by Maree Green
Ken was the only buyer of TJ’s who knew where The Den was. I wasn’t sure why that was. I’d heard it had something to do with Ken helping TJ stay out of jail when he was younger, but that was only hearsay.
Sitting back, I took a long drag on my joint and blew the smoke out slowly. Usually I would help Mac bag the drugs Tom was there to collect, but we’d already done it earlier that day.
Falling into a languid state, I allowed my mind to drift back to my real life, the one I was hoping to get back to real soon. I didn’t allow myself to think about it very often. That would be an occupational hazard, but I had to do it every now and again just so I wouldn’t forget who I was. I refused to allow myself to turn into anything like any of these fucked up people.
Funnily enough, the world of drug dealers, rapists and murderers was my reward for graduating the police academy with honors. Some fucking reward, huh? But at the time I did feel honored. Growing up with a detective for a dad, as well as two brothers who also worked in emergency services, it was a natural move for me to go into the police academy. I wanted to catch the bad guys, just like my dad did.
The undercover job was offered to me because apparently it was common knowledge TJ only took young guys into his gang, and I fit the profile perfectly.
It took me six months to work up enough credits with the guy for him to induct me into his gang, and the initiation was far from pleasant, but here I was, eighteen months into my job – eighteen months since I last saw any of my family, and I was doing everything I could to bring it all to an end. I’d had enough. I wanted out. I just needed TJ to trust me so I could find out the set up for the next big delivery. If we could just get TJ’s supplier, this whole operation would go down, and I could go back to my normal life.
I just hoped I could last until then.
Chapter 3
Kaeli
I came home to raised voices.
After what had happened that morning, my heart immediately jumped into panic mode. Stepping wearily into the lounge room, I found Ken and my loser step brother, Aaron, having some kind of face off over the coffee table.
The second they both spun on me, their gazes dark and feral, I regretted my decision to interrupt.
“Where’s Mom?” I asked.
Ken’s eyes narrowed. “She’s gone shopping.”
I exhaled with relief and turned, ready to make a quick escape.
Aaron spun back on his father. “I’m not going. Make Kaeli go! I’m sure they’d appreciate her a lot more anyway.”
I froze on the first step and looked back at them. Getting in the middle of their problems was the last thing I wanted to do. Aaron was oozing anger, looking between me and his father, and Ken was practically livid.
I watched Ken’s gaze turn from feral to calculatingly malicious. I’d seen that look a few times before, and the aftermath was never good. I was petrified to the spot.
“Do what?” I asked hesitantly.
Ken just continued staring at me, considering whether he wanted me to do this ‘thing’ or not. I was just about to ask again, when his lips curled up into a snide grin.
“Hmmm…I think you might be right, Aaron,” he said. “This could work in our favor.”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked again, this time a little more forceful.
He wasn’t looking at me anymore. He’d begun bustling around near the lounge, arranging a bag of some sort.
“You’re going to go pick something up for me,” he said, not bothering to turn around.
“I have homework to do.”
“It can wait. This is more important.” He zipped up the bag and walked over to the stairs to stand in front of me, shoving a piece of paper into my hand. “Here’s the address you’ll be going to. You’ll have to catch the fifty-one to Forty-Seventh, then go the rest of the way on foot.”
“What? Why can’t I just drive?”
“You just can’t! Tell them Ken sent you – that Tom OD’d, and you’re his replacement.”
Alarm bells started ringing in my head. “Who OD’d? What are you talking about?”
“Just shut up and do as you’re told, you stupid bitch! If you fuck this up for me, I swear to God, you’ll regret it!” He thrust the bag at me, knocking me back a fraction.
I glanced up at him in alarm, pushing the bag back towards him. “This doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to do it.”
Ken’s eyes flashed with murderous rage. “You’ll do it alright, you little bitch, because if you don’t, your mother will be the one to pay for your mistake, and it will be a lot worse than what happened this morning!”
