Honesty (Mark of Nexus) (8 page)

Monday morning was a kick in the balls.

It was too bright, for starters. Superficial sunshine pissing all over the parking lot, despite the cool air. And then there was Steve No-dick, leaning against his car as he waited—for me of all people.

“Soliciting?” I asked him, not bothering to slow my strides toward the office.

A tight-lipped smile wrenched his features to the side. “Not even you can ruin today, Mr. Blake.”

I edged between him and an SUV, raising my eyebrows. “Oh yeah? Did your hair plugs come in?”

“‘Fraid not, kiddo. Today’s the day you’re getting canned.”

“Try transferred, and that’s not until Friday.”

He followed me inside to the elevator and crammed in at my side. “It seems you were misinformed. Teresa’s taking a half-day, and then it’s Splitzville.”

My heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t let it show. “Guess she’s getting a head start.”

“Guess no one saw a transfer for you
or
Larry.”

I clenched a fist at my side, stealing a deep breath through the nose. “You’re bluffing.”

He grinned, his beady little weasel eyes alight with mirth. “Would I be this happy if I were bluffing?”

Shit.

The doors pried apart with a sick chime, and I charged out into the lobby. “Tits!”

My giant minion—and I mean that in the nicest way possible—popped his head around the filing cabinets. “What’s up, man?”

“Where are our papers?” I asked him, vaulting over the vacant reception desk. “Have they gone through yet?”

“Papers?” He scrunched his forehead. “For what?”

I threw a glance over my shoulder and leaned in. “You
know
what.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, I don’t know. I figured she had one of the interns send ‘em.”

That crazy bitch is trying to play me.

“Hold on a sec.”

“Wait. Is something wrong with the tran—”

I didn’t have the time or patience to sort things out with him. Instead, I bellowed, “Oh, Teresa, darling…”

Her door was closed, not that it mattered. I swept inside on a wave of momentum and locked it behind me. “We have a problem.”

“Do me a favor and leave the door open when you’re in here.”

“We have delicate subject matter to discuss.”

“I’ll call security.”

I brandished my knife, darted over to the wall, and slashed the cord stuck in the phone jack. Then I reached back, opened her side drawer, and fished around until I felt the phone in her purse. Before my oh-so-highly-educated boss could blink, the drawer was shut, her phone was pocketed, and I was back against the door. “Go for it.”

She snorted and pushed a button. “You know, you have a real problem with authority, Cole. It’s not healthy.”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Marco,” she began, attempting to summon security through a dead intercom. “We have a problem up here.”

Silence.

“Hello?” She jammed the button a few more times before slicing me with her gaze. “What did you do?”

“What did
you
do?” I asked, taking a seat opposite her desk. “Word on the street is you’re leaving today—without us.”

She stared at me for a tick, letting the realization kick in. “You’ve spoken with Steven.”

“More like he came to gloat.” I leaned back and kicked my boots up on the edge of her desk. “So, what are we going to do about this?”

Her face turned to plaster. Careful. Stoic. “What do you mean?”

Are we really going to play this game?

“You rushed through your transfer, thinking you’d be gone by the time I caught on. You knew I’d get canned, and then I’d have no reason to blackmail you, since I would no longer be welcome in the company. This little matter would clean itself up.”

Slowly, her pupils contracted, hardening her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I turned your papers in. I just need a few extra days to pack, that’s all.”

“Then, where are they?” I asked her.

“The papers?” She busied herself, shuffling things around her desk. “You know, HR or something.”

A smile stretched my lips. The woman was a terrible liar. “What is this, amateur hour? Give me a break.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she dropped her head. “Please, Cole…”

How many times had I heard that statement in varying forms? Grandma asking me to straighten up. Wallace asking me to stop making rounds in the neighborhood. Hell, even Rena asking me to let her go in the warehouse—not knowing it was a charade.

No one realized I did these things out of necessity. It kept my neighborhood safe and my family safer. That was admirable, in my book.

But whatever. This bitch was two seconds from waterworks. Then I’d cave just in time to be handed a pink slip. I’d seen this movie. I knew how it ended.

Your phone is going in the toilet.

“You don’t understand how hard this is for me,” she whispered, covering her eyes. “I still care about you. I do. But when you threatened me, I felt like I had no other option. I
need
to get out of here. Back to the life I’m supposed to have.”

“And me?”

She sniffled. “I don’t know.”

I booted a picture frame off her desk. “Well, that’s shitty.”

“I’m sorry,” she wailed, giving in to her sobs. “I really don’t know how to deal with all of this.”

“How about doing what you promised?” I swung my legs around and sat up. “Come on. I could give two shits if we ever speak again. I’m just lookin’ to keep a roof over my head here. Assign Larry and me to someone else up north, if that makes you comfortable.”

She stared at me, horrorstricken, tears glistening in her eyes. “You don’t mean that.”

“I don’t mean a lot of things I say,” I admitted with a shrug. “But I assure you, I’m dead serious now.”

