by Peiri Ann
Upstairs was darker than the main floor. But like the dance floor, the floor was lit in a muted burgundy color. Leather walls. No lights in the ceiling, but the tabletops were lit, shining downward.
A young woman grabbed my arm, gibbering.
“English,” I said.
“French?” she inquired.
I nodded. French I can do. German is out of the question. She asked me to join a woman: leggy, caramel-skinned, curly hair, and tight curves in her VIP lounge. The table overlooked the main floor, which was perfect. I followed the woman and sat beside Miss Serena Defrost. She was an international model.
She greeted me with a smile as she stood, kissed my cheeks, and sat back down before I did.
She talked with a girlfriend and I sat there like a trophy, watching the main floor. A group of men in black suits walked in. A man, about the height of the old man I’d been running into, stayed within them. The only time he was exposed was when ascending the stairs. Behind them, the men in the black suits, were Rick and Spirit.
Well… this oughta be fun.
I looked around, trying to spot Nixon with no luck. I texted him and he didn’t text me back.
When Spirit walked past, she had her game face on; eyes focused, expression hard and direct. One I knew well. Certain jobs changed who we were. They made us into people we hated ourselves for. And that was Spirit; she was on a four-hit mission. And something told me two were down and she had two left to go. Imagine her self-destruction following this assignment.
She strutted with Rick at her side, long legs stacked on top of her heels. Spirit was a fucking hottie.
“Dance?” Serena asked me in French.
I didn’t want to throw Spirit or Rick off their game, and I knew seeing me would. Especially seeing me dance with the model Serena Defrost. She was a babe too. “Oui.” But I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.
I stood and looked to my left, through a window that looked into the next skybox. I made eye contact with Rick.
He looked at me with wide eyes.
I discreetly shook my head.
He shrugged.
I shrugged.
He nodded toward Spirit.
I shook my head.
He pursed his lips.
I pointed to Serena.
He moved his hand behind his back, giving me a thumbs up.
“Are you ready?” she asked, grabbing my hand.
“Right behind you,” I told her.
We walked to the dance floor and I was able to keep the room where Rick was in sight. The suited men, Melor, Rick and Spirit all stood around talking. I danced with Serena and her ass was grinding hard on me as she moved her hips. The music still sucked ass, but I went with it.
Later, another group of men walked into the club, casually dressed in jeans and a tie. They went up the stairs and walked to the room Melor was in. I looked up at it, to see if a transaction was about to be made.
Shit… I caught Spirit catching me.
Some women were yellers; they see you doing something they don’t approve of, they start yelling at you about it. Some women are fighters; they catch you and the first thing they do is fight you and the person you’re with. Then some women are runners; they see you, they may stare for a second, analyze the situation, and then they walk away or flee. Those are the ones you want to be worried about—the ones who say nothing—because you have absolutely no idea what they’re thinking. They don’t speak, they show no sign of emotion besides shock, and they just walk away. Like Spirit. She backed away from the window, turning toward the forming crowd in the room.
“Nips.”
Anna!
I whipped around to see my sister dancing with another girl. “God, Anna. Where have you been? What are you doing here?”
“Listen.”
“I’m listening.”
“Save him. Save Melor. He’s not who you think he is.”
“I know he’s Joseph.” I wasn’t going to kill him. I’d made up my mind about that this morning, crying on Spirit’s shoulder and missing my mother. He had a lot of explaining to do, but he didn’t need to die because of it.
Anna stopped dancing and faced me. “How do you know that?”
“I’ve run into him a couple of times. He told me.”
“Wow.”
“How did you know?”
“He told me today. Said after this he’s getting out. He wants us to be a family again.”
Fine time to want to be a family. “Do you know what’s going on upstairs?” I asked her.
“Xon is here. I think they’re going to try to kill him. But Rick and Val are up there too. And you’re here.” She shook her head in despair. “I don’t know, Kyle. Somebody is not going to walk away.”
“We are going to walk away.”
She shook her head again. “They set up Val to kill you.”
“I know.”
“She’s going to do it,” she stated factually.
“I’m hoping she doesn’t. But knowing Val, she just might.”
“I can’t lose everyone.”
“That’s not even the worst news, Juniper.”
Her face fell as she looked up at me. “What?”
“Mom passed this morning. She’s gone. And everyone has been lying to us since Dad died.”
Her head fell and she walked into me. I hugged her, knowing exactly how she was feeling. Though she wasn’t our mother’s biggest fan, she still loved her nonetheless.
“Nips.” I could barely hear her. “That transaction is rigged. They brought Xon here to kill him and I think he knows. These people here are in danger. Melor is in danger, Rick and Val.”
I pulled her back. “Xon?” It just rang a bell.
“Yes.”
“That’s the guy who’s been fucking you up with those drugs.”
“How do you know about that?”
“I want to meet him.”
She shook her head. “You can’t go up there. Not in the middle of a transaction.”
“Watch me.”
“Prove you have the money and I’ll show you the work.”
I looked over everyone. From the men in the black suits who came with us. To the men in the jeans, white shirts, and black ties who came with this man named Xon.
