Dancing with Mr. Blakemore

by Olivia Gaines

  Slowly, as he removed his favorite black Stetson and placed it in the free chair, he also pointed for Kevin to sit. A strawberry blond wearing way too much makeup that barely covered up far too many bad nights and poor life choices made her way over. “Whatcha’ having tonight Saxton?”

  “Burger, fries, add cheese, onions, and,” he looked at Kevin, who nodded, “make it two, with two Coronas.”

  The waitress set off towards the kitchen, knowing well what he had intended to order, but out of courtesy, asked anyway. Kevin watched her walk away, amazed that her legs looked far younger than her face. She used to be a dancer. He turned back to find Saxton staring at him.

  “So you call yourself following me?”

  “Yeah, I wanted to catch you in the act, you know cheating on my sister!” He said the words with far more confidence than he felt.

  The waitress returned with the two beers, lime wedges sticking up from the bottlenecks. In the time it took them to press the wedges into the bottles and turn the bottles upside down then right side up, the food had arrived.

  “Bubba heard you were here and started working on the order,” the waitress said, setting the plates on the table.

  It was a pile of greasy mess. The fries glistened from the hot grease that probably hadn’t been changed in a year, the burger was half bloody, and the bun had been buttered before hitting the grill. Kevin stared at the pile of death, knowing good and well the meal was probably going to upset his system. Saxton bit into the burger, his eyes rolling up in the ceiling like he had just sampled the wine touched by Jesus.

  “I truly love your sister, but she can’t cook worth a shit,” he said as he chomped on a mouthful of the greasy artery clogger. For good measure, he gulped half the bottle of beer before taking another large bite of the sandwich of death.

  Kevin, who had grown up on low calorie healthy foods, munched on a fry, trying to understand everything he had witnessed since tripping through the door.

  “This is our agreement. I get one cheat night with the understanding that I will eat that healthy crap she cooks all week long,” he said, shoveling six large steak fries into his mouth.

  It wasn’t the food that was concerning Kevin, but the reaction of all the people in the bar to his brother-in-law. People moved out of his way. His order was prepared the moment he came through the door. Those people got up from the table because he was here. Was his sister living in fear of this man as well? Is Saxton Blakemore abusing my sister?

  “Saxton,” Kevin asked softly, “what is it you do?”

  His eyes never looked down at the plate as he studied the room, scanning, looking for threats, watching everything and everyone. “I work for the government, and on occasion, when I get sick of people giving me crap and getting in my way, I shoot them.” Eyes that were scanning the room suddenly stopped and rested on Kevin’s face, causing the young man to suddenly become very uncomfortable and uncertain if he had physically jumped or if his reaction was the same as looking out a window at night and seeing someone looking back at you. Saxton’s gaze was unsettling.

  “I have reached that level of being sick of your bullshit, especially with you getting in my way and giving me crap,” he told him with a straight face, “And first chance I get, Kevin Jr,, I am going to shoot you, too.”

  Kevin’s eyes were wide as he sat in the darkened bar trying to assess whether or not Saxton was serious, but he had no time to ponder the statement. “Your sister is bringing you along with us to Puerto Rico to hang out a few days before the cruise. I guess so you and I can bond.”

  Saxton’s lips downturned as he released an onion saturated belch and the look on his face clearly stated he wasn’t happy with the notion. The young man blinked furiously as he stared at his brother-in-law, who had pretty much cleared his plate of all traces of food. Since Kevin hadn’t touched his, Saxton cut his burger in half and began to eat part of it as well.

  “For Odessa’s sake, you and I are going to play nice. But let me tell you how things are going to go from this point forward. You will not barge into our home; you will call and ask if it is okay and schedule a time to stop by. You will keep your ass out of my fridge unless you are buying groceries, and Saturday mornings for the rest of our lives are off limits to you unless we are going fishing.” Saxton lifted the bottle a quarter of the way into the air, and another beer showed up in less than a minute and a half.

  “Understand me?”

  “If I do all of that, are you still going to shoot me?” Kevin’s voice was wavering.

