“No.” His face fell. “You haven’t been interested before, why now?”
“I wasn’t ready before. But I think I have gotten better. Improved my technique. I thought I was ready for a shot.”
I nodded as I assessed him. “You drop your shoulder before you hit. It’s a huge tell. Everyone can see it coming, you’ll get killed in the Warehouse.” His face flushed but it wasn’t with anger. “We can work on this and then see if you’re ready?” I offered. His face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.
“You’ll teach me?” Jordan looked at me hopefully.
I shook my head. I wasn’t a trainer. “Nah, I think it’s time you got some Shadow time.” Jordan nodded enthusiastically. “He’s got different priorities just now, but he’ll be good for you.”
“Of course, thanks Aaron.” I nodded as I walked over to check on the others, what they had been doing, what else they needed.
I took a seat on one of the couches. We needed an actual trainer. Someone who could do this properly. Shadow did his best and ok, these guys were never going to be in a professional match, but I still didn’t want them getting hurt in the Warehouse because I hadn’t given them the right training.
I also needed to phone my mom and tell her she was going to move. I was not looking forward to that conversation. She didn’t see Jay’s flaws, thought he was simply young and high-spirited. When they had moved to Seattle, she hadn’t wanted to leave Jay behind, he had been sixteen at the time and neither of us were convinced my parenting skills would be enough. He had insisted though and mom was just too shaken up with the accident and needing to keep Alicia safe. I was twenty-one when they left, Shadow and I had just bought the gym, I was still learning the shop and I still did the odd run for Skinner. Jay was done with school and didn’t want to go to college. He was more adept with his hands and was picking up the mechanic’s job well. Jim was happy to teach him. I was happy to let him.
I thought we had been doing ok, he had moved out into an apartment when he was eighteen – I hadn’t had a problem with that. I saw him every day and I knew what he had been doing. The last six months, he had gotten in deeper with Skinner and suddenly I didn’t know where he was all the time – or what he was doing. His circle of friends became bigger and less desirable. I was beginning to have a problem with who my little brother was turning out to be. He had asked to get more involved in the fights and in order to keep a closer eye on him, I had agreed. To start with it had been good – however, he had gone too far with the girl and what he had been trying to achieve.
I still wasn’t sure if it was just Colton Dawson that he had the issue with in general. As soon as he made a move on the girl, at a pool party at the Dawsons’ house, I had made it my business to pay more attention. I hadn’t known at first if her innocence was an act or if she was for real. It quickly became clear – to me at least – that she was innocent and also completely clueless. She saw the good in everyone and that, in my opinion, was her biggest flaw. However, I could see why the guys were enamoured with her, she had a fire inside that was admirable. I had challenged her to a game of pool one night. I knew she didn’t want to do it, but she was feisty and had risen to my challenge. My aim had been to keep her away from Jay at the time – unfortunately I had been too busy watching him and hadn’t paid attention to Jay’s friend spiking her drink.
I had never been so angry. I took the hit from Colton because I knew as soon as he pulled the punch, I wasn’t who he was looking for. Together we had narrowed it down. We had worked well together. We were never going to be friends. He resented the fact that I arranged his fights, but he wasn’t fighting because of me and he didn’t hold it against me. I had been difficult and arranged a few spur of the moment matches when he or one of the others had to fight in the middle of the night, but these impromptu fights collected me good money. Plus, he was able to fight. However, Jay started making the opponents more difficult, he started upping the ability of guys who actually trained to fight and weren’t really in the same league with the three boys.
I was glad they were no longer involved if I was honest. They had done their best and earned the respect from the guys who followed that scene, but they were better off out of it. They were bringing too much attention to themselves and that meant too much attention to my fights. I didn’t really like attention.
I stood up and made my way into the office, closing the door. I dialled my mom.
“Hello?”
“Hey mom, it’s me,” I started. We exchanged pleasantries and then, as always, my mom cut to the chase.
