Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been seeing Lailani as much as possible.
Although a lot of shit is changing around here.
Louie married Charlotte, which shocked the hell out of all of us.
And then Carlo had a kid dropped off with a note.
A little girl. My friend is now the father of a six-year-old. Jazzy.
A few weeks ago, none of us had a fucking care in the world. Now, Louie has a wife and Carlo is a father. I need some normalcy. Which is why I’m looking forward to tonight. Louie told me he can’t make the drop since he has a date with his new wife, so it’s just me and Carlo.
It’s why I’m walking into the Royal Flush to try to catch Lailani for five minutes, because I know I’ll be busy tonight. Then all hell breaks loose. I hear two gunshots, see people running.
What the fuck?
I run towards the sound, not away from it, skidding to a stop when I find the cause. Louie is on the ground with Charlotte in his arms. Blood everywhere.
“What the fuck happened?” I yell over the noise surrounding us.
“I need a fucking ambulance now!” he screams. “Charlotte, wake up.” He looks down at his wife. Her skin is pale and her eyes are closed.
I pull out my phone and dial 9-1-1. Before I can tell the operator what happened, paramedics are running towards us.
I look over to the front desk and see Lailani with a phone raised to her ear.
She’s speaking fast, but I can’t hear what she’s saying.
She makes eye contact with me and then turns around.
Weird. Then again, I’m guessing this isn’t the type of thing she’s been exposed to before. I want to go over and make sure she’s okay, but I can’t leave Louie. My friend needs me. He needs all of us.
It’s been a few hours, but Charlotte is finally out of surgery. Carlo met us at the hospital with Jazzy. I bend down and pick up my new niece. “Hey, princess, you doing okay?” I ask her.
Her eyes flick behind me to the glass partition that separates us from Charlotte’s hospital bed. She hasn’t woken up yet. “I’m okay, Uncle Sammie. Is Auntie Charlotte going to be okay?”
“Yes. The doctor fixed her boo-boo right up,” I assure her.
“Good. I like having an auntie,” Jazzy says.
I set her down on one of the shitty plastic seats and pull her iPad out of her backpack. “Here, sweetie, watch one of your shows for a bit.”
As soon as she’s settled, I walk back over to where Louie and Carlo are standing.
We learned that the shooter, who took a shot at Louie and ended up getting Charlotte instead, was connected to another family.
On top of that, the shipment still needs to be collected.
I have about two hours to make it to the drop point.
Louie mentions something about coming with me, and just as he’s making plans for added security for his wife, Emmanuel walks in. “She okay?” he asks.
“Where the fuck have you been?” Louie grunts out.
“I went to track down a contact. I heard what happened and came back,” Emmanuel explains right before the double doors open. Charlotte’s friend Evie storms in and goes in for the attack on Louie.
Emmanuel pulls her off him, calming her down a bit, and then she’s disappearing into Charlotte’s hospital room. I’d just dropped the woman off at the airport, so what the fuck is she still doing here?
Something has me glancing in Emmanuel’s direction. He must have caught her before she got on her flight. How did he know she was leaving?
“Tracking down a contact or stalking an unsuspecting woman?” I ask him.
“Shut the fuck up,” he hisses at me.
“We’ve got a shipment coming in. I need to go and get it,” Louie interjects, his glare landing on Emmanuel. “You gonna stick around?”
“I’ll go. You stay,” he offers. “Remember, that’s your wife’s best friend. You can’t kill her.” He smirks. “I’ll be back. Let’s go, Sammie.”
“You know, it’s pretty fucked up, you collecting your own product,” I tell him.
“You know what else is fucked up? The sound of your fucking voice,” Emmanuel throws back at me as we walk out.
I offer to drive, which Emmanuel quickly declines, stating that he has a car already waiting. The guy never travels anywhere alone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without at least ten of his soldiers in tow. Now is no different.
“Who’s the girl you’re seeing?” he asks as soon as the car takes off.
“What girl?” I feign ignorance. I’m not putting Lailani on anyone’s radar.
“So, your dick’s broken, then?” E says.
“Why the fuck are you thinking about my dick?” I counter.
“Because you’re usually the one who host parties full of readily-available pussy. What’s changed? If it’s not a woman and your dick ain’t broken, what is it?”
