Mess Us Up (Brooks Crest Book 3)

by Jaxson Kidman

  “Mac, there’s legal implications…”

  I smile. “Then the lawyer in you will figure it out. You’ll know what to say and how to spin it.”

  “I already have enough things spinning,” Jolie says.

  She stands up from the bed.

  She holds her hand out.

  “What do you think?” she asks.

  “I think you’re fucking perfect and beautiful and sexy no matter what you do,” I say. “Cigarette or not.” I stand up and move toward her. “If you do this though, you have to get used to it. You might throw up.”

  “Really?”

  “You never tried a cigarette before?” I ask.

  “No.”

  I laugh. I touch her face. “Just when I think I can’t love you anymore.”

  “Over a cigarette?” Jolie asks.

  I steal the cigarette from her hand.

  I walk to the dresser and get my lighter and light the cigarette.

  After I take the first drag, I hold the cigarette out for Jolie to take.

  She shuts her eyes and shakes her head.

  I smile and walk toward her again.

  I take another drag of the cigarette and then put my mouth to her neck and gently kiss her, letting the tip of my tongue flirt with her neck while a cloud of smoke blankets her face.

  I take one step away from her and her hand grabs my left wrist.

  Her other hand grabs something else.

  She looks up at me.

  Now we all know the best way to start a morning, right?

  I stand in the doorway to the secret cash room.

  Ado looks back at me.

  He swallows hard.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Taz’s bag is short,” he says.

  “What?”

  “The cash… it’s short. It looks short. It’s not all there, Mac.”

  I step into the room and shut the door.

  I lock it.

  “Show me,” I say.

  “I… I can’t,” Ado says.

  “Why not?”

  “I put everything away,” he says. “But the bag count and cash… I mean, unless it was some old shit. Or a discount. Or something else I don’t know about. I’m just going by eyes here.”

  “Move out of the way,” I say.

  Ado slowly stands and puts his back against the wall.

  I crouch down and look at the cash.

  I’ve been around this game long enough to know when something isn’t right.

  And something isn’t right.

  It’s all around me though.

  Not just within the crew. Or the cash. Or shit on campus. Or the beach. Or the skatepark. Or anything else I have to deal with on a daily basis.

  I look up at Ado. “Keep an eye on it.”

  “What?”

  I stand up. “You saw something was short and you fucking put it away anyway?”

  “I was just moving things,” Ado says. “Keep my mental count. When the fuck are things off, right? It never happens.”

  “Until it does,” I say.

  “What are you going to do?” he asks.

  “I’ll handle it,” I say. “Just don’t be so fucking stupid.” I walk to the door and unlock it. I look back. “How’s your mother?”

  “She’s okay,” he says. “She’s willing to get treatments now. Only what she can get though. Not the treatments I want her to get. But it’s better than nothing.” Ado rubs the back of his neck. “If you have anything extra I can do, Mac…”

  “I’ll let you know,” I say.

  I open the door and whistle for Ado to follow.

  He locks the door behind him and I walk into the meeting room.

  “You fucking held her hand, bro,” Taz says to Les.

  “Slow and steady, Taz,” Les says. “You just fucking pounce. That’s why you blow your load so quick.”

  “Fuck you,” Taz says. “That was one time. And you know she was so fucking hot you would have done the same thing too.”

  I walk by Taz and pat his back. “Happens to the best of us. As long as you came, right?”

  “Exactly,” Taz says. “Les over here wants to fucking build a castle with a moat for Violet.”

  I look at Les.

  He shakes his head.

  I look at Taz. “And what do you want?”

  “I want to dip my tongue into her moat and then… I don’t know… fuck her moat?”

  “Fuck her moat?” Aric asks. “What are you talking about?”

  “I want to fuck Violet,” Taz yells.

  “Okay, now that we got that off our chest,” I say.

  Taz and Les sit down.

  I sit down.

  “Today is going to be interesting,” I say. “We have to split up to make this all work.”

  “Split up how far?” Raf asks.

  “I got wind that something might be going on, on the other side of BC,” I say.

  “We care about that?” Ado asks.

  “It’s something extra,” I say to Ado.

  He nods.

  “You should check it out, Ado,” I say. “Just work your way through. Everyone knows you. Talk. Get info. Make a few deals. Flex a little too. Why not?”

  “Got it,” Ado says.

  “I need Taz with me today,” I say.

  “Can’t wait,” Taz says.

  “Les, you need to check in with Peg Leg Mikey.”

  “Anything going on?” Les asks.

  “No. Just check in. Get all the info you can on what’s happening. What he’s seeing.”

  “What about me?” Aric asks.

  “What do you need, Mac?” Raf asks.

  “You two will take the back end of this,” I say. “There’s a meeting that’s going to happen. Jeff is meeting with his guys. We don’t know who his guys are. If he’s working for them. Or if they’re working for him. That’s where the line gets blurry. That’s what we’re going to find out today.”

