Chapter 36
Jeremiah
Sadie looked at me with her hands on her hips, though the sharp look in her eye had faded to something else, her green eyes pleading for answers she deserved.
Answers I wondered if I could tell her without sending her running.
We had such a good thing going on. Sure, it was turbulent at times, but we always found our footing again.
Even with the press finding out about us and papers surely gathering sources and rumors to print the next jaw-dropping story, I knew we could figure it out.
But this thing with Anderson coming back into my life. Our lives. I wasn’t sure how we were going to navigate our way out of this, especially when I had left so much of my past out. Surely, she would never look at me the same. Either way, the truth had to come out.
I sat on the couch, next to Anderson’s book with his stupid face staring up at me from the glossy black cover.
“Sit,” I said, patting the couch next to me. Sadie hesitated for a moment before giving in, and taking a seat. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, gathering my memories to recant to her.
I tried to keep up with Anderson as he practically ran down the busy sidewalk of Manhattan, pushing past commuters heading home after a long day of work.
I apologized for him as I tried to keep up, keeping a watchful eye on the darkening storm clouds gathering overhead.
The chance of rain was imminent as it loomed over the towering skyscrapers fading in color with the setting sun.
“Will you slow the hell down?” I called after him, my voice bristled with annoyance.
But he kept moving, now crossing the street, weaving his way through traffic as cabs honked at his recklessness. A yellow cab came to a screeching halt as I tried to follow, the sound and the lights making me shut my eyes and pray I wasn’t about to die.
“Yo, what the fuck, man?” yelled the driver through his rolled-down window. I opened my eyes, relieved to see he had stopped just inches away from me. I put my hands up in apology, which was met with a vulgar gesture.
God damn, Anderson.
I shook my head and searched for him, spotting his black hoodie moving quickly and fading into the darkening night that surrounded us.
I ran to catch up, now careful of oncoming traffic.
I turned a corner and stopped suddenly, surprised to see Anderson leaning against the brick wall of a corner store.
“Finally,” I panted, putting my hands on my knees and shaking my head.
“I should say the same to you,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Come on.” He gestured me to follow him into the corner store.
“What are we doing?” I asked, as he walked down the liquor aisle, perusing the selection on the shelves as if we could afford anything here.
“I could use a little liquid courage,” he said with a smirk.
“Do we have time?” I asked, wondering why the hell I had just ran after him through the city. “Do we have money?”
“Time, yes,” he said, checking his watch. “Money, no.”
He pulled a fifth of vodka from the shelf, tucking it up the sleeve of his hoodie
“But when has that stopped me?”
I looked around the store, keeping my expression calm, like I was just another customer. It was empty, aside from the store clerk who was busy on the phone when we walked through the door.
“Let’s go,” I whispered urgently when I heard the store clerk say his goodbyes and hang up the phone just on the other side of the aisle.
Anderson gave the clerk a nod as we walked out the door, the epitome of cool, and soon we were safely out on the sidewalk.
“Like taking candy from a baby,” smirked Anderson, pulling the fifth of vodka from his sleeve when we were out of sight of the store’s window.
“You couldn’t have stuffed some chips or a sandwich up there?” I asked, raising a brow.
I was starving. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten a full meal, and not just scrounged the fridge of whoever I was crashing with at the time.
Last night, it was Anderson’s baby mama’s, who let me sleep on her cigarette-smelling couch, while he slept in her room.
Slept wasn’t exactly the right word. They were up all night, either knocking their headboard into the wall or tending to their crying baby.
“We will eat tonight,” he said confidently.
He twisted off the top of the vodka and took a long swig before passing it to me.
I took a sip, the burn running down my throat and warming my insides on the cold November night.
I felt a raindrop fall against my cheek and looked to the skies, now more violent than before.
Flashes of lightning burst through the clouds, making everyone walk a little faster, trying to get to their destination before all hell broke loose.
“We should go,” said Anderson, judging the skies.
He shoved the fifth of vodka in the pouch of his large hoodie, and pulled the hood up over his head.
I pulled my own hood over my head and tucked my hands in the front pocket as I followed Anderson down the sidewalk.
He was, once again, taking long strides as I trailed behind him.
After a few blocks, he stopped and looked to the left and to the right. Both directions housed dark, brick alleys that I was sure held nothing good at the end of them.
He nodded to the right. “This way,” he said, slipping into the darkness.
I followed behind him, the shadows enveloping me like a cool kiss of dread.
Rain started falling in large drops, until it was a heavy pour upon us.
