We were to leave after dark, so I had time for a nap. I think I’ve been hoodwinked. My stomach sinks.
I sit up and know immediately, Pit is gone. Rage fills me. I know he didn’t do what I think he did. I told him I needed to do this.
I grab my phone and call him. It goes straight to voicemail. Tears sting the backs of my eyes. How could he do this to me?
I thought he understood how important this was to me. I needed to be there for Shawna, and I needed to be the one to give Danny the medicine he deserves.
“Fuck,” I roar.
I toss the covers back and hop out of the bed. Mentally, I try to think of which cars I have here this week to pick the most inconspicuous one. I might be better off taking my bike. I’m going to kick Will’s ass.
My chest grows tight. I can’t afford for anything to happen to him or Shawna. My world will fall apart, and I don’t think I’ll ever recover.
Pit isn’t the only one so in love he can’t breathe. I need him to be okay. I was supposed to be there to make sure he’s okay, to have his back, to make sure my cousin felt safe and okay.
I rush to dress in black jeans and a black thermal. I step into my black construction boots and lace them up quickly. I go to rush for my keys and head out, but freeze.
“Fuck it.”
I head back into the closet for my 9mm. My mom was a superhero for a reason. She fought her way through the hood and went to college where she studied her tail off. My dad met her as one of the members of his security detail for an event to honor his father.
From how she told it, it was love at first sight. He pulled her out to the garden and spent the night drilling her with questions. The next day he found out her address and sent her flowers.
They were engaged a few months after. Her environment and experiences made her a different kind of woman. She made sure I had the two educations she had and then refined them.
So yeah, I’m packing and I’m going after my man and my cousin. This is what I do. What I’ve been wanting to do for over two months.
I rush for the garage. It’s going to be the bike. I don’t know how much of a lead Pit has on me.
I open the door to my garage and Kid from Pit’s bar leans up against my Maserati like she owns the place. She looks up from her phone and pockets the device, folding her arms over her chest. I already don’t like the energy she’s giving off.
I’ve never had a problem with her, but if she wants one, she can get it. I ignore her and head to the rack where I keep my keys. None of them are there. I spin on Kid.
“What are you doing here and where are my keys?” I snarl.
“He told me to make sure you don’t leave. I have the keys.”
I pull my hair up and place the tie from my wrist on it. “Listen, right now, you’re standing between me and two important people to me. I have no problem going through you to get to them. So, you have two choices.
“Give me my keys and move out my way or take this ass whipping like a big girl, Kid, because I’m not playing with your ass,” I seethe.
She looks me up and down. “Yeah, that’s a no to both. He said not to touch you.”
“Well, that’s your problem because I sure am going to touch you if you don’t get out of my way.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “Try it. I’m not those girls from the bar. I’ve earned my stripes in the streets I’m from. Rich girls and tantrums don’t scare me,” she replies.
I laugh humorlessly. “Honey, the rich send their kids to get black belts and carrying licenses for hood rats like you.”
“You don’t know me,” she says.
“And you don’t know me, but you can get to know these hands. Give me my damn keys,” I yell, my chest heaving.
“No ma’am. Let Pit do Pit.”
“You know what?” I’ve had enough talking.
I charge at her, but I’m grab from behind. My arms are pinned in place. I spin out of the hold and kick the person in the chest, then take a fighting stance.
“Oh, fuck that.” The chick I kick coughs out. She glares at me through hazel eyes. She’s taller than me. Maybe five nine, but I’ll still whip that ass. She frowns at me. “I didn’t sign up for this shit.”
“I told you she was crazy,” Kid says.
I pull my gun, fed up. Tears build. I’ll show them both crazy.
“I’m exhausted, stressed the fuck out, and my man is out there dealing with my problem. This is my fault. My cousin got involved with that prick because of me. That’s my man and my cousin.
“I’m not standing here with you while they’re out there in danger. You two are on my property. I will fill you both with lead and be done with it.”
“You can calm that shit down. Pit just sent a text for me to bring you to him,” the chick with the hazel eyes says.
I sag. “He’s okay? Does he have Shawna?”
“From what I know, it’s done,” she replies.
“Good,” Kid says. “I actually like you and didn’t want to have to beat your ass.”
“You can still get it,” I mumble.
She laughs as she unlocks my Maserati and opens the door to get in the back seat. “Who’s driving? Crazy or Cirah.”
I look to the other chick who must be Cirah. “Don’t even think about it. I don’t know you. You’re not driving my car.”
She shrugs and goes to get into the passenger seat. I feel like for the first time in weeks I can breathe. Pit’s going to have to answer for these two and leaving me though.
I smirk. At least his ass knew to leave two of them. And from the vibes coming from this Cirah chick, I might have had to shoot her.
Chapter 38
Connecting Dots
Pit
* * *
“You sure I can’t get you something more to eat?” I offer.
“No,” Shawna says softly, staring down at the round table.
Although she looks a lot like Skittles, she’s the complete opposite of her. Shawna has been a bit shaken up since we got her out of there. However, I think what helped to keep her from freaking out was seeing my familiar face. We’ve met once or twice.
