What Breaks a Man?: Sensible Hearts Part 2

by H. Q. Frost

  "I don't smell it, I see it!"

  "Ny. La. I'm not drunk." I rapidly blink while I stare into her flabbergasted face.

  "You're wandering around the streets drunk. You're going to get arrested! These streets are patrolled. Why are you in this neighborhood? You're so damn immature!"

  "Immature?" I bellow in her face then boast, "I drive a company vehicle! And I went to a baptismal Sunday at a church, Nyla. I also paid my rent on time. Immature," I snicker and shake my head.

  "Get in the car," she snarls.

  "This mature adult prefers to walk."

  "Public intoxication is against the law. Get in the damn car before you're arrested."

  "I don't want to go to jail," quickly comes from my lips and I yank CJ's arm so he follows. "We're not going far, we were actually just walking because CJ lost his cellphone. I found it though, thank you. Then you came barreling around the corner like a bat out of hell. Talk about immature. You see the children at play signs, La?"

  "Stop talking before I fatten your lip again."

  "I'll have you know I was attacked. Barely survived, but I'm a survivor."

  "I'm a survivor. What? I'm not gonna give up. What? I'm not gonna stop. What?" CJ sings from the back and I bob my head to his terrible rendition, but it's served its purpose.

  "Would have been nice if you returned my texts," I mutter toward Nyla.

  "Hold up!" CJ yells from the back seat. "This is the married chick you fucked?"

  "Dom!" she shrieks and as I turn back to scream at CJ, whiskey turns into a brick wall I just smacked my face against and I'm out for the night.

  I wake alone. In my own bed. Dried blood crusted in my nose. When I start making sense of the night before, I regret drinking that much. CJ doesn't remember much, but he does remember throwing me into my own bed before he passed out on the bathroom floor. I stop myself from texting Nyla. It's like maybe if I don't remind her I'm an idiot, she won't remember…

  "What's the schedule tonight, Rory?" I ask him before I start my route for the day.

  Somehow I feel worse than I did the day before, but it's more mental anguish than physical illness.

  "CJ's dropping the truck solo and you're coming with me. Eight o'clock."

  "Cool."

  "Rory, how will I get back?" CJ's words are bare feet trying to walk over nails without crying.

  "Someone will be there to give you a ride back to the shop."

  "Okay." He nods and looks down, trying not to show his fear but it's projected loudly in his tone.

  "Truck seven." Rory throws him keys. "Let's go," he barks at the guys hanging around, noisily enjoying their morning.

  IESAH: Thanks for stopping in the other night. Come by any day this week

  The text pisses me off because she wasn't happy when I stopped by, and now she's just acting like all's cool. Like she wasn't high, drunk, fucked up, whatever. Shady is what she was.

  "Hey," she answers the phone.

  "How you feelin'? Boys finally come back?"

  "They're home," she mumbles.

  "Yeah? Just a little vacation with grandma?"

  "I needed to unwind, okay? Don't worry about me. You want to come over for dinner this week? The boys would like to see you."

  "Iesha…" I don't bother. "Yeah, I'll come by." I need to hang up before I say something I have no right getting involved in.

  Whatever she was doing isn't something a mother of two little boys should be caught up with.

  When we get back to the shop, I'm done for the day. I want to go home and sleep off this feeling, but I'm doing some fucked up job with Rory tonight.

  "Those assholes from Saturday night are going to pay," he says pulling out of the parking lot.

  It takes a second for me to remember he's not talking about what happened at the club, but what happened before the club. When me and CJ almost died.

  "No offense, boss, but I don't want to get into trouble here. I'll do my job, but I'm not trying to go to jail."

  "This is your thing, Sestak." He glances over at me. "You like a fight and you're only coming along in case I need backup. Looks like after your brush Saturday you went out looking for more trouble." He gestures to my face that's not half as bad as it was a day ago.

  "This was actually done by a woman. Not in a good way either." I rub my hand over my shoulder and press on the reminder of the scratches that came from Nyla while she came over my cock.

