2. Drug Dealers
Jolie led Alexei and Gil behind the alley up the fire escape. The police sirens were now upon them, and she hopped the stairs two at a time, keeping Helina tight in her arms. She thanked God she worked out because the five-year-old wasn”t weightless, and she lived on the fourth floor.
Jolie turned at the landing, going up the rickety staircase. She watched Gil and Alexei struggle. They were both losing blood, and it was becoming too obvious. They would be found, but that wouldn”t be on her. She was doing what she was told.
Alexei balanced the phone against his ear as he pulled Gil up the stairs. ”We need a ride at Lexington and Twentieth.” He paused to listen before loudly saying, ”Don”t ask about the fucking car.” He shoved the phone in his back pocket, adjusting his brother. The blood was bad, and it was beginning to worry him.
Gil panted, clinging to the railing, ”We won”t make it. The cops are already here.”
Alexei leaned against the railing. Gil weighed more than he looked, and it was slowing him down more than he wanted to admit. In English, Alexei asked, ”What floor, girl?”
Jolie glanced up to her apartment window, visible by the numerous plants that decorated the sill. They were close, but she could always pretend she lived on the top floor; ten stories would be implausible for them to climb. ”Fourth. That one right there.”
What were the pros and cons of having two drug dealers in her house? She was guessing they were drug dealers. Who else would have a shootout in the middle of a gas station?
How did Mom know? It was the first thing her mother said to her when Jolie revealed she was moving to the city. Drug dealers around every corner, her mom claimed.
”Mom”s gonna kill me,” Jolie said, groaning.
Alexei looked up at her, narrowing his blue eyes on her. ”I”m gonna kill ya if you don”t hurry up.”
Jolie was already going as fast as she could. If anything, he was the one that needed to hurry.
”It”s pointless,”Gil breathed, sinking to the floor. ”The cops will sweep. They got our car; they”ll know we”re on foot. You think Morgan”s working tonight?”
”Can you guys talk in English, so I know you”re not planning to kill me when we get to my apartment?”
Alexei eyed the American on the stairs. Sweat was on his brow, and he panted from exhaustion. She was saving their asses, so speaking English wasn”t a big request. ”We have to keep going. If they catch us, the cops will take Helina.” Alexei bent down and threw Gil over his shoulder before pushing up with his knees.
”Oh, great view,” Gil sneered, eye level with his brother”s ass.
Helina mumbled something off Jolie”s shoulder, and instantly, the giant 200-pound killer replied with soothing Russian words that rolled off his tongue with a gentleness Jolie didn”t think he could possess. It unnerved her.
She plugged the key into her back door and led them into the house. ”Stay on the tile, and don”t bleed on anything.”
The apartment was barely a livable space. Being in the city was costly, and with a teacher”s salary, she was lucky to get this. It was a loft, with her bed behind a screen in the corner, a couch, a bookshelf, and a kitchen. The bathroom was the only thing separate.
The kitchen was an eight-by-eight square, with a tiny two-person table pressed against the wall. The only reason she splurged on this apartment building was for the cute balcony. It was the perfect atmosphere for reading. No one used the fire escape.
Meows greeted them, and two cats jumped up on the kitchen table. ”Get down,” Jolie hissed, moving to the couch. She tapped on the little girl”s shoulder, and with hesitancy, Helina plopped on the sofa, but when she spotted the cats, Helina squealed and jumped up to chase them. They darted to the bed, squeezing under it, and Helina followed suit, calling them sweetly in a foreign language.
Alexei rested Gil in a chair before turning and reaching for paper towels, just as Jolie had her hand on it. She leaned back. He towered over her by five inches, and his oversized chest was intimidating. Being in a suit didn”t hide his muscle. Instead, it made it much more apparent. Her cheeks burned with the uncomfortable thought. ”Sit down,” she ordered to get him out of her way. She grabbed the roll of paper towels when he stepped back. ”Shouldn”t you guys go to the hospital?”
Blood was dripping like a leaky faucet, and though Gil”s leg was propped on the second chair, there was already a puddle forming. He reached for the roll of paper towels, but Jolie ripped some off and put it on the floor.
Alexei snatched the roll from her hand. ”Just stay out of it. For your safety.” He began to wrap it around Gil”s leg, but the pain in his arm stopped him.
Jolie scoffed. ”My safety?” Jolie grabbed the paper towels back. ”I was out of it till there was a gunfight while I was shopping.” She wrapped it around Gil”s leg several times, but he needed something more substantial.
