Chapter 16 Maya #2
He shook his head. “Harry—and now, we also think Yung—screwed us over with the police. Harry tried striking a deal with the SDPD in order to capture us in the middle of storing a shipment of their guns. It was a sting operation gone south because we caught onto what was happening. It’s a very convoluted story, but the police officer Harry hooked up with is someone who’s been tracking us down for some time.
He has a bit of… personal beef with crews like ours, in general. ”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because his wife left him for the president of a motorcycle crew that used to call San Diego their home base.”
“That sounds very convoluted, indeed.”
He chuckled. “It is. And now, both Harry and this detective are out to wipe us off the face of the map. Arresting us to get us out of the way didn’t work, so they’re coming for blood. For our lives. That shoot out you mentioned earlier? The one I told you I responded to on an EMT call?”
“That was your crew and my brother’s gang.”
“It was, yes.”
“Were you ever an EMT?” I asked.
“I was, yes. For three years before I left my job and decided to join the crew. There were many reasons, most of which are personal. But I never felt like I was making a difference as an EMT, believe it or not. I was always treated like an idiot. Like I was a defunct doctor. I saw lives lost in the hands of doctors because they didn’t listen to paramedics like myself.
I got tired of watching that happen. I got tired of watching lives I’d worked so hard to save be lost recklessly because doctors thought they knew better than me.
The sleeve you helped connect with your design? The one on my right arm?”
“Yes?”
“Those tattoos are for those I lost as an EMT. Those tattoos are for the lives I watched perish in the hands of ignorant and arrogant doctors who didn’t listen to me.
I didn’t want their lives to be in vain.
I didn’t want them to be forgotten. So, that entire sleeve is commemorated to them.
To reminding me why I stopped being an EMT and pledged my life to The Lost Boys. ”
“But you’re running guns. Not helping people?”
He snickered. “We didn’t always run guns.
We also do protection for the general public as a side gig.
We sort of had our arms twisted into working with your brother and The Elusive.
It’s a very long story, but the short of it is that we needed guns quickly for a job we didn’t have.
We got them illegally and told ourselves it was only once.
But once turned into not once. And not once turned into running them for The Elusive once they figured out our influence in the community a little over a year ago. ”
My face darkened. “My brother moved to San Diego a little over a year ago.”
Notch sighed. “That doesn’t shock me in the slightest.”
I slipped away from his lap and picked my tattered panties off the floor.
I wiped myself off with them as best as I could and tossed them into the trash can underneath my cash register’s desk.
I grabbed my jeans and slid them up my legs, giving myself time to process everything.
Notch pieced himself together as well, pulling his pants up and stuffing himself back into his boxers.
I turned around and saw him eyeing me carefully. Raking his stare up and down my body, trying to clock me and figure out my emotions. What was going on in my head.
“I only told Harry I was doing tattoos for one of the guys in the crew. He asked me to describe you, and I told him I don’t focus on my clients that way.
I could only tell him about your tattoos.
But he was so upset with me that I didn’t call him about it sooner that we didn’t get much further into what I was going to tell him.
I was going to tell him what I knew to see if I could get any information out of him.
And if I couldn’t, I was going to go to that building where the shootout happened in the hopes someone you knew would see me and alert you, or something like that,” I said.
Notch grinned. “You’re an interesting one, I have to say.”
I shrugged. “I can admit when I’m being stupid. But I didn’t have any other way of getting in contact with you.”
“And you’re sure that’s all you said to him?”
“Yes. That’s all I said.”
He gripped my shoulders, sighing. “Maya, you have to stay away from your brother for now. Until we can get this figured out—and until I can make sure you’re safe—you have to stay away from him and any help he offers.”
“I know. I’ve been doing that for years. But I can only do so much before he’s going to force whatever it is he wants onto my life anyway.”
“I won’t let that happen. I promise you that.”
“The second he knows you’ve come back by this shop or figures out how entangled we—”
“Maya, I will keep you safe,” he said.
“If I keep pushing my brother away, that’s going to signal him more than ever,” I said.
“Promise me, Maya. Even if you have to pack up and spend the rest of your vacation away from here. Promise me you’ll stay away,” he said.
I knew I couldn’t do that. He knew I couldn’t do that. But I guess he needed to hear it. For his own peace of mind.
“I promise to do my best,” I said.
“And once I can get this figured out with my crew, I’m coming back for you. You have my word,” he said.
Then, like a breathless cry on the tailcoats of the wind, he was gone from my shop again, leaving me leaking with his mark and standing there alone.
Like I always had been in my life.