by Rose Cody
“Exactly. Asshole thought I was stupid or something.” He says, shaking his head. “I’m getting the supply, paying for it, selling it, bringing back all the cash and then I’m told there isn’t enough for my cut? Fuck that. I’m the one doing the work, what’s even the point of him!”
She nods her head, leaning forward onto the table as she pushes her sandwich to the side.
“So I left. And I took my fucking suppliers with me and now I’m a Demonio. And I’m in charge of my own operations. And the fucking Serpentines?” He scoffs, leaning back into his chair as he takes another bite of his sandwich. “The Serpentines are fucking nothing anymore. I wouldn’t even be able to use all the fingers on my hand if I were to count them. The three from last night. That’s it. They’re a joke now. Durand just can’t let it go.”
“I guess I can see why they’re after you…” She whispers, covering up her nervousness with another bite of sandwich.
“Yeah.” He chuckles. “I guess I can, too. But they’ve never come into our area before. They shouldn’t be here and they know it. They must be getting desperate. Me? I’ll let it slide… They’re mad and I’m not a bad guy, Lily…” He starts, rubbing his hand over his stubble. “But if they come across another Demonio… They don’t have the power to fight back, it would be a death sentence for them. And they know it.”
“A death sentence?” Lily asks, shrugging her shoulders. “You don’t think that would be a little harsh?”
“Harsh?” He asks, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “No.” He chuckles. “What do you think they were trying to do last night? Talk to me? Work it out with hugs? No. We all know how it works, they’re not ignorant as to how all this works…”
Lily jumps, letting out a nervous giggle as she hears the ringer on Jason’s phone go off.
He laughs, a big cheesy grin on his face as he pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the number.
“Still a little jumpy, huh?” He asks, sliding his chair back before standing up and walking over to the patio door, flicking the lock up. “I have to get this.”
She nods, blushing bright red as she watches him walk outside before he pulls the glass door shut behind him.
She sighs, getting up from her seat before picking up the napkins off the table and crunching them into a little ball in her hand. Lily walks over to her garbage can, lifting the lid by pressing her foot against the peddle before tossing in the napkins.
She stretches, reaching over to the counter to pick up the rest of the lunch garbage before glancing back towards her patio door and out into the back yard.
Jason walks back a forth, a few steps right then a few steps left, as he holds his phone up to his ear.
She watches as he roughly shakes his head, sucking in a large, chest raising breath before jutting out his hand passionately as he speaks into his phone.
Lily quickly turns her head away, picking up the garbage and tossing it into the trash with haste as she notices Jason glance in her direction.
She cringes internally as she hears the patio door slide back open as Jason steps back inside her kitchen.
“Well, looks like I gotta go.” He says, as he stuffs his phone back into his pocket. “Got some stuff to do.”
She nods, following him out of the kitchen and back into her living room where he slips on his boots.
“Thanks for lunch, though.” He says softly, smiling at her as she nervously bites on the tip of her finger. “Haven’t had anything home cooked like that in such a long time.”
“Well, it was only a sandwich…” She starts, letting out a laugh.
“Still, it was nice.” He smirks, turning around to open up her front door.
“Wait.” She says, reaching out to him as he begins to pull the door open. “I just… thank you again. Really, thank you so much for helping me and keeping me company…”
“Hey…” He says, turning back around and raising his hand up to her face, cupping her chin and pulling it up as he leans into her and presses his lips against hers quickly. “I had a good time, Lily.”
She nods her head eagerly up and down as he lets go of her burning hot face before he pushes the door open completely and steps outside.
“See you around.” He smirks before disappearing down the path.
She watches him start to get on his bike before she shuts her front door, locking it and pressing her back against it as she sighs.
Lily smiles, her eyes squeezing shut as she hears the roaring rumble of Jason’s bike as he starts it up before he takes off, the deafening sound muting as gets further and further away from her.
“What the fuck am I doing?” She asks herself as she rests her hand against her stomach to calm the tumbling butterflies. “A fucking biker?”
She pushes herself off the door before walking back into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes as she walks over to the patio door and locks it tightly.
Lily makes her way back to the cupboard, wiping the leftover crumbs away with her hand before leaning herself over in front of the sink, her eyes gazing out from the little window behind the sink.
She stands up straight, stretching her hands over her back as the fatigue from lack of sleep last night begins to hit her like a ton of bricks before she turns on the tap, letting the water heat up and pour out of the faucet.
“Why do I always seem to get in trouble with the bad boys?” She asks herself, picking up a rag and reaching for her bottle of lemon dish soap before dropping a dollop into the cloth and wiping it over one of the mugs. “I want to get away from that scuzzy underground shit, not go even further deeper down!”
