by Susan Stoker
“Alright alright. Damn,” Tom said while walking down the stairs.
Erik leaned against the Supra checking his phone, and checked in with Austin.
“Tank…” Dryce playfully yelled over. “You ready for this… dude, it’s going to be off the chain. The girls at these parties are insane.” Dryce danced his way over the car. “Shit, Tank… you might even get some action tonight.”
“Your idea of action and mine are two, way, way different things. And no, I do not want my kind of action tonight,” Erik responded.
The exhaust sound vibrated Erik’s knees as Tom’s Skyline started and revved. Being an American muscle fan himself, even he got a bit excited. But he had to put all that aside. He was there to protect Dryce and there was no way Erik wanted to be on Austin’s bad side.
While driving to the gathering spot, Erik looked over at Dryce.
“Hey, kiddo. Check this out. I’m not a fan of having to kill someone. You know, like Mr. Ngo did. So, tonight can you do me a solid? Stick to the rules… you know what they are. Just keep me in sight, if you can see me, I can see you. Please.” Erik’s tone was the most serious Dryce had ever heard.
“No… you got it, man. I promise. But, I’m still gonna mack on some honeys,” Dryce said playfully.
“And as you should, Your Highness,” Erik replied with a smile, bringing the mood back.
Erik’s phone began to buzz in his pocket. He reached in and pulled it out. It was a text from Austin.
I just met with Yally, I think. I think she took the job. But I have no idea what the fuck just happened. Austin
Erik smiled and clicked the reply button.
Mr. Ngo, did he say no? What all happened? What all was said?
Erik was still smiling waiting for the response from Austin.
Moments later, Erik’s hand buzzed again. Austin replied.
First of all, he is a she. And ‘Ms. Yally’ didn’t say no. She didn’t say yes either. As a matter of fact, she jumped out of the car in the middle of the street.
Erik’s heart skipped a beat, a shit eating grin rushed across his face as he started typing back to him.
He’s a she? And she didn’t say no, so I think its safe to say ‘she’s’ in.
***
Dryce, following Tom’s Skyline, pulled into what appeared to be a multi-level parking garage at a shopping mall. On the ground level, cars lined up, blasting music. The trunks were open and each car’s trunk seemed to be lined with speakers from left to right. The rear view mirror on the Supra rattled and shook. Girls walked up and down the line of cars with their mini skirts, energetic from the bass of the techno music. Every one of the girls wore only a bikini top and there was a set of cleavage for every tire in the place.
Tom and Dryce crept on through to the upper levels. A few levels up was where the American cars were staged.
“Ahhh, ya see… home sweet home. This is my jam here.” Erik nudged Dryce with his elbow.
He laughed and shook his head. “You do know, that due to the sheer weight and the difference in the cams… there is no amount of money that you could put into any of these cars that would compete with my ride,” Dryce said.
“Don’t blame the car, blame the driver, kiddo.” Erik continued to look around, watching for anything out of place.
As Erik gawked at the line of Ford mustangs, almost lined up in year order, he noticed a guy standing off in the corner. The man did a triple take at the sight of Dryce and franticly dug around in his pocket for his phone. Dryce turned the corner heading up to the next level of the garage and Erik kept that guy in sight as long as he could. The phone went to the strange man’s ear while he stared at Dryce. With one last look at him, Erik noted the man’s strangeness to himself. Fuckin skinny tool wearing a red and black plaid long sleeve shirt in the fuckin desert. That should be easy to spot.
Dryce tapped Erik in the chest with the back of his knuckles, “Hey hey… this is our level here. Every car up here is worth over a mil.”
“A million dollars?” Erik asked, twitching his eyebrows.
“Yeah… and you remember what I was saying about cars being like women? Just wait until you see these chicks.” Dryce cracked a smile.
“Yeah, well remember what I said about sticking close to me,” Erik said.
Tom pulled ahead in the middle of the platform and angled the Skyline to the right. Dryce followed, pulling the Supra up next to him, angling his car to the left, the front of the cars nearly touching. With the Skyline being a right hand drive, and the Supra a left, Tom and Dryce got out of the cars facing each other.
