from you, Lola.”

  She threw her arms in the air, “I knew it” and began walking away from me.

  I pulled her back to me, my anger boiling up inside me again. “Why do you insist on protecting him? What is it about men like him that have women like you always going back for more?” I yelled.

  “Excuse you? Women like me? Going back for more? You are so off base it’s not even funny, Ace! And please, tell me just what kind of woman I am?” She had her hands on her hips and she was ready for a fight, and so was I.

  “Women like you who are beautiful, smart, have a wonderful personality, a great job, but settle for pieces of shit like David Preston who want to control you and change everything about you that makes you, you; that makes you special and different from all the rest. Women like you who don’t even know how special they really are, who don’t know that they deserve to be treated like queens, not fucking dogs! Women who have such low self-esteem about themselves that they think they can help or change a jerk like David Preston when men like him will only hurt you or kill you in the end.”

  I saw Lola fighting back the tears in her eyes as I touched on several nerves with the things I said to her, but I had to say them. I cared about her too much not to.

  “I have to go.” She ran off in the direction of her car.

  “FUCK!” I kicked over a garbage can in anger and frustration. I didn’t mean to hurt her, that wasn’t my intent. I simply wanted to tell her the truth and hoped that she would realize that she’s worth more than she knows. As I maneuvered my way back through traffic and across the street to my car, I saw Lola pull off. I knew our relationship would never be the same after today.

  ***

  After my altercation with Lola and David, I went home and cleaned myself up. I was still very pissed at how things ended with Lola so I went to the gym to get some boxing in. I went there from time to time just to stay in shape and to sharpen my skills. I sparred harder than usual and my sparring partner Joey looked at me curiously a few times. I knew it was time for me to take a break when I kept imagining it was David’s face I was beating in.

  “I’m sorry, Joey. I had a rough day, and I’m taking it out on you. I’ll finish up my work-out on the ropes and the punching bag.”

  “No problem, Ace. We’ve all been there. You just caught me off guard a few times, that’s all,” Joey smiled as he took off his head gear.

  I still felt bad for what I did. He took some pretty hard blows from me. I jumped rope for twenty-five minutes and then spent another half hour on the punching bag. I was soaked in sweat and it felt good. It felt like every muscle in my body was burning and screaming for mercy, but I wouldn’t stop - until my phone rang. It was Roman, probably wanting an update on Massimo.

 
; “Hey, I was wondering if you weren’t busy I’d come by with some beer for you and we could shoot some pool or play some cards.” My cousin sounded like he needed a distraction as well.

  “That sounds cool, but you don’t need to bring me beer. I’m cool with some pop. I’m just finishing up at the gym. Why don’t you swing by in a half hour? I’ll pick up some pizza from Mama’s Pizzeria.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  A half hour later we were sitting on the rooftop of my apartment building listening to Sinatra classics and eating pizza and drinking pop. I had just finished telling Roman about my run in with Lola and David earlier in the day.

  “I wish you had done more damage to that piece of shit. I still can’t believe he put his hands on her! He better hope I never see his sorry ass again, Ace because if I do, he’s a dead man.”

  “Not if I get my hands on him first, cuz,” I replied.

  “Don’t worry about Lola. She’ll cool off eventually,” Roman reassured.

  “I’m glad one of us is confident about that because I’m not so sure. I said some pretty blunt things to her that hurt her feelings. I made her cry, Roman, and now I feel like shit.”

  “You told her the truth, and the truth isn’t an easy pill to swallow. Once she’s had time to think about everything and look past the hurt feelings, hopefully she’ll realize that you meant well.”

  “And if she doesn’t?”

  “Then you’ll have your work cut out for you,” Roman replied with a smirk.

  Just then my phone rang. It was Massimo. “Hello?”

  “Ace, we encountered a problem. We took out all of Carter’s men, including his sellers, but Carter was nowhere to be found.”

  I sat on the edge of my chair as the hair stood up on the back of my neck. “What the fuck do you mean Carter was nowhere to be found?” I yelled, which caused Roman to look at me in surprise and anger.

  I put Massimo on speaker, and before long his reassuring tone came through. “He wasn’t in his usual spot from Kramer’s intel. He deviated from his normal routine. I have my men out looking for him as we speak.”

  Just then we heard the door to the rooftop creak open. Roman and I turned around at the same time and saw Carter standing there with a semi-automatic pistol in his hand. “Here I am, motherfuckers. Put your goddamn hands in the air. NOW!”

  Roman and I both raised our hands, with Massimo still on the line.

  “You truly have a death wish, don’t you, Carter?” Roman calmly stated.

  “My wish is for you, your cousin, and your entire family to be dead, so yeah, I do have a death wish,” Carter mocked. “I’ve waited years for this moment. My brother didn’t deserve to die the way he did.” Carter began to slowly approach us, his shoes crunching in the rocks on the roof.

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t have sent him out in your place to be killed like the coward that you are, Carter,” Roman replied.

  I knew he was speaking loudly so Massimo could hear what was going on.

  “I didn’t force Jameel to do anything! He wanted to kill you, he wanted to prove how much of a ride-or-die soldier he was, and I don’t stop any of my men from proving themselves to me.” Carter spat out angrily. The hand he held his gun in was shaking, and I don’t know if it was because of nerves or something else. Either way his unsteadiness was making me nervous.

  “Even if it’s your mentally-challenged baby brother who didn’t know that his big brother sent him on a suicide mission?” I couldn’t hide my hatred for this waste of skin standing before me. It was no secret that Carter’s little brother was a bit off, which of course impeded his judgment. That’s also one of the main reasons why Roman was so fucked up after killing him. Jameel didn’t know any better. He took risks that normal people wouldn’t and his sadistic brother took advantage of his disability. There is nothing more despicable than someone who takes advantage of their own mentally challenged flesh and blood.