Gil rolled his head back, panting, ”I need the Doc. Call them again. Tell them where we”re at. I”m not feeling good.”
As Alexei took out his phone, it rang. ”It”s Adrik.”
”Shit.”
Alexei held out the phone to Gil. ”You talk to him.”
”He”s your brother. You talk to him.”
Alexei scoffed. ”He”s your brother, too.”
”He likes you better,” Gil pointed out.
”That”s why I”m not talking to him.”
Jolie held out her hand. ”Give me the phone.”
They looked at her. Then they looked at each other. The phone continued to ring. Gil shrugged, and Alexei handed her the phone.
”Hello?”
A man sounded off on the other end with, ”What…Who the hell are you? Where”s Alexei?”
”He”s apparently afraid of you.”
Alexei scoffed, shaking his head, but Gil nodded with a smile.
”You know what? I don”t care. Where”s my daughter?”
Jolie glanced around the room. ”Talking to my cats.”
”And where is that?”
”In my apartment.”
”Girl, if you don”t start giving me some fucking answers—”
”My name is Jolie, not ”girl.””
”Are you threatening my kid?”
Jolie replied, confused, ”No? Look, your people are here because they are hiding from the cops. Why is your daughter with them? What is she doing out so late? What kind of parent are you?”
”Never mind. I found you. You better stay the fuck where you are, and don”t touch my daughter.”
”Like I would.” Jolie snapped the phone off and tossed it back to Alexei.
He chuckled. ”You are pissing off the wrong person.”
”He attacked first,” Jolie sheepishly replied. ”How can he know where I live?” The guys didn”t answer, but she”s watched enough FBI shows to know about GPS signals. But what kind of person had that available?
Helina sounded, and Jolie glanced at Alexei for a translation. ”What’re your cats” names?”
”Ming and Tae-Tae.”
Alexei and Gil were silent in the awkward quiet. Jolie avoided eye contact.
Alexei shrugged out of his jacket with enough groans and moans that Jolie”s attitude shifted. She moved to help, tucking the material off his ridiculous thick bicep. The sleeve of his white undershirt was red and wet.
”Oh, jeez, hold on.” Jolie had to talk herself into going to the bathroom and taking her only towel off the rack. She told herself it was a good thing to do, although she hated seeing his blood destroy it. She wrapped the towel around Alexei”s arm, tightening as much as possible and apologizing as he whined.
”Who would attack us?” Alexei questioned, leaning against the wall. ”With Helina?”
”We shouldn”t talk about that right now.” Gil waved to Jolie. ”I”m just relieved they missed.”
Alexei shifted his blue eyes to her. She stood against the fridge, mindlessly wiping the blood off her hands, watching them. ”You alone here?”
”Why?” she snapped. ”So you can rape me?”
Alexei”s mouth dropped open. ”What?”
Jolie felt stupid for saying it, but it was just another comment her mother made after the drug dealers. Rapists were hiding in every alley. ”Yeah. Just me.”
”So, all the panda stuff…” His eyes went around the apartment. The panda pillows on the couch. The giant panda-face carpet in the living room. The massive painting of a panda over the TV. Her panda bedsheets. Her panda cookie jar on the counter. The messy coloring pages and panda drawings pinned to the refrigerator were the most condemning. Alexei suppressed a smile. ”You don”t have a kid?”
”No,” she bit with bitterness. ”I”m a teacher, and I like pandas.”
He flicked his gaze to her pajamas, and when his face went red and his eyes to the floor, she remembered she never wore a bra to bed. She quickly folded her arms across her chest.
There was a knock on the door, and they all flipped to silence, staring at it. ”Police! Open up.”
Jolie slapped a hand to her mouth. She was going to go to jail. Harboring fugitives was a felony. Would they believe her if she said she was forced? Of course, they had guns! She was a sweetheart. Anyone could tell she was innocent.
Alexei lifted his gun, with a finger on his lips. He waved to Jolie, and with fast understanding, she scooped up Helina and headed for the bathroom.
”Alexei,” a whisper came from behind the door. ”It”s Morgan; I saw your car out front. Your brother sent me your location.”
Alexei rushed to the door and quickly let Morgan in. To Jolie”s surprise, a cop stepped in, dressed in full uniform and with a hand unconsciously on his gun. ”You guys hurt? What the hell happened?”
Gil growled, ”Someone made a huge fucking—”
”Don”t curse!” Jolie interrupted. Morgan glanced at her with knitted brows.
”Someone made a huge mistake,” Alexei corrected. ”But we don”t know who.”