I felt the blood drain from my face. Oh God.
As if reading my mind, he smirked.
I felt sick. Every part of me screamed that this was bad. I’d never wanted to say no more in my whole life, but the thought of Mom cowering next to the bed was still so fresh in my mind, I just couldn’t. I swallowed hard.
He shoved the bag hard against my chest. “Now get going or you’ll miss the bus!”
When I didn’t move, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards the door. Once it was open, he thrust me out onto the porch and slammed it shut behind me.
I started to shake as I stood there. I didn’t know what to do. I knew Ken’s threats weren’t idle. He’d definitely follow through with it and Mom would pay the price, but my head was screaming at me, telling me if I did this, it would be the biggest mistake of my life.
Seeing no choice before me but doing what Ken wanted, I shakily checked I still had my cellphone on me and started down the street.
As I walked, I kept reminding myself I was doing it for Mom, not Ken. Every time the anxiousness started to creep back in again, I placed a firm picture of Mom smiling on the screen of my mind to help me.
The second I arrived at the bus stop, it rolled to a stop beside me. As the door swung open, I tried to ignore the warning bells that were still ringing inside my head. I couldn’t help but feel like I was standing on a precipice, and the instant I stepped foot on that bus, my life was going to drastically change.
With that god awful pang of unease still churning in my stomach, I forced myself to step on.
Twenty minutes later, I got off where Ken had instructed and called up the address using my cell’s GPS. When I saw where I needed to go, I frowned. What the hell?! It was nowhere near Forty-Seventh. Why did he tell me to get off there?
Swearing under my breath, I tightened my grip on the bag’s handle and set off down the back street. The whole situation was making me sick. Something was seriously wrong with it.
The fact that Aaron hadn’t wanted to go was a major indicator, because I knew Ken would’ve offered him money to do it. He had to bribe the idiot to do everything - even take out the freaking trash.
And then there was the whole thing about this Tom person OD-ing. I had no idea what the hell that was about, but any sentence that included the phrase OD’d, couldn’t be about anything good.
A bag. A delivery. A Tom that had OD’d. A person would have to be pretty stupid to think it had nothing to do with drugs.
My breathing sped up. Could Ken be a drug dealer? He was definitely a lot of things that weren’t good, but a dealer? I wasn’t sure I could fit the image of him in that category, but what did I know of those underworld kind of things?
I shook my head as I crossed the street and started down the next block. I wasn’t sure how I felt about my stepfather being a supposed drug dealer. I guessed no different to how it felt with him being a wife beater. He was a douche either way. I didn’t know how he managed to have so many high profile connections, but then again, maybe they were his clients…
Looking at my cell, I turned down the next street, grumbling even more when I had to start navigating decaying piles of rubbish and what looked like dried up puddles of vomit. If he was thinking I’d ever do this for him again, he could forget it.
The image of Mom lying huddled on her bedroom floor flashed at me like a
neon sign and my heart instantly sank. Realization came at me like a slap to the face. Ken knew my Achilles heel. Of course I’d do it again. He knew I had no other option.
Stupid, freaking asshole of a man. God I hated him!
I kicked a rock that was lying on the footpath, watching it sail through the air before it smacked into a metal trash can with a loud clang. I looked around, hoping I hadn’t drawn too much attention to myself, but when I saw the number of the house in front of me, I realized I was a lot closer to the place than I’d thought.
Checking the number on the piece of paper Ken had given me, I froze, and my anger quickly drained away, replaced by a fear I couldn’t control. My heart pounded, pumping loudly in my ears.
I swallowed as I stared at the house I was supposed to be going to. It looked just like any other house in the street, but somehow I just knew there was something terribly wrong inside of it.
Chapter 4
Noah
My blood pulsed in time with each thumping beat of the music blaring from the speaker. Leaning back on the lounge, I sucked in a hard drag of a joint, hoping like hell it would help repress the urge to shove off the girl who’d climbed onto my lap.
