by Jeff Shelby
I made a U-turn and parked on the opposite side of the street. I slung the backpack with the cash over my shoulder and crossed the quiet street to the front door. I pushed the button next to the door and heard the bell chime in the house.
The door opened and a black guy about my size with red hair and hazel eyes looked me up and down without saying anything. He wore an olive-green tank top that exposed arms wired with muscle and khaki shorts that hung to his knees. Faded tattoos blended into his coffee-colored arms and a c-shaped scar decorated the skin just below his bottom lip.
“Help you?” he asked, glancing over my shoulder and scanning the street before returning his eyes to me.
“Need to see David.”
“He ain’t here.”
“When’s he gonna be back?”
“Dunno, my man. Maybe I can help you out.”
“No. I need him.”
He gestured at my cheek. “You fall down or something?”
“Or something, yeah.”
A slow smile crept over his face. “Unlucky.”
“You sure he’s not here?” I asked. “Because I got a backpack full of something he wants.”
“Told you I could help you out.”
“Need to give it to him personally.”
He shrugged. “Well, he ain’t here.”
I nodded. “Alright. Tell him I’ll bring the money back some other time.”
I turned and headed down the walk.
“Yo.”
I stopped and turned around.
“Hold up,” he said, frowning. He ambled down the walk to me. “You droppin’ off cash?”
“Pretty sure that’s what I said.”
“Drops go through me. I’ll take it.”
“Not this one,” I said. “I need to give it to him myself.”
He rubbed a hand over his chin. “I don’t recognize you.”
“Okay.”
“I mean, most people droppin’ off money, I seen them before.”
“This is my first time.”
“Then you don’t know the drill.”
“Look, we can stand here and do the tough guy thing all day,” I said. “You can tell me all about yourself and what the drill is. But I’m still not giving you the bag. Has nothing to do with you. And any heat comes your way for letting me in, I’ll take it for you. Not looking to screw up your day. But I’m giving the bag to him myself.”
He rolled his tongue around inside his mouth and squinted at me. “Alright, alright. I get it. I’ll see if Davey boy will see you. But one piece of advice?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t go for the gun on your hip,” he said, nodding at me. “Because then I’ll have to shoot you.” He grinned. “And I’m fast money.”
I thought I’d tucked it away enough, but either I hadn’t or he was that good. I was pretty sure he was that good.
“I’ll leave it in the car if you want,” I said. “I won’t need it.”
He raised an eyebrow, the hazel eyes amused. “You sure?”
“This doesn’t seem like the kinda place anything really goes down,” I said.
He snorted. “Damn straight. Just rich white people, golf carts and tiny dogs.”
“You want me to toss it?”
He studied me for a moment, then shook his head. “Nah, you good.” He leaned his head toward the house. “Follow me.”
He took me into a domed entryway with marble flooring and shut the door behind me. The cool, air-conditioned air wrapped around me like an icy blanket and I shivered.
“Dude likes it like Alaska in here,” he said. “Wait here.”
He disappeared around the corner.
The interior of the house was right out of a magazine. Expensive furnishings, over-sized paintings and nothing personal. It was meant to show off wealth rather than indicate that anyone lived there.
The guy returned and raised his eyebrow again but without any amusement. “You Braddock?”
I nodded.
He glanced over his shoulder and stepped in closer.
“Okay, just so you know,” he said, lowering his voice. “Every white boy in there is carrying and they all got hard-ons when Davey boy said your name. Be cool and it’ll be cool. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“Don’t be thanking me, big man,” he said, leading the way. “I’ll be the first one to shoot you. I ain’t jokin’ ‘bout bein’ fast money.”
THIRTY-FIVE
“You got guts,” David said. “I’ll give you that.”
He was perched on a stool at a marble-topped bar in an expansive living room, sunlight streaming in through a large bank of windows on the roof. NASCAR was on a muted big screen on the far wall. Two guys I didn’t recognize were attempting to play pool at the billiards table in the middle of the room, but were too focused on me to actually play. Colin was stretched out on a long leather sofa, his eyes glued to me.
It felt like an expensive frat house, minus the poor hygiene.
David held up the Pepsi can in his hand and nodded at me. “Or maybe you’re just stupid.”
I looked at him and images of Bella’s face, cut and bruised, flashed before me. Images of the story she’d told me, how he’d taken Jackson, just to prove he could. The anger simmered and rose up, threatening to boil over. I took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time.
I slid the backpack off my shoulder and tossed it toward him so it landed at his feet. “That’s yours.”
He didn’t even glance at it. “Thanks. How’s that face feeling?”
“Need to talk to you,” I said, ignoring him. “Alone.”
“You can say what you need to in front of these guys,” David said, smiling. “I trust them.”
The two guys at the pool table laughed. Colin just stared at me.
“She’s not making any more runs for you,” I said.
