by Rosie Harper
“Does Deja know?” I suddenly asked.
“If he is the shooter, you know Deja and the kids are going to be stuck in the middle of this messy blood war.”
I knew that Reese was right. The gangs didn’t care who you were or how you were related. The only wanted to get even the best way they knew how; it didn’t always make sense, but it worked. People suddenly cooperated when someone ended up dead.
“There has to be a way to shield them from all of this. They are my family too.”
“I don’t know how you are going to shield her from the truth when she is a stripper down at the club.”
I let out a deep sigh. I knew he was right. Everyone talked to everyone down at the strip club, and it also meant business was discussed there.
“Let me at least tell her myself.”
Deja was wearing tight jeans when she met me at the penthouse.
“You told me it was urgent. Are you okay?”
“I want you and the kids to leave town for awhile. There is going to be a gang war, and I don’t want you to get involved.”
“I have been here before while there are gang wars that broke out.”
“Yes, but no one knew Jarome was part of a gang before. Now we know he was part of the gang that killed Ramon.”
Deja’s eyes suddenly widened with horror. We both knew what was coming if the kids and she stayed. It wasn’t a good feeling knowing that my brother was part of the gang that killed the man who had raised me and taught me everything on the streets.
“Are you sure it's Jarome?”
I nodded. “People have seen him rolling with the other gang. I don’t know how he could have kept it from any of us without slipping up. I don’t want to see my brother dead, but I know if he is a part of why Ramon ended up in the hospital no matter what I will do or say the gang will kill him.
CHAPTER SIX
One last Date
Three days had passed since I told Deja about Jarome. I knew that this was going to be a long time before I saw her again so what we did have to be something special. I wasn’t sure how to handle the situations, but I was sure within the time we would be together again.
The last time I had felt like this was when my mother moved us to the East Coast. I was younger then, and I was sure the hell is not battling my own brother. My heart wasn’t tied down to anyone except Candy, who I lost contact with when I left.
“Are you ready for our adventure?” I asked looking deep into Deja’s eyes.
“Where are we going for our adventure?”
I started laughing, “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”
Deja started to squeal with excitement. We hadn’t been on an intimate date before this, but I wanted to make it special. I wanted her to now how much she meant to me in such a short time.
I knew that tomorrow our future hadn’t been secured yet, and I wasn’t sure how things would unfold. If it weren't for the fact Deja was married to my brother, I would have married her myself. I knew it wasn’t right to jump into a relationship with Deja and fall in love, but I did love her, and I wasn’t going to have her hurt. Our dreams seemed to be shattering as I wanted to marry her, have kids of our own and travel with her.
It really wasn’t a lie when I said that I was falling in love with Deja. I felt ass if she was starting to me more than a secret affair that started as blackmail. I knew she was feeling the same way because she was speaking less and less of Jarome. To tell you the truth, I didn’t mind.
My life had been drastically different before Deja, and I started seeing each other. I took her out of the city and decided to take her on a road trip to California. Lake Mead glistened as we made a day of our last day together. The sun was hitting the lake that made the water sparkle. I already planned to watch the sunset with her here, but I didn’t tell her.
“There is such beauty here that makes me forget what is going on in Los Angeles.” Deja said.
“I wish we could forget the fact there is a gang war about to break out. This place is a lot different and quite. I don’t have to think that Jarome was the reason the war is about to breakout.”
“I am sure that if you were here day in and day out, you wouldn’t feel the same about Lake Mead. I am sure you are right, though; I don’t want to deal with the gang war that is about to break out either. I can’t believe that my little brother is in a rival gang. It was one of the reasons that we moved east was for us to both be kept away from the gang life. Our mother tried hard to shelter us. I thought since he was so young that he never knew what it was like to be in a gang.”
Deja stared down at the lake below. “I always wondered if I didn’t get involved with Jarome if we would have been dating instead. These past several days have been wonderful, and I never wanted them to end.”
I nodded at this. “I am sure we would have if we met first. I was scared at first Jarome would have found out, and I wasn’t sure how I would handle the fact I was sleeping with his wife. Now I don’t even know who my brother has turned into or when it happened. I guess I was so busy being a businessman and sneaking down secretly to the undesirable places in the city.” I said as I looked at Deja.
“I wouldn’t know how Jarome would handle it either, but it seems as if the kids and I don’t exist to him any longer. I used to love him, don’t get me wrong. Now as I am stripping just to support our family the best I can.”
I was already wrapped around Deja’s little finger. There was nothing I could do to escape this. I already knew that my life was quite different as I saw Deja. We both had damaging secrets that we tried to keep from everyone, so we could keep a squeaky clean reputation.
“It is sad that I really thought I loved Jarome, and I don’t even know who he has turned into. I opened my heart up and ended up falling in love with you while my husband continues to neglect me.
I held her from behind as I kissed her neck.
“Let’s not think of him right now. You are my girlfriend, and I love you, even if what we have is just an affair. I love you, and I always will love you no matter how things turn out. I know I allowed you to get under my skin, and you don’t mind that at all.”