  Saxton didn’t even blink as he laid a $50 on the table, rising and placing his hat back on his head, “Fuck yeah.”

  Chapter Five - Places Please.........

  “Odessa,” he asked, “is Saxton abusing you?” Kevin asked, his face full of concern. “If he is, you can tell me or Daddy and we will get you out of this marriage.”

  It took everything in her not to laugh at the absurdity of his statement. “Where did you get such a ridiculous notion, Kev?”

  Carefully explaining what he had witnessed the night before, it was with small words that he explained to his sister the fear in the patron’s eyes in the bar. “Even that Big Guy said Saxton had shot him, too! Does he make a habit of shooting people ‘Dessa? Does he get away with it because he works for the government?”

  She now understood, so she explained to her brother, “When Saxton and I...” she was choosing her words as well, “began living as man and wife, we discovered that many people were unaccepting of our love for one another. We had to learn which establishments are accepting and which ones would cause us some issues. Lil’ John wanted to cause us some issues.”

  It had been on a Friday evening that Saxton and Odessa rode out for a bit of fun. A band that Saxton liked was playing at the roadhouse and Odessa had surprised him with tickets. The true revelation occurred as the happy couple walked into the establishment and the scene played out like in a movie. “The music stopped, a beer bottle fell, and I shit you not, a cat screeched in the background,” she told Kevin. “I wanted to turn around and leave, but Saxton would not hear of it.”

  Lil’ John, full of courage, warned the couple that they were not welcome in his establishment and reached out to put his hands on Odessa in an effort to push her out the door. Fueled with liquid courage, the other patrons in the bar felt encouraged to join in whatever melee was about to ensue. “There was no way Saxton was going to take on a whole bar, but he was not going to allow anyone to disrespect me or our marriage.”

  “What did he do?” Kevin asked as he moved closer to the edge of the seat, anticipating her words.

  “First he punched Lil’ John in the face, which only aggravated the man, and John picked up a bat to hit Saxton across the head,” she told him, also confessing that she only made the situation worse by grabbing for the bat. “John, although it wasn’t intentional, Kevin, he accidently knocked me down when his hand swung backwards.”

  Saxton, furious, headed towards the gigantic man in a full-fledged rage, but understanding he didn’t want the situation to go any further. The noise from the crowd indicated it was ramping up, People were starting to yell and the situation was begging to escalate, bringing new tension. “Saxton pulled out his gun and shot the man.” The first round was a rubber bullet, but it caused everyone to duck. “Saxton yelled into the crowd, ‘The first bullet is rubber, the other ones are not!’”

  “Since it was a rubber bullet then why would Lil’ John still be afraid of Saxton? Did he shoot him again with a real bullet?”

  Odessa rose and patted Kevin on the shoulder. “It wasn’t what he shot him with little brother, it was where he shot him.”

  Kevin, still slow on the uptake, asked “Where did he shoot him?”

  “In the walnuts.”

  Kevin Jr., shivering, thought about how much a paint ball hurt against bare skin as he imagined the feel of a rubber bullet against his life givers. He ceremoniously grabbed himself as if to protect his jewels, but
one thing was clear, he would sashay his ass away from his brother-in-law. He understood how Lil’ John felt. No man should ever be shot in the walnuts, real bullet or not.

  It was uncertain how Ryanne’s wedding got moved from their small family church in Dallas to a hotel in Puerto Rico, but it happened. Saxton was convinced his wife had something to do with it as she had gently persuaded Agent Roget to treat the newlyweds to a cruise.

  As an actuary, Odessa was a professional risk manager, but to her husband, it sometimes felt as if she had a crystal ball. She was very good at her job and one of the best in the field at assessing the likelihood of future events, crunching the numbers to increase the chances for a favorable outcome. There was no doubting her intuition was spot on, but he liked this new scenario even less than the ones she had already put together.