“It’s Tuesday afternoon son, why you calling me in the middle of the afternoon when you know I am in the house by myself? You always call when you can speak to me and your sister. What’s happened?”
“Jay told Skinner where you were.” I heard her catch her breath. “I think he’s been to check you out. I don’t think he’ll do anything, but he thinks he’s not the only one that Jay told.”
“Why would he tell him?” my mom whispered.
“Because he’s a stupid little shit who only thinks of himself,” I snapped.
“Aaron!” my mom rebuked me.
“Stop protecting him mom, he’s fucked you both over. I need to move you.”
“But Alicia just started school! Do you really think they still care about the money?”
I closed my eyes and leaned back. “Mom, Two-Bit still randomly picks on people he thinks may have been involved. The guy’s dangerous, honestly, I think he’s unhinged. The money never turned up, there was no explanation as to where it went. He got fucked over by teenagers, he was a laughing stock. He will always look,” I said gently. I could hear her crying softly.
“She didn’t know,” mom argued feebly.
“I know, but she was there, she’s the missing piece. We need to keep her safe. Guys like Two-Bit don’t like losing money.” I heard her blow her nose. “I know she’s at community college, but where else could she go to get the credits she needs for nursing?” I listened as she rattled off some other community colleges. Alicia needed to get certain core classes to go to nursing school.
“So, Watertown, South Dakota then?” I offered. “You’d be closer to me.” I added the sweetener.
“What will I tell her? And your uncle? He isn’t going to want to move, he’s involved with a lady here.”
“He can stay if he wants, mom. I only care about you and Alicia.” My uncle was my dad’s brother and I was grateful for him the last three years, but mom had adapted fully to her wheelchair, in fact she was more independent than most non-disabled people. Alicia was eighteen now, an adult, she too would adapt to another change.
“You know he’ll come. He still blames himself for what happened.” Mom sighed in frustration. I didn’t answer. I still blamed him too, even though I knew it had been an accident. They had been in the garage, I was spending more time there and mom had come by to bring me some lunch. My uncle had been jacking up a car to change the tyres, the old-fashioned way. Only he hadn’t aligned the car properly with the jack – a mistake he had never made in his life – the jack gave way and the car came crashing down. The tyre rolled and my uncle had pushed mom out of the way to avoid it hitting her. It genuinely had been no more than a tap. I was there, I saw it. Unfortunately, she had lost her balance and her head landed hard on the edge of a toolbox. She was paralysed from the waist down. It was simply a freak accident that changed our lives. The irony was, she would have been merely bruised had the tyre hit her.
“I’ll talk to them both when they get home.” She sounded resigned to the fact. “Where is your brother now? You weren’t too hard on him, were you?”
I shook my head in disbelief. He had fucked up and still she defended him. “He’s left Boulder for a while,” I admitted to her. I heard her suck in her breath. “Before you lose it, there are other things going on. I’ll find you a house in Watertown and then fill you in, ok? I need to move you quick. I only have a limited time to get this done
. I can’t have Skinner holding this over us.”
“Aaron, you don’t have to do this. We can start looking,” she offered. “I know how busy you are.”
“That’s a help mom, start looking and we’ll have it ready for the end of the week ok?” We chatted for a few more minutes and then I said my goodbyes.
I checked the time, it was almost five. I fired off a quick text to Shadow to check on Maria. I then started to look for a boxing trainer that would be able to look the other way to a few illegal matches.
My cell rang and I answered it without looking.
“Aaron,” I answered.
“It’s Gregor, I was wondering where you were?”
I frowned. “What’s up?” I was still flicking through the internet on the laptop we kept in the office.
“I want to talk to you about something.” I stopped looking at the screen. Gregor rarely sought me out.
“I’m at the gym, that work for you?” I asked.