“She?”
“Bella.”
“Oh. Her. Right.” He took a drink from the can and set it on the counter. “I think I’ll wait to hear that from her myself.”
“You aren’t gonna hear anything from her again,” I said. “She’s done.”
“That right?”
“Yeah. And you aren’t gonna go near her,” I said. “Or touch her. Or call her. Or breathe in her direction. She’s out.”
“Since when is this any of your business?”
“Since that asshole over there came at me in the parking lot and I put him down,” I said, glancing at Colin.
Colin sat up and glared at me. “Fuck you.”
“See? He has a bad attitude and it got him in trouble. And I’ll kick his ass again if I need to.”
Colin stood. “Right now. Let’s go.”
David held a hand out in Colin’s direction. The two guys at the pool table had laid down their cues and were now watching us.
“But I’m not concerned with your half-ass day laborers,” I said to David. “I’m concerned about you.”
He grinned. “You should be.” He made a show of finishing the soda and setting the can down on the bar. “So what happens if I don’t go along here with your little demands?”
“I go to the cops,” I said.
He blinked a couple times. “Really? You’d go to the cops?”
“Yeah,” I said. “And your little frat boys will talk. And so will Bella.”
“Really?” he said. “You got all that lined up?”
In truth, I didn’t. But I knew I could make it happen if I needed to. I didn’t anticipate having to send anyone to the police but if push came to shove, I thought I could get it set up.
“Yeah,” I said. “I do.”
David nodded slowly, then shook his head. “Well, I guess you got me cornered. Seeing how you might go to the police and all.”
He stared at me for a moment, his face blank.
I waited him out.
The blank expression washed out and he looked like he was trying to remember something. “He
y, Colin. Help me out here.”
Colin was still scowling in my direction. “What?”
“What was the name of that dude we met earlier in the week?” David said, squinting hard. “Had a funny name.”
The scowl broke and Colin smiled ugly at me. “I think his name was Zip.”
Everything inside me felt colder, but I didn’t react.
David snapped his fingers. “That’s right. Zip. How could I forget a name like that?” He stared at me. “You know Zip? I heard you might.”
I didn’t say anything.
“And something tells me you might not just go running to the cops,” he said, smiling. “Just a guess. But I’m usually pretty good at guessing.”
Colin and the other two chuckled and laughed. I had no idea how they’d run into Zip or what he’d told them. But I’d lost a little leverage.
I still had one more play, though.
“You good at counting?” I asked.
David genuinely looked confused. “Counting?”
“Yeah. Numbers.”
He shrugged, then nodded. “Sure.”
“Okay, so then you’ll know if the backpack is a little short?”
The playfulness and mirth left his expression as he looked down at the bag. He picked it up and set it on the bar, then glanced past me. “Red. Count it.”
Red, the guy who met me at the door and brought me in, came from behind me and pulled the bag off the counter. He set it on a round, glass table and pulled out the stacks of cash. He thumbed through it quickly. “There’s fifteen here.”
David’s face colored. “There should be twenty-five.”
I smiled. “Yes. There should be.”
“That’s my money.”
“Yes. It is.”
“It would be a mistake to steal from me,” he said slowly, his eyes raking over me.
I held his gaze. “It would be a mistake to mess with Bella anymore.”
No one moved.
“So, if I stay away from her, I let her out, I get my money?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“When?”
“When I’m convinced you’ll leave her alone.”
“And when the fuck is that gonna be?”
“Hard to say. And I’ll try to keep quiet about having ripped you off, too.”
His eyes hardened and narrowed. I knew it wasn’t the money he was worried about. It was that his reputation would take a hit. If word got out that you could steal from him, his grip over the area would be severely diminished.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said.
“Am I?” I asked. “You come after me, not only do you not see your cash, but then everyone starts talking. About the deal, about you. And I don’t think you wanna give that up. Not over something small like this. Just let her walk away and you can go on about your business.”
His nostrils flared.
“Be smart,” I said. “Don’t be like your boy Colin over there.”
Red snickered and Colin looked like he wanted to take a bite out of my face.
“Okay,” David said.
“Yeah?”
David nodded slowly, his mouth set in a firm, hard line. “Yeah. Deal.”
“Excellent,” I said. “I’ll be in touch.”
I backed out of the room, waving at Colin.
THIRTY-SIX
I knew David was full of shit.
As I drove back to Fort Walton, I knew we didn’t have a deal. All he wanted was for me to leave so he could think of a way to come at me. Like I figured, he wasn’t going to do anything right then and there. He wasn’t completely stupid. But he also wasn’t going to let me steal from him, take away one of his couriers, and make him look like a punk.
But it bought me some time.
Now, I just had to convince Bella that she needed to listen to me. And I thought that might be a little harder.
