3. Three Cam
Three: Cam
S keeter was a disgusting dried up cunt of a man, but I needed him to achieve what I wanted to do. Make Lakey’s birthday the best she’s ever had and unfortunately, while I had some hacking skills, I wasn’t as good as this tub of lard.
His beady little eyes and sweat-stained wife-beater hardly inspired confidence, but he was the best in the business. Put in the clink for pissing in public and masturbating on some old lady in a cab, he was utterly repugnant, but I’d come to find out through various channels that he was rather adept at finding out information on the web.
Lakey didn’t know it yet, but I was compiling a list of our former foster ‘families’ to present to her. A birthday present for her 27th. Her champagne birthday. Another special birthday, apart from turning 16. I was forced to miss her sweet 16th because I was in juvie for shoving a knife in the soft belly of the pig who had tried to rape her and got out just after her 17th. But I hoped this would make up for it. She loved birthdays and I did feel a measurable amount of guilt for missing that special one, but as the universe allows, I have a take two. Champagne birthdays are the birthdays you have when you turn the number of the day you were born. Mine was my 18 th , because I turned 18 on January 18 th .
So, here I was, waiting for this cock sucker to find a certain John L. Almine and his wife Janine before we moved on down the list.
His fingers drummed an irregular beat on the table while he scanned the information. “Hey, uh, you mind grabbing me some food. I’m hungry.”
Rolling my eyes, I motioned for the waiter. “Yeah, um, a muffin and a bottle of water.”
Skeeter made a whining noise. “Really, man? First day out and not even a vodka?” He quieted before whispering, “A beer, then?”
I sighed, quickly grabbing the waiter before he left. “Fine. And a beer. Please.”
“While I work on the Almines, who else did you want me to look for? What is this for man? I don’t wanna get in shit with no more cops man, I’m out of that life. Gonna have a family, some kids, know what I’m sayin’? Start fresh?” His eyes darted around as if looking for cops.
“Shut the fuck up before I gut you.” Honestly, I probably would after this anyway, fucking dude was annoying as fuck. “Find the Almines, and then move on to Carmen Jones, Edward Jones the Second and William Jones.”
“Jones? Really man? Do you have any fucking idea how long that will take.”
Leaning forward, I pressed the tip of my knife to the inside of his thigh. “Did you know all it takes is a knick to your inner thigh for you to bleed out within sixty seconds? Do you think anyone will try to save your life if I were to tell them you murdered children?”
His eyes were wide as saucers as he stared at me, his voice a rasp, “But I didn’t murder children…”
“They don’t know that.” I smirked as his fingers trembled. “Now get working.”
The grating sound of his nails dragging on the keyboard was the only sound in the bar as I waited for him to find my prey.
“Beer and a… muffin.” The waiter said as he put down the order, sounding bored. “That’s $7.50.”
Giving him a ten, I waved him off and watched Skeeter. God, this was so boring.
“Cam? I got what you wanted.” He finally said, breaking the suffocating silence. “The Almines are in Oakland, I’ve got their address here. They have a foster kid too, if you want her too…”
“Great. And the Jones’?” Oakland wasn’t far. About 20 minutes if I broke the speed limit.
“I need more time.” He was sweating. So profusely, in fact, it was rolling down his forehead in drips. “I… I… can forward it to you when I get a hit.”
“Actually, why don’t you come home with me, Skeeter. My girl has made dinner.” A grin tugged at the corner of my lips as I opened my buzzing phone and read the text from Lakey.
His chubby hand pawed at his face as he blinked, no doubt trying to clear the burning from his salty sweat falling into his eyes. “I, uh… I’d rather stay here, if it’s all the same to you.”
“Now, now, don’t be rude. She went to great efforts to cook your dinner.” It was true. Lakey couldn’t cook worth shit. The last time she cooked dinner, she made mac and cheese, and it was basically soup. For some reason she was averse to using measuring cups. ‘It’s all in the eye, Cam.’ She’d said while pouring at least two cups of milk in and then stirring.