  The eleven days were now up to fourteen, and the whole family was flying into Puerto Rico for the wedding a day before the cruise. It sounded like a logistical nightmare. The only saving grace was that it would only be Odessa’s parents, Ryanne and Dwight, and now a cousin who would be sharing a cabin with Kevin Jr. on the actual cruise. That dude, Saxton liked even less than Kevin. It was unclear if the kid’s name was Rashad, Rasheed or Mohammad, since he answered to all three monikers. He too wanted in on the Saxton jokes and formed his mouth to call Saxton a wigga...but that was as far as he got. Saxton moved so quickly across the room, standing toe to toe with Mohammad Rashad Rasheed that even the kid couldn’t get his name right.

  “What is your name again son?” Saxton asked as he exhaled breaths full of anger. The young man mumbled all three names as Saxton intentionally moved closer to press the boy’s toes, uncovered in sandals, under the weight of his cowboy boots.

  “It seems as if you have mistaken my role in this family. Is that the case?” Saxton asked him again as he applied more pressure to the soon to be very sore digits.

  “No...no...Sir...I made a mistake,” Rashad mumbled.

  Saxton took a step back, “let’s be certain that we are clear here Rahammad. I am a grown ass man, with a bad attitude. Are you sure you want to play with me and make jokes? If so, I can come back ten times stronger than anything you can go out and buy.”

  Rashad mumbled some more as Saxton took a step back. Big Sarge’s hand held onto his brother’s arm, preventing Rufus from moving in on Saxton, who was obviously hurting his son’s feet. “Stay out of it Rufus. Your boy was out of line. Saxton won’t hurt him. Much.”

  It may not have hurt the boy, but Odessa was crushed. In a flash, Saxton was out the side door of the dance studio again, once more avoiding learning the routine and taking a single dance lesson. She calculated all the odds and even turned up the music to drown out the inner voice that was yelling at her, “Saxton Blakemore doesn’t dance!”

  With that, she let it go. In another day, they would be arriving in Puerto Rico, with less time than originally planned. Since the wedding had been moved, that only left two and a half days to get the job done. With Kevin in tow, Odessa for the first time felt like she had miscalculated so much and was now praying no one got killed.

  Especially her younger brother.

  Chapter Six- Is that a Machete in His Hand?

  The Blakemores arrived in Puerto Rico feeling disconnected, disjointed, and uncertain about the mission. The talk of family planning had given them both new energy and new focus a week ago; however today, it wasn’t even on the list of things to discuss. Saxton was even pleasant to his brother-in-law, giving him the window seat on the plane, careful enough to sit Odessa in the middle seat.

  Kevin Jr. didn’t want to admit it, but he was excited to spend a few days in Puerto Rico before the wedding party arrived. By the time he was born, Big Sarge had already retired and was no longer interested in traveling. Family vacations became camping trips in Texas or weekend jaunts in the RV to gun shows. He wasn’t much like his father, which panged them both, yet they found a common ground. As badly as he wanted some downtime from school and family, he recognized that this was a concerted effort by all involved for him and Saxton to get to know each other. He would try for his sister’s sake, knowing full well it would probably surprise everyone if they came back from the cruise on amicable terms.

  The surprises that Kevin Jr. experienced over the next few days were ones for the record books. From the moment they touched down in Puerto Rico, bombshells rained from the sky, forever changing the way he would view not only his brother-in- law, but also his sister and life as he understood it.

  The first thing Kevin Jr learned was that Saxton and his sister both spoke Spanish. Saxton, however, was fluent and spoke several dialects, including the subtleties of Boricua spoken by the native Puerto Ricans. His sister sounded like she has just left Spanish 101 and could order 2 tacos and a cerveza. The second thing he learned about his brother-in-law was that he was a super perceptive man.

  After the arrival at Marin International Airport, Saxton passed off their luggage to a strange little man with a funny hat who called Kevin Jr. “Soul Brother,” something that Saxton found to be amusing; Kevin, not so much. He was clean cut, dressed rather preppy and wore dark jeans and a polo shirt. Like his father, he had a deep complexion, smooth skin, and stood at about five feet nine, weighing in at a simple 170 pounds. Next to Saxton, he still looked like a kid.

