61. Torin
SIXTY-ONE
torin
I left Lorenzo Black’s house mid-Wallace and Lorenzo arguing back and forth about what was and wasn’t going to happen moving forward.
I had more pressing matters to attend to, apparently.
And that was hanging out with Hot Rod and Juice while they verbally rip into me throughout the whole car ride.
“You don’t answer any fucking questions about how you became King of South Shore, why, or anything about Wallace, understand?”
I bob my head for the hundredth time in the backseat of his SUV, stopping every two seconds when he barks more orders out at me that could be summed up in four sentences.
Shut the fuck up.
Make the drug deal as the new King of South Shore.
Keep it short.
The end.
Instead, the asshole wants to talk to me like a thirteen-year-old child who can’t read the room right and wants to chide me for the whole duration of the ride.
Honestly, it’s better than watching Bay and Levi stand super close together and the not-so-subtle brushes of his hand on pieces of her body.
The shit makes me fucking crazy.
Not only am I on the outs with Bay, currently, but I’m King of South Shore without the fucking benefits.
The benefits of her in my bed, lips on my cock, and me between her legs.
Maybe I should pass the stupid crown to one of these dumbfucks, and my not having a crown will make fucking me more appealing again.
I’m really almost tempted to do it.
“Take this,” Juice orders, leaning over the center console to hand me a small earpiece.
“For what?”
Juice lifts it in the air impatiently. “Take it, dipshit.” I do, just so he fucks off, but then he continues to stare at me. “Put it in your damn ear, dude.”
For the love of fuck…
Doing so, in my good ear, I lean back, just to tense up at the sound of another fucking voice I don’t want to hear right now.
“You all settled in, Baby Wildes?”
Wallace.
This must be their idea of a fun time, but I’m already maxed out on how much more shit I can take today from these Nameless fuckers who claim to be all mighty and powerful.
“Now, don’t tell me you don’t trust me,” I protest through my tightening jaw. “I might get upset.”
“Wouldn’t want to do that,” Wallace professes cooly. “You might cry.”
“What the fuck do you want?”
“For you not to mess this up. You’re going to be meeting with one of my biggest customers and the last thing I need you to do is fuck my shit up before I shove you off my seat.”
“I know how to make deals.”
“And he’s going to know you’re not the real King of South Shore, and that’s going to come with a lot of questions I don’t want you answering.”
Whatever.
“Is that all?”
“No. I’m going to be feeding you what you’re going to say.”
I scoff. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I was,” he replies matter-of-factly, but he sounds like he’s leaning back and enjoying this shit. “But teamwork and all. You missed the last bit of our little meeting, Baby Wildes. Were we using too big of words for you?”
“I had to go,” I leer. “I had this stupid shit to do.”
“Left a little early, don’t you?—”
“I’d like it better if you didn’t talk or I’m going to take this earpiece out and shove it up Juice’s ass.”
Wallace chuckles, as if I wouldn’t do it. “Keep your hostility to yourself.”
“I planned on it, but you insist on pissing me off.”
“This isn’t a social call,” Levi retorts with a bit of steel in his voice. “Don’t ever think we’re going to be?—”
“Sharing the same girl,” I cut in, not giving a shit what Hot Rod and Juice think or say. “If you thought she was going to be yours in the long run, you might as well cut out now.”
“Then you woke up.”
My lips coil. I knew he was going to be a problem for most of my existence. I just didn’t think it’d be with Bay. “Sweetheart, when I tell you that girl is obsessed with me, I mean it.”
“Seems to be staying away from you just fine. Besides, I’ve been around longer. I’m not going to argue with you over what happened or what’s going to happen. We don’t need to be homies. You fuck her, I’m just going to fuck her harder when she gets home.”
“Love the big dick energy you got going on over there, big man. The thing is, she and I, we get each other. I understand her crazy bullshit and every ounce of petty that seeps through her veins. She loves to fight me. I love to be fought with. And if you thought your history and steroid-pushing muscles were going to be able to keep up with what she needs, you’re already behind the eight ball.”
“I’ve got the stamina to keep up.”
“Yeah, but for how long? You’re too bossy, and neither of us likes being told what to do.”
“You’re doing it right now, aren’t you? I think you like being submissive. That’s why you never took The Landings Titan seat, right?”
I chuckle. “Wouldn’t you love to know?”
“I just asked, didn’t I?”
“How about none of your fucking business, you big piece of shi?—”
“We’re here,” Hot Rod announces, causing me to notice the SUV slowing down as he throws the vehicle into park.
We’re in the middle of a two-lane road, surrounded by trees and nothing else. It’s the perfect scene for a murder.