“Hooooookaaaayyyyy.” He huffed, packing up his laptop and stepping down from the bar, not even touching his beer.
“You might wanna grab that muffin.”
“Right, yes. Okay.”
I stuffed down a laugh as his short, fat legs struggled to keep up with me as we walked out of the bar. “It’s a short walk, don’t worry, Skeets.”
True to my word, we were at the apartment in less than five minutes, but in Skeeter time, it was probably five hours the way he was puffing.
“You good, buddy? Not gonna have a heart attack, are ya?” I clapped him on the back and opened the lobby door before helping him to the elevator. Lakey could kill him later, but I did need him alive long enough for the rest of the addresses. Everything else that came after, didn’t matter.
“Why’d you have to bring me here, man? We coulda just stayed at the bar.”
He’d never even met Lakey, and he was afraid of her. Interesting.
“Good question, Skeeter. I’m so glad you asked me that.” The elevator dinged and I stepped forward as he shrunk backward. Using force to push him out, he stumbled, but I gripped his shirt to stop him from falling. “Lakey is… well she’s particular. We grew up together. So, a long, long, LONG time ago, we made a pact that we wouldn’t hide our… acquaintances from each other.”
“Ya’ll don’t have secrets?” He looked astonished.
I smiled and motioned to our apartment. “Not even one. Well, except this one. This work that you’re doing for me will be a secret until her birthday, because some secrets are actually surprises. But no, Skeeter, we don’t hide things from each other. Lakey even knows about the women I fuck on the side. In fact, she encourages me to slide my cock into whatever mediocre hole comes onto me. It’s a fun little game we play.”
Skeeter looked sideways at me and shook his head, stepping into the apartment when I opened the door, trying to shrink into the smallest possible shape as I moved past time. Hard to do when you’re the size of a small rhino, so I was impressed. “Ya’ll are fucking weird.”
“Hellooooooo!”
“Hi, baby!” Locking the door, I pushed our guest into the living room before grabbing Lakey and kissing her. “This is Skeeter, our guest. He is doing some computer work for me, so we will be in the office. Dinner smells divine, what are you making?”
She grinned. “Oh, that’s just onion and garlic. I haven’t even started cooking yet. I pulled up a Gordon Ramsay recipe. Beef Wellington. Says that it is his best.” Waving a knife towards where a butchered piece of beef sat, she continued, “I just need to roll these in that pastry and cook it in the oven and then we can eat.”
Narrowing my eyes at the thick cuts, I ventured a question, “Did the recipe say how long it takes to cook?”
“Ummmm...” She pulled up her phone. “Oh fuck.”
“What?”
“Well from scratch it takes three hours.” She looked around in a panic. “I fucked up, didn’t I? Oh, Cam. I’m sorry. Damnit.”
I grabbed her and pulled her in for a hug. “Hey, no sweat. Skeets, how long on that info I needed?”
“Uh, a while. So uh, yeah, three hours sounds good.” He was sweating again, eyeing Lakey up and down.
Moving to block his view of her just as she zeroed in on him and that maniacal look started to cloud her vision, I tugged on her long hair. “See? Don’t sweat it. Have a beer and put on your favorite songs. We will just be over on the balcony, doing some shit. Love you, lil psycho.”
She huffed, “Love you, too.”
And with that, I dragged a reluctant Skeeter onto the balcony of our high-rise apartment, closing the balcony door behind us.
“Welcome to the office. Now. You better get to work, fuckhead. Don’t look at my girl like that. I won’t even need to carve your eyes out of your head because she will do it for me, then she’ll scoop your nuts out of your sack and put them in your eye sockets.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you people?”
“Many things.” Grabbing him by the back of the neck, I shoved his nose onto his keyboard. “Work. Now.”
As he worked, I rummaged around in the beer fridge we kept on the deck. Handing one to Skeeter, I cracked mine and leaned over the railing, watching the addicts do their dance on the street below looking for their next fix. That was one thing I always prided myself on. Never stooping so low. I’d always kept my nose clean and my blood cleaner. I had to. Lakey’s life depended on me keeping my head clear.
