I nodded.
He glanced over his shoulder and stepped in closer.
“Okay, just so you know,” he said, lowering his voice. “Every white boy in there is carrying and they all got hard-ons when Davey boy said your name. Be cool and it’ll be cool. Got it?”
“Got it,” I said. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“Don’t be thanking me, big man,” he said, leading the way. “I’ll be the first one to shoot you. I ain’t jokin’ ‘bout bein’ fast money.”
THIRTY-FIVE
“You got guts,” David said. “I’ll give you that.”
He was perched on a stool at a marble-topped bar in an expansive living room, sunlight streaming in through a large bank of windows on the roof. NASCAR was on a muted big screen on the far wall. Two guys I didn’t recognize were attempting to play pool at the billiards table in the middle of the room, but were too focused on me to actually play. Colin was stretched out on a long leather sofa, his eyes glued to me.
It felt like an expensive frat house, minus the poor hygiene.
David held up the Pepsi can in his hand and nodded at me. “Or maybe you’re just stupid.”
I looked at him and images of Bella’s face, cut and bruised, flashed before me. Images of the story she’d told me, how he’d taken Jackson, just to prove he could. The anger simmered and rose up, threatening to boil over. I took a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time.
I slid the backpack off my shoulder and tossed it toward him so it landed at his feet. “That’s yours.”
He didn’t even glance at it. “Thanks. How’s that face feeling?”
“Need to talk to you,” I said, ignoring him. “Alone.”
“You can say what you need to in front of these guys,” David said, smiling. “I trust them.”
The two guys at the pool table laughed. Colin just stared at me.
“She’s not making any more runs for you,” I said.
“She?”
“Bella.”
“Oh. Her. Right.” He took a drink from the can and set it on the counter. “I think I’ll wait to hear that from her myself.”
“You aren’t gonna hear anything from her again,” I said. “She’s done.”
“That right?”
“Yeah. And you aren’t gonna go near her,” I said. “Or touch her. Or call her. Or breathe in her direction. She’s out.”
“Since when is this any of your business?”
“Since that asshole over there came at me in the parking lot and I put him down,” I said, glancing at Colin.
Colin sat up and glared at me. “Fuck you.”
“See? He has a bad attitude and it got him in trouble. And I’ll kick his ass again if I need to.”
Colin stood. “Right now. Let’s go.”
David held a hand out in Colin’s direction. The two guys at the pool table had laid down their cues and were now watching us.
“But I’m not concerned with your half-ass day laborers,” I said to David. “I’m concerned about you.”
He grinned. “You should be.” He made a show of finishing the soda and setting the can down on the bar. “So what happens if I don’t go along here with your little demands?”
“I go to the cops,” I said.
He blinked a couple times. “Really? You’d go to the cops?”
“Yeah,” I said. “And your little frat boys will talk. And so will Bella.”
“Really?” he said. “You got all that lined up?”
In truth, I didn’t. But I knew I could make it happen if I needed to. I didn’t anticipate having to send anyone to the police but if push came to shove, I thought I could get it set up.
“Yeah,” I said. “I do.”
David nodded slowly, then shook his head. “Well, I guess you got me cornered. Seeing how you might go to the police and all.”
He stared at me for a moment, his face blank.
I waited him out.
The blank expression washed out and he looked like he was trying to remember something. “Hey, Colin. Help me out here.”
Colin was still scowling in my direction. “What?”
“What was the name of that dude we met earlier in the week?” David said, squinting hard. “Had a funny name.”
The scowl broke and Colin smiled ugly at me. “I think his name was Zip.”
Everything inside me felt colder, but I didn’t react.
David snapped his fingers. “That’s right. Zip. How could I forget a name like that?” He stared at me. “You know Zip? I heard you might.”
I didn’t say anything.
“And something tells me you might not just go running to the cops,” he said, smiling. “Just a guess. But I’m usually pretty good at guessing.”
Colin and the other two chuckled and laughed. I had no idea how they’d run into Zip or what he’d told them. But I’d lost a little leverage.
I still had one more play, though.
“You good at counting?” I asked.
David genuinely looked confused. “Counting?”
“Yeah. Numbers.”
He shrugged, then nodded. “Sure.”
“Okay, so then you’ll know if the backpack is a little short?”
The playfulness and mirth left his expression as he looked down at the bag. He picked it up and set it on the bar, then glanced past me. “Red. Count it.”
Red, the guy who met me at the door and brought me in, came from behind me and pulled the bag off the counter. He set it on a round, glass table and pulled out the stacks of cash. He thumbed through it quickly. “There’s fifteen here.”
David’s face colored. “There should be twenty-five.”
I smiled. “Yes. There should be.”
“That’s my money.”
“Yes. It is.”
“It would be a mistake to steal from me,” he said slowly, his eyes raking over me.
I held his gaze. “It would be a mistake to mess with Bella anymore.”
No one moved.
“So, if I stay away from her, I let her out, I get my money?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“When?”
“When I’m convinced you’ll leave her alone.”
“And when the fuck is that gonna be?”
“Hard to say. And I’ll try to keep quiet about having ripped you off, too.”
His eyes hardened and narrowed. I knew it wasn’t the money he was worried about. It was that his reputation would take a hit. If word got out that you could steal from him, his grip over the area would be severely diminished.