I could barely see Anderson as he walked ahead of me, until he finally stopped near a blue dumpster against the back wall.
There was no one else around, yet I could feel eyes on us.
“This is a bad idea,” I muttered, pulling my hood further onto my head as if it would keep the cold from the rain from seeping into my skin.
“Will you shut up and trust me?” said Anderson annoyed. “These guys are going to help us make a shit ton of money. No more sleeping on couches. No more stealing from shitty corner stores. No more being hungry. No more of living like losers.”
I pressed my lips into a tight line and gave him a solemn nod. I didn’t know what he was getting us into, but a life better than the one we were living was a silver lining to whatever situation he had put us in tonight.
“These guys just need to take a chance on us,” said Anderson, looking around the alley.
Soon, the sound of the rain falling around us was drowned out by the loud rumble of motorcycles.
The sound was deafening as it bounced off the brick walls around us, and headlights came into view.
Several Harleys pulled to a stop in front of us, blocking our exit from the alley.
An uneasy feeling began gnawing at my stomach.
One man climbed off his Harley, pulling off his helmet and setting it on the seat.
Peering through the rain, I tried to get a good look at him as he approached us.
I could make out that he was bald and had a slight limp as he walked.
Without saying anything, he circled Anderson and me, his hooded eyes looking us up and down.
I could make out a large scar that ran down the right side of his face.
I swallowed hard, imagining how he got that scar.
I could guarantee it wasn’t a fall from a bike when he was young.
As he continued circling us like prey, I nudged Anderson with my shoulder.
“What the fuck is this, man?” I whispered.
Anderson ignored me and simply lifted his chin in his usual cocky way, staring down the man with the scar.
“Markus. This is Jeremiah,” he said, gesturing to me. The man didn’t say anything, his lip curving upward in a sneer. I hated that he knew my name now. “He’s the one I was telling you about. We’re ready to do whatever it takes to join rank.”
I had no idea what the hell Anderson was talking about. I shot him a look, wondering what he had gotten us into.
Markus laughed loudly as he eyed us. “What the hell am I going to do with two pipsqueaks?”
“Don’t underestimate us,” said Anderson, standing a little taller.
“What do you want?” asked Markus with a raised brow.
“Power,” said Anderson.
Satisfied with that answer, Markus looked to me. “And you?”
I thought about it for a moment. Power didn’t sound so bad.
I had never had any in my life, always falling victim to other people’s choices.
I had grown up at the mercy of a father who didn’t want me, and spent money as if I didn’t exist, leaving my mother to pick up the slack.
I watched her work endless hours at her three different jobs just to keep us afloat, while my father gambled most everything away.
Friends were hard to come by when your family’s low-life reputation tarnished you, and you had a shit attitude to boot.
Most told me I was too smart for my own good, finding me brash and cocky.
If I was so smart, then why didn’t my own mother listen to me when I told her to leave my father?
She was blinded by love and it pissed me off.
And with no siblings to confide in, I got the hell out of there as soon as I was able.
Anderson understood all of that. He was all I had now. I didn’t want to lose him too, so if I had to go through with whatever he had signed us up for, then I would.
“Redemption,” I finally said.
Markus chuckled. “Good answers, boys,” he said. “I can give you those things. And more. I can give you anything you want.”
It sounded too good to be true, and I knew it was. People didn’t just hand you things for nothing.
“What’s the catch?” I blurted out, raindrops running down my nose to my lips parted by the fog of my breath.
“Jeremiah,” said Anderson nervously under his breath.
“Smart one, aren’t you?” asked Markus with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “The catch is, you have to do something for me first.”
I watched through sleets of rain as Markus reached behind him into the back pocket of his jeans, pulling a gun out.
What the fuck.
He weighed it in both hands as if it were a toy, and not something that could easily take someone’s life.
Could easily take our lives in this back alley.
He took a few steps toward us, assessing between Anderson and me, before making some internal decision to hand the gun to Anderson.
I noticed my best friend’s hand was shaking as Markus pressed the gun into his palm, wrapping his fingers around the grip.
A momentary sign of fear from an overly confident Anderson.
He stared down at the gun, his black hair dripping wet across his forehead.
I tried to read what he was thinking, my brain going in circles, trying to find a way out of this.
Would Markus let us change our minds without killing us with the same gun Anderson held in his shaking hands?
I internally begged him to say “no” right then.
To give the gun back to this shady man and pray he forgot we existed.
“What do you need us to do?” asked Anderson.
His words filled me with dread. The rain that poured down on us was just another sign that we were in over our heads.