by T. Styles
“So you just gonna stand there and stare at me like I’m crazy?”
Silence.
Minnie sighed deeply. “If my father told you to jump off a bridge you would do it?”
Silence.
Rolling her eyes, Minnie stood up and walked to the bathroom within her bedroom.
“Hold up,” the soldier said, “What you doing?
“Pissing,” she said with an attitude.
He stepped closer.
“You got five minutes.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She walked inside.
But right before she slammed the bathroom door, he pushed it open with a stiff arm. “Don’t lock this door.”
“Alright, dang,” she said shoving it shut almost jamming his fingers.
The moment it was closed, she quickly removed her clothing, including her panties.
Completely naked, she placed the phone she took from Hutch on top of the sink. It had been against her body so long the screen was wet and foggy. Banks would kill her if he knew she had a cell but luckily for her he didn’t.
Bending down, she removed a smeared plop of ketchup that she put on her belly moments earlier and smeared it on the seat of her panties instead. She wanted it to look like she had gotten her cycle, and to the naked untrained eye it did.
“THREE MINUTES!” The soldier said knocking on the door.
“Okay!”
Quickly she grabbed the phone, sat in the tub and dialed a number she had been trying all day, before her phone was taken. She hoped she would have better luck this time.
She did.
The moment she heard his voice it took her breath away. “Arlyndo,” she whispered. “Oh my, god where have you been? I miss you so much! And then Natty got hurt and…I’m so mad.” She was rambling everything at once. “Daddy had me kidnapped because he wanted to scare me and everything!”
“I miss you too,” he said dryly.
His tone sounded off and she picked up on it. Their relationship was passionate and reckless, so what gave now? “Well how come it don’t sound like you do?”
“What you want me to say?”
“What I…what you mean what I want you to say?” Tears rolled down her face. “I been calling you all day.”
“Pops took my phone earlier. He just gave it back to me though.” Arlyndo explained.
“So then I’m sure you saw that I called right?”
Silence.
“Arlyndo, say something!”
“What number is this you hitting me on?” He asked ignoring her question.
“Why? You wouldn’t have answered?”
“Yeah.”
“Then don’t worry about that. I wanna see you. Don’t you wanna see me?”
“Listen, now ain’t the right time.”
“The right time for what?” She cried softly. “I need you, Arlyndo. I need you today. My best friend hurt. You ain’t answer my calls. I mean, can you meet me a few miles from my house?”
“You got a car?”
“Nah.”
“So how we gonna meet?”
“I’m gonna—”
Before she could finish her sentence, the door opened in the bathroom. Since she was hidden behind the glass door, Minnie quickly turned the water on in the tub. “What you doing in here?” The soldier asked.
Putting her plan in action, she sat the phone down out of view of the soldier and got out of the tub naked. Picking her drawers up, she rushed toward him holding the red-seated panties in his direction. She may have been doing it for the ketchup but they were still nasty and stank, since she had worn them all day.
Shocked, the soldier turned around, not wanting to see the boss’s underaged daughter naked. “Where your clothes?”
“I got my period okay!” She yelled. “You satisfied now?” She smashed them in the back of his head, leaving a ketchup stain on the base of his neck.
“Fuck is wrong with you?” He turned to face her and then turned around again.
“I wanted you to see I’m bleeding! Since you so busy coming in the bathroom.”
“Your father said not to leave you alone.”
She glared. “I wonder what he gonna say if he found out you tried to rape me.”
The soldier quickly turned around. Suddenly her being naked was the least of his concerns. Those were fighting words. “What you just say?”
“If you don’t get out this bathroom, and out my room, I’m gonna tell him just that.”
The soldier took a deep breath and opened the door. “I’m leaving the room but you got fifteen minutes.” He pointed a yellow nail at her nose. “And then you can do whatever you want ‘cause I’m coming in.” He walked out.
****
Mason, Patterson, Howard and Jersey stood over Arlyndo as he waited for Minnie to return to the phone. They were seated in the basement waiting for the verdict.
“What’s going on?” Mason whispered.
“She’s doing something,” he said. “I can hear her talking in the background though.”
“Listen, son, I know you fucked up right now,” he placed a palm on his shoulder. “And I can tell in your voice you don’t want her to come. But she called and this is the break we need. Now they got Derrick and you left him by himself. So I need you to help us out.”
“You promise you won’t hurt her?” He looked down at his cast.
Mason raised his left hand and placed his right hand over the middle of his chest, nowhere near his heart. “I won’t touch a hair on her head.”
Arlyndo nodded, took a deep breath and waited for Minnie to return, the moment he did he said, “Hey, bae.”
“You gonna meet me?” She asked excitedly. “Because I don’t have a lot of time.”
“Yes.”
“Good, because I miss you so much, Arlyndo. I can’t be without you any longer.”
Arlyndo looked up at his family. “I miss you too.”
“How long will it take you?” She asked. “To meet me?”
