Beers and Fears

by Tim Meyer

  “You’re making a big mistake. We’ll be back,” the man yelled, and Trevor heard glass shatter.

  Trevor pushed the dead man off and fired two shots toward the window, hearing a groan as the man dove through the shattered glass.

  He ran to the window, but the man was running off into the darkness, a trail of blood behind.

  I’m a dead man, Trevor said. He went to the kitchen and found his flashlight.

  The guy against the door he didn’t recognize. He was a bloody mess, the door covered in his blood, as well as the rugs. Trevor wasn’t getting his deposit back when he left.

  He needed to pull this body away from the door and flee, but something caught his eye: three envelopes on his kitchen table. He opened them and shined the light on money banded in thousand-dollar blocks.

  Lots of them in all three envelopes.

  Trevor figured, since he was going to be a dead man soon, he might as well take the money and run. But to where?

  If he left the city and tried to get out of the country, The Family would put a price on his head. He’d be a fugitive forever. He also didn’t want to abandon his brother.

  Then it hit him like a ton of bricks and Trevor smiled.

  ***

  Jackson set down the coffee and donuts on the bar and went around turning on the lights. It had become a habit now, even though he knew Trevor was going to comment about it when he arrived. A little ball-busting wasn’t so bad.

  When he turned on the lights to the stockroom and saw it was empty, he frowned. The drive over he’d been hoping Tina was going to greet him. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, even though he knew doing anything would be like cheating on Alli.

  Alli left you, asshole, Jackson thought. He went back to the bar and drank some coffee. Picked a chocolate glazed donut from the box and bit into it.

  There was still so much work to be done before he could attempt to get an inspector through the door. He’d start on some of the electrical issues this afternoon. He knew he’d need to spend way too much money to get the building even close to code. While he knew he’d be able to rig a few things and hide even more to pass inspection, they always took a good look at the wiring of an old building like this.

  He’d been in construction long enough to know the inspectors and knew a couple of them were easy to get through. A cup of coffee, some small talk about the Yankees or Giants, and he was good to go.

  The stockroom door opened and swung slowly, squeaking a little.

  Jackson nearly dropped his donut. “Uh… Trevor? That you?”

  He knew it wasn’t.

  The door had finished opening, inches from the wall. The lights were still on but at this angle Jackson couldn’t see inside, but there was a shadow.

  “Hey… we’re closed,” Jackson said. He knew it was her and she was calling to him without saying a word. “Tina?”

  He heard what could’ve been a quiet laugh. Jackson put down the donut and coffee and walked to the door, his feet betraying him.

  Jackson wanted to run away but he couldn’t. Not when he saw Tina, standing in the center of the room with nothing on but a smile.

  She turned slowly and bent over, revealing her great ass and long legs.

  “Hey, Jackson. I was wondering when you were coming back. Wanna have some fun?”

  Jackson nodded dumbly, fighting with his belt and zipper to get rid of his damn jeans.

  He glanced back to make sure no one was in the bar area before going back to Tina, who was on all fours on the ground on the tarp again.

  “I want you to start really slow but fuck me hard when I tell you, baby.” Tina licked her lips. “But first I want to suck your cock.”

  Jackson went to take a step into the stockroom and stopped. “Why don’t we do it against the bar? Even on the bar.”

  Tina sat up on her knees and shook her head. “Right here. Right now. On the floor or nothing. Are you a fag?”

  “What? No. Not at all,” Jackson said and blushed.

  “Then do me.” Tina got back down and grinned. “By the hard on trying to get out of your underwear I knew you weren’t into dudes. Just fucking with ya. Now fuck me.”

  Jackson entered and it felt surreal. The lights dimmed. The stockroom had shelves and stock. He could smell beer. Kegs were stacked on either side of the aisle.

  He stepped in front of Tina and slid off his underwear.

  “When you fuck me, I want you to call me Alli,” Tina said and took him in her mouth before he could fully process what she’d said.