With no time at all, girls lined up and began to surround Dryce. Erik got out and walked to the trunk of the Supra and leaned over.
Dryce was quick to fill his arms with two girls on each side. “Ladies, ladies…” was all Erik could make out over the noise of the crowd.
Dryce leaned over to one of the girls. She was a bit taller than he, and her huge tits were stuffed into what seemed like dental floss bikini top. Dryce’s eyes and head nodded towards Erik as she turned around and checked him out. Dryce slapped her ass and propelled her over to him.
Erik shook his head ‘no’ at him, while Dryce nodded his head ‘yes’ back. The grin on Dryce’s face showed that this was him. He was in his element. The music, the half-to-mostly-naked girls. Every kid there was dressed like Dryce. The top two buttons on his fifty-thousand-dollar shirt was undone. The hundred thousand dollar suits, the ten pounds of gold wrapped around his body. This is where he was happy and Erik knew it.
“I was told to call you Tank,” she said as she stood there in front of Erik, flaunting her tits at him. “I’ve never rode a tank before…you think we can change that tonight… Tank?” she said, licking her lips.
Almost flattered and yet embarrassed, Erik smiled. About to reply to her, he caught a glimpse of red and black flannel in his peripheral walking out of the stairwell. With his face toward hers, only with his eyes, he focused in on him. Erik tried to walk around the girl, moving her to the other side so he was now in between her and Dryce. He looked around again. The flannel shirt had vanished. A brown haired girl with pig tails walked out of the stairwell.
Erik looked around again then looked back at Dryce. He was still there surrounded by even more girls, smiling and trying to run through a conversation with Tom. Across the platform, Erik spotted the brunette again. She had high pig tails over her ears, wearing a white button down shirt tied in a knot just under her boobs. She was wearing by far the longest skirt at this gathering thus far. Erik watched her walking away towards another group. She turned and their eyes caught each other’s. She winked at him.
Is that? Erik was unsure if he said that out loud or in his own head. He blinked and looked over to the other side of the girl’s head that was in front of him.
The pig tails were gone. Erik surveyed the platform, scanning group by group off in the distance.
Over the loud music, another girl stood in the doorway to the stairs and screamed. “Help. Oh my God,” she squealed over and over.
Tom and Dryce started to rush over, Erik extended his arm, holding Dryce back, guarding him behind his arm. Tom poked his head in the doorway and looked back, looking for Erik and Dryce. He waved his hand at Erik to come over. “Tank… come look at this,” Tom shouted.
“Stay tight next to me,” Erik muttered over his shoulder at Dryce.
Slowly walking towards the commotion, still scanning the area for anything suspicious and pig tails, Erik started to shove on-lookers out of the way. Before poking his head in, he looked around again. Erik reached back and grabbed ahold of Dryce’s arm, and planted his size seventeen shoe on the door, bracing it open. He peeked in.
It was the flannel kid. His body laid face down on the stair landing while his head was face up. His left hand, also face up, was still cupped like he was holding a phone, but there wasn’t one.
Turning back around, still holding onto Dryce, Erik escorted him back to the S
upra.
“Get in the car. I’m driving,” Erik ordered.
He opened the door for Dryce, and placed him in. Erik walked around the car to the driver’s side. Before getting in himself, he looked up and called out to Tom. “You need to get out of here. Now.”
Not trying to argue with a guy that damn big, Tom nodded his head up and down in agreement and jumped in the Skyline.
Chapter Eight
With Dryce locked in the car, Erik sped out of the parking garage. Reaching in his pocket for his cell phone, he tossed it over to Dryce. “Here, call Mr. Ngo, now.”
Trying to follow Erik’s direction and being bounced around in the passenger seat, Dryce fumbled around with the phone. “Got it. It’s ringing.” Dryce clicked the speaker phone button.
“Go for Ngo,” Austin answered.