Xon was supposed to be passing over some new drug. But he didn’t know it was a setup. Melor only brought him here to kill him and his casually dressed bodyguards. I didn’t know the background for why, but this transaction was a bust. And I was waiting for someone to get antsy.
It was a last minute thing, Rick and I tagging along, but because we were already coming here for Kyle and Nixon, who were coming here for Melor, my deceitful friend with the pearly white teeth insisted I tag along… just in case.
As soon as I walked into the nightclub, Nixon spotted me. He pulled me to the side and rambled. I was being watched. Blondie and Rick stayed behind and I didn’t have a choice. He was talking about offing Melor and I kept trying to tell him to shut up. But Blondie and Rick came around the corner, Nixon was pulling his gun and it was him or me.
“Bring in the money,” the man with the pearly white teeth said.
Every time I looked behind me, and out the window I saw some shit I didn’t want to see. The first was two guys fucking by the bar. The second was Kyle grinding on some model bitch on the dance floor. What the fuck, Kyle, you’re supposed to be here on business, not dry humping on the fucking dance floor. The third was the money… six women wearing nothing but thongs studded with diamonds, diamond earrings, and diamond necklaces. As they walked up the stairs, the diamonds glistened.
I looked away from them around the room. Xon, with his smooth face and blond hair, was smiling ear to ear watching the ladies enter. The diamonds glowed in the dim burgundy light from the floor.
“The money,” the man from earlier said, pointing.
Melor was seated on the leather sofa, watching… waiting. The bottom half of his face was covered by a scarf and his hands s
tayed clasped on his lap.
“Check them,” Xon said to one of his men. He was also dressed in jeans and a white button-down, but he wore a dark blazer.
His man walked up to one of the women with jewelry and analyzed her earring with a loupe. “It’s real,” he informed.
Xon nodded and whispered to another man beside him. He left and shortly came back with a girl. She was young, had to be younger than me, maybe eighteen. Sluggishly, she walked into the room behind the man who had left to get her. He sat her down on the couch.
Xon pulled out a small bag of crystals. He sat on a sofa opposite of Melor. One of his men walked up beside him and passed him a spoon and a lighter. Xon took them, put the bag down, and removed a few of the small crystals. He placed them on the spoon, picked it up, and warmed it with a blue-flamed lighter. The crystals quickly melted. The smell of it made my stomach turn. A few people in the room loved it, taking in the disgusting scent with an “Mmm.”
Xon motioned for the girl to come over and sit. She did and the man who had passed the spoon passed him a needle. Xon took it and took the liquid up into the syringe. The girl put out her arm and he stuck her with it.
Everyone watched her. She rubbed her arm, leisurely leaning back into the sofa.
Alerted conversation sounded from outside the room, and then Kyle and Anna charged in.
“Shit,” Rick whispered beside me.
Shit was right.
Kyle charged through the room right up to Xon and smashed his fist into his face. He whooped Xon’s ass.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked Rick.
All hell broke loose. The men, who had come with Xon, charged Kyle.
Melor snapped something and his men stepped in, pulling them off.
Rick and I were pulling each other’s arms, trying to keep each other from joining the fight.
Xon hit the floor after Kyle hit him repeatedly. As he was trying to get up, Anna ran over to him and kicked him in the face. The women with diamonds all crowded in a corner, covering their boobs, whimpering, and trying to avoid becoming part of the action.
Anna kept kicking and Kyle was trying to get loose from the men in black suits who were holding him back.
Blondie tapped my arm and nodded to Anna.
I rolled my eyes and left my post to go to her. I yanked her away from Xon and she slapped and punched me. I slammed her into the sofa. “Stop it. Stop hitting,” I said, holding her arms down.
“Get off me, Val!” she shouted.
Guns loaded behind me.
“Shh. Calm down,” I whispered, turning around to see what happened.
Everyone had separated and Xon’s men had their guns aimed at me, Melor’s men had their guns aimed at them and Xon, and my gun was burning my leg wanting me to grab it and aim it at someone.
“You set me up,” Xon calmly accused, staring at Melor, faced drenched in hate.
Melor stood. He came over to Anna and me, grabbed her hand, and took her with him back to his sofa. Rick came right after him, standing in front of me with his gun aimed out at everyone.
“Everyone relax,” calmly said the man with the pearly white teeth. “Put your guns down.” He motioned downward with his hands.
No one listened.
It was silent as everyone stared at each other over their guns. I watched them from behind Rick as I lifted my dress and grabbed my gun. Melor whispered something to Anna, and Anna didn’t like it. He gave a slight nod to Pearly.
Pearly stepped away from Melor and Blondie stepped to his side. “Everyone needs to put their guns down,” she said. “Or a lot of people are going to die.”
Xon shot her in the chest.
She grabbed Pearly as she stumbled back and fell. Shots blazed and everyone tried to take cover. It all got hectic. People, who weren’t in the room, were screaming. And people, who were in the room, were dying.
I lifted my head after having ducked behind Rick and a table and saw Kyle aiming at Melor. I raised my gun to him and no quicker than his shot to Melor, he sent a shot at me, shooting my hand. The gun fell from my hand as a window shattered.
