Prologue #2
He makes a clicking sound with the gum in his mouth. “I have some festering energy to vent and a bloody bone to pick with him. I hate that prick with a vengeance.”
So it’s personal for him, as well. Apollo is a psycho who likes to hurt people; he has quite a few enemies. “Were you part of his gang?”
“Do I look that stupid to you?” A clear jab at me. It makes my hackles rise. “Fortunately, though, you were part of it. Having a guy who knows the gang’s weak points means sure victory for me in fucking his ugly face up.”
“Didn’t you hear the phone call? He wants to off me. He gave me these burns.” I wave my hand at my face and body.
“I’m not blind. You certainly didn’t end up in this hospital for the food. Plus, it’s impossible not to see your charred face.”
“Like you look better,” I cut him off, gritting my teeth against the horrible memory of the unbearable sensation of my skin melting, the awful burning smell, my excruciating cries. The agonizing realization that I was about to die. I didn’t, though.
Unfortunately, he keeps talking. “I do look better. Stop pointing out the obvious. Apollo went for you and failed; now it’s your turn to go for his jugular.
My urge to help you simply comes from the infinite goodness of my heart.
” He presses both his perfectly manicured hands over his heart in a melodramatic move.
My serious stare doesn’t waver as I don a fuck-off expression on my face.
He drops his arms down. “Alright, he tried to fuck with me, and now I’ll give back tenfold.
The motherfucker doesn’t know who he’s up against.” He points at his back, where the bandages are.
Did Apollo do that to him? “You’ll be fine with me.
I can do whatever the fuck I want with a rich and powerful family to back me up. ”
I glance at the two strapping men standing on the sidewalk and then slide my eyes over his designer clothes. His family must be fucking loaded. “No shit.”
“All the people I meet either want to use me or are scared shitless.” His statement reminds me of the bandages once again.
“Not me. I only want to hurt you a little…a lot,” I tell him, taking a last puff before chucking the cigarette butt in the ashtray. It gets in this time.
He smiles. Yep, he’s a damn loon.
“A little a lot. No one has ever been that adorably blunt with me, like a suicidal bunny. It’s…refreshing.”
Adorably! Bunny? “How about I refresh your face,” I groan, tired of this nonsense. My shitty life awaits. I need to get back before they send one of the hospital security guards after me.
“Use me. I have fire power and men that can help with my—your revenge.”
The light drizzle of rain didn’t turn into a cloudburst. Instead it’s slowly dying as thoughts keep firing inside my head.
“You can easily do it without me, since your family is so powerful and rich.”
“I can, but technically I’m going kind of solo here. My family doesn’t know about it and I want to keep it that way. I have enough men and with your intel it would be a piece of bloody, gory cake.”
I stare at him for a moment. Don’t really care about his life, but it seems too easy. “What’s the catch?”
“You have to follow my lead.” I see the red gum peeking at the corner of his big grin.
I scoff in reply.
“Is that a hard one to swallow? Let me put it this way, you look like a loner…a dead loner walking. Apollo has too many minions, and he knows you are coming. If he doesn’t kill you before you even form a plan to attack him, he will while you attempt it all by yourself. The fucker is shit, but crafty.”
“You seem to know him well.” Suspicion rises again inside my gut.
“We frequent the same circles when I’m in New York.” Meaning he’s part of a criminal organization. Another gang? Those men protecting him looked too slick and formal.
“So, you aren’t from these parts.”
“No. And Apollo prolonged my fucking stay. I should have been back in LA by now,” he lets out more information.
LA. That’s far…but far away enough?
“Hey, I’m aging here. I’m going to have some fun, do you want to be part of it?” He sounds bored and ready to leave. He rolls his gum between his fingers and then tosses it into the ashtray.
This guy is an unhinged, bloodthirsty wacko, and probably the only person who could help me take down Apollo. This decision could change the course of my life.
“What do you have to lose?” he asks nonchalantly, removing an invisible piece of lint from his shirt.
Lose? Apart from my life? I look down as the image of Joel’s smiling little face appears in front of my eyes.
I haven’t seen my little brother since he moved to Boston a year ago.
But he’s always in my head. I keep wondering if he’s eating well, sleeping, having problems at school.
Does he need more money? I’ve been sending almost all of what I’ve earned in the last six months to Bailey, the old lady who took Joel to Boston.
We text sometimes; my little brother doesn’t know about it.
I asked her not to tell him. He would want to come stay here with me, and I can’t get him mixed up in my mess.
I want him to have a better life. A good life.
“I have a condition,” I say suddenly.
He sighs, exasperated. “Spit it out.”
“Take me with you to LA after we take Apollo down.”
He doesn’t laugh or scoff. He just keeps staring at me. He’s short and skinny, but his gaze is filled with that type of confidence that one doesn’t gain growing up; it’s innate.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” This feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, and all he says is okay? Is he fucking with me? Is he going to kill me as soon as we take care of Apollo? That’s probably his intention, but do I have another choice?
“Wha’?” He looks at me strangely. “If you don’t get killed you are welcome to tag along. Right now my guts are giving you both thumbs-up. And in case I’m wrong, I’ll just get rid of you.”
He talks about killing me with such indifference. “You are as mad as a dog.”
He gives me a wicked smile. “I have a good feeling about this.” His arm suddenly wraps around my neck in a buddy-like move. Since I’m taller, he has to stretch his torso to reach me.
The sky is clearing as we walk out of the smoking area.
“The car is there.” The boy points at a posh black BMW idling in a no-parking zone near the sidewalk. “Did you leave anything in the hospital?”
I look at the tall, gray building for a moment before shaking my head. I grabbed both my phone and wallet—containing only a hundred bucks—before leaving the hospital room. I don’t own anything else.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
He pats my shoulder before letting his arm fall. “Akira. But I kinda like Mad Dog. You?”
“River.”
We stop in front of the car. Akira waits for one of the men to open the backdoor. When he gets inside the car, I hesitate before following him but then force myself to enter. I let my body relax against the soft leather seat. It smells like money and power in here.
“I should probably tell you about my family before we start this…partnership. Have you ever heard of the yakuza?” As he keeps talking, an old saying pops into my head.
For every person you lose along the way, you gain another.
But could someone else really ever fill the empty space my little brother left?