Seeing me collar Danny to throw his ass in one of the SUVs probably helped some too. She clung to me when I walked over to make sure she was okay.
She’s been sitting in the seat right beside mine in my back room since we slipped into the back of Fuck Off.
I wince. Smoothies aren’t really food. I can understand why she doesn’t want another.
I go to offer her something stronger, but the door flies open and in comes Skittles like a hurricane. Shawna stands and rushes to Skittles and the two embrace.
I notice the small flinch from Shawna, but I don’t think Skittles does. I’ll have a doc check Shawna out in the morning. She’s been through enough for tonight, but I want to make sure she’s healed properly. I don’t trust the medical care that asshole says he provided.
“Are you okay?” Skittles asks, looking her cousin over and touching Shawna’s face.
“Yeah,” she starts but bursts into tears.
The taller woman falls into Skittles arms like a small child. I clench my fists under the table. She’s such a beautiful woman, Danny never deserved her in the first place.
Skittles rubs Shawna’s hair and whispers in her ear. I allow them their moment. It’s clear they need some time, so I stand and nod for Ox to follow to give them some space.
Not able to help myself, I rub my hand across Skittles’ back as I pass. She looks up at me and mouths thank you. I nod. She doesn’t have to thank me.
I tilt my head toward the secret door to the apartment upstairs to let her know they’re welcome to it. I exit the room and head out to the main bar. When I get there I take a seat next to Ox. He signals for two beers.
“You think she’s ready for this?” he asks as he turns to me.
“If she’s not, I’ll handle it.”
He nods. “Should I call my uncle now?”
I breat
he out a laugh. “No need to. He’ll be here to see me soon.”
“How do you think this all ends?”
I grimace and shake my head. “I don’t know. I have so many questions. Dots aren’t connecting,” I muse.
“Well, they’re all here for her. They’re downstairs waiting with him. We might want to get down there before they take care of him.”
“Kelex?”
He shakes his head. “He’s in the wind as usual. Rhet’s here though.”
“I’m going down. Give her some time then let her know we’re waiting. I’m going to get some of those answers while I’m at it.”
I stand and head for the basement. It’s a slower night for Fuck Off, but I wouldn’t give a fuck if it wasn’t. I’m sure Rome has prepped the room we have Danny in without anyone taking notice.
No one will hear a thing once we close the door to the gym. It was designed that way. Every room in this place has an alternate function.
I step in the gym and find my brothers standing around with grim looks on their faces. I know they’re all pissed to find out what Skittles and I have been hiding. It was hard to finally tell them, but I knew they’d want to be here for this part.
This I’ll allow. I control everything in here. Still, I’ll give them the same choice I gave them twelve years ago.
“Yo, if any of you feel like you’ll be compromised by what’s about to go down, you can walk away now. If you stay, you’re making a choice to be bound to her and whatever she does,” I say and look around.
They all grunt, but don’t make a move to leave. I turn to Rhet. “Kelex once told me he trusts you with his life. Skittles is my life. I’m showing you trust I don’t have allowing you anywhere near here,” I say.
“Tonight, my name is Joshua Kelex. Rhet Banner can’t tell something he wasn’t here for,” he replies.
I nod and let them fade into the background. My focus turns to Clavier seated in a chair at a table Rome must have brought in. There’s a chair across from him. On the table in front of it is a file.
I pull my gun from the back of my waist and place it next to it before I take a seat in the empty chair and open the file. I was surprised to see these pictures the first time. They served to raise more questions as I got a few answers.
“Interesting, Marquis was your brother-in-law. By the looks of these, you have a shitty way of taking care of family,” I say.
“Was?” Danny narrows his eyes. “You say was when a person is no longer something. Like no longer my brother-in-law or no longer around. He’s still my brother-in-law...” He trails off at the end.
“But he’s no longer around,” I say and slide the pictures across the table.
“Jesus Christ,” he breathes and turns pale. He tugs at his hair. “I had nothing to do with this. I’m so fucked.”
“I want to know everything and maybe I’ll let you make a run for it from whoever you’re so scared of.” It’s a lie, but he doesn’t need to know that.
His face is now dripping with sweat, making this all the more interesting. Rome was the one to find Marquis dead in the trunk of a car. From the looks of it, he’d been there for a while.
“I haven’t seen Marquis in a little over two weeks, not since I got the call to tell your girl the races were changing and two weeks were being added,” he says and wipes the center of his brow with the heel of his palm.
“You don’t find that funny?”
His eyes widen before he slowly closes them. “Fuck. This shit has been fucked from the beginning. I needed the money, I never thought about something being off… shit. Having access to the other race teams… how the fuck did he pull that off.”
“He who? What beginning? I’m gonna need you to talk to me and cut this fucking conversation in your head,” I bark.
“Okay, okay.” He holds his hands up. “Four years ago, I was in for a ton of cash. I was in Vegas trying to dig my way out, but I was losing my fucking shirt.”
“Dumbass,” Tak mutters.