“Maybe I’ve just grown up,” I tell him.
“Sure.” He nods. “I don’t see it, though.”
“I’m curious, E, how did Evie go from getting a flight home to running through the hospital tonight?” I quirk a brow at him. If he wants to talk about women, let’s talk about the one he’s infatuated with.
“She had a change of heart.” He smirks.
“By choice?” Don’t get me wrong. I like Emmanuel. But like I said, the guy is fucking unhinged. And Evie is a dead ringer for the girl he was obsessed with when we were kids. The same girl who went missing not long after that. She’s still missing from what I hear.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that,” he grunts. “Whoever this woman is—the one you’re not seeing—I sure as fuck hope you’re not this grouchy with her.”
My mind goes to Lailani. Her big, wide, innocent eyes. Her sweet smile. “If I were seeing someone… let’s say… a young someone, a very innocent and sweet someone, what are the chances she’d survive in our world?” I already know the answer.
Little to none.
“How young we talking?” E side-eyes me.
“Twenty,” I admit.
“Legal then, thank fuck. And how innocent?” He seems relieved. I’m insulted. He knows as well as anyone else that young girls aren’t my thing. Usually. Lailani seems to be the exception. Even so, underage is not a line I’d ever cross.
“She’s sweet, a college kid. I don’t have any business dragging her down,” I tell him while wondering how I went from denying she exists to all but confirming it. Truth is, I haven’t been able to get her out of my head.
I purposely haven’t gone to see her. I’ve messaged her a few times, and she’ll message back. I’ve kept my distance, though, because I feel like it’s the best thing at the moment. And now, with Charlotte getting shot, I don’t know what the hell I’m thinking bringing someone like her into this life.
“You sure she’s sweet and innocent? I mean, if she’s hanging around the likes of you, I highly doubt she’s as innocent as you think,” E says with a stupid grin on his face.
“She is,” I tell him.
“Then you have to decide if she’s the one or not. If she is, keep her. If you’re just in it to get your dick wet a few times, cut her loose.” He shrugs.
Is Lailani the one? I don’t have time to contemplate that question. I’ve got a job to do.
The car pulls into the docks. Emmanuel’s men get out first and then one of them opens the back door of the car.
“You do know it’s still fucked you’re here to collect the shipment you sent us,” I remind him.
“It’s in my best interest that nothing goes wrong with my product,” he says.
“Our product,” I correct him. Louie made a deal with our friend here to increase the supply. We have too many fuckers trying to take over our territory. More product ensures our customers don’t need to look elsewhere.
“Right.” Emmanuel juts his chin in front of us, towards where two guys are guarding our shipping container.
“Let’s do this.” I wave a hand, and five of our men step forward. “As soon as we’ve checked it, start loading the truck,” I instruct them.
The guards open the doors to the container, and we’re met by a row of raised barrels. More of E’s guys.
I tilt my head to the side as I eye them one by one. “Hell of a welcoming party.”
Emmanuel barks out an order in Spanish, and his security team appears at his back with bigger guns aimed at the guys in the container. I watch as E pushes through his men. Stopping right in front of the fucker in the middle.
“There a reason you’re pointing a gun in my face?” he asks.
The guy lowers his weapon. The other four look at each other before following suit. “No, boss, we weren’t expecting you.”
“I can see that. Explain.” Emmanuel swipes the gun out of the fucker’s grip, and before the guy gets the chance to explain a single thing, E fires a shot right between his eyes.
Blood splatters everywhere. Another four shots follow it rapid fire, and then we’re left looking at five dead bodies on the ground.
“Friends of yours?” I ask Emmanuel.
“Nope.” He shakes his head and then gives orders to his men in Spanish again. They immediately grab for the bodies, dragging them out of the container as my men begin filling the back of a truck with bricks of cocaine.
A few minutes later, we are all situated in our respective vehicles, headed back into town. I wait until the docks are in the rearview before pulling out my phone and texting Louie.
Me:
We need to talk.
Louie:
I’m at the hospital.
“Drop me back at the hospital,” I tell Emmanuel.
He nods but doesn’t say a single word for the rest of the drive. If he hadn’t been there, those fuckers would have been spraying bullets all over me and Louie or Carlo or whoever happened to show up tonight to collect.