by Lauren Wood
“Where are you off to in such a rush?”
“Sorry Sir, I didn’t see you there.”
I moved to go past him and he stopped me with a few tight fingers gripped on my shoulder. “I asked you a question Angela. It is good to answer when someone like me asks a question.”
The first thought was alarming. How did the man know my name? I certainly didn’t know him and I looked up into his shadowed face to see if I recognized him. I hadn’t been here in many years, but his was a face I would remember. He had piercing baby blue eyes that were as cold as they looked and a mole on the side of his lip that moved when he talked. I would have remembered him. The accent reminded me of the man that I had met that one night in the bar last week.
“Answer me.”
“I am on my way home.”
“You aren’t meeting anybody there?”
“Who the hell are you…”
I was cut short with the pinch getting harder to ignore on my shoulder. I whimpered a little bit with the pain. Who was this man and what did he want?
“No, no one. I am just going home.”
It was the truth, but as he started to drag me along to the alleyway that he had come out of, I knew that I was in trouble. I tried to scream, but there was no one to hear me and it only echoed off the high walls of the buildings on either side of us. What was I have supposed to have said?
I tried to kick and fight my way out of it, but as soon as I realized that he wasn’t going to let me go, I gave up. I had a feeling that I was going to need all of my strength for another time. I didn’t know what he was going to do to me, but the further back into the alleyway that we got, I saw a car and I started to fight him some more.
“Let go of me! I don’t even know you.”
I didn’t know him. Maybe he had the wrong person. God, I really wish he did and this was all a misunderstanding. I didn’t like the thought of some other woman running into him in the middle of the night, but I didn’t want it to be me, not right now.
“Calm the fuck down or I am going to have to shut you up myself. The boss won’t be happy if I mess up your pretty face.”
The boss? Now I knew that he had the wrong person. He was talking to me like I would have known all of this. The rough looking man was not the kind of person that I would be around and I certainly wouldn’t know anyone like him and his boss.
“Look, I don’t know you and I am sure that you have the wrong person. What do you want with me?”
We were getting closer to the SUV and I could see now that I had seen it before. He must have been the one that was parked on my street all of those times. What did he want?
“I don’t understand Sir.”
He chuckled and told me that it had been a long time since anyone called him Sir. I couldn’t help it. I was a nervous wreck and seemed to get more formal in times like this.
“You don’t have to. Get in or I will throw you in. That is your only choice at this point Angela. You can go to the boss conscious or unconscious. Your choice.”
It didn’t seem like either one of those choices were ones that I wanted to take. I didn’t want to go with him, but I had no doubt that he would do exactly what he said he would. It wouldn’t take much for a man like the one hulking over me to do exactly that.
“I will get in the car if I have to.”
“Good choice. Come on. I was supposed to be back an hour ago. You shouldn’t work so late, it ages you quicker.”
It was a strange thing to say and when I looked back at him from the passenger seat, he just laughed like what he had said was so funny. There was no humor in it from my point of view. Maybe I was just too close to it to see it, but I didn’t return the grin. What the hell had I gotten into and why? The burning question in my mind was why? What did they want with me and who was his boss? I hoped that whoever it was would listen to me better than his goon was. I am sure as soon as I explain it all to them, I will be set free and this will all be a distant memory.
I had to believe it.
Chapter 11
Marcus
I looked out the window again and the lights across the street were still not on. Angela told me that she would be over later when she got off of work. We had talked a lot of things out and even though I still wasn’t sure why Angela left me, I knew that she had thought that she had to. It wasn’t the answers that I wanted, but there was a comfort there that I hadn’t been the only one with feelings.
Now I was starting to get a little worried about her. It was well past the time that she told me she got off. I started to pace and found myself out on the porch to drink a beer. I was moving slower, but a little fresh air was what I needed. Well, what I really needed was to get better and take care of Angela, but for now I enjoyed the soft breeze. It was warmer than usual for this time of year, so I wasn’t going to complain. It was perfect to me.
“Marcus? Hey man. I haven’t seen you in a week, where the hell you been?”
Kevin was on his porch and before I could say anything else, he was on his way over, saying something about how wrong it was for me to drink without him.
“You didn’t come to the party.”
“I know, sorry about that. Something came up.”
Kevin was on the porch now and moved to the chair beside me. “I wouldn’t have minded if you brought Melissa. Anise gets along with everyone, or she will try.”
“Why would I have Melissa with me?”
“I thought you two were back together.”
I forgot all about bringing Melissa home with me the other night. It had been stupid, beyond stupid, but I wasn’t thinking clearly when I did it. Angie had me so flustered that I didn’t feel like I had a choice but to do it.
“No, not at all. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“What about that cute little brunette that was over here last night?”
I shook my head. “Are you living precariously through me Kevin?”