No witnesses.
No traffic.
No problems.
“I’m seriously disappointed in the amount of effort you put into this, Wallace,” I sigh with a roll of my eyes. “If you were going to kill me, I expected something that required half a brain cell.”
“It’s not your time yet,” he returns. “But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re talking about how impressive it was in hell.”
“Are the woodland fairies about to come out and make this deal?”
“Shut up and listen, Baby Wildes, because we don’t have a lot of time. You’re going to meet Marcus Lowery. He’s a big-shot asshole from Boston who likes to talk about the Red Sox and pussy. Don’t indulge in his bullshit or you’re going to be there all day. You have to be short, curt, act like he’s wasting your time. He’ll get bored and leave.”
“What’s the deal?”
“Blow. Two hundred pounds.”
I lift an eyebrow. “Where the fuck did you get two hundred pounds of cocaine?”
“At your mom’s house,” he returns, like a dick. “He’s going to try to barter. I want thirty thousand for the batch. He handles the transportation. That’s why he’s getting a deal. He’ll pick it up at the port in twenty-four hours, or the deal is off.”
“Anything else?”
“Don’t fuck this up. Don’t lie about your name, age, or anything else. You are who you are, and that’s it.”
“Fine.”
“If you don’t know how to answer, Juice and Rod will step in.”
“Got it.”
“Do you have a gun?”
“Yes.”
“Make sure it’s not visible, or he’ll get nervous.”
“He likes pussy, but he acts like one. Nice.”
“Something you’ll both be able to relate to.”
I part my lips to clap back, but headlights down the road cut me off, and I focus on them instead of Wallace’s stupid-ass comment.
“Too many cars,” Rod states calmly. “Put Wallace on speaker.” Juice does it, since I don’t have access to the cell he’s calling us on, and Hot Rod says, “Didn’t we put a three-car cap on this?”
“Yes,” Wallace’s voice fills the car. “How many?”
“At least five,” Juice answers. “And they are not driving in a straight line. They’re taking up both lanes.”
“Take off,” Wallace orders. “Something’s not?—”
“Three cars behind us,” Hot Rod sneers, and it’s obvious this is a set-up of epic proportions. He lifts a walkie-talkie to his lips and says to the other two cars who came with us filled with The Nameless, “Follow me. Don’t get out of the car. Engage if you have to. This isn’t him.”
“Get out of there, Rod,” Wallace commands. “Ram them if you have to.”
“I installed those steel bumpers and grill guards last night,” Juice says. “They’re reinforced as well, so let’s test them out.”
“I wasn’t really in the mood for bumper cars tonight,” Rod returns tersely. “But here we fucking are.”
Juice bounces once in the passenger seat as if he’s as excited as hell. “Let’s do it, brother. Baby Wildes, buckle up.”
I already am because I don’t trust these motherfuckers. However, being on a high-speed chase wasn’t on my bucket list of shit to do tonight.
But since when do I get anything I really want lately?
Gunshots ring out the moment Hot Rod hits the gas and gets the SUV going. He goes right for the cars coming for us, and I know we’re about to play a game of chicken.
These lunatics think being in a car is going to save them from uncertain death and whiplash, apparently.
One car swerves out of the way, and I catch the make and model as it almost goes off into the ditch.
Black beamer.
“It’s De Leon,” I issue out, and I reach for my Glock holstered in my jeans. “Unless your boy drives the same car.”
“He likes Jags,” Juice replies. “And that red Eclipse is his boy, too.”
Tarzan.
Fucking weird guy.
I’ve seen him randomly jack off in the corner when nothing else was going on, just because he wanted to. He’s built like a tree, and I bet he swings off them too.
Hence the name.
My body is jolted forward as the SUV collides with another car. Hot Rod keeps an expert handle on the vehicle as he shoves it aside, still barreling down the road.
But the others don’t seem to be doing so hot.
“Man down,” a male voice claims over the walkie-talkie. “They have rifles, dude.”
Juice plucks up the device and asks, “Who?”
“Shorty, man. He’s bleeding out.”
“Head to the hospital,” Rod orders, whipping the SUV around and causing the tires to protest loudly against the cement road as the car feels as though it’s going to tip over. “Don’t stop.”
“Wallace,” Juice sing-songs. “Where you at?”
“Handling it,” he deadpans. “Put Baby Wildes on. Don’t get out of the fucking car.”
My earpiece clicks back on, and I know Wallace is back with me. And he’s the last person I want to spend my possible last moments on Earth with.
“We don’t have to do this,” I manage to grit out. “I don’t want your voice to be the last thing I hear if I die.”