I guess she took my non refusal as acceptance, because she then straddled me, slowly rocking her hips, rubbing her crotch against my jeans clad one. If she hadn’t already slept with every other guy in TJ’s gang, I might actually have found it a turn on.
I took another long draw on the joint and watched her with amusement. Her hands slipped under my shirt, gliding over my stomach and chest as she continued to squirm on my lap. When her fingers started manipulating the button on my fly, I snatched up her wrist with my hand, holding it away from the zipper with a firm grip.
She froze, her eyes snapping up to mine, fear and confusion flashing brilliantly in their depths. “Don’t,” I said darkly.
She opened her mouth to protest, but the music suddenly disappeared and the room fell quiet.
“Alright, party’s over. You girls need to get out. Now.” TJ’s death glare worked every time.
The girls quickly collected their discarded clothing off the floor, dressing as they left. I sat forward on the couch, squashing out the remains of the smoke in the ash tray and looked up at TJ. He met my gaze just as the door closed behind the girls.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Do we have any E’s bagged?”
Mac stood up, zipping up his fly as he went. “Two,” he said, heading for the kitchen to check.
TJ nodded then checked his watch. The dark glint in his eye told me he was majorly pissed. “Tom was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago. That’s strike two.”
My eyebrow went up. “Again?” He’d only collected yesterday. It was unusual for him to come more than once or twice a week.
TJ glanced at me again. There was definitely concern on his face. “Just…be weary,” he said. We all knew what that meant: Be ready to fight.
I watched Vinnie give an uneasy look to TJ before disappearing into the kitchen with Mac.
Fifteen minutes later, a knock sounded on the front door.
No one used the front door. Ever.
We all looked at each other in alarm before pushing to our feet and checking our guns.
Chapter 5
Kaeli
My mouth suddenly felt like a desert, and my palms grew sweaty. Shaking, I stepped up to the door and knocked for the second time. A long minute later the door peeled open and I was faced with what could only be described as my worst nightmare. It left no doubt in my mind that there were drugs involved.
“What the fuck do you want?!”
I stared, wondering if it was actually possible to die of fright. The man who stood glaring at me had shoulder length hair that looked like it had never been washed, with small, beady eyes and horribly discolored teeth. He looked to be around his mid-twenties, and his face was covered in acne scars. He wore no shirt – only faded blue jeans that hung low on his hips, and although he was obviously very fit, it wasn’t an attractive sight. Every inch of his torso was inked with vivid and vulgar tattoos.
I tried to remember what Ken had told me to say. “Um…Ken sent me?” I said, my voice high and squeaky. “He said to tell you Tom-”
Before I could finish what I’d been instructed to say, I was grabbed by my upper arm and dragged inside the house with such speed, my head snapped back. The acne man slammed the door behind me then pulled me towards the back of the house.
As my brain scrambled to catch up, I tried to scream, but he somehow managed to slap his hand over my mouth before any sound came out. I instantly went into a state of panic. I didn’t think my heart had ever beat so fast in all my life.
With acne man’s hand still clenched painfully around my upper arm, he yanked me down the hall and into another room, shoving me to a stop just inside the door and pushing me against the wall. I was sure I was about to go into full hyperventilation I was breathing so quick, but then I looked up and suddenly found myself surrounded by five more terrifying figures - one who was aiming a very scary looking gun right at my head, and my breath stopped altogether.
The gun man looked a little older than acne man - maybe late twenties, and didn’t have anywhere near as many tattoos, but the thin jagged scar that ran across one cheek, from his temple to his chin, coupled with his number one shaved head, was enough to scare the crap out of me.
And the look he gave me was enough to make me want to vomit. “Who the fuck are you?!” he growled.
I was so worried I was going to be sick, I didn’t realize tears had started escaping. I honestly thought I was going to pee myself. “Ken sent me,” I said in a weak voice. “He said to tell you that Tom OD’d, and that I was his replacement.”
