Hack, page 10
J.J. hopped down from the table and went to wash his hands without being asked. After, he led Spock down the hall to his bedroom.
“I don’t think J.J. is the only one who made a new friend.” I rolled my eyes but smiled.
Lisa let out a long exhale. Maybe she’d been holding it since the park. “I tell you what. It’s not easy to make them. Junior was friends with a little girl who moved away and he’s been a bit of a loner since then.”
I probably shouldn’t have asked but I was hoping to build a bridge that I might get to use one day. “What’s the deal with his mom?” I kept my tone hushed.
“She’s an addict. Wasn’t always, though. She used to be fucking gorgeous. I think she started using as kind of a revenge against Jackson—a way to pull him back into her and J.J.’s life. But she got hooked.” Lisa stared at her empty mug and flicked her thumbnail on the handle.
“Thank goodness that little guy has you. And the big one too.”
Lisa leaned in and whispered, “You know what’s sad? She didn’t even really want to be with her son. The crew gives her a free fix for not throwing a fit in front of J.J. She does it every time Jackson is away.”
That was sad—fucking depressing, actually. Had I enabled it with my message?
“Does J.J. understand it?”
She looked up, glanced to the hallway, then back to me. “I don’t know,” she said through a frown. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m not just being selfish, trying to give Junior the loving female role model I never had. And I know I’m being selfish about his daddy.”
“Your eyes light up when you talk about him.”
She scoffed out a laugh. “Oh, you want to talk about sexual chemistry?” she teased.
I scrunched my face like I’d taken a spoonful of disgusting medicine. “If I say something, do you promise never to repeat it?”
“M”—Lisa tilted her head and raised her eyebrows—”I am surrounded by men. They grumble, scratch their asses and think it’s hilarious if they beat the shit out of each other. I’m loyal to Covington, yeah, but I’m also a girl who likes some dish. Serve. It. Up. I’m starving for gossip.”
I pointed my finger at her like a warning—which was funnier than threatening—I’d proven I had no street game. “Not a peep.”
Lisa zipped her lips and tossed the imaginary key over her shoulders while fighting a grin.
“He’s so hot.” I shook my head and closed my eyes. “So fucking hot.”
She laughed and I didn’t even care.
“You don’t get it,” I continued. “My world? It’s all dorks and geeks. They are either super skinny or super fat. Find the oddball with the normal body and he wants you to call him Jon Snow. Rafa is a body builder with a nerd brain. It’s…weird.”
Lisa sat back in her chair. “I have no idea who Jon Snow is, but I’m just going to go out on a limb here and say it’s possible you actually like weird.”
I faked a snarl…but she was right.
Her gaze tightened. “How did you two meet, anyway?”
“Online. He actually had a crush on me.”
“So it’s mutual?” Lisa shrugged with a little shake at the end.
“I loathe him. He’s an asshole and a perv.”
I was expecting Lisa to laugh or tell me I was full of crap. Instead, she worked her jaw then said, “I grew up here. I know everyone. Rafa came a few years ago. I think he met Anton in jail or something. Anyway, he’s not like them and yet he is. It’s hard to explain.”
I thought I knew what she meant. Maybe that was what I’d been picking up on from him all along. He wasn’t like anyone—not fully anyway. Rather, he had distinct pieces that fit into multiple puzzles.
Lisa continued, “Take how he is with Junior. You think Anton or Scooter or any of those other guys give a shit about that beautiful little boy?” She shook her head.
We sat in silence for a few moments. Maybe she was counting all the examples of her point like I was.
Finally, I said, “He’s bad and good.”
“Aren’t we all?”
Yes, I supposed we were. And if I took my own self as an example, those proportions were in constant flux.
I tapped the table lightly. “Thanks for the chat.”
“Anytime. Good luck getting your dog back.” Lisa lifted her hands in surrender. I was on my own.
“Good luck explaining to your man that you need to get a puppy for Christmas.”
