7. Seven Cam
Seven: Cam
O nce we were on our bikes, we were cruisin’ towards Oakland. Lakey was in her element. Her beautiful, long hair flowing behind her as she revved, that sexy ass leaving me in the dust. She was one with her machine.
I bought the bikes for us on my 20th. For whatever reason, the guy sold them to me for dirt cheap and it just felt wrong to leave them in that dusty garage. We’d been out, selling some drugs for petty cash so we could rent the apartment we’re currently living in. It sucked and we both hated it, but it was easy cash. Lotta addicts around these parts.
When she saw the bikes, and her eyes went big as saucers, I knew I had to grab them. Unfortunately, it took everything we’d earned to pay for them. But it didn’t matter, I’d made my girl happy. Pretty sick fucking birthday present for me too. The guy who sold it to us was the one manufacturing the drugs. The last time we went back there to make some cash, he’d had his tongue cut out and shoved down his throat, his eyes pulled from their sockets.
We decided not to dabble in dealing again. So, Lakes got a job at that fucking greasy strip bar and I did minor things here and there like being the muscle for shake downs. We were both over the prison life. Didn’t need me going back to it. These odd jobs were enough. And so long as we were careful, we’d never get caught killing people and we could continue on our merry ways.
Lakey was waiting for me at the stop sign. She always looked so damn good in those black tights, her long, muscled legs propped up on the bike, her hand resting idly in her lap. She revved the engine once, that sick grin I knew all too well gracing her cherubic features. “What, you miss me already?” I teased as I pulled up beside her.
She pouted playfully before raising her middle finger at me. “Fuck off,” she quipped. “We’re close.” She pointed down to the right and moved her finger in a 90-degree angle.
“So… down this road and then left?”
Nodding, she tore off, only slowing when she had to turn left. Goddamn, you’d think she would slow the fuck down considering we didn’t need to alert the Almine’s to our presence, but then, Lakey wasn’t really the best at thinking ahead. She had a thought and acted on it. It’s what I loved about her. Well, one of the things. But it’s also what made her so dangerous.
She parked and was examining her phone before looking back at the piece of paper clutched in her hand. Then she looked through the window at the house where the Almine’s supposedly lived with their foster kid. Letting out a small growl, she threw her hands up in frustration, accidentally letting go of her phone in the process. It smashed to the pavement with a loud clack.
“Hey, hey, what’s up, buttercup? Something wrong?” I got off my bike and grabbed her phone. Shit. The screen’s cracked. The map came into view before the phone descended into darkness. Well, that’s shot.
“Yes, Cameron. Something is wrong. Look in the window.”
I followed where she was pointing and saw someone who was definitely not John L. Almine. Or his wife, Janine. Fucking Skeeter. Gave us the wrong address. Tsk tsk. He was gonna pay for that. “Shit.”
She screamed in frustration and hopped on her bike, but before she started the engine, I grabbed her hand. “Baby, it’s okay. Edward Jones is near our place, okay? We will just switch targets, and I’ll figure this out with Skeeter.”
“No, Cameron.” She replied, eerily calm. “ I will figure this out with Skeeter.”
We all knew what that meant. But hey, I didn’t blame her. Skeeter left unscathed the first time and now he’d done my woman wrong. He was going to pay, one way or the other. Might as well let my little harbinger of death have her shot, play ball with his balls, if you get what I mean.
“Sure, baby girl. You can have Skeeter. But what do you say we go hit up ole Eddy boy? He did quite the number on you if I remember correctly. I have a few… words, I’d like to have with him.”
A slow, dangerous smirk graced her features as she placed her helmet on and revved the engine. “Well, if you put it that way,” she purred. “I’d love to play with Eddy.”
“Lead the way, doll.” I walked back to my bike and started the engine, waiting for Lakey to head down the road towards our place. Eddy’s crib was just down the way a bit. Big green house, white fence. According to Skeeter, we wouldn’t find the rest of the Jones’ there, but Edward would do.