“How long it’s gonna take you to get there?”
“I gotta write a letter and then I can be at the spot in about twenty minutes. If I’m late don’t leave me.”
“Never.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Banks was sitting in his office, on the phone.
His head was throbbing as he struggled with learning that Vanguard’s twin brother had been murdered. All because of him. He was certain that Mason had everything to do with it.
He was on his way out the door to check with his family when Rev approached the office. “Boss, Hutch and her daughter wanna meet with you,” he said.
“Now ain’t a good time.”
“She says it’s important.”
He sighed. “Did you pay them for finding Minnie yet?”
“Yes, sir. It’s about something else.”
Banks ran his hand down his face and walked down to the basement where Hutch and her daughter sat. He arranged for them to be taken home later, when not as many of Mason’s men covered the block.
So what did they want now?
“What is it?” Banks asked trying to keep his cool.
Hutch took a deep breath. “My phone.”
Banks shrugged. “What about it?”
“It’s gone.”
Banks squinted. “When you lose it?”
Hutch swallowed the lump in her throat. “On the way over here. I think Minnie has it.”
Banks’ eyes widened as he turned in the opposite direction. Moving quickly toward his daughter’s room, he was angered when he saw one of his men standing outside of the room instead of inside as he instructed. “What you doing out here?”
“She…she bled on herself and—”
Banks shoved him to the side and froze when he saw the balcony door opened, and sheets in knots hanging from the banister. Running around the room like a mad man, he saw black when he didn’t find her anywhere.
Trudging out of the room, he walked up to Rev, snatched his gun
and shot the soldier in the face, for taking his eyes off Minnie.
With blood splattered all over his light skin, Banks took a deep breath. “Get this trash out my house, Rev! And take them dumb bitches home.”
****
Minnie looked behind her repeatedly as she dashed through the acres of woods covering the Wales Estate. After leaving the house via her terrace, she knew she couldn’t walk on the street because she was certain her father’s men would locate her, forcing her back at once.
But her focus was clear.
Nothing was going to stop her from being with Arlyndo Louisville.
After walking for thirty minutes, finally she reached the location where she and Arlyndo met in secret many times. It was a small dirt road off the outskirt of the Wales’ land that had once been used for trailers, when the mansion was being built years ago. But since construction was over, it was mostly abandoned and led to the highway.
That is, if you knew where to go.
Minnie and Arlyndo did.
Cut up slightly from the brush, finally she appeared on the dirt patch land where Arlyndo was standing next to his car, hands in his pocket, a look of indifference on his face.
Rushing up to him, she hugged him tightly and he hugged her back using one arm as if she wasn’t bae.
Separating from him, she looked up into his eyes and took a deep breath. “I can’t believe…” she kissed him again. “…I, I can’t believe I’m standing in front of you.”
He smiled lightly. “Me either.”
“Was it hard…I mean…was it hard getting out?”
He shrugged and opened her car door. “Get inside.”
She nodded and quickly slid into the passenger’s seat while looking toward the woods, to be sure no one was coming.
Arlyndo eased into the driver’s seat and drove away.
“I would have been here earlier but I had to write a letter and mail it.”
Silence.
“So talk to me,” she said touching his leg. “What’s been going on?”
He shrugged. “Outside of missing you?”
She blushed. “Yeah.”
“I don’t know for real,” he said. “I mean, Pops been drinking a lot and, for real…I don’t know what else to say.”
She looked ahead as he continued to drive the unpaved road leading to the highway. “So you think they’ll actually try to hurt each other. Mason and daddy?”
He gazed at her. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
She sighed deeply. “I can’t talk to my father anymore so I don’t know what’s going on either.” She positioned her body so that she could look at him clearer, her back was against the door. “All I know is that I wanna be with you.” She touched his leg.
He jumped.
What was going on?
Why was he quiet?
Why was he stiff?
She looked at him closer, this time with a more discerning eye. “Arlyndo, what’s up?”
He shrugged again and merged onto the highway. “Nothing.”
“Why it seem like you acting funny?”
He looked at her and then back at the road. “You should’ve stayed home, bae.” A single tear trailed his cheek. “You should’ve stayed home.”
“But…but why?” Her teeth chattered.
“Just should have that’s all.”
She sat back and looked straight ahead. She could hear her pulse beating in her ears. Her pressure said danger but her heart said stay. “Arlyndo, what are you doing?”
“I never wanted anybody more than I wanted you.” He shook his head, as tears came down harder. “I never wanted anything more than I wanted you.”
“I feel the same.” She said touching his leg again. “And you have me. That’s why I’m here.”
“It ain’t about having you.” He took a deep breath. “It’s about bad timing.”
“If I didn’t come we couldn’t be together. Daddy flying us out in a few days.” She paused. “Maybe sooner.”
He nodded and remained silent.
“Arlyndo,” she continued. “You scaring me.”
He looked at her, his eyes bloodshot red. It was at that time that she could tell that he had been crying hard, probably before he even picked her up.