“Shit!” I yelled, trying to shake the sting from my hand.
Kyle was jumping from the window and as Pearly finished off Xon’s men, Melor shouted, “Stick to the plan, Valerie!”
I kicked off my heels and spared a look at Rick. He had caught a shot to the shoulder, but he was okay. He looked up at me and nodded. “Remember, you’re not the only one after him. It’s better you catch him first,” he said, handing me the gun.
“Take care of everything else.” I grabbed it and raced to the window Kyle jumped from, seeing him running from a back door. There was no way I could run from the room down the stairs and catch him. I took a gamble and jumped.
I landed on a table, breaking it, and raced out the back door Kyle had run out of. I checked my gun and shoved the door open.
I ran into a dark area with sheets hanging from the ceiling. A small light shone from somewhere, making things visible. It was quiet and I couldn’t hear any running footsteps.
I stood silent, watching the sheets for ones that might be moving.
I ran to my right where they were beginning to still.
“Spirit,” Kyle called out. “You know how good I am at this.” A shot fired. I heard a whisper as a bullet shot past my ear, putting a hole in the sheet in front of me. Had my head been an inch over, it would have gotten me.
I loaded my gun. “Me too,” I countered, moving from the spot.
“I have the upper hand.” Another shot fired, grazing my leg, putting a bullet hole in the lower half of the sheet I was now standing in front of.
“Shit.” I grabbed my calf, squatting down. I looked up to try to find where he was hiding. He stood up on an overpass, where lighting hung. I aimed and fired.
He dodged it, jumping off his bracket to the ground. With the sheets, I couldn’t see where he landed.
“You really are trying to kill me, Spirit,” he said, astounded.
I reloaded. “Kyle, come out so we can get this over with.”
“It’s going to hurt me to put a bullet in your head, Spirit.”
I tore the sheets from my path as I charged toward him. “Me more, Kyle.” I yanked the last sheet out of the way and there he stood, wrist cut, blood dripping from the fingers of his left hand.
“Aim and fire,” he dared.
Blood was leaking from my stinging leg, and the cement floor was cold to my feet. “You think I won’t do it.”
His shoulders straightened, his green eyes intensified, and his lips pursed as he stared me down.
I aimed. “You slit your wrist.”
“I was trying to beat you to it.” He shook out his arm.
“It hurts?”
He shrugged. “A little. Not more than this scene, more than me watching you aim your gun at me, than you shooting at me.”
“You shot at me,” I argued.
“I was showing you how much better at this I was than you. How I could kill you… but wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
He shook his head, licking his full lips, eyes soft and sincere. He’d pinched his lips to the side before he said, “As of right now, I’m dead to the world. What’s your next move?”
“Follow through.”
His chest rose and fell. “Then follow through, Val.”
I bit down on my bottom lip and fired, sending a shot to his forehead.
His head whipped back and he hit the floor.
Breathing became hard, almost impossible, as I watched him fall. Checking my surroundings, I made sure I was alone. It was quiet and empty, the sheets were still and the air was stale.
I placed the gun on the floor and approached Kyle’s motionless body. I stood over him before dropping down to my knees, watching the blood leak from his head.
His hands traveled up my thighs and I leaned over in his face.
“I cannot believe you actually shot me, Spirit. You
bitch!”
I chuckled. “I could never kill you,” I said, wiping the blood from his head.
“I hate you and I’m still getting a divorce when we get home.”
I kissed him. “I love you.”
“You played me… again,” he said, slapping the side of my ass.
“Had to make it seem real. Just in case.”
“Everyone was in on this except me?”
“And Anna.”
“Damn you all. I’m getting a new family.” He opened his eyes and looked at me. “When was this plan established?”
“Your father, Melor, pulled me to the side when we were on our way to the club. He told me how I loved his son, and how he was disappointed I’d be willing to take you out so easily. I told him to mind his fucking business, but then I realized he said son. So I listened about how Purcell set you up. I told him I’d never kill you. But the bald man with those white teeth was working for Purcell and thought no one knew.” He was the bug, not Rick. “So we each needed to play our parts in case the plan fell through. He was going to take you and Nixon down if I didn’t, and then, maybe, kill Melor. I left Rick back there to take him out and I came after you.”
“I knew you couldn’t do it.”
“I could never kill you. There are certain things about you that I can’t live without. Your love, your empathy, your forgiveness, and your blind trust. A blind trust that confirms I’m yours.” I kissed him, sealing my words. “I am so yours.” I dove into an assuring kiss. “I love you. I love you more than I love myself, I want you more than I want freedom, and I need you more than I need to live.” I grinned. “I shot you because you shot me in my hand and my damn leg. Plus you dared me.”
“You’re a good actor. I should have shot you in the head.” I laughed. “Pick my head up from the floor and rub it. That kickback hurt.” I pulled him to sit up and rubbed the back of his head. He looked at me as I did. I stared into his forgiving green eyes, which said he’d actually thought that I was going to kill him but when I didn’t… he saw me in a new light. He cupped the side of my face with his left hand, gazing. “Damn you, Spirit.” I giggled. “Kiss me, and let me feel you tell me you’re sorry through your embrace.”