We had a good thing going, Lakes and me. We fucked, we loved, we did whatever the fuck we wanted. I took on odd jobs for old friends now and then, brought in some money when we needed it. She danced at the club around the corner when she wanted an outlet for her frustration. Men knew not to touch her after a few ended up with more than a broken jaw and the inability to walk for a month. But we loved our life.
I was just growing tired of the same tune. I wanted more. The bloodlust was returning, and the feeling of revenge was simmering just below the surface. Lakes got her fill killing the women who sat on my dick, but she didn’t understand I could hardly get it up for them anymore. Most of them wanted me to make love to them and the few that wanted my brand of violence didn’t want it when they caught a glimpse of what crawled under my skin.
Then she killed them and satiated the monster under hers.
It should have been enough, and it was for years.
So, when had it changed?
When had the burning need for more started to itch and claw its way into my bloodstream? As much as this hit list was going to make Lakey squeal with joy, it was also going to free me. I’d spent years picturing how I would kill these fucks and now I would finally get my chance.
Downing the monkey piss at the bottom of the can in one gulp, I grabbed another, cracking it and sipping.
Shit was about to get real, real interesting around here. This present could change everything. It would change everything.
Lakey screeched before screaming expletives from the kitchen and the smell of burning hit my nostrils, even through the closed door. I held back a chuckle.
That’s my girl.
“Boss got a hit. We got an Edward Jones living not far from here, with a Carmen and William listed as direct relatives. They’re not in town though, both listed as living out of jurisdiction.”
I took the laptop and scrolled through the information he had dug up. “Damn, Skeeter, you're a fucking miracle worker. See? I knew you had it in you. Send that to my phone and I’ll wire you 500.”
“That’s it man? You said a grand.”
Eyeing him, I grinned. “You know what, you’re right. I did say a grand. Tell you what. If you make it through dinner with my woman, I’ll give you the other 500.”
He turned white as a ghost. “Ah, na, s’all good man, 500 is good.”
Placing my hand over my heart, I gasped in mock offense. “Really, Skeets. That hurts. You don’t want the food Lakey has been preparing for you?”
“No offence, Cam, but I’m good. I’ll just—”
I opened the balcony door and whistled. His eyes widened like deer in headlights. “Lakes, get your ass out here! Skeeter has something he’d like to say.”
His mouth opened and closed before thinning into a straight line. “Cam… please…”
“Yesssss, babe, what is it? The wellies are burning.” Lakey pouted, her hand on her hip, a knife pointing straight at me.
“Well, go on Skeeter.”
“It’s just, Ms. Lakey, I have a lot to do, and um…”
She jutted her face forward. “Yes?”
“I can’t stay for dinner, ma’am.”
Well, the man has balls, I’ll give him that.
As Lakey advanced towards him, Skeeter backed up until he was pinned against the balcony railing.
“Well, why didn’t you just say so? That’s alright. I burned them anyway.” She smiled her sickly-sweet grin, tilting her head just right so she looked like a cute little porcelain doll.
“I… I’m so sorry, Ms. Lakey, next time, I promise.” Now his face was purple as he tried to inch by her and squeeze through the glass door, barely edging by the knife that was dangerously close to slicing his shirt.
“See? He apologized. Fucking pussy.” I laughed, slapping him on the back. “I’ll Venmo you the money now, Skeeter. Stay outta trouble, alright, buddy?”
He mumbled profuse thank yous as he practically raced out the front door, wheezing all the way out.
As soon as the door slammed shut, I burst out laughing. “Damn, baby, I thought you were gonna gut him.”
Her brow pinched as she stared after him. “I’m not convinced that I still won’t. He’s disgusting.”
Linking my arms around her waist and pulling her towards me, I nibbled at her neck before pulling on her bottom lip, sucking and biting. “Fuck him. I might need more info out of him yet. How’s about we order food and then you can sit on my face, and I can eat that sweet little cunt for dessert?”
“Mmmm, you know just how to make a lady feel special.”