  “You shut the fuck up! Just shut up! I’m not the reason my brother is dead! He is, that conceited piece of shit next to you is. He did it, he’s the reason you both are about to die tonight!” Carter yelled. His eyes were wide and crazed like a mad man. He seemed antsy and jumpy, like he was high.

  I wasn’t sure if Roman noticed it too, but we briefly looked at each other. I know Roman was strapped, and all I needed to do was keep Carter distracted long enough so Roman could pull out his gun and take Cater out.

  “Nobody has to die, Carter, we can talk this out...like businessmen.” I tried my best to keep my voice calm because Carter was clearly unstable.

  “Businessmen, huh?” Carter smirked. “Did your cousin tell you he saw me at the charity event at the art museum? I was the guest of Alderman Hines.” Carter was proud of himself as he poked his chest out and began to walk closer to us. He actually thought he was moving up in the world. “You see, I’m not some two-bit dope dealer. I run in the elite circles; I rub elbows with the true gangstas in all of this - politicians. My pull in this city is getting stronger, and my clout is getting bigger. Getting rid of you two and your entire greasy Italian family will make a lot of people happy, but no one will be happier than me.”

  “Stop with the two-hour fuckin’ speech and do what you came here to do!” Roman yelled impatiently.

  “Oh you ain’t said nothing, but a word,” Carter snarled as he came face to face with Roman, pointing his gun to Roman’s head.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let’s calm down here! Relax, Carter,” I said as I tried to bring his attention back to me.

  I put my hands down and cautiously took a few steps towards him before Carter yelled out, “Step back and put your hands back in the air!” He looked from me to Roman like a nervous squirrel on speed.

  I gave Roman the signal to make his move as I purposely backed into a small ottoman that I used to rest my feet on. I pretended to trip and fall which took Carter’s attention off of Roman and onto me. Before Carter knew what was happening, Roman pulled out his gun from the back of his pants and shot Carter in his temple, his brain splattering everywhere. I couldn’t help but think that this was like a scene out of an old Western movie: the good guy taking out the bad guy with one shot.

  Moments later Massimo and his men came bursting through the rooftop door with their guns drawn. I picked up my phone from the ground that flew out of my hands when I fell over the ottoman and hung it up.

  “You’re just in time for the clean-up,” Roman said in a steely voice as he looked down at the dead body of the man who tried to take his life - twice. He never felt good about taking anyone’s life, but I saw the relief in his eyes after he shot Carter.

  “My apologies. We followed the intel…” Massimo started to say before Roman cut him off.

  “Don’t worry about it. The intel was good, but Carter decided, for whatever reason that he was going to kill me tonight. Are you sure you took out his entire operation here and in New York?” Roman asked.

  “I am positive. Here are the files that prove it.”

  Massimo snapped his fingers and one of his men brought forth a laptop and inserted a flash drive with photos and videos of Carter’s men being assassinated in both states.

  Satisfied with the evidence, Roman told me to wire the money.

  I took out my phone and completed the transaction. Massimo received an alert on his phone telling him that the money was transferred. He took out the flash drive from his laptop and handed it to Roman and his man destroyed the laptop and put it inside of a duffle bag.

  “The laptop will be burned with all the other evidence,” Massimo assured. We all took out our burner phones and put them inside of the duffle bag as well.

  Massimo shook our hands and kissed both our cheeks. “As always, it has been a pleasure doing business with you. We will have this cleaned up in no time with no traces left.” He snapped his fingers twice and his men quickly began the cleanup process.

  Roman and I got out of their way and went back down to my apartment.

&nbs
p; I immediately closed my back door and asked, “Are you ok, Ro?”

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Roman gave a long sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  “What the fuck happened tonight?”

  “That son of a bitch was crazier than we thought, that’s what happened. Was it just me or was Carter high on something?” Roman asked.

  “It wasn’t just you because he was definitely high on something - speed, coke, mollie, who knows. His behavior was very strange and he was moving around so much that I was afraid the gun was going to go off accidentally,” I replied.

  Roman added, “I agree, his behavior was very strange. For some reason I had a feeling that he was following me. I purposely had my security fall back on me today just to see if he’d make a move, and he did. I don’t think he counted on you being here. I bet you he thought this was my secret hide-out place or something.”

  I nodded my head in agreement “Probably.”

  “Either way, he’s dead, and now we can move on with business...and I can move on with Sarah,” Roman said with a sense of relief.

  We continued to talk about business and other matters for the next ten minutes when I heard the heavy footsteps of Massimo and his men leaving. I opened my back door and poked my head out.

  “Everything is clean,” Massimo confirmed before he left. I nodded my head and closed the door.

  “Everything is clean,” I repeated to Roman.

  “Good. I’m going to head home, take a shower and try to sleep a full eight hours tonight. I haven’t been able to do that in weeks.”

  Putting my arm around my cousin’s shoulder I said, “And no one deserves a good night’s rest more than you, cousin.”

  I walked him to the door and paused to get my pistol off of my coffee table just in case. I watched as Roman checked his car for any explosive devices or tracking devices before unlocking and getting inside. Once he pulled off, I went back inside and went to the cabinet where I kept my bottles of hard liquor. I took down my big bottle of Jack Daniels and got a shot glass and filled it to the rim and swallowed it down in one gulp. I poured myself another shot and I let the liquid burn my lungs before I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Damn. What a crazy night.