She took a deep breath. “You going to hurt me. Aren’t you?”
“Never.”
“Then why are you—”
“Be quiet now, Minnie,” he sighed deeply. “Just be…I mean…” His voice trailed off. His sentence incomplete.
Minnie was shaking so hard she could barely sit still. Everything trembled. Her teeth. Her limbs. It was as if she were about to explode in any second.
Twenty minutes later they were in front of his house. The moment the car was parked, ten men rushed from Mason’s mansion and up to the vehicle.
Frightened, Minnie rotated her head toward Arlyndo who looked away from her. “Why?” She cried as she was being yanked from the car, kicking and screaming. “Why, Arlyndo! I love you!” She was taken into the house.
And he was crushed with betrayal.
A minute later, Mason exited the house and sat in the passenger seat, leaving the door open. “How are you, son?”
He looked at him, tears running down his cheek. “Don’t hurt her.”
Mason touched his shoulder with a heavy hand. “Everything’s gonna be okay. You showed your loyalty. That’s all that matters now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Rev pulled in front of Vanguard’s house with Banks in the backseat of his truck on the phone. He wasn’t focused, because once again Minnie escaped, fucking up his plans. She was his flesh and blood but as much as he loved her, his resentment was growing to levels he didn’t know were possible for his child.
Why couldn’t she obey him?
Why couldn’t she fall in line?
“We’ve been looking everywhere but we don’t see her,” Stretch said. “We checking a few other places though.”
Banks took a deep breath and wiped his hand down his face. “I can’t believe this shit happening.”
“You want me to go to Mason’s?”
“No…he has the place covered,” he paused. “Plus I don’t want him knowing she’s missing again. Especially if he doesn’t have her yet.” He sighed. “You head up things until I leave here.”
“Of course.”
“And Stretch, I need all of your attention on this. You understand what I’m saying?”
“I under—”
“I’m serious.”
“I promise you this, there will be nothing else I do. I’m gonna bring her back home. Let me do this for you.”
“I’m gonna hold you to it.” Banks said. “This is your last chance.”
“I’m on it.”
Banks hung up.
Trying to clear his mind, he took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Within a minute he was sitting in Vanguard’s living room again. “I’m sorry, Vanguard,” Banks said. “I know what it’s like to lose a brother. I lost my entire family.”
“Not just a brother,” Vanguard said. “My twin.” He paused. “His kids were here too. And found his body. They will forever be emotionally compromised behind this.”
“I know, man.”
“Does this have anything to do with you?”
Banks sat back and crossed his arms. “I can’t call it.” He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “But I want you to know, I’ll take care of whoever did this. That’s my word.”
Vanguard stood up and wiped his hand down his face. Taking a deep breath he said, “This island, that you’re going to, is there room for me and my…” he choked up and couldn’t catch his breath.
Banks stood up and walked toward him…only a few feet between them. “What is it, man?”
Slowly Vanguard turned around. His pale face now beet red. “Is there room for me and my wife?”
“What are you asking me?”
“I can’t stay here. I have nothing left.”
&nbs
p; Banks frowned. “But your job and—”
“The Aviation Association will never allow me to return to work like this. They’ll always be worried that my mind is not on flight…that I’m not focused. I’m done.”
Banks sat back down. “I don’t know, man.”
“Please,” Vanguard said walking up to him, sitting on his right. “My brother is gone and it’s just a matter of time before I’m forced to retire.”
“What about your sons?”
“My youngest can come.” He paused. “I mean, how many people are you taking?”
Banks sat back. “With my wife and kids it looks like about 5.”
He nodded. “What about your partner? Stretch I think you called him.”
Silence.
Vanguard nodded feeling he was pressing his luck. “I have a Bombardier Challenger 605. I can seat twelve.”
Banks looked away and back at him. “You get us there and you have a place to stay. For as long as you want.”
Vanguard grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Thank you.”
Banks nodded slowly.
“But are me and my…” He took a deep breath. “Will my wife and I be safe?”
Banks nodded. “Of course.” He stood up and looked down at him. “But be ready Sunday night. We wanna be out no later than 3:00am Monday morning.”
Vanguard nodded. “I’ll let my family know.”
Banks walked out, with a sly smile upon his face.
Things were finally moving his way.
Mason, in his attempt to stop him from going to Wales Island, made a big mistake. For starters he didn’t know that Vanguard had a twin brother when he attempted to assassinate him. And secondly, the murder of Vanguard’s brother did nothing but solidify Banks’ plans for the future. Bringing him and Vanguard closer.
So in that way he owed him.
Now it was time for Banks to show Mason how much he really cared.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
7:49 PM
Ericka was sitting in her recliner, reading a book, when her daughter Shay walked in with a look of seriousness on her face. Closing the novel, she sat up straight to focus on her only child.
Stretch never wanted more.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mommy, I have to ask you something and I don’t want you getting mad.”