”You think they were after her?”
”Maybe. They certainly didn”t give a fuck if—”
”No cursing!” Jolie bit again.
Alexei sighed, and rephrased, ”They didn”t care if Helina was hurt and killed.”
”Alexei?” A voice from the hallway came through the door. It was the man on the phone, Adrik. Jolie clung to Helina as Alexei opened up to let him in. She was curious about what a drug kingpin would look like. He had to be the boss with the way the two brothers were carrying on. What do Dons typically look like? Was he a Don? What do they call them in Russia? In movies, they were always Italians. They were old and gangster-looking, with tattoos everywhere and gold teeth. Will he be wearing a white jacket like Scarface?
”Where is she?”
Alexei stepped aside, and Adrik entered. Not the kind of drug lord she was expecting. Nearly Alexei”s twin, he was tall, thin, and blue-eyed. He was dressed in a suit without a jacket, and a white tailored shirt was open, exposing a clean undershirt. She hadn”t expected anyone attractive, so when he turned toward her, Jolie froze like a deer in headlights. Russian poured from his lips as he approached, reaching his arms out. Helina quickly dived for him, and they squeezed each other.Adrik pulled back, looking Helina over, checking for any injury. She shook her head, and he kissed her forehead, running his hand through her hair. His blue eyes drifted toward Jolie, and she sucked in a breath.
He”s a model. He has to be a model.
A dozen people piled into the apartment, stretching out along the entire length of her five-hundred-square-foot home. It felt claustrophobic in an instant. Jolie backed into the bathroom as she watched all these men in suits invade her personal space without taking off their shoes.
A young teenager with a tattoo on his face snatched her arm and pulled her out of the bathroom, forcing her to the couch. ”Hey!” She yanked and fell on the cushions. When she tried to get up, the guy pushed her back down, and when she tried again, a gun barrel was staring her in the face. It was the second time someone pulled a gun on her.
Mom”s gonna have a field day with this.
Jolie watched from over the edge of the couch as two men helped Gil to his feet. He cursed and moaned all the way out of the door. Bloody footprints were growing all around her kitchen; it was only a matter of time before it got elsewhere.
”Can you all be careful? There”s no way to get blood out of the carpet!”
Adrik eyed her from over his daughter”s shoulder. ”Who is she?”
Alexei stayed seated as someone wrapped up his arm. He respectfully replied in English. ”This is Jolie. She owns the apartment. She protected Helina when”—Alexei scratched his head, ashamed—”when I lost track of her.”
Adrik shifted through the apartment, shooed off the guy with the gun, and stared down at her. Jolie shrunk, unsure where to look. His shoes were shiny; she could almost see her reflection. When she dared to peek upward, his hand was out. ”Thank you.” Jolie blinked wide before taking his hand. He had star tattoos and religious symbols over his fingers. There was a fat ring on his pinkie, gold, and diamonds wrapped in a heavy outer layer. Just the ring alone was worth more than Jolie ever earned in her whole life.
He detached from her and ran a hand through Helina”s hair, turning away as he whispered foreign words into her ear. When he got closer to the door, Jolie jumped up. ”Um, excuse me.”
Adrik turned to her with knitted brows, almost insulted. Jolie approached, waving a hand. ”How do you plan to get the blood off my floor?”
He glanced down before throwing over his shoulder, ”I”ll send someone up tomorrow.”
”You”ll—” She coughed, confused by such a statement. ”Send someone? What does that mean?”
”Exactly how it sounds. Was that confusing for you?”
”I don”t want drug dealers knowing where I live.”
He blinked and then fully faced her. A small little smirk teased his lips. ”You don”t know who I am.”
”Should I?”
”No, I guess not.”
The look sent a shiver through her unconsciously. She folded her arms across her shirt, praying he hadn”t noticed the chill.
Adrik stepped further for the door. ”Forgive our intrusion, Miss Bell. Thank you for your hospitality, but mostly for protecting my daughter. Cleaners will call you to schedule a time to clean up this mess. Paid for, of course.” He glanced at Alexei. ”Give her some money. Maybe then she can afford a bra.”
Jolie”s face reddened, but she spat, ”I don”t want your drug money.”
Adrik glanced around, and added, ”I”m sure a kindergarten teacher living in the city could use some help.”
Her mouth dropped open. ”How the heck do you know that? Wait, how did you know my last name?”
”I know more than you wish. Where are your contacts? Glasses aren”t the best for your small nose.”
She narrowed her eyes. ”Please leave.”
”Gladly.”