She rinses the cup, placing it on the dish rack before reaching into the sink for the other before rinsing that one, too, and placing it beside it’s brother.
Lily smirks, walking over to her fridge before opening up the door and looking inside.
“But I can’t help it.” She whispers to herself, as she reaches for a clove of garlic. “There’s just something about him that isn’t so bad after all.”
Chapter 6
Lily shifts in her seat, being extra careful of the warm Pyrex dish bundled in towels and a canvas grocery bag on her lap as her bus hits a pot hole.
“Why am I spending my day off on this fucking bus?” She whispers, asking herself as she leans over to look out the window. “I’m not a teenage girl, why am I doing this?”
She hesitates, sighing out deeply as she squeezes her eyes shut before reaching up above her head and pulling the stop cord.
Her stomach flips, panicking as she feels the bus come to a slow halt before she gets up from her seat and steps out the back door and onto the cracked sidewalk of the street.
“I think this is the place.” She says, clearing her throat as she walks down the sidewalk, looking at the houses before spotting Jason’s black and white bike in front of a house half a block away.
She hurries over, her heart fluttering as she makes her way up the crumbled path in the yard up to the front porch.
“Can I help you?” The same old smoking biker from the night before asks as he leans back in his chair.
“Hi.” Lily whispers, lifting up the bag slightly to show him. “I was wondering if Jason was here… I have something for him…”
“Oh, you’re the girl from last night who spent the night, huh?” The old guy says, grunting as he pulls a smoke from out of his pack before bringing it up to his mouth and lighting it. “Yeah.” He says as he exhales. “Jason’s here. Downstairs.”
“Thanks…” She whispers as she nervously walks up the steps before reaching out to the doorknob of the front door.
“But be quiet, will ya?” He asks, glancing back at her. “Not off of us can go all night and then wake up with the sun like you guys can.”
Her cheeks flush as she nods her head up and down, embarrassed at the sounds they must have caused the night before, before pushing the front door open and quietly stepping inside.
She lets out a soft laugh as she notices sleepin
g men slouched over on the couch, beer bottles littered all over their area before she continues her way deeper inside the house.
She meekly steps into the kitchen, looking around before noticing a slightly ajar door beside the fridge.
Lily walks over to it, opening it up to find a long set of narrowly set stairs.
She steps down, turning back to close the door behind her as a familiar smell hits her nose.
“Oh, my God…” She whispers to herself as she continues stepping down the stairs.
Lily walks across the concrete floor of the unfinished, dark and damp basement towards the sliver of light peeking out from the cracked open door at the other side of the floor.
She knocks gently against the door before slowly pushing it open and peeking her head inside.
“Oh!” She gasps, her eyes widening over the piles of green bud before she backs out of the room. “Sorry!”
“Lily?” She hears him ask.
She stops, glancing back up to Jason as he sits behind the pot covered table.
“Get in here.” He smirks, raising his eyebrow as he watches her nod her head before shakily walking into the thick, skunk smelling room. “Sit down.”
She grabs a black folding chair from the corner, placing it off to the side of the table before awkwardly sitting down.
“I, uh…” She starts, clearing her throat as she watches Jason weigh and stuff the pot into a little baggie before pinching it sealed a tossing it into a large plastic tub on the other side of him. “I brought you this.” She says, holding up the bag before placing it back down on her lap. “I made you a lasagna. You said you never get home cooked meals and I just thought… that that was so sad…” She smirks, biting her bottom lip as she watches him work.
“Really?” He asks, his lips curling upwards as she hands him the bag. “That’s so nice of you.”
She blushes as she watches him place the package on his lap before pushing away the canvas bag and lifting up the towels to take a deep breath.
“Wow, that smells so good.” He says, licking his lips. “I can’t wait to eat it.”
“I can put it in the fridge if you want?” She asks, reaching her hands out and taking the dish from him.
“Yeah, you know what, sure.” He says, smiling at her. “And then maybe you can heat it up for me later.” He chuckles. “Don’t be too long.”
She giggles, nodding her head up and down as she gets up from her seat before rushing out of the room and across the basement.
She quickly steps up the stairs, her heart fluttering as she enters the kitchen and opens the fridge before shoving the lasagna onto an empty shelf.
Lily bite her bottom lip as she walks back down the stairs and over to the room with Jason before stepping back inside.
“You smoke?” He says, looking up from the table at her as he places two small buds into a silver metal grinder before replacing the top and twisting the lid back and forth.