  "Fucking crazy broads. You probably deserved it though."

  "I think no, but with the way women's brains work, maybe I did." I push on the scratches on my shoulders again.

  We're winding around the ritzy neighborhood by Whitlock Mansion me and CJ had ended up in the other night, and he slows down.

  "Just stand behind me and if shit goes down, I need to know you've got my back?" He holds out money that's fanned out and each bill is a hundred.

  For that amount, I do. I nod and take the cash.

  "You're a good kid, Dom." He pats my shoulder then pulls up to the gate of the mansion.

  There was at least eight hundred dollars there, and I trust Rory, not to mention don't want him getting hurt so I'll be there, but I really hope this doesn't go to shit. I don't want to die tonight, and I really don't want to go back to prison. This job has gotten more extreme than I ever thought it would, but damn if it isn't the easiest fucking money.

  We get out and head toward the garage that one of the Durante trucks is already parked in.

  "You're late," a man I've never seen or dealt with during a drop off says.

  "Fuck off," Rory mutters. "Where's the boss?"

  "Just pulled in." He pulls a gun and aims it at Rory before walking toward him. "Don't move or I'll shoot you in the dick," he tells me and my legs instinctively start to squeeze together.

  While he pats him down for a weapon, Rory rolls his eyes. "You know I don't have anything on me."

  "And you know I don't trust anyone." The guy turns to me. "You showing up with a muscly sidekick is unusual."

  "Yeah well, my boys have been having some trouble with your men and it fucking ends tonight. I don't give a shit about the lost shipment and we just want to continue doing our job for you."

  "Don't move, kid," the guy tells me and starts patting me down. "That ain't us, Durante. We'll get it all cleared up tonight." He gestures us into the garage.

  When we're inside, the door starts to close and my alert is on high because the lights aren't coming on as it gets darker and darker, closing us off from the world. When it closes completely and we're in pitch black, I start patting my pockets for my phone. A light floods in when a door leading into the house opens. I know every corner of this house from the outside, but the inside is completely new territory. I've never been in a house this fucking big and it blows my mind someone would live here. There's a kitchen, dining room, living room… something else room, and another useless room. What the fuck's the point?

  "It'll be a few minutes." The guy that patted me down gestures us into one of the 'something else' rooms.

  I look at Rory, and when he nods for me to sit, I sit across from him then glance around and make sure we're alone.

  "What the fuck, Rory?" I whisper.

  "What?" he sits back and crosses his ankle over his knee.

  "I thought we were coming to threaten some lives, talk some shit, knock skulls if we had to. Now we're sitting in some historic fucking mansion waiting for what?"

  "To talk to the boss and find out why you guys keep getting fucked with. I'm about to pull my services if it continues. I don't need one of you boys getting hurt."

  I scowl at him because we're beyond that.

  "Killed," he finally says and clears his throat. "This shit never used to be about this. We did our job, got paid, waited for the next call."

  "What ties do you have to these people?" I quickly ask when I hear voices.

  "They needed my trucks." He shrugs. "This isn't my operation. We're a third party and probably not the on
ly one."

  I wipe my palms on my jeans because this is closer to the source than I want to be. The less I know and shit.

  "Rory."

  I stand when I hear her voice and when her eyes land on me, my mouth opens.

  "And you've brought a friend." Nyla's staring me dead in the eyes like we're strangers.

  "This is one of my crew that got attacked Saturday night, Ny." Rory stands.

  "I'm sorry. Is that what happened to your face?" she asks walking toward me and I'm staring at her like she's got double heads.

  Because she fucking does!

  She's in this… power suit. It's a pantsuit thing and she looks like she's running for fucking president or something. It's a drastic difference from when I saw her at the club. On top of that, I can't believe she's acting like we don't know each other, and I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do.

  "Dom," Rory says because I haven't answered her.

  "No." I shake her waiting hand, sprawling the fingers I had inside her a few days ago up her wrist. "Separate incident."

  "Well, Rory." She slides her hand out of mine then turns toward him. "I'm not going to attack my own product. Who do you think it is?"