He’d been a perpetrator against Lakey mainly, but not the worst one, which was saying something. At first, Carmen had been kind to us. She’d made us feel like we had a home. Like we belonged.
Then slowly, over time, the cruelty surfaced. After our social worker, Sarah, was happy with how things were going, shit changed. Carmen started drinking more and her temper was quite something. Then she let her sons move into the basement. Billy and Eddy, as she called them affectionately. Now Bill and Ed were much, much older than us. At the time, I’d been nine and Lakey had been seven.
Edward’s special was crawling into her bed at night and ‘cuddling’ with her. She tried to hide it from me. I could hear him whispering to her that he would kill me if she told me what was happening, so she didn’t. To this day, I’ve let her keep her secrets. No use in forcing her to crack her walls wide open when I’m just as fucked up as she is. I can’t close the dam once it breaks, and if it breaks, she will probably go on a killing spree.
There’s shit she doesn’t even remember that happened to her, and I’m not going to be the one to help her remember. No thanks. So, now we’re here. Killing the trauma, one fuckface at a time.
Up ahead, Lakes killed her engine and sat, looking at the big, beautiful house that Edward had. She slowly took off her helmet and waited for me to do the same once I’d parked beside her. Strange how asswipes like this get the big fancy houses, while the kids they damaged live in the slums.
“You ready?” I asked, grabbing her hand.
Her eyes were huge as they looked up at me and I swore I saw a little tear form before it was absorbed by the darkness. She nodded once and we walked towards his door.
“So, how you want to do this? We gonna break in, or you wanna go old school style?” My butterfly knife was tucked away in my pocket and Lakes had her karambits, probably in a knife sheath around her legs.
She smirked and led the way up to the door, pressing the doorbell before turning away and looking at the street. I eyed the sides of his house. No cameras. That made things infinitely easier.
The door creaked open, “What the fuck are y’all Jehovah’s doing here at this time? It’s fucking six a.m. Get the fuck off my lawn.”
Damn. Six already? We hadn’t slept yet and Lakes didn’t look like she was even tired, even after dancing for hours. Now that he said that a small sliver of exhaustion creeped up my back, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me.
Lakey turned around with a flourish. “Hello, Eddy boy.”
His face fell, losing all of its color. “L-L-L…”
“Yes, it’s Lakey. You remember me, don’t you?” She grinned. To an outsider, it was beautiful. This wide, toothy smile that could captivate the hearts of even the most cold-blooded killer.
But I knew that smile and it caused one of my own to break out on my face.
“C-C-Cam? What… how?”
“Mind inviting us in, Edward?” Lakey pushed up on her tiptoes, almost looking like the little girl she once was when she tried to use puppy eyes to get a treat.
Edward, who had been growing more and more pale by the second, stepped back and gestured for us to come in. “W-w-whatever you want. Sure, yeah. Just… just stay calm.”
Lakey stepped in, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “Wouldn’t dream of going nuts, Eddy! We just wanna talk!”
God, she was so sexy. My pants tightened at her display. Could a more perfect woman exist? Most people idolized princesses or celebs, but my girl was sitting on the highest pedestal. Not a damn thing could shake her from that spot.
Ed seemed confused and concerned at our presence, but not quite fearful enough for my taste. Yet. Lakes took my hand, her eyes fixing on his face, watching as his gaze travelled down her body, landing on the knives strapped to her thighs. Immediately, that intense fear hit. His eyes widened and he became a sickly shade of white. Ahhh, there it was. My favorite expression.
“Please, t-take a seat.” Edward’s hands were shaking violently as he sat in the furthest love seat from where he’d indicated for us to sit.
Lakey ignored him, instead walking to his fireplace mantle and looking at all the photos there. Reaching up, she grabbed one, running her fingertips over the photo, almost longingly. “Why do you have this?” Her voice was soft as she spoke. “You must be what? 50 by now? Why does a grown ass man have a photo of a little girl? One that’s not related to him, no less.”