That started a whole new sobfest. Apparently, she wanted to have her cake and eat it, too—or have that cake eat her. Either way, she wasn’t stable.

“Put those papers through.” I stood and turned my back on her. “Or so help me, that video will go straight to the president’s inbox. Then we’ll both be out of a job.”

I took out my frustration during rounds, that night.

Two shady types casing a gas station, a bunch of teenagers playing some fuckwit assault game—no one was safe. Finally, I rounded the last corner before Carter Street’s bar crawl and heard a horn blaring in the distance. Over and over. Different intervals.
Short, short, lonnnnng.

If someone had been in that car, they would’ve found a new way to deal with the problem by now. Ramming the other vehicle, getting out with a tire iron, et cetera. This had to be a remote. A key fob.
An inconsiderate asshole.

I sprinted down the sidewalk.

Even though it was a Monday night, regulars were making rounds of their own, stumbling to and fro. Generally speaking, I didn’t give a shit about that type of behavior. What I
did
give a shit about were the ones making their way to their vehicles…like this schmuck.

He wandered around one of the unmonitored parking lots around back, clutching his keys. Somewhere, maybe fifteen feet away, his car came to life every few seconds. Lights, a honk—hell, the locks were probably wearing out by now. The guy was too trashed to notice.

Once he reunited himself with that Bonneville, he’d head home. No doubt in my mind about that. Barreling down the road in a two-ton pinball wouldn’t faze him—just like it hadn’t fazed Roman West the night he took my parents’ lives. If I didn’t intercept this asshole, someone was going to get hurt.

My muscles tightened in anticipation as I skirted the farthest row, getting behind him. Maybe I’d let him get to his piece of shit car. As good a place as any, right? I could rough him up, snatch his keys, and then shove him in the back. Threat eliminated. No major harm done.

With that thought in mind, I pulled my arm back. The car lit up again, blasting a warning as it blinded me. I swung fast and hard.

The blow landed on the back of his head, slamming him against the very car he’d spent so long searching for. Unsatisfied, I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and repeated the motion. His skull bounced off the hood. Once. Twice. I kept going until my vision blurred with a memory.

A nightmare.

Roman had been this limp when I dumped him into that vat of crude oil—after Wallace had destroyed the man with one blow. We hadn’t gotten the answers we’d waited for. The closure we needed. All that buildup to a haunting climax. Then nothing.

Nothing.

I barely noticed the horn and the lights until one of the Bonneville’s doors flew open. A shadow spilled out with a shrill cry, and I leapt back. Gravel caught my boot. The scene tilted, and I flailed my arms to keep my balance.

Son of a…

There’d been no one in the car when I’d glanced up. I mean, I hadn’t seen anyone. They couldn’t have seen me, either, as fast as I’d acted. Maybe they’d heard the rapid-fire thuds. Maybe they’d seen silhouettes in a scuffle. No way I’d been caught.

I ducked down behind a truck and caught the breath that’d been sucked from my lungs. Okay, my gloves were on. I hadn’t left anything behind. It was time to—

No.

Shit.

No, no, no!

A kid clung to the drunkard in the darkness, the car’s headlights no longer strobing the deserted lot. She couldn’t have been old enough to drive yet. From the looks of her, maybe nine or ten. So, what the hell was she doing in a place like this in the middle of the night?

“Can you hear me?” she asked, clutching the man’s shirt in an effort to keep him upright. “Papa,
please
. Talk to me…”

My blood ran cold and froze halfway to my heart. I’d fucked up. Big time.

She must’ve been waiting for him in that car. He probably told her to stay there while he went in. In this neighborhood, in the dark…

I clenched my fist.
Was she the one with the key fob, trying to get his attention?

“I-I think you had a sea shore…like Aunt Patty.” The girl struggled under his weight. “You need to go to the doctor.”

Shit.

I ripped the batteries from my mask, tore it off, and crammed the whole thing into my pocket. “Hey,” I called out, my voice rougher than I expected. “Hold on.”

She jerked at the sound of my voice. “W-We don’t want any trouble.”

“Is that your father?” I pointed to the man I’d beaten, trying to stop my brain from processing the visuals. “Do you need help?”

“No, he just…” Her lip quivered, and a fat tear rolled down her cheek. “We have to go.”

I hurried around the truck and got the guy under his arms. “Can your mom come get you?”

She shook her head vigorously. “She’s at work until two.”

I drew deep breaths through my nose and forced them out through my mouth. “Okay, I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

Her eyes rounded in the dark, and she tried to rip her father from my grasp. “No! I can’t ride with a stranger.”

“I’m not a stranger,” I lied. “I’m…security.”

And I’m going to hell for this.

The girl tilted her head. “Really?”

I nodded. “I’m supposed to make sure everyone gets home safely.”

Confliction warred in her eyes, shifting colorless shades in the darkness. “I don’t think I’m supposed to.“

Of course not.

“We could call an ambulance,” I offered. “They could come look at your dad’s head and make sure you’re okay until your mom gets off work.”