“I love you too!”
It was hard to believe that this world had once hardened my heart, especially after Candy. Lisa wasn’t like Deja, and I knew that was what had been missing from our relationship. Lisa was quite a dull person, and I wanted a fun, excitement and a dark secret like I had been keeping.
If the world knew our secrets of our darkened past, we would be shamed for everything we had done and what we were doing now. It may not have been right for us to make the choices we were making, but in our minds they were the only choices.
“Have you ever taken a kayak around Lake Mead?” I asked.
“No, I have never been to Lake Mead before.”
“Seriously, you haven’t been to Lake Mead before? It looks like I am the one that gets to show you this gem in the world.”
“We are going to kayak it?” Deja asked as she looked into the crystal clear water.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Epilogue
Life changed everyone it had even changed me who was once again wearing the scars from the hood as if they never went away. I had taken Ramon’s place and became the boss of the hood and would one day have a protégé I would train to take my spot. Trying to live a double life was beyond exhausting.
I stared at my hands as I knew what they had been capable of doing. I had killed my own brother for a brother. I couldn’t believe I was the one who had shot the gun that pierced through Jarome, but he was willingly trying to kill me. My last words to him, while he was gasping for air, had been the fact I was sleeping with Deja all this time.
The funeral home was crowded as Jarome’s body was inside a closed casket. My mother was balling her eyes out, and the organ player was playing a hymn I hadn’t heard in a long time.
Deja had sat beside me with her long black dress and a black hat that covered her face. She was
now classified a widow, and our secret had gone to the grave with Jarome, just like my secret of killing my own brother had gone to the grave with them.
There was nothing anyone could say that could make my brother turns out to be a saint, but every time someone stepped to the podium, they did their best to try.
I glanced around at the faces of Jarome’s gang being there. It was hard since I wanted them out of this funeral, but my mother was unaware that these people were the reason Jarome ended up dead. Luckily she didn’t realize I was the one that pulled the trigger on the fatal shot.
My mother wanted me to say something nice, but I had nothing to say nice about Jarome. He had gotten what he had deserved. These past couple months shed a light on something that had been happening, and I was unaware of it.
What had killed Jarome was not being able to handle power and turning it into greed. I knew everyone had their own way of grieving, but I wasn’t about to shed a tear for this man. He had caused a lot of hurt and discontent.
I knew one day I would have to deal with it, but at the moment I was okay with the fact he was gone, and I could safely move on without him. At the moment I tried hard to tell myself people die all the time, this was a fact of life in the streets; some died of overdoses, betrayal and drive by shootings. What my brother did was start a gang war before he died that ended up with two brothers that belonged to rival gangs facing off.
I would never know why he killed Ramon or what had gone through his mind before he did it. Jarome and Ramon were like brothers. Ramon, although older than the both of us seemed to have been over at our house all the time when we were younger. Now I was the only one who was alive out of the three of us; this wasn’t supposed to be happening.
Perhaps this was deeper then just Ramon and I was killing him for Deja, but I did know that my role model and boss ended up dead. It could be way too many things had added up that caused us to have a gunfight on that street.
I didn’t so any remorse, no compassion and no empathy for the fact my brother was dead. My eyes were dry, and secretly I was relieved to know Ramon’s killer was gone.
“I should have shot you when I had a chance.” one of Jarome’s gang members said.
“Go ahead and try to shoot me. I am sure you will never make it out of this part of Los Angeles alive. I thought you were here to pay respect for my brother. To me, it seems that you are disrespecting the whole family by bringing your gang influence here in a funeral home.”
The man bit his tongue and shut up while I continued to listen to how my mother missed her baby. She broke down and started sobbing on the casket, which I couldn’t force myself to produce one single tear.
I couldn’t believe my brother was the one that ended up trying to force a turf and gang war between the two rival gangs. What had he truly gained by killing Ramon? What did Ramon know that he didn’t want everyone else to know?”
“You aren’t fooling any of us. We know who killed your brother.”
I shook my head. “Are you positive that it wasn’t one of your men for recruiting him in the wrong turf?”
Our gangs were exactly the same except they hated each other and had hated each other through the decades. Bad blood was spilled along the line, and that’s why the gangs ended up rivals, instead of making up all we did was defend our turf and make sure to make examples of one another. Jarome was just another example of why you stick with your own.
I helped Deja up as we headed to the limo where we would ride to the cemetery. Everyone knew there was more likely going to be a shootout. That was a customary thing with the gang that Jarome was involved with. They had gang members hide behind headstones and shoot at people, who attended, especially the rival gang who killed him. I already knew I was a walking target, but I wasn’t going to allow it to scare me.
The ride was one that was silent. My mother was crying, and I refused to touch her or comfort her. I just sat on my side of the limo and tried hard to pretend that she understood the real reason Jarome died. I knew if she ever figured out that Jarome was in a gang, she would have blamed me. I was in a gang first, even though it wasn’t even the same gang. I was tired of the one always being blamed for because my brother’s poor choices in life.