She and Alex were sitting on the sofa when I got to her house. Jackson was sprawled on the floor, building a Lego city. A large pizza box sat in the middle of the coffee table, surrounded by greasy paper plates and crumpled up napkins.
She looked at me anxiously.
“See, I’m okay,” I said. “No new bruises.”
“Ha,” she said. “What happened?”
She didn’t look convinced when I was done. “He won’t let it go.”
“I know.”
“So, what happens now, then?”
I sat down on the floor next to Jackson. “Hey, remember that space shuttle thing you wanted to build?”
Jackson looked up, his eyes bright. “Yeah. You wanna build it?”
“Maybe. Do you still have the instructions somewhere? On how to put it together?”
He bobbed his head. “In my room. I have a whole box full. I’ll go find it!” He hurried down the hallway.
I turned my attention back to Bella. “You need to think about moving.”
“Moving?”
“Yeah. And I don’t mean from this house. I mean out of the area. The state.”
She folded her arms across her chest and stared at me. “You have to be kidding me.”
“I’m not.”
“I was just telling Alex I’ve never lived anywhere but Florida,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t just pick up and leave.”
“If you truly wanna be free of David, then I think you need to.”
“Why?”
“Because I can only do so much for so long here,” I said, picking up a Lego piece and pinching it between my fingers. “You’re right. He won’t let it go. At least not right away. But you cut out of here, he won’t follow.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he won’t,” I said. “You won’t be a threat once you’re gone. He won’t have anything to prove. And he’s small-time. Not like he has some long reach.”
“He’s right,” Alex said. “Chances of him following are pretty slim. He’s running his mouth, but he won’t back it up. They never do.”
She glanced down the hallway toward Jackson’s room, then back to me. “Where the hell am I supposed to go?”
“San Diego,” I said.
“California? That’s the other side of the country!”
“Which makes it less likely that David will bug you any longer.”
“How would I swing that? And I don’t know anyone there.” She put her hands in her hair and rubbed her temples.
“Alex and I can set some things up.” I looked at him and he nodded. “Place to stay, probably a job, all of that stuff. And you’d be protected. Not just by Alex, but some of my other friends, too. If David ever did decide to show up, he’d be making a huge mistake.”
She stared at me. “What about you? Would you be there?”
I shook my head. “No. You know why.”
“What are you going to do?”
“This isn’t about me,” I said. “This is about making sure you’re safe and done with this stuff.”
Jackson reappeared, clutching a ragged instruction manual. He shuffled closer to me and set himself down in my lap and I wondered how much of the conversation he’d overheard.
“You should come with us,” he said. “So we can play Legos all the time.”
Bella raised an eyebrow at me.
“Hey, Jackson,” Alex said. “Do you know what’s in San Diego?”
“No, because I’ve never been there.”
Alex smiled. “Of course. But Legoland is in San Diego.”
“Legoland?”
He nodded. “Yep. It’s like Disneyland but with Legos.”
Jackson looked at his mom, wide-eyed. “Can we go to Legoland when we get to San Diego? Please?”
“Thanks a lot,” she whispered under her breath to Alex, but she smiled as she said. “We’ll see, Jax. If we go to San Diego.”
“I wanna go! I wanna go!” Jackson yelled.
She laughed at her son, but looked at me without any amusement. “I’ll think about it.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
I needed to find Zip.
I spent a few minutes helping Jackson build his space station before Alex took over.
“Can you build?” Jackson eyed him skeptically.
Alex nodded. “Sure can. Let me talk to Noah for a minute and then I’ll be back. And we’ll trick out your space station, I promise.”
I said goodbye and Alex walked outside with me.
“He likes you,” I said.
“He’s a good kid.” He rocked on his heels. “So. Anything I need to know?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t fudge on anything. It went the way I said it did.”
“You think he’ll stay off?”
“No. He’ll probably come after me again. But I’m okay with that. You need to work on getting her to understand that San Diego is a good idea.”
He nodded and something crossed into his expression. “I will. Is there anything I should know about? With Bella, I mean?”
“I’m not following.”
He hesitated. “Between you and her.”
I shook my head. “No. Nothing. I’m just trying to help her out.”
“Okay. Just wanted to make sure.”
“Why?”
“I just wanted to make sure I understood the dynamics here,” he said, shrugging. “That’s all.”
“She’s been really nice to me,” I said. “I like her. I like the kid. I wanna help her. That’s all.” I took a deep breath. “And she knows about your sister.”
“Everything?”
“I told her everything.”
“Wow,” he said. “Okay. Good to know.”
“I trust her,” I said. “If she asks questions, you can answer them.”
“Okay. Where are you headed?”
“To find Zip,” I said. “I need to know how stupid he’s been.”
“You want me to come along?”
“Nope. You stay with them. Convince her about San Diego.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“I’ll be back here later on. Okay if I take your car again?”
“Of course,” he said. “Be careful.”