Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Gideon
While Penn was distracted by Rita and the kids wrangling him into baking cookies, I slipped out of the house with Danny, Alex, and Jeff to head over to the pawn shop to have some words with Parker. He was paying Lorcan for something, and he was happy about it. I wanted to know what and why.
The loss we’d caused Lorcan would take him a little time to recover from, so now truly was the best time to gather all the information I needed to learn how to strike that motherfucker down.
We drove along a side street to get a view of the rear parking lot. A pickup truck was there with “Pawn on Crowley” written on the side. It had to be Parker’s, and with no other vehicles in the area, he was alone.
The closed sign didn’t deter me, and with Alex at my side and Danny and Jeff moving to the back in case the shit decided to run, I knocked loudly. Once, twice, and the third time I kicked, shattering the glass.
“Parker, I know you’re in there. You can hide, you can call Lorcan, whatever you want, but it won’t save you from this conversation.”
After a minute, I saw the man of the hour shuffling to the door. He opened it, and his expression was half fear and half disgust.
“Your reluctance to let us in tells me almost everything I need to know.” I surveyed the shop filled with dusty televisions, musical equipment that hadn’t been tended to, jewelry behind cloudy glass that hadn’t been polished. I reached into my inside pocket, pulled out a cigar, and lit it.
“What do you want?” Parker snapped and the thump that followed told me Alex had gotten him right in the gut.
From the left, Danny and Jeff came in but I stayed turned away from Parker—it was a statement more than anything.
“Your shop, it doesn’t get a lot of customers?” I motioned to the space.
“I do fine.”
“Is that right?” I turned. He was clutching his stomach, and I smirked. “You must be getting something if you’re handing Lorcan a sizable chunk, and doing it with a smile on your face.”
I didn’t miss the way his eyes widened slightly, but he was doing a pretty good job of shielding himself.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I chuckled and slid my gloves off my hands. “I hear those seven words a lot, and do you know what happens after they’re uttered?” I stepped closer, knowing Alex, Danny, and Jeff wouldn’t let Parker even touch me. “Hmm, do you?”
“What?” His jaw was clenched, and he was hating every moment of this… Good.
“A lot of pain, Parker…and eventually, I get exactly what I want.”
He spit right on my cheek. I took a step away while Alex and Danny explained with their fists why that was a stupid thing to have done. Using a tissue Jeff handed me, I wiped my face and cleared my throat. I tossed my cigar to the ground and flattened it.
“Parker.” Alex and Danny moved to either side of him. Parker was now sporting a bloody lip, and yeah, that eye was gonna swell. “What are you paying Lorcan for?”
“Protection,” he answered, way too quickly for it to be the truth.
I glanced at Danny, who rolled his eyes. “I’m going to go right ahead and say you’re lying.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you think. It’s the truth, and you can kick my ass all day; the answer won’t change.”
Alex went to strike, but I halted him with a wave.
“Parker, Parker, Parker. I think you’re putting on a show of false bravado.
You’re terrified, likely two seconds from peeing your pants.
I ask that you please don’t because it’s quite disgusting.
” I motioned to the dusty TVs. “You haven’t sold a damn thing in this shop in months.
You’ve let it fall to disrepair, and why?
Well, I’ll answer that for you. See, I wasn’t sure until I stepped foot in here, but this is clearly a front. ”
“You can shut—”
Danny swiftly shut him up with a blow to the face.
I didn’t slow down. “You’re selling drugs out of here, drugs that Lorcan supplies, and you’re getting a decent cut. Probably, more money than this store has seen in years.” I lifted a brow. “Am I warm?”
He sneered at me. “Fuck you.”
“Hmm…I’ll take that as a yes.” I turned to Jeff. “Check the other room, upstairs, everywhere. I’d bet he has a nice inventory here.”
That was the moment Parker lost it. He tried to charge Jeff, but Danny grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, hoisted him up, and body-slammed him into a glass display case.
“Stay.” Danny had him by the throat. I hovered above the bruised man.
“Your biggest mistake, Parker, was allowing the idiot that dwells within you to surface.”
He was either smartening up or in a lot of pain, because he didn’t say a damn thing. The four of us stood there waiting, and about three minutes later, Jeff waltzed in holding a box.
“Just this.” He placed it on a counter, and I peeked inside.
“Well, damn, Parker, you’ve got a variety in here. This box alone is worth a half a mil.” I picked up a bag that was clearly cocaine. “So, you peddle this, pay Lorcan, you take your cut, and with the funds he rebuilds his territory.”
It was a pretty great strategy—likely would have worked too, had I not figured any of this out.
I dropped the bag into the box. “Bring this to the car.”
“That’s mine!” Parker shouted, and I snapped.
I gripped him by the shirt and hauled him up, slamming him against the wall.
“No! It’s mine. This is my territory and I never bothered you, let you go right ahead and do business.
Didn’t squeeze you for a dime. This is how you thank me, by selling drugs on my street, and filling Lorcan Anders’s pockets! ”
“I had nothing before he came into this shop, nothing!”
I pulled him to me, then hurled him into the wall again. “That’s when you come to me. I help you. Now, I have the drugs, and you have nothing. If you want to get out of this alive, you’ll tell me where the drugs come in from and who brings them to you.”
“I…”
“Don’t waste my time, Parker.”
“I just know they come in through that club Slice. A guy brings me the box once a month. Another comes to collect the money. That’s it.”
I released him, stepped away, and he slid to the floor. “I’m sure you’ll call Lorcan after I leave. That’s fine. Go about business as usual with him.”
His brows furrowed. “What?”
“You heard me. You can tell him I was here and what I took. He’s out a lot of money, and I wiped out a good number of his men the other day.
I’m interested in seeing what his next move is.
” I crouched down in front of him. “Just know, I’m watching you.
Enjoy this while you can, if you can, because I don’t want drugs on my streets.
All this will end soon enough, and then you’ll need me.
Think about what that future may look like, Parker.
” I patted his cheek, stood, and left the shop.