  "You tell me, Ny. I don't appreciate my boys' lives getting threatened like that."

  "Was your life threatened?" she asks, turning back to look at me.

  "I guess you can say that." I narrow my eyes at her but her attention is back on Rory.

  "Guns were aimed at their heads and the trigger was pulled, Ny."

  "You were shot?" she blurts and spins to face me again.

  "We were fired at, missed the first two bullets, then the second time when I had a gun at the back of my head, it didn't fire when he pulled the trigger. Look." I turn to Rory. "I don't belong here. I don't know what the fuck is going on but I don't want any part." Pulling out the easy money I just made to stand at Rory's side, I toss it at his feet.

  This is too fucked up for me. Nyla's involvement in this has me confused and pissed.

  "Dom," he snaps and Nyla bends, picking up the cash.

  When I look at her ass, the image of her white panties comes to my head and now I'm fighting anger and a hard on.

  "This your paycheck?" she asks holding it up and I snatch it from her.

  "Get me the fuck out of here," I tell Rory.

  I don't know this woman, and I just need a few minutes to process what the fuck is going on.

  "Rory, give me a minute with your man, please." She smiles back at him.

  "No," I snap and step around her.

  "What the hell is your deal, Sestak?" Rory growls at me, embarrassment turning his face red.

  "I want the fuck out of here. I quit this shit. I'll work for the company but I ain't doing this no more!"

  "Ny?" a voice from the doorway becomes a figure and I look up at the familiar guy, taking a second to remember he's her husband. "Everything okay?"

  Her cop husband.

  This turned from a bad situation to worse.

  "We're fine," she says casually and smiles at him. "Take Rory to the parlor room and get him a drink."

  As much as I want to leave, I want to know what the fuck is going on so I wait, and when she crosses the room, I stare at her.

  "What the fuck, Nyla?" I quietly snarl when we're alone.

  "You didn't tell me you were almost killed twice that night!" she whispers with stress.

  "Because I didn't plan on telling you about this shit!"

  "Shh, lower your voice." She storms toward me and grabs my arm, pulling me out of sight of the doorway. "Dom," she whispers my name and suddenly her confident stature is melting.

  "What the fuck, La?" I grab her shoulders. "What is going on?"

  "We can't know each other, Dom. You shouldn't even be doing this but if they know we know each other, they're going to think you have more involvement than you do. When you told me you worked for Rory, I thought maybe you'd be doing this, but I didn't think you'd be this stupid." She hits my chest and huffs.

  "What the fuck? You're involved in it!"

  "I am it," she snaps. "This is my operation and I know how dangerous it's become."

  "Fucking hell." I huff. "How? How'd you get involved in this?"

  "My dad." She looks up at me and her eyes fill with tears, officially killing my anger.

  "La." I pull her into my arms.

  "Why didn't you tell me about Saturday night? Was that before you showed up at the club? What'd they look like?" she asks while her head rests on my chest.

  "I don't remember." I lay my cheek on top of her head. "My friend CJ might remember. La, what's going on? Why aren't you returning my texts?"

  "You have to stop working for Rory. I don't want you to get hurt, or end up back in prison, Dom." She looks up at me after taking a step back.

  "You're not in a position to request that." I chuckle and stare down at the woman I love, realizing she's no longer a woman I know.

  "If something happened to you because of this, it'd be my fault."

  "I make my own choices. My life is in my hands each time I decide to do one of these deliveries. You just happen to be the woman behind it all," I mutter as shock starts to set in. "How, La?" I ask with a shake of my head.

  "Nyla?" a loud voice carries and she quickly walks away from me, grabbing a notepad, and I sit in a chair in the corner.

  In walks her husband and his eyes land on me. "Don't I know you?" he asks and I get to my feet with a shrug.

  "Brad, this is Dom."

  "You were at the funeral," he finally says and looks at her again.

  "I knew her father." I clear my throat.

  "Ny?" he says with doubt. "Is this…?"

  "Yes," she admits quietly and I look over at her in confusion.