  I stand up and draw an invisible map with my finger on the table.

  The meeting is going down near the beach.

  But at a part where you don’t want to hang around or go swimming.

  The exact kind of part where you’d expect some kind of dirty deal to go down.

  Now, Jeff being Jeff, everything will be played off as a possible real estate investment. Why not, right?

  Buy a shitty piece of land that everyone hates and drop some condos or a hotel or some bullshit on it and call it a day.

  To me, I’d rather be walking around campus, dealing with that normal shit.

  Looking at the pretty girls in short skirts.

  Taking care of business.

  Navigating my way through passing classes without showing up.

  But everything is different now.

  Who would have thought… one second of looking at Jolie would mess it all up. And then breaking into her parent’s house to send a message…

  “We keep in touch when we can,” I say. “If everything goes to plan, we’ll either meet here or over at Mama’s.”

  “I vote Mama’s,” Taz says. “Better food.”

  “Violet won’t be there, bro,” I say.

  “I’ll just wish really hard for it,” Taz says.

  “You do that,” I say.

  I pat Taz on the back again.

  Something tells me he and Les are going to end up going at it over Violet.

  I leave the room and light up a cigarette.

  I take a drag and then look at the cigarette and I smile.

  Everything makes me think of Jolie.

  I decide on the motorcycles.

  They’re super-fast, and it helps me burn off some steam.

  You’d think Taz would look weird on a street ride, but he knows how to move the motorcycle better than anyone I’ve ever seen.

  He can take a turn in a way where his knee is a few inches from the ground and he holds it steady.

  He and I alone are dangerous on the roads too.

  I don
’t like being outdone.

  Neither does Taz.

  We race each other, moving in and out of other cars going way too fast for our own good.

  Cars beep at us, but fuck them. They can’t do shit about it.

  Red lights don’t count either.

  It’s a split second between life and death, but we ride that line with smiles on our faces.

  The cops know they can’t catch us either.

  They can try, but they can’t make it a minute before dropping off.

  They know it’s better to just let us be.

  Worse case, we ending up killing ourselves.

  Except we don’t.

  We cut off the main road and cruise along a few of the side roads that are twisty and empty.

  That’s where Taz gets to show off.

  I do a little of the same.

  For me, I like to lift the front end of the motorcycle and speed up.

  It’s funny because it’s just Taz and I.

  Nobody else sees us, yet we keep going back and forth at each other like we’re trying to impress some pretty girl on the beach.

  I drop the front wheel of my ride back down and then stand up.

  I slow and move to the side of the road.

  When Taz sees me, he slams on his brakes and turns.

  The back wheel of his ride skids around, then he speeds up, leaving a cloud of smoke behind him.

  He does the same turn near me and then is next to me.

  We both kill the engines and take off our helmets.

  “What’s the plan?” he asks.

  I look at my phone. “We have about five minutes to go. Let them get out and start talking. They’re already there. That’s why I wanted to stop here. Less attention.”

  “Perfect,” Taz says. “Have a smoke? You give me pointers on how to get my fingers down the front of Violet’s panties?”

  “What if she doesn’t wear panties?” I ask.

  Taz’s eyes go wide. “Now why would you say that?”

  “Just throwing it out there. Crazy girls like that usually don’t.”

  “Fuck,” Taz says. “And I had her in that damn tub too. Even with Les around, I still could have…”

  “Not drunk,” I say.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I said so,” I say. “No drunk fucking Jolie’s best friend.”

  Taz shakes his head. “She’s ruined you, bro.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He laughs. “She’s ruined you.”

  In a way I can’t argue with him.

  But I stand by what I said.

  “You know I’m not looking for love,” Taz says. “Neither is she.”

  “Taz…”

  “Hey, I get it,” he says. “Let Les do all the mushy shit with her. Hold her hand. Whatever. You know what? He can hold her hand while I’m taking care of her. She’ll need it. You know the rumors about my tongue, bro…”

  “I don’t want to hear this,” I say. “Keep your…”

  My eyes move beyond Taz.

  “Fuck,” I whisper.

  “What?” Taz asks.

  I look at my phone.

  Then I look behind him again.

  There’s two black SUVs approaching.

  “Oh, shit, Mac,” Taz says. “Is that…”

  “Yeah,” I say.

  The SUVs are just showing up now.

  Which means we’re early.

  Which means we’re caught.

  Taz looks at me.

  He knows what’s about to happen now.

  We’re fucked.

  We start the rides and take off.

  I look back just in time to see a guy hanging out of the passenger window of the front SUV.

  With a gun.

  He shoots.

  I duck down like I know where the bullet is going to go.

  It’s just the front SUV chasing us.

  The second one is turning around, taking off.

  That means everything is fucked up even worse now.

  No seeing Jeff.

  No seeing who he was supposed to meet.

  No figuring out the truth.

  That means Jolie is going to be stuck at Mama Dae’s for a little longer.

  More than that, I’m not sure I’ll get to see Jolie ever again.