He said it did and he was coming over. I went back to looking for trainers. I looked out over the floor and noticed there were only one or two guys left. About twenty minutes later Gregor came walking up the stairs just as the remaining two guys were heading off. I said goodnight to them as they made their way past me, shouting after them to drop the lock on their way out. One of them shouted an affirmative.
“What’s going on?” I enquired of Gregor. I pulled a bottle of water from the fridge and offered him one. He declined.
“Ok, hear me out?”
I unscrewed the top and leaned against the back of a sofa. “Listening.”
“A respray can cost anywhere between $1,500 and $2,000 for the average car, right?” I nodded. “The luxury cars can get a higher price, but we don’t get much luxury cars.” I nodded again. “What if I said I could get ten grand per respray?” Gregor looked at me expectantly.
“Who’s stealing the cars?” I countered. I wasn’t a fool.
“My cousin in Lafayette. He boosts them for a friend, he takes care of the identification number and the glass. He does everything, he just doesn’t have anyone good enough or with the facilities to respray them. I’m good enough.”
My head was running the numbers. “Who does he sell them too?”
Gregor shrugged.
“Knowing the whole run is necessary,” I added.
“We wouldn’t be cut in on that,” he said hesitantly.
“We don’t want to be, but knowing the whole operation reduces the risks to my business,” I explained. Gregor frowned and then nodded.
“How often?” I asked.
“I told him two a week. Keeps the numbers down and keeps us in line with what I do now.”
He’d given it some thought, that was encouraging at least. We weren’t actually stealing the cars, and I could argue that it seemed legit that the cars were just being resprayed.
“What’s he actually paying you?” I asked. Gregor looked at me in surprise.
“Ten grand. I need to use your stuff and place to do this, I’m not stupid enough to try and fleece you Aaron.”
“How you proposing to split it?”
“I thought sixty-forty?” he offered hopefully. I smiled at him and his face fell.
“Eighty-twenty,” I said. “Nothing happens until you find out the whole run. I want details and I want to know everyone involved.” Gregor beamed at me. “Don’t bring them by my shop either.”
“Course not. I’ll have full details for you tomorrow.” I nodded at him as we walked out of the gym. “Thanks Aaron, this will be good.”
I’d be the judge of that. I got in the truck and headed home. I stopped for Chinese on the way, I was finally getting my chicken chow mein.
My house was lit up like a Christmas tree when I drove up, it seemed every light was on. Frowning, I parked in front of the garage and then – bracing myself for the worst – I headed inside.
I literally had no words for the sight that greeted me. Lela was standing in front of the TV with her feet spread apart and she was bent over at the waist with her palms flat on the floor. She had those tiny sleep shorts on again and they were leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination.
She was wearing headphones – I caught sight of the wire dangling from her bent position. I kicked my boots off and hung up my coat and hoody. I crossed the room and sat at the table. She hadn’t moved. As I sat, I could see her face better from this angle, her eyes were closed. I got a beer and checked her again. She was still holding the pose. I cracked apart my chopsticks and opened the carton with my dinner in it.
My eyes ran over her position and her frame. Flexibility was good, I bet she made the guys happy in bed. I opened my bottle of beer and waited. Lela moved fluidly into the upright position and turned around. Her scream was impressive. I grinned as I started to eat.
“You fucking pervert! How long have you been staring at me?” she demanded. She yanked her strappy camisole down, which seemed pointless to me – it was hiding nothing.
“Well if you want to put on such a display in my living room, who am I to ignore it?” I ate more noodles.
“I didn’t know you were home! You could have at least warned me,” she muttered. I grinned at her. She looked around nervously and then back at me. “Have you been here long?”
I shrugged and just for the fuck of it, ran my eyes over her. Lela flushed scarlet and scampered off to her room. Chuckling to myself, I took my noodles and beer over to the couch. I flicked on the sports channel and settled down.
Lela came back about five minutes later – she was wearing yoga pants and a sweater. She hesitated at the edge of the sofa, I put my chopsticks in my carton and turned to look at her.