The ground had been wet from the morning rain, and I already heard the clips being loaded into guns as the priest my mother had was blessing the grave.
I knew that the only wish of the gang that Jarome had was the same thing I wanted for Ramon, justice. I also knew they were also trying to take over, but the word ‘try’ didn’t mean it would be successful.
I was waiting at any minute for the sound of bullets zooming past my head, and the sounds of guns unloading filled the air.
Gangs always had revenge and avenged one another; it depended on which side of the rival you were on and who did you wrong while standing in the way.
The stone my little brother had for his grave bore the rival gang insignia carved into the granite. Everyone except my mother who had no clue what it meant was all shocked that the ‘anonymous donation’ must have come from the other gang members.
My mother didn’t have the slightest clue as she remarked that it was a beautiful gesture for someone to have paid for such a headstone for Jarome. I could have killed someone since they put that insignia on there. I didn’t want to remember that about my brother, but I guess it would always be who he was, just like the insignia on me would always be who I was.
Not a single gun was being fired to my surprise. Usually, as the casket was still up, and people were still attending was the perfect timing. I couldn’t help but to wonder if they were singling me out.
“Tell your men to drop their weapons. This isn’t the place to start a gang war while you bury one of your own.” I pointed out to the head of the rival gang.
“Why should I listen to you?”
“Everyone knows that both rival gangs are here. Don’t you think the cops are on their way? Shouldn’t we settle this somewhere else where all of us aren’t getting busted?”
The gang member glared at me and motioned his men who were hiding behind headstones to drop their weapons.
The rest of the funeral I didn’t say a word to him, it wasn’t because I was scared to talk to him. I was more infuriated that he had showed up at all.
As I was leaving, I saw the worldwide gang sign known as the ‘killer’ and I realized what it meant. I heard the bullets zoom through the air as guns were unloading. The rival gang didn’t keep his word, but I wasn’t expecting him to either.
The last thing I remember was the feeling of hot liquid and Deja screaming a blood-curdling scream. Sirens in the distance told me the cops were on their way, but I was pretty sure next to my brother would be my own plot. It would the only time that two rival gang members would spill their blood and still have to share the same last name.
THE END
HIGHLANDER BOOKS
An Unexpected Shift
Highlander Romance
By: Bonnie Adamson
An Unexpected Shift
From as far as Fiona could remember, she knew that she wasn't treated like the other girls in the village. She wasn't treated badly, but it definitely didn't feel particularly good. She always felt an extra set of curious eyes, or a group of women would stop talking whenever she would walk by. She didn't have many friends, and the only person she could truly describe as being a friend to her was Ole Bonnie, the wisest (and oldest) person in the village. This, for the most part, suited Fiona just fine.
The truth was, Fiona was odd. She knew that it was true, and she knew that it was mostly her fault. Fiona loved the faeries, and not in the usually cheerful way the other people in the village cared for the wee folk. Perhaps they would do a half-hearted offering come Beltane, or walk carefully home from the pub at night lest they wander across the washerwomen, mysterious spirits who wash the clothing of the future dead. While others may casually laugh and trade stories of such creatures, Fiona loved them, trying her best ever
y day to give them offerings and hope for blessings. For her it was a matter of life and death.
Many people saw her as a tragic thing, her mother had been taken by a fever when she was a little girl, but her intensity towards all things otherworldly had started to make the other people in the village feel uneasy about it. For the most part they said nothing, and Fiona cheerfully allowed them to avoid her, and she knew on some level that she was lucky that she was so beloved to her father. Perhaps another girl would have been tossed out by now, for fear that she was a changeling. As the daughter of the chieftain of Clan MacCaig, a man very practical by all means, she knew that his love for her protected her, and for that she was thankful. the only tragedy she could see was the fact that her oddness had left her woefully undesirable to the men in the village, and few men from other clans were willing to travel across the highlands to set eyes on the "witch girl".
"Never you mind that," Old Bonnie used to tell her in her kindly old voice, often while attempting to brush the tangles out of Fiona's long dark hair. If anything could e said for her, it was known that she was beautiful, with long curly hair the color of rich soil, pale skin with a sprinkling of freckles across her nose, and dark gray eyes with a touch of blue in them. Fiona knew objectively that she was beautiful just as much as she knew that it did not truly matter, and that filled her with sorrow.
"Of course I mind that," Fiona would always reply. "It is my duty to provide an advantageous marriage, is it not? When Artair takes over as leader someday, what else would I do?"
Ole Bonnie snorted, never one to care for Fiona's hot tempered brother. "I am not saying that you should prepare for the life of an old maid, just that you shouldn't mind about those who don't understand."
That was easy for Ole Bonnie to say, she had been married for many years before becoming a widow, Fiona winced as she pulled a little too tightly on her hair, attempting to tame her wild curls into a braid of two. Fiona smiled a little, her hair never cooperated with such attention. The fact of the matter stood, as it so often did, on the fact that she was nineteen years old and her father had never once considered making a match of her. After so long, Fiona simply thought that he never would.