  Taz speeds up and I catch up to him.

  Our only choice is to dip into the parking lot area where the meeting was supposed to take place. Then try to turn it around and get away from the SUV.

  It’s really not that hard to do… except they have weapons.

  We’re easy targets.

  All we can do is move fast and dart left to right to make it harder to shoot at us.

  I take the lead and make the right turn into the parking lot.

  I look back and the SUV isn’t all that far behind us.

  The shooter is still hanging out of the window, gun in hand.

  He starts to shoot again.

  I turn my head to the left, wanting to warn Taz.

  As I look at him, I see him make a jerking motion.

  He loses control of his ride and slows before falling to the ground.

  I’ve never seen Taz crash before.

  I slam on my brakes and turn.

  I jump off my ride and let it hit the ground as I run toward Taz.

  He’s getting to his feet, grabbing for his right shoulder.

  We both take our helmets off.

  “It clipped me!” Taz yells.

  I turn my head and the SUV is coming right toward us.

  I reach behind me and take out my gun.

  The second I point it at the SUV, the driver cuts the wheel.

  I start to run toward the SUV.

  Taz is behind me, yelling my name.

  I’m not against jumping into the fire, even if it hurts.

  These fucking assholes shot at Taz.

  They shot at me.

  The SUV comes to a stop and the driver’s door and back door open.

  The driver steps out and so does two other guys.

  It looks like everyone has a weapon.

  “You’re fucking dead,” I call out.

  “You’re outnumbered,” the driver says. “And what were you doing back there? Waiting for something?”

  “Just taking a smoke break,” I say.

  “Where’s the asshole who shot at me?” Taz asks.

  “Right here,” another voice says.

  The guy walks around the front of the SUV.

  And Taz takes off.

  “Shit,” I whisper.

  Taz runs right to the guy and lunges for him.

  I know this isn’t going to end the way we think.

  The guy has a gun and Taz doesn’t care.

  He tackles the guy to the ground anyway.

  I’m not facing off with three guys myself.

  So I tuck my gun into the back of my jeans and shrug my shoulders.

  I just hope Jolie won’t get too mad at me for this.

  I find a good spot near the beach and I pull to the side of the road.

  I turn off the engine, step off the ride, and peel my helmet up over my head.

  The pain in my face pushes through the rest of my body.

  I drop the helmet to the ground and just walk toward the water.

  Taz is right behind me.

  I get a few seconds of alone time and silence before I look at him.

  “You look like shit,” I say.

  “You’re one to talk,” he says.

  His nose is bleeding. His lip is cut open on the bottom. His cheeks are a little swollen. He looks like he got his ass kicked in a fight. I know I’m a mirror image of him. My right eye keeps threatening to swell and shut. I can feel my heartbeat in my left cheek. When I lick my top lip, I taste blood.

  Fuck, I taste blood inside my mouth.

  It was a goddamn miracle we got out of there alive.

  Taz makes a fist and holds it out.

  I smash my fist into his.

&nbs
p; “Four on two and we handled it,” Taz says.

  “No shots fired,” I say.

  “They knew better. They wanted to feel us out.”

  “I have no clue who they are, Taz,” I say.

  “Neither do I.”

  It had been a wild fight.

  Taz came to help me as the three guys held me and helped themselves to as many punches as they could get.

  Taz and I held our ground with the three guys.

  But then the fourth came back into the picture and it got out of hand.

  We managed.

  The fight broke apart and guns were drawn once again.

  That’s when Taz and I got the fuck out of there before someone got killed.

  “You know, that was… that was the wrong time,” Taz says.

  “I know.”

  “We should have showed up a little later,” Taz says.

  “Something you want to say?” I ask.

  Taz wipes his bottom lip and then wipes the blood on his shirt. “I’m not Les, bro. I’m not going to dance around shit.”

  “Les doesn’t dance around shit either,” I say.

  “I know,” he says. “Do you really want me to say it?”

  “Yeah, I do,” I say.

  “Mama is never wrong,” Taz says. “Until she is. And she’s been wrong more than once.”

  I stared out to the ocean.

  I slowly nod.

  There’s not much I can say to that.

  Taz bumps his shoulder into mine. “Maybe she looked at the wrong clock or some shit. You know? I remember one time, there was this clock in our house… this fucker was always fast. We’d set it and then it would slowly move faster. After two weeks it would be fifteen minutes fast. So we’d set it again. It was fucked up.”

  I look at Taz.

  “A clock that goes too fast?” I ask.

  “Maybe.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” I say. “I just needed a breath for a second.”

  “Where are we going now?” Taz asks.

  “We have to go to Mama’s.”

  “The whole crew?”

  I nod.

  I need the whole crew there.

  I need to figure out what’s going on.

  I need to know why everything around me keeps falling the fuck apart.

  6

  JOLIE

  When I see Mac and the guys are back, I turn and walk away.

  There’s a table full of food.

  Everyone is happy and laughing.