“Austin… it’s a no go. We’ve got some shit,” Erik franticly shouted while trying to navigate through the city towards the hotel.
“Is the Prince okay?” Austin asked.
“I’m fine, I’m right here,” Dryce was quick to answer.
“What’s going on?” Austin tried to get a grasp of what was happening.
“There was a murder that took place, and I didn’t think it was a good scene for Dryce to be at once the cops and everyone showed up. So, I got him out of there as soon as I could,” Erik shouted into the phone. Glancing back in the rear view mirror, he noticed a set of head lights coming up on him fast. “And, I think we’ve got a tail.”
Dryce looked back. “No no… it’s just Tom.”
Erik looked at him quickly then back at the road. “How do you know? It can’t be—we left him way behind.”
“Tank… those are the headlights of a Skyline R34. I could tell what those look like from a mile away. Plus, that car is actually way faster than this one.”
Austin shouted manically, “Erik, get the Prince here now.”
“We’re on the way and we’re coming in hot,” Erik said, swerving around traffic.
“I’m on the way down to the loading docks of the hotel. I’ll meet you there.” Austin was back to his refined self as he hung up the phone.
Roughly twenty minutes later, Erik power slid around the corner leading to the hotel’s loading docks. The muffler from the Supra backfired as he skidded to a halt. Dryce slowly opened the passenger door while Austin and three armed security guards from the hotel staff quickly surrounded him.
“Where’s Tompika?” Austin directed his question over the roof of the car at Erik.
Standing there with his right foot still in the car, Erik turned. “We lost him somewhere in the traffic.”
Austin nodded and directed Dryce and the guards inside as he followed behind. Erik cautiously brought up the rear.
Back in the hotel suite, Erik locked the door behind Austin and Dryce.
“Okay, now tell me everything that happened,” Austin said, taking a breath.
Shrugging his shoulders, Dryce looked back and forth between Austin and Erik. “I don’t know; I was just following Tank’s direction.”
Taken aback, Austin cocked an eyebrow at Dryce. “You followed direction?”
“Yeah, look I know what you did the last time, and I know why. I also know what it did to you, and I don’t want you and Tank having to go through that again because of me.” Dryce slowly made his way over to the couch. “I’m not an idiot. I get it now. You guys are putting your lives on the line for me.” Dryce crouched down, sitting on the edge of the couch’s armrest.
Erik took a few steps toward him. “C’mon, don’t think of it like that. Just remember this: no one is forcing me to do this job. I’m here because I actually want to be here.” Erik sealed his statement with a nod.
Austin reached out, placing his hand on Erik’s arm. “So, again tell me what exactly happened?”
Erik turned, his face puzzled like he was trying to figure it out himself. “Hey, what does Yally actually look like?”
Austin continued to talk over Erik. “Did you? Were you the one that killed that guy? Am I going to need to get PR involved?”
“What? No, I…” Erik started to think back. “Umm, when we were driving into the parking structure there was guy in a flannel who stood out to me.”
“How? Why did he stand out to you?” Austin’s tone softened.
“He… umm. He did this double take when he noticed Dryce.” Erik’s head tilted in Dryce’s direction. “Then he seemed sketchy, frantically reaching for his phone. Whoever he was talking to, I was sure it was about him.”
Austin stood there listening, bobbing his head as he understood the details.
“I tried to keep a look out for him. When we got to the top of the parking lot, I… I could have sworn I saw him.” Erik blinked a couple of times. “Then when I looked to confirm, all I saw was a girl leaving the area from where I thought I saw the flannel guy.”
“Then what?” Austin asked, wanting him to continue.
“Then… I don’t know; a few seconds at best some other chick started screaming her head off. I went to look to see what it was all about, and at the landing of the stairwell, there was the flannel guy. Dead. Broken neck.”
Shrugging it off, Austin took over. “Oh, that could have been anything. He could have fallen on his own.”
“No, sir. No one’s head turns that far around without some assistance,” Erik said matter-of-factly. “Just from falling down… what like five or six steps.”
