MOB

out.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Travis stood up. “You know, it was you who said that we had to run a job soon because you needed the dough. Now I gotta hear this shit. That’s it for me, man. I’m out!” Travis said.

“What the fuck you mean, you out?”

“From here on out, if you wanna do this, fine. Do it by your damn self.”

“You just gonna up and quit on us like that?”

“I told you before, when we got into this thing, I never planned on us still being at it two years later. I had a plan. A plan for what I was gonna do to set myself up so I could live comfortable for the rest of my life. It ain’t my fault that you spent all your money.”

“This is fucked up, Travis, that’s all I know. You gonna roll out on us after making this little bit of money. Come on, Travis. Let’s hit one more big money target, and after that we can go our separate ways.”

“No, Ronnie, I’m done. No more. Do you hear me? No more! No more robbin’, no more shootin’, no more getting’ shot at. It’s over! You can do what you want.”

“That’s what it is; you’re scared. I was right about you, Travis. You lost your nerve,” Ronnie said.

“You’re right, Ronnie. Absolutely right. I have lost my nerve. I don’t want to do this anymore. We’ve been lucky so far; we haven’t killed anybody and none of us have gotten hurt. But that’s it. We’ve been lucky, that’s all. I’m not gonna wait around for our luck to run out.”

“It’s about that bitch, ain’t it?”

“What you say?”

“You heard what I said. It’s about that bitch.”

“Ronnie, you and me go a long way back, and I know that you’re mad, so I’m gonna let that go. But you can think whatever you want to about why, and if you want to put it all on Me’shelle, be my guest. But it doesn’t change the facts one way or the other. I’m out.”

“You’re a fuckin’ coward, Travis! That’s what the fuck you are, a fuckin’ coward. Let that woman run you. You gonna run out on your partners, your friends, Travis? You ain’t shit. Whatever happened to our rules? We supposed to be choosin’ money over bitches. M.O.B. my ass! Get the fuck out my house, you fuckin’ coward!”

“Whatever, Ronnie. Take me home, Jackie.”

Travis walked out of the house without another word. Jackie looked at Ronnie and shook her head.

“What?” Ronnie asked.

“Nothing, Ronnie. If you don’t know, I can’t make you see it,” Jackie said and left the house.

Chapter Thirty-four

Jackie dropped Travis off at his house before she went home. “Aren’t you going to see Freeze?” she asked.

“No. I’ll call him tomorrow,” Travis answered.

“Call me if you need anything,”

“Thanks, Jackie.”

“Call me tomorrow, okay?”

“I will,” Travis said and went inside. Me’shelle was asleep on the couch, so he entered quietly to avoid waking her. He sat in the chair across from her and watched her while she slept. Me’shelle looked so peaceful, so beautiful.

While he sat there, he replayed the argument he’d just had with Ronnie. His desire to get out and get out now had everything to do with Me’shelle. When he looked at her, Travis saw the future. It was a future that didn’t involve planning robberies, timetables, guns, the police, or people like Freeze making thinly veiled threats with a nine in his lap.

When Travis was with Me’shelle, everything just seemed so right. But that happy life was built on a lie. It was a simple lie, but still it was the foundation of their relationship. Travis presented himself as an honest, hard- working man. Although what he did was work, it definitely wasn’t honest. He understood Me’shelle’s reaction to the revelation that he robbed for a living, but he had hope. The fact that she was lying on his couch sleeping so peacefully meant that maybe he still had a chance at a future with her.

Travis thought back to the night that he and Ronnie and Jackie made their rules. They were the rules they had lived by. Rule one, M.O.B. Rule nine, Let no one come between us. By choosing to get out now and trying to make a future with Me’shelle, Travis had done just that. He tried to justify it within himself by saying that Ronnie had made the choice to break up what they’d built, but he knew in his heart that this was his choice. It was one that he hoped wouldn’t cost their friendship.

When Me’shelle finally woke up, she found Travis seated in front of her. Over the last few days, she’d had a lot to think about. Her brother and sister-in-law were dead, and although she blamed herself for not doing more to help, Me’shelle had slowly come to terms with it. She concluded that even if she had given him the money, it would only be a loan against time. What he was doing was bound to end the way it did unless Bruce himself chose another path. Now she had to choose.

It was like the last few days had changed her somehow. Like she had grown up. She was a woman who led a pretty normal, uneventful life. Now that life seemed so far away.

Me’shelle thought about her reaction to Travis’s news that he was a robber. She got angry and kicked him out. I never want to see you again. But there she was now, on his couch. She refused to support her brother’s drug habit, yet here she was on the couch of a man who admitted he robbed a grocery store. When the police questioned her about Travis, she had no problem protecting him.

Part of her wanted to blame it all on love, but she knew that wasn’t enough. Was she in love with Travis? Sure, but Me’shelle knew why she was there, and it had nothing to do with love. Love could wait. Travis knew people. He knew the kind of people who would know who did this to her brother. Now she was thinking about revenge.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hello yourself,” she said, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “How long have you been here?”

“About an hour.”

“And you’ve just been sitting there?”

“Watching you. You’re very pretty when you’re sleeping.”

Me’shelle smiled and sat up. “We need to talk.”

“I know. How’s Brandy?”

“She’s doing better. Thank you for asking. She’s talking again. Not much, but she talks to me. She’s scared, Travis. Scared that the men who raped her and killed my brother will come after her.”

“Did she talk to the police?”

“Yes, and she gave them a description of the men who did it, but you know as well as I do that a drug- related rape and murder isn’t going to be real high on their list of things to do. Maybe if they stumble over them.” Me’shelle gave a disgusted laugh.

“I don’t know. I hear that Kirk is a good cop, so you never know,” Travis said, trying to sound optimistic.

“But somebody has to do something,” Me’shelle countered. She looked directly at Travis. “Anyway, I don’t wanna talk about that now. I came here because I think we need to talk about us.”

“I know.”

“Where do we start?” Me’shelle asked.

“What do you want to know?”

“I guess you could start from the beginning. How did you go from a programmer to a grocery store robber?”

Travis looked into Me’shelle’s eyes and briefly considered some very important facts. A few days ago, Me’shelle had thrown him out of her apartment and said that she never wanted to see him again. She had been to the police and could very well have told them that he was responsible for the grocery store robbery and who knows what else. Now she was sitting in front of him asking for his story. “What did you tell the police about me?”

“I didn’t tell them anything about you. I wouldn’t even say your name. They tried to say that you were