“Come on, I have to. Me and Anise have been together for a long time. I have to get the low down from someone.”
I would have told him my secret if I would have been braver. Truth was that he had what every man wanted, even if they didn’t say it out loud. He had a woman that loved him and was sane. She was there when he came home every night and stayed loyal. I was getting too old to play the field anymore, especially when all I wanted was Angie. The games and the girls were not as important as they had been before. Before I would put them on my arm as a symbol, marking how much of a man I was. Now I see how childish it was and how much time was wasted.
“Trust me when I say this Kevin, you aren’t missing anything.”
He sat back in the chair and smiled at me. “I don’t know about that. The brunette was someone that I think I would miss.”
“Angie is different.”
“Angie?”
“Yeah, she just moved in across the street.”
“And you already have her coming to your house in the middle of the night with a dish of food?” He shook his head like his own words were unbelievable. “Man, you got some skills.”
“It’s not like that.”
He looked disappointed and I almost wanted to agree with him. “I have known Angie for a long time.”
Kevin stopped and sat up. “Are you telling me that she is that Angie?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what the hell I mean. I mean is she the one that you have a tattoo of on your back?”
Sighing to myself, I really didn’t have to answer. He already knew somehow and I swallowed hard. “Yeah, she is that Angie.”
Kevin grinned bigger and I didn’t like the way he was acting.
“It’s about damn time.”
I didn’t ask what he meant. It didn’t matter.
“So she is ‘the one’? “
“I don’t know. She is something.”
“Well don’t let her go again. I have a good feeling about her.”
“I didn’t let her go the
first time.” She left. I had a good feeling about her to.
“Oh, well don’t fuck it up.”
“You just don’t want Melissa back around.”
“Yes and I will agree to that with no shame. That girl is crazy and the whole neighborhood has been so much more peaceful with her not in it.”
“Damn Kevin, tell me how you really feel.”
He chuckled and took a drink of his beer, polishing off what was next. “You know I always do.”
My phone buzzed and I hoped it was Angela. When I saw it was Melissa, I started to think that she read minds or something or that sort. Were her ears burning because we were talking about her? I set the phone back down without picking it up. I had messed up bringing her back here, but I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I didn’t want Angie to know that I was with her again, because I wasn’t. The last thing that I wanted was to give Angie a reason to cool off from me.
“Who was that?”
“The devil.”
“Don’t mess it up.”
“I’m not.”
When the phone buzzed again, I almost didn’t look at who it was, figuring that it was Melissa again. I did look though, hoping that it was someone else. I wanted it to be Angie so bad that I willed it that way. Her phone number came up on the caller ID and I grinned to myself, not even worried about the man next to me.
“Hello?”
“Hey Marcus. How are you feeling? I heard you had a rough week?”
It was not Angie on the phone. The male voice was gravelly and I had never heard it before.
“Who is this and why are you on Angela’s phone?”
“Oh, she is here with me and I thought I would give you a call before we get started.”
Why were the hairs on the back of my neck standing up?
“Get started on what? Who the hell is this?”
“You should know who I am. I am the one that is going to kill this hot little piece if you don’t get down here. I am the one that is going to get rid of your pretty little girlfriend for fucking with my men. You should have died Marcus. It would have been easier on everyone, especially Angela.”
My mind was racing and I was trying to think of who it could be. The most natural answer was that it was someone related to the shooting. I had other enemies, but not like this. This was different. No one in New Orleans that knew who I was would do such a thing. They would know better.
“She is not my girlfriend.” I said that because I wanted Angie distanced from me. I didn’t want her to have to pay for something that I did or because of who I am.
“She’s not?”
“No, you have the wrong piece of ass. If you knew me any better, you would already know that. This must be one of the guys that tried to shoot me last week. We thought we got all of you fuckers.”
“Almost. There is only a few of us left.”
“Leave while you can. When my boss hears about this, there is going to be nothing for you to do but die yourselves.”
My heart was pounding in my chest and I forgot that the neighbor was sitting next to me. He knew about the gang and he knew that I was in it, but there was a lot that he didn’t know about, namely me getting shot. Just the thought of it made my side hurt and I grabbed it without thinking about it. I couldn’t let them think that Angie meant anything to me. If they did, they would hurt her. I wanted him to think that they had the wrong girl.
There was a chuckle on the other side of the phone. The sound grated on my nerves and I worried that I had done wrong. What if they just got rid of her anyways? She may have seen too much, been somewhere that she wasn’t supposed to be. Would they get rid of her because it was easier than letting her go?
“I think we have the right one Marcus and you are going to do what we say or she isn’t going to be around very long.”
He sounded menacing, but I still wasn’t sure that giving him what he wanted was the right course of action. I needed to speak to Lucas to see who was left. I needed him to really think that I had nothing to do with Angie.