“It was like that, huh?” Austin asked, squinting.
“His phone was missing as well.” Erik slightly shook his head. “I don’t know; it could have fallen all the way down the stairwell.”
A loud bang on the main suite door interrupted the conversation. The knocking continued like someone was trying to kick the door down. Without hesitation, Austin and Erik both drew their weapons. Erik stealthily walked towards the door on the right, holding the .45 caliber in his left hand. Austin positioned himself on the left side with his gun pointed at the middle of the door. Erik looked at the door, irritated that there wasn’t a peep hole, crossed his right hand over his body and quietly grabbed the door handle.
Austin nodded ready. Erik swiftly opened the door just enough for him to see out and with his body standing in the way, no one was going to be able to see in.
“Tank… Sup, man?” Tom stood in the hallway with an entourage of women.
Austin recognized the voice and holstered his weapon, while Erik looked back behind the door at him, shaking his head no, placing his sidearm away as well.
Dryce made his way to the foyer. “Guys, last time I promise.”
Austin whispered and pointed at the door furiously. “Did you call him?”
“No.” Dryce shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
Austin closed his eyes in a long discerning look and then nodded to Erik, indicating to go ahead and let them in.
Erik opened the door and lifted his arms as he stood in the doorway letting everyone know that they were about to get frisked before entering.
“Damn, bro. Your ass can drive. I tried to keep up to ya,” Tom said while getting patted down by Erik.
Dryce greeted Tom at the door. “Hey, man. How did you know where I was?”
Tom smirked. “Really, bro, c’mon… Hey.” Tom turned and pointed back out in the hallway at all the girls. “I brought ya some fun.” He turned back around looking around for the bar. “Where’s the booze, man?”
***
The party seemed to never end. Crowds of girls swarmed the entire suite. The music muffled conversations and Erik moseyed around from group to group. Austin stood off to the side in a corner for the best vantage point to oversee as much as possible.
“Hey, baby, you wanna come hang out with us?” a girl said, walking up to Austin, blowing a kiss and squeezing her tits.
In the corner of his eye, Yally appeared. Or so he thought. When he turned to look again, she was gone. Austin turned to his side, waving his head back and forth att
empting to get another peek of her.
From across the room, Erik looked up. Bringing his wrist to his mouth, he called Austin over the radio. “I think I recognize that girl from the parking deck.”
Pushing his earpiece deeper in his ear, trying to help drown out the music and the rest of the noise, Austin replied into his mic, “I think I just saw Yally.”
“So, that is her,” Erik said back.
“Where is she?” Austin scanned the room.
“I don’t know. I lost her. I thought I saw her and when I looked back up, she was gone,” Erik was ashamed to say.
“Fuck, that girl is good.” Austin huffed.
“I’m actually beginning to believe all those wild stories about Yally.” Erik guffawed.
Chapter Nine
The next morning, Dryce awoke to the muffled sound of a conversation taking place in the great room of the suite. He recognized the rumble of Erik’s deep voice but was unable to hear exactly what they were saying. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes, he glanced around the room. His right arm was numb. Slowly moving his groggy head to look down, Dryce noticed a woman’s head resting in the pocket of his shoulder. Her enormous breast draped over him.
He maneuvered and wiggled his way out from under her, making it without waking her. Dryce sat there on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face when he noticed the sound of the shower running. Through his fingers, he looked up to see another woman in the shower. Her ass smashed against the glass every time she bent over washing her legs.
Dryce stood up and began walking towards the closet for a robe, tripping over a pair of panties that he accidently stepped into. Before tossing the robe over his naked body, he paused, admiring himself in the mirror. God, I love being twenty-three… I don’t even have to workout and damn I look good, he thought to himself.
Stepping over empty bottles, Dryce started for the bedroom door. Cracking the bedroom door a bit before stepping out, he wiped his face again. He looked out and saw her. Who is that? Good Lord, she is stunning. Dryce’s eyes widened. She was the reporter from the investiture gala. Well, he had thought she was a reporter.