  ***

  Trevor thought he’d been followed. He’d taken his time, driven through the city and cut back and forth, doubling back.

  At least two black SUV’s had been spotted in his rearview mirror in the last hour. He was running out of gas and felt like he was running out of time.

  He took another glance at the three bulging envelopes on the passenger seat. There might be enough there to buy a new identity, a plane ticket and a new life in another country. He’d always wanted to go to Mexico. Brazil? Somewhere warm with dark-skinned women with big asses.

  There was definitely a tail and he couldn’t shake it. At least five cars were keeping pace, falling back and catching up in seemingly random patterns he knew were anything but random.

  Trevor knew he was wasting time. He’d run out of gas soon, too. All it would take was stopping at a gas station and one of them doing a drive by and making it look like a random gang hit.

  I need to get to the building and give Jackson the envelopes, Trevor thought, taking another look at them. All that money he’d never be able to spend. Money he didn’t want to have, except his fair share. He wanted to keep working and making cash to help out his bro.

  At some point soon, Trevor figured he’d have enough to live and help and he’d walk away from The Family and illegal jobs. Turn his life around. Become a bartender and meet hot women. Have a few beers and laughs and die an old, happy man. He wasn’t asking for too much.

  Right now, he was only asking to live long enough to say goodbye to Jackson.

  Apologize for being a shitty bro. For always getting into trouble and needing Jackson to bail him out. This time he needed to do it himself, or it would be the last time it would matter.

  Trevor had visions of cement shoes and a kiss on either cheek before The Family tossed him into the Hudson River, where he’d drown, if the pollution didn’t kill him first.

  He made a couple of quick and illegal turns down one-way streets the wrong way, knowing this early in the morning these streets weren’t likely to be used. He crossed his fingers and hoped so, anyway.

  Once he was sure he’d lost them, even for a few minutes, he parked in a loading zone behind a building that hadn’t opened for business yet, grabbed the envelopes and ran two blocks down alleys until he reached Jackson’s place.

  “Yo, bro, you here?” Trevor was out of breath. He’d need to stop smoking if he wanted to be able to run like that anymore.

  As if, after today, I’ll need to worry about it, Trevor thought. He saw coffee and donuts on the bar, which meant Jackson was here somewhere. “Jackson? You here?”

  The door to the stockroom opened and Jackson came out, looking disheveled. His shirt was on backwards.

  Trevor laughed despite what was going on in his life. He downed the warm, but not hot, coffee and locked the front door. He started moving past Jackson, who put a hand out and stopped him.

  “Where are you going, Trevor?”

  “I need to lock the back door. I’m in trouble.”

  Jackson looked pissed. He shook his head. “The back door is locked. I just locked it. Stay out of the stockroom.”

  “Why?”

  Jackson put himself between Trevor and the door. “Because I said so. What kind of trouble are you in?”

  “The Family.” Trevor put up his hands because it looked like Jackson was going to punch him. “I know. I fucked up. Big time. I’ve been doing deliveries for them for months. Noth
ing dangerous. They load up my car with stuff and I drop off my car. Go take a walk. Get some coffee. An hour later I come back, and the stuff is gone and there’s an envelope of cash for me. Really simple.”

  “I don’t need to ask what stuff means.”

  Trevor shook his head. “I never looked.”

  Jackson snorted and began pacing. “You think you were dropping off diapers?”

  “No. Drugs. Maybe guns. I dunno,” Trevor said. He sighed. “You can yell at me all you want, but there’s more to this story.”

  “They’re after you? You stole from them?”

  “Nothing like that. The guy I was working for screwed me over. Took the money and the drugs or guns or whatever and set me up for a fall so he could keep it all for himself.” Trevor glanced at the door. “But to answer your first question… they are coming for me.”

  Both men jumped when the knock at the door came.

  ***

  “I know what I have to do,” Trevor said. He held out the three envelopes to Jackson. “Take them. Hide them for now. Use the money to finish the building.”