Lisa’s regard turned solemn. “Why? Where are you going?”
I admired the challenge she carried in her tone. After all, why would she open up to someone who was here today and gone tomorrow?
“You want to take J.J. and Spock for a long walk by the river tomorrow morning before it gets too hot?” I asked.
“Sounds nice.”
Without too much fuss, I was able to get Spock out of J.J.’s dinosaur-themed room and back down the hall to my apartment. I checked the bank account and didn’t find any activity. Instead of working on a new profile, I finished the bag of chips from earlier and watched a documentary about 3D printers being used in Africa.
Chapter Eleven
Rafa
I sat across from my cousin Juliana in the back table of her hair salon. Her light eyes matched mine and her dark, naturally curly hair had been straightened. It shined all the way down to the middle of her back. As far as I could tell, she only had one fault—incredibly shitty taste in men.
Her current asshole was in the Jefferson Manors crew, and the slight blue on her cheek was almost perfectly hidden under her flawless makeup—unless a person knew what to look for.
I’d stopped trying to figure out how she could pick the one asshole who wanted to use her as a punching bag in a line-up or how that one prick knew how to seek her out. But ever since Juliana had been seventeen, she’d been in abusive relationships. Our family had tried each time to help, but her pattern was her own. I loved her, wanted the best for her, but I couldn’t live her life for her. Part of me wondered if she would ever be able to have a functional relationship. Juliana was beautiful, but holy hell the little mama loved her Brazilian drama.
I slid her five one-hundred-dollar bills folded in half. “I need to know who is going to their games and where they are.”
Juliana crossed her arms and stared at the cash. “One condition.”
Alarm bells rang in my head. Her conditions usually ended with me doing things I hated, like when we had been fifteen and she’d died my hair white. That shit had stung like a motherfucker and I’d had to shave my head when my black roots had started growing out. Or pretending to be her boyfriend to make some idiot jealous… That had been seriously fucking weird and given me the heebie-jeebies for months.
But I needed the information and she was the best mole I had. I hated that it put her at risk, but I didn’t have any other clue as to how I could get what Anton wanted. So whatever her condition was, I would do it. I would hate it, but I would do whatever she asked.
“What?” I asked, already tasting the bitter bile rising from my stomach.
“You have to take Angela on a date. She won’t stop talking about you and I need you to show her what an ass you are so she’ll shut up about it.” Juliana rubbed her temples.
I dropped my head back. Yeah, it was not going to be fun. “Who’s Angela?”
Juliana leveled me with a sneer. “You can’t be serious.”
“And yet, you know I am.”
The eye-roll of a Brazilian woman could probably win some kind of competition. It had disbelief, ridicule, attitude, sass all in a flash of white and was complete with a subtle head wave. Juliana was the master and it actually made me smile.
“Raf, she’s the girl you passed on your way in here. She’s worked for me for three years. You honestly didn’t know her name?”
No, I didn’t. I wasn’t attracted to my own kind. Girls from my neighborhood and culture didn’t stand out to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t see or respect their beauty. I loved a lot of them. But I had a different taste. Besides, they tended to be gossipy, and I didn’t want my private life to be part of their discussions while they chopped and colored hair. No, thank you.
I shrugged. “Sorry?”
Juliana slapped the table, her hand landing directly over the money. “Just do it.” She slid the cash closer to her then stood and stuffed it in the back pocket of her dark blue jeans. She turned to walk out of the back room then stopped.
“There’s an English or Scottish guy. Stevie says he has a funny accent and is always doing an impression of him around Roarke. You’ll get the rest of your information once you’ve broken her heart.” Juliana pointed into her salon.
“Why would you want me to do that, anyway? You know how I am.”
“I told you. I’m tired of hearing about it. The only way to shut her up about my hottie cousin is for you to show her your blackened soul.”
“Ouch.”
She tucked her chin and widened her eyes. “You denying it?”