His jaw clenched as he glared at me. He nodded to acne man. “Search her.”
Acne man instantly grabbed Ken’s bag, tossing it to one of the other guys, then pushed me harder against the wall, his hands groping over every inch of my clothing, pulling out my cell and purse and tossing them as well. Then he continued his search under my clothes, his hands groping over my skin, and under my bra, making me want to scream. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying not to whimper too loudly.
His hands disappeared, and I heard his voice beside my ear. “She’s clean. Very clean. I would very much like to make her a little dirty.”
I shuddered with repulsion, trying hard not to look back at his vulgar grin. Instead, I placed the bravest expression I could conjure on my face, and stared at the gun man.
Without taking his eyes, or his gun, off me, he called to one of the other men. “Mitch. What are we looking at?”
The guy who’d caught the bag – Mitch, looked up at me before he answered. He had a shaved head just like the gun man, the stubble a pure white color, and his eyes were a strange yellowy, brown. Even though he was wearing a shirt, I could tell he had a lot of ink. I could see swirling patterns that ran the entire length of both his arms, and one that snaked down the side of his neck, disappearing under the collar of his shirt. He also had a piercing in his eyebrow – a silver bar that moved every time he frowned, which seemed to be a lot as he gazed at me, and a ring in his bottom lip.
“It’s definitely Ken’s bag,” he said. “Looks as though he wants more than the usual five bags today though.”
Gun man glowered at me for a few more minutes, then lowered his gun. “Either Ken doesn’t give a shit about you, or you’re really fucking stupid,” he mumbled before turning to a short, stocky guy with dirty blonde hair. “Davo, I want you to go and explain to Ken how much I fucking hate surprises.”
With wide eyes, I watched as Davo took a gun out from under his shirt, checked it for bullets then strode out the door.
Acne man still had me virtually pinned against the wall. I could feel his repulsive breath on my cheek as his hand brushed against my boob. “TJ’s gonna be a while, so I think you and I should go and have some fun while we wait…”
His hand r
eached towards my face, and I went to jerk away from him, but an arm reached between us, shoving against acne man’s chest. He stumbled away from me, his head snapping up in fury.
The guy with the shaved head – Mitch, stood glaring at him. “It’s my turn, Pock,” he said in a low, menacing voice.
Acne man – Pock, puffed his chest out, rising up to his full height, which was still a couple of inches short of Mitch’s. “Like fuck it is! You’re never interested in the fresh meat! You can’t just start now because some hot piece of ass comes along!”
Mitch wedged himself between me and Pock, pushing me back in the process. “I can, and I am,” he said dangerously. “It’s my turn, and you know it.”
Although I couldn’t see Mitch’s face, I could tell by the way Pock’s eyes narrowed that he must’ve looked like he meant business. Glancing over towards the gun man - who I assumed was TJ, I saw him watching me with amusement.
Eventually Pock sneered, mumbling some obscenities under his breath before he shoved Mitch’s shoulder with his own, and stormed from the room.
TJ laughed loudly, the sudden noise making me jump. “Well, that was interesting! Have fun, man,” he said, slapping Mitch playfully on his back.
Mitch turned to me, his face still molded into a scowl. “Come on,” he grumbled, grabbing hold of my upper arm and pulling me towards a set of stairs.
“What? No!” I said, immediately pulling away from him.
His hand tightened around my arm and he pulled harder. Terror like I’d never felt before hit me with its full force, and I started thrashing wildly, trying in vain to get free of his grasp.
His hand tightened even more and I felt myself pulled sideways, my balance completely thrown. I stumbled, trying to catch myself, but then there were arms coming around me and I was being hoisted over his shoulder as he began stomping up the stairs.
“No!” I screamed. “Please. Let me go!” My voice broke as I kicked and screamed, tears of fear falling down my face.