  Saxton smiled as he climbed inside of the driver’s seat of the rental car, “Not funny when someone is mocking you, is it?”

  They drove down Expreso Román Baldorioty de Castro on the way to the Miramar Hotel. At check in, Saxton picked up a package that held nothing more than a 4x6 index card. “Let’s roll,” he said to Odessa, who looked at her brother. Kevin was too busy studying the hotel. He knew his parents had booked the Marriott on Condado Beach, but this place was almost a dump. It smelled like bleach, which was never a good sign, and there was no driveway. He didn’t want to stay here, not for the moment and definitely not for the night. His eyes were wide as he looked at his sister.

  “He can come too,” Saxton told them both as he drove the car across the street to park behind a gate. The gate may have protected the cars, but Saxton had to call the desk clerk to reopen the gate to let them out. Odessa nodded her head as they made a left on the sidewalk and headed out on foot.

  “Where we going?” Kevin asked.

  “To work,” was all Saxton said.

  The three took off on foot down Calle Axtmayer, crossing over Calle Miramar to the Melanzana Bistro Pizzeria, where Odessa ordered lunch. Halfway through the risotto, a six foot tall black man wearing wire rimmed glasses and a black vest over a cream colored shirt with coordinating tie sat down at the table. He removed his beige hat that was trimmed in a corresponding fabric that matched with the vest.

  “Saxton, Odessa, do we have a new member on the team?” he asked after he ordered a cold Medalla and removed his glasses to clean the lenses. His eyes were focused on the new person at the table.

  “He’s my brother Kevin,” Odessa answered before she moved on. “What is the job?”

  Another envelope was laid on the table, “I received a message last night from Rentería, and he is sending a liaison to rendezvous with you at 3 pm. Your job is to identify the warehouses and the merchandise, get photos, and be out of here in 3 days or less. Low profile, nice and quiet,” he looked at Kevin, “Is that going to be a problem?”

  “Who is he calling that?” Kevin asked wide eyed, offended at being dismissed by a man he did not know.

  “Naw, if he is, I will shoot him first,” Saxton said as he opened a cold pineapple pop. Odessa shook her head no, but Saxton mouthed yes and shrugged.

  Kevin’s brow was furrowed as his head snapped around to look at Saxton. “What do you mean shoot me first?”

  Agent Roget rose looking at Odessa, “You sure about this?”

  “It’s bonding time for the two of them,” she said calmly.

  “Helluva way to bond, but your judgment is always spot on. I hope you’re right abou
t that,” Agent Roget said, chugging down his beer and eyeing Kevin curiously before he made his way for the door. “Three days, nice and quiet.”

  Quiet was the last thing they got. It started with Kevin asking a million questions and Saxton actually making eye contact with him. The look was so intense. Odessa had never seen her brother shut up so quickly. “Man, I’m just asking, I don’t even know what it is you do for a living. And what was up with Morpheus over there going all M.I.B. and stuff?”

  Saxton surprised both his wife and her brother by answering, “I am a covert agent for the government. Our import business is our cover.”

  Kevin Jr. piped up, “Yeah right.” He burst into laughter, “So the whole marriage thing, the imports and collectibles, none of that is real?”

  “The marriage is real and so is she, as my partner,” he watched Kevin’s face. The kid wasn’t buying it. He tried a different tack.

  “You’re a sharp kid, so tell me something you’ve noticed in the last half hour,” Saxton asked him.

  Kevin turned in the seat and leaned back, his left arm draped casually over the back of the seat. His brown eyes darted around the room and ended at the door. The man with a blue shirt had walked by the door three times. The first time, Kevin noticed he wore no hat. The second time the man wore a mustache and the final time the mustache was gone, but he had on a hat.

  “Good,” Saxton told him, “the next time he passes by he will hold up either two or three fingers. If he holds up four, hit the floor and follow us.”

  Saxton laid a few bills on the table to cover the lunch tab. The man came back and held up three fingers and headed down the street. “I guess he’s coming with us,” Saxton told Odessa as he nodded to Kevin to follow him.