  “No fucking way. We need to escape through the back.” Jackson looked at the stockroom door like it was really the last thing he wanted to do.

  Trevor shook his head. “If they’re in the front knocking, it means they’ll be waiting by the back door for us to run out. The only way to get away is hiding upstairs.”

  “Then let’s go.” Jackson took a step but saw Trevor wasn’t going to budge.

  There was another series of knocks at the door, each one louder and quicker.

  “I got this, bro.” Trevor knew he was bullshitting. He didn’t have anything under control. He’d never been more scared in his life, and he’d just fought two mobsters in the dark in his apartment. “Please go and hide. I need to know you’re safe. There’s no escape for me. I fucked up. Big time. I messed with the wrong people, and they’ll keep coming after me. No matter where I go. You know what they’ll do? They’ll torture you. Break every bone in your body, one at a time, until you tell them where I am.”

  “Then don’t tell me. Just go.”

  Trevor sighed. “You don’t get it. They’ll kill you no matter what. Send word to me they’ve done it. Send a message. Kill everyone I know. I need to deal with this in my own way.” He pushed Jackson. “Please, for the love of God, go hide, you stubborn asshole.”

  ***

  Trevor knew he was fucked if, when he opened the door, one of them shot him in the face. It wasn’t a stretch to think it would happen. At this point, they might be done talking.

  He’d taken their money and killed a couple of them. There’d be payback.

  Instead of opening the door with wide arms and getting attacked, Trevor slipped to the door and unlocked it. No sense in having them kick it down; although, they might anyway.

  He ran back across the bar to the door he’d found. “It’s open. Come in.”

  When it opened, six heavily-armed men rushed in and spread out.

  Trevor put up his hands. “Hey, guys. I was about to call you. There’s been a misunderstanding. It’s a funny story.”

  A member of The Family Trevor knew only as Norcross smiled and stepped forward. “Where’s the money?”

  Trevor pointed at the door.

  “Get it and we’ll leave,” Norcross said. Trevor knew that was a lie. He’d stay alive only until they got the money back. For good measure, they’d ransack the building and burn it to the ground as a warning not to mess with The Family.

  The door was the only reason Trevor had come here, putting Jackson in danger. If this didn’t work… it has to work, he thought. “I don’t have the key. I slipped it under the door. Sorry. I panicked.”

  Norcross stepped forward and his cronies followed, pacing with him. The circle tightened around Trevor like a noose until Norcross was inches away, smiling. “I don’t think you appreciate what’s happening. Open the door, by whatever means possible, or we’ll use your head to do it.”

  As soon as Norcross stepped back, a guy on either side grabbed Trevor by the arms.

  “I don’t have the key. I guess you’re going to have to use me as a battering ram, you stupid douchebag bitch,” Trevor said.

  Norcross looked pissed, which was all the signal the two men needed to hurl Trevor at the door, thinking it would either crack open or crack his skull open.

  Instead… he went through it.

  Trevor waved, already sweating, knowing what he was doing was madness.

  When he stepped back through the door to the coolness of the bar, he wasn’t alone.

  ***

  The demon dragged himself from the doorway, dripping ash and cinders on the floor.

  “Please be careful,” Trevor said. “This is my brother’s place.” He was trying to joke but he was now more scared of this monster he had unleashed than the mobsters.

  Had he jumped from the frying pan into the fire?

  “What do you wish?” The demon’s voice was deep but not 80’s horror movie deep. The demon moved his head back and forth, scanning everyone in the room.

  One of the mobsters turned to run and the demon plucked him as one foot went into the air to move, lifting him to the ceiling.

  “No one leaves unless I say you can leave,” the demon said. He looked at Trevor. “What do you wish in exchange for these souls?”

  “I want no one to be harmed that means anything to me.” Trevor glanced at Norcross, visibly shaken. “In fact, I want you to guard over this building. No one with an evil intent can enter because you’ll stand guard for eternity.”