She flipped it around, and I caught a glimpse of a little blonde girl, a smile on her face, her bright blue eyes looking up at whoever was taking the photo. She couldn’t have been more than seven.
“Uh… Um… I’m 49.” He sounded like an idiot. Lakes didn’t give a shit how old he was. It was disgusting to think that he’d been 30 when he’d abused her the way he did, but he would have been disgusting at any age. Fucking sick fuck.
Walking over to me, she gave me the photo. “Please take this out of the frame. I want that photo.” Then she turned back to Edward, but not before her eyes glittered dangerously. Pulling the elastic from her arm, she started to tie her hair up into a high, messy bun.
I chuckled, leaning back, my arms behind my head. “Ohhhhh boy. You’re in shit now.”
“Why. Do. You. Have. That?” The way she pronounced each word sent a shiver down my spine.
Ed looked anywhere but at her. His eyes caught mine, pleading for me to stop her. To do something. Something akin to giving up flashed across his face before he slumped down, his face in his hands. “I like the way you look in it. So, I took it from my mom.”
Lakey’s hand went to her thigh, where her knife sat tight against her, protected in its sheath. Then she pulled it away. “Actually, speaking of your mother. Where is Carmen-dearest?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he swallowed loudly. “Uh, I’m not sure. She’s somewhere with Will. We haven’t spoken in years.”
“And why’s that? I remember you being a momma’s boy.” She continued probing.
“I don’t know! Lakey, I swear to God, I don’t know! Cam, help me out here!” Sweat broke out over his brow as she walked closer, stepping up behind him and running her fingertip across his chest before flicking him in the back of his head.
“Now, now, Edward. I know that can’t be true. And if it is, I suggest telling me where I can find out.”
“Why?” His voice was so Goddamn whiny. “What do you want with me? With them?”
“I told you. We just wanna talk.” Her voice was ever so sweet as she leaned in, her hand now resting on his shoulder. “You can be a good boy and tell me, or I can make you talk.”
Ah, there it is. The knife was pulled out and trailed lightly across his neck. A thin red line appeared immediately in it’s wake and Edward, at least, had the decency not to make a damn sound.
Honestly, watching her like this was hot as fuck. Normally, she hunted my conquests on her own. I’d only joined her a couple times, but this… I could get used to this. I’d killed people in the joint, a few greasy fucks at the club, but doing it together? A perfect date night.
“Fuck, FINE, fine. Just… Cam, please? Get her away from me!”
I don’t know why he thought I’d show mercy, but I did want answers. I sighed, standing up, my feet thumping across the hardwood as I walked to Lakey. “Baby girl, let him talk. We need this info more than we need him dead.”
She whirled around to face me and for a minute, I thought she would stab me, until she saw my face and winked. “Yeah, okay. Okay, that sounds good.”
She danced on her tip toes towards the windows, looking outside as she asked the question again.
“They’re in the next block. Big fancy house. 6470 or something. There will be a black truck and an older style ‘Vette in the driveway.” He scratched at his stubble. “Wait, no, it’s 6471”
Lakey turned towards him. “Are you sure, Eddy? Cuz Cam is gonna go check and if you’re lying, I’m gonna peel your face from your body.”
I nodded and headed towards the door. Interesting that Skeeter has, once again, given me false info . I was going to seriously have a talk with that guy. He told me they were out of town. Naughty, naughty.
Starting my bike, I drove slowly around the bend, and up the next street, parking between 6470 and 6471. By now, people should have been getting up for the day, so it was just a waiting game. 6471 did indeed have the cars Edward said they did, but that didn’t mean much. Turns out memories are just as shitty as IT information these days.
Peering into 6470, the lights flickered on, and a tall, burly man came into view, clutching the hand of a heavily overweight woman before sitting her at the table. Nah. Not them.
Turning my gaze to 6471, my breath caught as none other than good old Billy came strolling down the driveway, hopping into the truck and reversing like a maniac before tearing down the street.
Gottem.