There was a dramatic sigh dying to make its way out of me but I pushed it down. “Okay. Which one is she again?” I peered through the beaded curtain over Juliana’s shoulder. There were three stylists busy at work with caped women in chairs.
“The first one.” Juliana pointed her long nail.
Angela was pretty and she had perfect curves. Any man would be lucky to go out with her. She just didn’t do it for me.
“Locations, Juliana. I need locations.”
“Have I ever let you down?” she asked with a wry smile. We were both hustlers. Always had been.
“Not once.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out. Scooter’s name flashed on the screen.
“Hey,” I answered.
“Where you at?”
“At my cousin’s.”
“Which one?” he asked. It was a valid question. There were a lot.
I smirked at Juliana. “The one that’s a pain in my ass.”
She snarled and flipped me off then walked back to the salon.
“Anyway,” I went on, “what happened in the courtyard? What did M need?”
“Fucking Bridget.” Scooter groaned. “It’s like clockwork. Jackson’s not around and she fucks with Lisa.”
I rubbed my neck. I hated that J.J.’s mom used her little boy as bait to get a free high, but what the fuck else were we supposed to do? Jackson was clear that when he was away, J.J. was to stay with Lisa. It hadn’t been the first time Bridget had acted out her baby-mama drama. For criminals, we were far too hopeful she wouldn’t pull her stunt again.
“And M?” I asked.
“She went in with Lisa and the kid a couple of hours ago. Listen, I’m putting Jimmy on the bench tonight. You good with that? Anton’s not picking up.”
Right. We had to start seeing who could handle the bench and who couldn’t. Jimmy had been a Bradford boy and converted to Covington. Did I trust him? No. But then again, the list of people who I did was fewer than the fingers on my left hand. Besides, Anton had tested him before.
The future of the crew meant delegating certain responsibilities. And with Jackson and Anton away, Scoot and I couldn’t do it all.
“Yeah. Let’s see how he does. You’re around, though, right?”
“Gonna Netflix and chill.” Scooter’s life had taken a boring turn since his girlfriend had suffered at the hands of the BTs. We’d gotten our revenge, but the damage to her couldn’t be undone. She stayed home with the curtains drawn. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d seen her.
“That sounds incredibly lame, Scoot. But good, cuz I’m going out.”
“Let me guess. Your cousin’s?” He laughed.
“You know it.”
We hung up and I stood behind the beads and internally bitched, moaned and whined to myself for agreeing to Juliana’s condition. I didn’t want to waste my time or Angela’s by going on a date that would be pointless. There was nothing she would be able to do to make me like her. Already, the fact that she’d been talking about me to my cousin was more of a turn-off than she could imagine.
I wasn’t into fucking anyone stupid enough to want me. Most of the time women prejudged me as the bad boy with muscles, and they were convinced they could change me into a better man. There were a lot of problems with that, mostly because I didn’t want to be a better person. I liked my lifestyle and had no intention of reforming. So me and their white picket fence and a steady paycheck to buy their high heels wasn’t going to happen.
The other thing that bugged the shit out of me was how surface it all was. Girls like Angela never really wanted to know what went on in my brain. In honesty, they probably shouldn’t. Maybe my soul had been charred. For whatever reason, some girls were attracted to the mystery that went along with being a criminal.
But I needed to get Anton his information about the games. So I would whore myself out for a movie then ghost her. If I was lucky, maybe she would slap me. I did like a nice slap in the face from time to time.
I hung back until Angela’s client was under the dryer and she was alone at the reception desk. I sauntered over and stood opposite her.
After a little dip of my head, I said, “Hi,” in the breathiest, cockiest and fakest whisper I had.
Her soft smile was nice. It really was. “Hi, yourself. Funny how you waited back there until the exact moment I had a break.”
“Just getting my confidence up,” I lied.
“Oh, yeah? What for?” Angela dug her top teeth into her bottom lip and released it all slow like.
I reached for my phone and hit new contact then nudged it toward her on the counter. “Can I get your digits?”