“Can I sit with you?” she asked me tentatively. She wrung her hands when she was nervous, I noticed. I shrugged. I turned back to the sports channel as I finished my dinner.
“Did you eat?” I enquired. I couldn’t have her going back to Skinner on a hunger strike or something equally stupid.
“Yes. I made an omelette.”
I nodded again. I finished my beer and stood. She looked up at me. The circles under her eyes weren’t as dark, her face was slightly flushed from her yoga. Her hair was freshly washed I could tell. She looked better, a little bit healthier, though she had a way to go before she would look healthy.
“I’m going out. You’ll be ok here?” I walked back to the kitchen and tossed my food carton in the recycling bin.
“Where are you going?” Lela had turned and was kneeling on my couch facing me. I frowned at her kneeling on my couch – was she a child? She quickly turned around again and got up. She walked over and rested against a counter.
I mirrored her actions and leaned against the opposite counter. I folded my arms across my chest. I noticed her notice and saw her flush. Interesting.
“None of your business,” I answered her. She narrowed her eyes at me.
“Are you going out? Can I come?” I continued to appraise her. “Please?”
“Yes. No and still no.” I walked away from her to my bedroom. I heard her following me. I pulled my t-shirt off and heard her gasp as she took in my back. My back was tattooed the same as my front, there wasn’t a spare piece of flesh left to ink.
“It’s like you’re wearing another piece of clothing,” she murmured. I half turned and watched her as she considered the sides and front. “Your skin is so covered, it looks like a tight-fitting t-shirt or something.”
I grunted in answer as I bent to remove my socks. I felt my lock of hair slip forward and pushed it back as I stood back up. Lela was still roaming her eyes all over me. My hand went to my belt. Her eyes flew up to mine as I started to unbuckle it.
“You staying for the show Brat, or are you going to leave me in peace?” I asked as I undid the button of my jeans. Her eyes widened in horror as she realised she had just been openly checking me out. She squeaked and ran out of the bedroom. I chuckled as I disrobed and headed to the shower.
Twenty minutes
later, I was putting my black biker boots back on. I had on dark ripped jeans and a tight-fitting long-sleeved V-neck t-shirt. I reached for my smokes and lighter and headed down the hall. Lela was sitting on the couch staring at the TV, but I don’t think she was watching it.
She looked at me as soon as I came into the room. Her eyes ran the length of me. She looked away. It didn’t seem my little house guest was as averse to me as she wanted me to believe.
“Why can’t I come too? I don’t want to be sitting here alone.” Whiny. I hated whiny. I levelled her with a look, she looked away angrily.
“Get used to being left alone. You’re here because your parents didn’t care enough to make sure you were happy. I’m to keep you here, but I’m not a fucking babysitter.” She glared at me again. “I especially ain’t a babysitter to a Brat. Now I will be back later. Behave and maybe tidy up that pigsty you’ve turned my spare room into.” I had popped my head round the door before coming down the hall. It was the same mess it was this morning, which was remarkable since I had packed all her shit up earlier. I had also checked her wallet and she still had seventy dollars, which meant she hadn’t gone out after I left her this morning. This was good, it pleased me she was capable of following orders.
“You’re not allowed in my room!” Lela jumped to her feet in indignation. I laughed at her.
“You don’t have a room, Brat. Everything in here is mine. Now be good and tidy your room like a good girl.” I put my leather jacket on and checked once again for my smokes.
“You can’t keep me in here you bastard!” she yelled at me. I tilted my head to the side as I considered her.
“Fine. Leave. Just know, if you go this time, I’m not taking you back.” Her eyes were brimming with tears. “Now if you clean your room, I might even give you some allowance.” I winked at her as I left. I heard the thump against the wood after I had closed the door. I grinned as I made my way to the truck, wondering what she had thrown at the door. It was good she had fight – I had a feeling she was going to need it when Skinner came back.
Dark Heart Page 7