  "Do you know how much guilt this woman has carried for what happened to you?" he asks me and my eyes hit his. "I didn't understand it. I thought for sure she wasn't telling me the whole story, she had to have more involvement with your arrest."

  Apparently he knows more about me than I realized.

  "But then it hit me one day. The guilt was because she was still in love with you. Harboring such feelings for a man she supposedly moved on from."

  "Brad, please," she mumbles.

  "I want to shake your hand for being the keeper of my wife's heart for so long. Because of you, it took months to get her in my bed."

  "Brad!" she barks and I look down at his waiting hand as mine balls to a fist. "Stop being an asshole! Where's Rory? Dom was just leaving."

  "You thought you'd score some points doing her dirty work?" Brad continues. "Get out of prison, do a job for an ex-flame that'll send you right back. I'm a cop, I can make that happen," he says and pulls a badge from his pocket.

  "Brad, fucking stop," Nyla says with so much anger there's a growl to her voice and she steps between us. "Dom didn't know anything, and we're going to act like he still doesn't."

  I want to rearrange this asshole's face, but he's a cop, and what he just said is true.

  "Dom, think about what I said," she softly says and touches my hand. "This isn't worth the money," she whispers and Brad snickers.

  "Get a real job, buddy," he says then turns and heads for the door.

  "That's what you ended up with, La?" I snicker. "A tool like that? You've always had the worst taste in men." I step around her. "I need the job, La. I don't have a real job," I call to her before I exit the room and listen for voices to find Rory.

  I'm silent until we get beyond the gates.

  "What the fuck, Rory!" I scream and watch as he startles with a gasp and his hands fly into the air.

  "What the fuck, Dom!" he screams hitting my chest and I burst into laughter.

  ~~*~~

  I pull into the driveway of Iesha's and the first thing I notice is Brie on her porch with some asshole that's eyeing me like he's got a problem. This might be one of the guys from the club a week ago but I don't remember what any of them looked like.

&nbs
p; "How you doin', Brie?" I shouldn't be starting trouble at Iesha's, but I'd love to throw down with that asshole if he was involved in either incident I know Brie had a hand in.

  "Hey, Dom." She waves but the guy doesn't even look my way and they go back to talking.

  When I knock, Iesha opens the door looking like a different woman from the other day. How didn't I realize she's involved in the hard shit I saw throughout the living room when I showed up and she wouldn't let me in?

  Never judge a book by the cover. Her damn cover had a grieving widow and two little boys on it. That's how I didn't realize. I still don't want to believe what I saw.

  "They're driving me nuts."

  When I step inside, the boys run for me and wait.

  "What? You guys expecting something just 'cause Dom showed up?"

  Zander's jumping up and down and Jamari's looking for my backpack.

  "Only thing I got today are these." I pull out the gift cards to Toys-R-Us and they stare at me in disappointment. "Who's that on there?" I point to the giraffe and watch the clueless expression on Jamari's face; Zander's still looking for the backpack. "This place has all kinds of toys and with this card, you can get a bunch of them," I explain and watch as his eyes light up and he takes the card before stopping his little brother from the pointless search.

  "Zander, there's money for toys in here," he explains in awe but Zander isn't getting it.

  "After you guys eat, I'll take you to buy toys."

  Start the celebration. I laugh and look around, seeing Iesha's already in the kitchen, prepping the food.

  "Hey," I walk up next to the stove and she doesn't even look over at me, but she more so looks like she doesn't hear or see me. "Iesha?"

  "Hmm?" she mumbles.

  "You feelin' okay?"

  "Fine. Set the table."

  Dinner's messy as usual with the boys, but they obey when I tell them to go wash up. They want those toys and nothing's going to stop them. I grab the car seats that are sitting by the front door and when we step on the porch, I halt, making Zander smack his face into the hard plastic and he starts bawling.

  "I'm sorry, buddy." I quickly pick him up but Iesha snatches him away and rushes back into the house with Jamari too, closing the door behind them.

  The reason I stopped so quickly calls my attention again and I look at my truck that's sitting on blocks with four tires missing.