“Angela was a chick I banged a long time ago. She means nothing to me and if you knew anything, you would know that I would never give into anything, especially not for a woman. You do what it is that you think you have to do. It isn’t going to change anything. If you know me, then you know where I live. You can find me here. Don’t hide behind some damn woman.”
I hung up. I knew that it was a chance. It was a big chance, one that I hoped that I wasn’t wrong about. I knew what kind of people the Arc Angels were. They were the only ones that would do something like this. They were the only ones that were stupid enough to mess with me. Everyone else knew better and I had a feeling that whoever it was that had just called was going to learn the same thing soon enough. I was going to make sure they did.
“What is going on Marcus?”
Looking to Kevin, his eyes were wide and I knew that I didn’t want him to hear that conversation. He would think that I was cold and uncaring. I know that is what it sounded like, but that was the point. If I showed any emotions at all, it would be used against me. I needed to show them that I didn’t care an iota about Angie. Then they would have no reason to hold onto her.
“Just give me a minute Kevin.” I was already dialing Lucas’ number. He was the one that would know what to do. There was a hit on his people and he needed to know. Apparently it hadn’t been taken care of fully and I was going to pay the price now. No, Angie would. I couldn’t think like that. Every time I did, it physically hurt.
“Okay, sounds like you got some deep stuff going on.”
He was right and though he didn’t leave my porch, I was thankful that he didn’t say anything else. I am sure he had a lot of questions, we both did, but I was positive that none of those answers were going to be forthcoming right now. Right now I needed Lucas to call so that we could figure something out. I know that it sounded like I didn’t care, but from the feeling in my stomach, it was clear that I did. I couldn’t stop caring.
“Lucas, thank God you answered.”
“What’s up Marcus? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I am good. Listen, we didn’t get them all the other day and now we are going to have to finish them off.”
Chapter 12
Angie
I heard the man’s conversation. Chris had it put on speakerphone. His point had been so that I could say something to let Marcus know that they had me. I was going to refuse, not wanting to be used as a piece in their chess match. What I didn’t expect was how Marcus reacted. To hear him talk, he was in love with me for years, but now he wouldn’t claim that there was anything in between us. A part of me died when I heard what he said and the other part got mad.
“Well I see that maybe you don’t mean as much to him as I would have liked. I guess you don’t have any value here.”
I heard the words that Marcus said and they had crushed me. Everything he had said about caring for me was a lie. It had all been proven to be false and there was nothing else that I could do but try to reason with the man in front of me.
“If I am of no value, then let me go. I don’t know you and I still don’t know what all of this is about.”
He shook his head and told me that he couldn’t. “I can’t just let you go.”
“Why not?”
Chris shook his head again. “You just don’t understand. If I let you go, I will look weak. I can’t have people thinking that I let a woman get the better of me.”
It was all about pride with men and I had to wonder sometimes how they got through their day. It seemed to be a bit more than I had to handle. Why couldn’t he see that I was nothing to Marcus and nothing to him? No one had to know.
“I will leave then and no one will ever see me again. I just moved here and I can be gone in an hour. If I am not here, then people will assume that you took care of me. Everyone wins.”
“What if you do go to the police?”
“Then I know you will find me. You found m
e once before, so I know that you will do it again. I just want to forget about everything and move on.”
His eyes softened and I could see the hard man wasn’t as hard as he tried to be. He could have hurt me, tied me up, but the boss was a man of reason and I was still hoping that it would extend to other things. If I could just convince him to let me leave, there would be nothing to keep me here in New Orleans. After what I heard Marcus say, I knew that I was right to leave before. The only regret I had now was the time that we had talked and the hope that had foolishly bubbled up inside of me.
“I just can’t do that Angie.”
“So you are going to kill me?”
My throat constricted with the words, even though I was doing my best to be brave. I didn’t feel brave, not at all. I felt like I was going to be sick if I was honest with myself. There was something in me that figured it I was going to go out in such a way, the least I could do was leave with the same pride these men were trying to use me for a pawn for.
He couldn’t even really look at me and I figured that it wouldn’t be him that did it. The cronies that he had sent to come and get me seemed far more likely to do something like that. They were the ones that would have no problem disposing of me. They had already mentioned it and I was sure then that I wouldn’t get out of here alive. It was funny what came to mind when a person thought it was going to be the end.
“I don’t want to talk about it. Just eat your dinner and give me some time to think.”
I wasn’t hungry and I pushed the plate away. “If you are just going to shoot me or whatever it is you plan to do, I don’t want to eat. Just get it over with.”
What was I saying? It was like I wasn’t even the one saying such silly things. I wanted to live, as long as possible and I wasn’t sure what goading the man was going to do. He was not going to help me and even though he had been nice to me while I was here, I had to remember what kind of men they were. Chris was like Marcus and now I got it. He had always been dangerous, but now that we were older, the danger was even more real than before.