She smirked and her dark eyes glittered. “Is it always this easy for you?” She took my phone, thumbed in her number, then before I could get it back, she sent herself a message so she had my number too. Clever.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I took my phone back and shot her a wink to seal the lie then got the fuck out of the hair salon.
It was dark when I got back to Covington and I stopped at the bench to check in with Jimmy. He had three other guys with him and I was glad to see that they weren’t all Bradford converts.
On the third floor, I knocked gently on Lisa’s door. She opened a crack behind the chain before closing again then pulling the door wide with a small smile.
“You two okay? I heard about Bridget. Jackson will be back in the morning.”
Lisa nodded slowly then smirked. “Junior fell in love with your girlfriend’s dog.”
Wise ass.
“She’s not my girlfriend.” My words were too quick, too much of a protest. What the hell was that about?
Lisa’s eyes twinkled. She was all happy and shit that she’d struck a chord.
“You kiss her yet?” A small smile pulled at her lips.
“I don’t remember you being this nosey.”
Lisa crossed her arms. “I don’t remember in the years and years I’ve known you, you ever having a double date.”
What the who now? I propped my hands on my hips and shook my head. “I didn’t go on a double date. I didn’t go on any date.”
“Raf, if eating a meal together then making out isn’t a date, then what is?”
I opened my mouth. There had to be an objection inside me to what Lisa was saying but it didn’t come. Shit, shit, shit. I snapped my mouth shut and turned around.
After one step, I spun around before Lisa could close her door. “Did she tell you we made out?” I shuddered. Even the sound of it sounded like middle school.
“Nope. You just did.”
Lisa waggled her eyebrows and I thought I might be sick.
“Have a good night.” She closed the door.
I marched halfway down the hall and punched in the code to M’s place. The door popped open. M was on the couch watching something on the television and Spock poked his head up and wagged his tail. I would have greeted him with a scratch or something but I had other pressing business.
“You didn’t think last night at Lisa’s was a date, did you?” I shuddered again.
Marigold’s face wrinkled like she was smelling a dead fish. “Eww. No. Gross. We don’t even like each other.”
“And what happened after?”
Her nostrils flared. Jesus Fucking Christ she was gorgeous.
“That was you just helping me not think about the storm. Raf, you’re not going to get all mushy and shit, are you?”
“No. I don’t even know how to be that way.” I let out a long breath. Phew. She didn’t think it was a date either. “Okay, good. I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
She smirked. I could have kissed it off her smug face. “For another non-date?”
“Fuck off.” I said and it came out just a hair too defensive.
Marigold saluted me and laughed. “Aye. Aye. Captain Caveman.”
I left. It was possible that I stormed down to my place. I may have even slammed my door shut. Then I definitely threw myself on the bed like a teenage girl and screamed into my pillow.
As I got ready to go out, I reminded myself that I always wore cologne and styled my hair. It wasn’t for her. It was routine. And God bless her incessant babble about some documentary she’d watched earlier in the day as we drove downtown. It was a needed distraction to how pretty she looked in her thigh-high white socks that had two stripes at the top. And thank fuck for me having to keep my hands on the wheel, because they were fucking dying to touch her right above those stripes and find out what was under her tiny black pleated skirt. How I kept my eyes on the road and didn’t stare at her white button-down nerd shirt and ponder how she’d made something so plain hotter than hell was a mystery only the universe could solve.
I got lucky and found a parking spot on the street opposite my cousin’s place. Inside, his modern tapas bar was crowded, but there was always a table for family. Moombahton beats pumped through the speakers and the small dance floor was packed with people swaying their hips and shaking their asses. I nodded to Carlos behind the bar and he pointed to a low empty table with a reserved sign on it.
With my hand on M’s lower back, I led her to it. It was only when we sat down in the short blue velvet chairs that I saw her ear-to-ear grin. Yeah, I had to agree. Carlos’s place was a great escape from the gloomy courtyard of Covington Heights.