I look over to him and shake my head. I need this motherfucker to spit this out before he clams up and preferably before Skittles flies in here to take his head off.
“This suit comes up to me and asks me if I would like to make enough to get rid of my debts and maybe earn a shot at making a name for myself with my sister’s husband and his family’s organization so I could get rid of my money problems altogether.
“Marquis had just sat me down for a big fuckup. If there was a way to fix that and get back in, get back to making real money, I was in,” he says and runs a hand through his head.
“What did you have to do in return?”
He looks at me, his face expressionless. “He said this was a long game. Half of my debts were paid that weekend, but I had to agree to get Marquis to Vander City, talk him into moving the races and some of his business here.
“Things went south from there. I got Marquis to Vander. Turns out the family used to do business here. With his father gone, he was looking to expand his reach and establish new territories.
“Marquis loved it, no one asked questions. He could move the races here with all of the wealthy moving through Bridge Lake and no one cared to pay him any real attention outside of the races.
“That’s when Blake Knight came into the picture. He wanted Marquis gone. The two were going to go to war, but the suit got me to talk to Marquis and plant the seed for him to start giving Knight a little something to squash things.”
I knew about the bad blood between Marquis and Knight but now I’m curious about this suit and his hand in all of this. Why Vander? Why coach Marquis for peace?
Danny continues. “When things were settled, about a year from when the suit appeared, my next task was to go to one of those snobby race clubs to look for the Black driver chick.”
I see red. I have to force myself to focus to hear the rest of what he’s saying because I’m ready to fly across this table. The energy in the room has shifted from just those three words, Black driver chick. And believe me, I’m not the only one that’s reacting to them.
“I went to the club and found her, but she wasn’t going for it. She dismissed me before I could turn on the charm.” He frowns.
I grin. That’s my baby. Danny isn’t an unattractive guy, but he doesn’t have the shit it takes to pull my woman. She’d run circles around this clown.
He gives a smug smile. “But she had Shawna with her. She was shy and easy to charm. I had her eating out of my palm, but even that was a disaster. Suit guy was pissed—”
“Wait, you don’t know this guy’s name?”
“No,” he shrugs. “He gives me details about the job. He’s never given me a name.”
“But you lured your brother-in-law here on his word?” I say in disgust.
“I did what I had to do. Some of the guys I owed were as scary as Marquis and his family.” The blood drains from his face, no doubt thinking of the shit he’s gotten himself into with the entire Castro family. “Anyway, she was the wrong girl and I’d fucked things up. He was pissed until I connected the dots for him. He was pleased to learn she was Councilwoman Norris’ daughter.”
I draw my brows. Does that mean Mayor Jennings was the target? Was all of this to get to him?
“Like I said. The guy said we were playing the long game. I had three years to figure out how to still get the little one to drive in Marquis’ races. The goal was to get her to date me and then get her into the races, but since I fucked that up, I had to figure out how to get Shawna to talk her into doing it.
“My luck, Shawna’s a fucking smart-ass. Always running her fat mouth, trying to make me look stupid,” he seethes.
I pick my gun up and cock it. “Come again?”
He blanches. “She wasn’t any help. Three years and I couldn’t get her to talk her cousin into it. She’d shut down if I even mentioned her.
“I was running out of time. Marquis switches teams out every two years and this year is also an election year. I don
’t know why, but that was important to the suit.”
I turn my gaze to Rome. He gives me a nod. Once again, I’m back to clenching my fists.
“Suit wanted to start a team we could get her to come and take over. He needed her at the final drop from what I understood. I told him this was a bad idea. Marquis runs a tight ship with those races. He could smell those assholes coming from a mile away. I told suit guy he needed better guys, but he didn’t listen.
“I got them into the club, but I knew things were falling apart. I was so fucking stressed out. Every time I looked at Shawna, I wanted to strangle her. I had new debts breathing down my neck and this plan was going to shit.
“If I didn’t get your girl to race, I didn’t get my next payment. So, I cut a deal with the little team he forced on me. I told them about the drops to Knight from Marquis.
“The plan was for them to hit Marquis’ men for the drop, and I’d use that money to buy me some time. They were supposed to make it look random. The fuckers got their heads blown off and there went my chance at some cash and the race team I needed.
“I was fucked. The buy in for each team is two million. There was no way I had that, and I couldn’t tell suit guy what I’d done. Marquis was finally trusting me to take care of business again and I couldn’t get on the plane to handle the simple task he asked me to do because those assholes fucked up.
“I turned around to go back to the house and… I was pissed at Shawna, so I planned to finish making myself clear to her. However, I found her on the phone with your girl. Heard her in a panic for her cousin, it clicked.
“I needed her to race, she had the bank roll for a team and if she couldn’t cough up the cash, she was good enough to get on a team. My luck was finally changing,” he says.
“You sure about that?” I lift a brow.
Getting Skittles into the races got me involved. That was his biggest mistake. Although, something is still nagging at me.
“Yeah, it wasn’t. From the moment she got in everything changed. Marquis didn’t like that you’d come in with a team.
Pit: The A**hole Club Series Page 22