  “And in exchange?”

  Trevor pointed. “You get these assholes.”

  The demon might have laughed or coughed. It was a wicked sound and spit more ash across the floor. “Not good enough.”

  Norcross smiled.

  Trevor’s smile faltered. “Then name your price.”

  “Your soul, as well as anyone who tries to enter who will do harm.” The demon still had the man in his hand. He threw him into his suddenly gaping mouth without a sound.

  Everyone in the bar took a step or two back.

  “Next one to move away gets eaten as well,” the demon said. “I will be allowed to stand guard outside the building, keeping it safe. Taking anyone who would do harm. That is my offer.”

  Trevor knew there was more to it, but he was struggling to find a way out of this bigger mess he’d created. “Fine. I agree.” He stared at Norcross. “Would it be possible to let this one go? So, he can warn the rest of The Family what’s happened? The money is gone. Destroyed in the hellfire. Coming back will only feed this demon.”

  The demon nodded its head. “I like that idea. They won’t listen and will feed me for weeks.”

  Norcross looked from the demon to Trevor.

  “I’d run before he changes his mind,” Trevor said.

  Norcross started to move and so did two of his men, who were scooped up in fiery claws and tossed into the demon’s maw. The rest were eaten before Norcross left, without looking back.

  “This is my brother’s place,” Trevor said. “Jackson. He is the most important thing to me. Please keep him safe.”

  “I will.” The demon shrunk to about six foot, the fire turning a sickly yellow. “I will become invisible. Patrol the streets and alleys in the area. Rid it of crime. I sense there is enough here to feed me for centuries. Those trapped inside the building, more than mortals, will be left alone. I don’t mess with them.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  The demon nodded its head. “It is time.”

  Trevor took a step forward and closed his eyes as the demon lifted him with both fiery hands.

  ***

  Jackson had been hiding upstairs in one of the closets, paralyzed with fear at the noises below.

  Then it was silent, and he felt a weight lifted off the building. He took his time going downstairs. Besides a few piles of ash on the floor and some scuff marks, it was emp
ty.

  “Jackson… we need to talk,” Tina yelled from the stockroom.

  He opened the door and couldn’t stop staring at Tina, who was dressed once again in her tight jeans and t-shirt.

  “Your brother is a great man. He sacrificed himself to keep you safe. To keep us safe. We’re now protected. No harm will come to the bar. You’ll need to clean out your apartment and move in upstairs.” Tina smiled. “I cannot leave the stockroom, but you can visit me nightly.”

  “Where’s Trevor?”

  “Gone. The Family won’t bother you anymore. Like I said… you’re now protected.”

  “Now what do I do?”

  Tina shrugged. “You use the money to finish. You open in his memory. You raise the first glass in Trevor’s honor. You close up the doorway he was trying to open. Never try to open it or everything will be ruined. The morning crew will be here shortly. Put them to work. We’ll have fun later. Do you love me?”

  Trevor nodded. He did. Everything was going to be perfect now.

  ***

  Alli couldn’t help herself. She’d been following Jackson’s progress through some of his vendors, as well as doing some old fashioned spying. She’d been sitting in her car at the end of the block. She knew tonight was his grand opening and he’d be excited.

  Despite her mother’s stern warnings, Alli couldn’t help it. She wanted to wish him well.

  She walked toward the building, a shiver running up and down her spine. Something was still wrong with the place, but she knew one brief conversation with Jackson wouldn’t hurt. She’d wish him well, see if the spark was still there, and see what happened.

  If Jackson was interested, Alli had a slew of her mother’s friends ready to help cleanse the bar and building. There were so many souls trapped. They’d need to be helped to cross over.

  One thing at a time. Alli knocked on the front door. The sound was muffled. Odd.

  Alli got a strong sense Jackson was in the parking lot in the back of the building. She didn’t know where the thought had come from but it made sense. He’d be doing last-minute prep.