“Don’t start doubting your abilities yet, Wildes. My boys have this.”
“Then hang up or talk to them.”
“I’m talking to you because they’re outnumbered, and that bumper isn’t going to hold twenty more rams. However, you’re going to get out of the car.”
I glower out the windshield. “Of course, I am.”
“Buy yourself some time. She’ll be there in eight minutes.”
My expression deepens as my heart rate begins to increase. “She?” My nostrils flare. “ Don’t bring her here.”
“She insisted.”
“I don’t give a fuck what she wanted. She does not come here.”
“She’s got this.”
I shake my head, not because I doubt her ability. But because I don’t trust Matteo when he’s near her. “Wallace, if you wanted me to die for her, I will. However, let’s not put her in the line of fire, shall we? Bullets kill.”
“She has my whole squad and your Forsaken fucks. It’ll be fine.”
“She won’t stand behind them. And one of your motherfuckers just said they have a rifle.”
“Then be her personal shield. I don’t care. But she’s coming.”
Fuck this.
“Stop the car,” I order, unbuckling my seatbelt and sliding toward the door. “Bay is on her way, but I don’t want her anywhere near here.”
“We’re not letting you out,” Juice claims. “Wallace’s orders.”
“You heard the man,” said asshole conveys in my ear. “Stay in the car.”
“There are eight of them,” I state. “And they’ve started circling. They know what car I’m in.”
“Only more reason for you to stay put.”
“He will pepper this car with bullets.”
“Steel-reinforced doors,” Juice recites. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.”
“You’ve got bulletproof glass, too?”
“We do, but I suggest you put your head down. Depending on the caliber and millimeter size, it’ll only stop three 9mm bullets and depending on the rifle, one to three.”
This is fucking stupidity.
The door I’m sitting next to is suddenly slammed into, mindlessly causing me to back off and notice the black truck that just tried to spin us out.
“How many rounds do you have in here?” I ask no one in particular, removing the safety off my gun and pressing the button to get the window down.
“Enough for a small army,” Rod replies. “It’s in the back. In the sealed Hot Wheels box.”
“Adorable,” I deadpan, extending my arm and shoving it out the open window.
I begin peppering shots at the windshield of the black truck, watching it spiderweb, and the vehicle begins to slow down because the driver can’t see.
“Eleven o’clock,” Juice says, right as the SUV takes another hit from that direction.
Hot Rod doesn’t stop barreling down the road like a bat out of hell, and everyone who’s come out tonight for us is now hot on our tail.
And I don’t see this SUV outrunning any of them.
“Update,” Wallace commands in my ear and believe it or not, I forgot his ass was there for a second.
“Your boy that was shot looks to be in the clear because we’ve picked them all up,” I reply evenly.
“Rod will get you out of there.”
I don’t bother to mention it doesn’t look like it because what’s the point? I’m either dead here tonight listening to Wallace’s voice fill me with false promises, or my girl is going to get here, and De Leon is going to take her.
The latter isn’t going to happen.
“Incoming,” Juice announces, my attention going back to the road in front of us.
A line of cars is dead-stopped along the road, headlights aimed directly at us.
Hot Rod doesn’t slow down.
Juice doesn’t move.
And I don’t think I breathe.
I always thought I’d die in a rain of gunfire or be stabbed. I’d die as a brother of the Forsaken Crew, in the midst of chaos. Some real movie-looking shit that would be remembered forever.
I never thought I’d make it past thirty.
Never gave much attention to how many years I had left either.
Until I found Bay again.
Now, I’m going to be murdered with two Nameless assholes and Levi Wallace in my ear.
“It’s our baby girl,” Hot Rod extolls warmly, slowing the SUV down a bit. “And she brought an army.”
The closer we get, the more she comes straight into view.
A white tee that dips between her breasts, tucked into shredded black jeans. She props one hand on her hips, obviously expecting us and not appearing at all bothered by the scene.
Like a queen.
Men by the droves flank faithfully on each of her sides and behind her. AK-47s are drawn and pointed.
And, fuck me, my dick is getting hard.
“Nothing happens to her,” Wallace utters low and dangerously slow in my own personal moment. “If it does, you’ll never see her again.”
“That’s the thing,” I express easily, holding her tightly in my view. “No one can keep me and her apart. Not you. Not the war. Not even ourselves. We belong together. And I don’t give a fuck if she’s mad at me or not. Whether you are intimidated or not. She’s mine. And you can suck my dick before I’m ever letting her go. And the thing that I think kills you, Wallace…is that you know she’d die for me before she’d ever let me go, too.”