“I… have, yes.” She says, raising her eyebrow, hesitating for a second before walking back over to him and sitting down in her seat.
“And you want to now, right?” He chuckles, opening his grinder up before opening the top drawer of the desk.
He pulls out an ashtray before pushing the loose bud out of the way and placing it down on the desk before reaching back inside the drawer and pulling out a package of papers.
“Sure.” She says, her cheeks flushing as she watches him pinch the ground weed between his fingertips before placing it on a single sheet of folded paper. “I mean, if you’re not busy. I didn’t mean to interrupt you or anything, I just wanted to stop by…”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” He says, licking the paper. “Time for a break anyway.”
She nods her head gently as she watches him spark his lighter before holding the flame up against the twisted end, burning away the paper.
He places it between his lips, inhaling deeply, filling his lungs before exhaling a cloud and passing her the joint.
She takes it between her fingers, hesitating slightly before bringing it up to her lips and sucking in. Her chest tightens as the hot smoke burns her lungs as she holds the cloud inside of her before choking as she coughs it out, passing the smoldering joint back to Jason.
He laughs as he takes it from her, bringing it up to his lips again to take another drag before placing it in the ashtray and leaning back into his chair.
She closes her eyes, breathing out slowly as her body begins to lift and her mind begins to spin as her little buzz begins.
“You know…” He starts, coughing a little before he picks the joint back up from the ashtray and brings it back up to his lips. “We could use someone like you around here.” He says, smirking slightly. “There’s lots of money to be made here, and God knows that customers don’t want to look at the big scary face of fat Mike out front…”
“Oh yeah?” She asks, resting her elbow on the table as she leans into her open palm.
“Yeah.” Jason says, nodding his head up and down slowly. “Maybe it’s not exactly an upgrade from what you’re doing right now, but hey, no late nights!”
Lily smirks, her head swimming as her high hits her even harder.
She reaches out for the joint, pulling it from between Jason’s fingers before bringing it back up to her lips and sucking deeply.
She exhales, coughing slightly before nodding up and down as her head swims.
“Yeah.” She whispers, clearing her throat before raising her voice. “Yeah, why the fuck not?”
Chapter 7
First days on the job are usually rough, but boy, did this one ever take the cake.
Lily sits at the bus stop, gripping her purse against her chest as she sighs out deeply before letting her head fall against the clear bus stop wall.
She looks out onto the street as she hears the rumbling sound of a motorcycle drive towards her before watching Jason get closer and closer, closing the distance between them.
Lily gets up from the bench before stepping out of the bus stop. She walks down the street in the direction he’s coming from, kicking at the sidewalk and looking down at her feet as he pulls up beside her on his white and black bike.
“Hey!” Jason says, turning off his bike and resting his foot on top of the sidewalk. “Good day?”
“No.” Lily whispers, biting the inside of her cheek as she tries to hide her nervous smile. “Not at all actually…”
“Well, what happened?” He asks, chuckling as he lifts his hand.
Lily reaches into her bag, pulling out a small stack of bills before handing them to him.
He counts the money, shrugging his shoulders as he takes half before handing the rest back to her.
She grabs it from him, stuffing it back in her purse before wiping her fingers over her forehead.
“Most people who called me hung up right away.” She says, holding up the phone he gave her. “A lot of people did come meet me, but not many bought. More than a few thought I was suspicious or some sort of cop.”
“Yeah.” He chuckles. “I can see that. After dealing with us for so long, it’s probably a shock to the system to see a pretty girl selling them dope. Eighty dollars isn’t too bad for just an afternoon, though, especially on your first day.”
“I’m just not very good at it, I don’t think.” She whispers.
“Not very good?” He says, shaking his head. “Takes time to learn. I’m sure you weren’t very good on your first day stripping, either.”
“Hey!” She says, scrunching up her face. “I made four hundred dollars my first night stripping.”
“Yeah…” Jason says, his eyes trailing over her tight hoodie. “I could understand why…”
She blushes, biting her bottom lip as she lifts up her bag.
“So, do you want the extra?” She asks. “I have so many baggies left.”
“Nah, keep ‘em for tomorrow.” He says, looking down at his hand before reaching over and pinching the ring on his pinkie betwe
en his thumb and his pointer finger and pulling it off of his hand.
“Here.” He says, reaching out and grabbing her hand before placing the ring against her palm. “Wear it. Now no one can tell you you’re not affiliated with the Demonios.”
She gazes down at the golden ring, her mouth agape as she stares at it in her palm before slipping it onto her middle finger.
She lifts her hand up to let the emerald in the center of the coin sparkle as she reads the name of Jason’s club engraved in a circle around the stone.