Right after they report this bastard to Children’s Services.

“Will you stay until they get here?”

“Uh…sure.”

“Okay.” She slid down the side of the car until she was sitting cross-legged in the gravel. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she looked up at me expectantly.

“Sorry.” I oh-so-gently flopped the drunkard against the grill and knelt a respectable distance away from her. “Let me make that call.”

I reached back and pulled out my burner phone—the one I kept around for occasions such as these. A few quick taps put me in contact with a tired-sounding dispatcher, whom I informed that I’d stumbled upon an injured drunk and his unattended child.

We waited in silence.

My heart pounded so hard I could barely see straight. I didn’t know what to do. Part of me hated this guy and the choices he’d made, but the other part hated
me
for the same reason.

“Are you cold?” I asked her, fighting the nervous energy that compelled me to pace the lot.

“No.” Her small voice trembled, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many nights she’d been forced to stay up like this. Waiting.

I tried to smile. “Your dad’s gonna be fine, ya know? Looks like he just took a spill and bumped his nose. Noses bleed a lot.”

“Maybe.” She folded her hands in her lap.

“Maybe?”

“Aunt Patty had a sea shore last year. She fell, too.”

“A sea shore?” I cocked my chin to the side.
What the hell is that?

“Yeah.” The girl looked away. “It happened in our living room. She kept shaking, and the ambulance had to come then, too.”

“You mean a
seizure.”

“That’s what I said.”

“I don’t think your dad had a seizure.”

“How do you know?”

Because in addition to being a fake security guard, I’m also a fake doctor.

I shrugged. “He’s not shaking, is he?”

“No.” She carefully studied him for a moment. “I think he’s sleeping.”

“Well, there you have it.”

I pressed my palms against my eyes and drew in a deep breath. The situation I’d found myself in was sobering—a splash of cold water on my face. Everything about it screamed
get your shit together, moron.

It wasn’t just my life or the lives of these assholes I was screwing with. There were other people involved—kids, even. You’d think I, of all people, would’ve realized that. But somewhere along the line, things had gotten personal.

In my story, I was the vigilant hero, doing my part to keep the streets safe…but what about this girl? If she’d been fast enough to catch what happened, I’d be the bad guy. I’d be her Roman West—the man who hurt her father and lived in her nightmares.

The unmoving vehicles crowded potential escape routes, and I fought to keep my breathing even. What the hell was I doing? Every choice I’d made lately had gone wrong. For me. For others. Why couldn’t I just waltz into a good thing like Wallace? Why couldn’t I keep my hands clean?

Sure, his relationship with Sis was on the rocks right now, but it’d bounce back. It had to. Their love for each other was real and gritty and…one of the few things I had faith in these days.

Deep down, I knew I had no duty—no purpose—beyond my family. With him taken care of, I’d have one less string tying me here. That only left Grandma
.
The day she passed, would be the day I ceased to exist.

In my mind, anyway.

Not many people knew I’d tried to off myself at fifteen. A shitty mix of guilt, flashbacks, and self-loathing.
But I guess there are no easy escapes when you have the so-called “gift” of accelerated healing.

Something burned my eyes.

“Are you okay, mister?”

“Huh?” Everything rushed back into sharp focus as I turned to the girl, blinking. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I zoned out for a minute there.”

“It’s okay. I do that, too.”

“When you’re waiting?” I asked, making a futile attempt at conversation while sirens closed in from afar.

She lifted one of her shoulders. “Sometimes.”

“Do you stay in the car like that very often?”

“Only when Papa has to meet clients. He says I can’t go in, ‘cause I’m not old enough, and we can’t get a sitter to stay with me this late. We’ve only gone like three times, maybe.”

“I see.”

For the kid’s sake, I really hoped the bastard was all right, but at that moment I wanted nothing more than another shot at him.

“So, what should I call you?” She hugged her knees and looked up at me.

“What?”

“When I tell Mama who helped us.”

“Oh, just tell her…I work with security.”

“That’s not a name.”

I pursed my lips. “Try Mr. B.”

“Okay, Mr. B. I’m not supposed to give my real name to strangers, so you can call me…” She tapped her chin. “Princess Marlene.”

“A pleasure to meet you, your highness.”

She rewarded me with a real—albeit brief—smile. “You too.”

The man groaned.

“Papa!” She latched on to him, nearly knocking the useless piece of shit to the ground. “Are you awake?”

“Wassat?” he murmured, struggling to open his eyes.

The ambulance chose that moment to wheel into the parking lot, kicking up dust and gravel beneath the streetlights.

Perfect timing.

I straightened and fought off another impulse to run. Whether it was my fault or this assclown’s, Marlene didn’t need to deal with this crap. Shit like this scars kids. So, I crossed my arms, plastered on a concerned face, and watched the rig roll to a stop.

Two guys jumped out. “Sir, I’m—”

Ramble, ramble, ramble. The first EMT introduced himself as he approached. I was too busy working out my own speech.

“I…just got off my shift,” I told him, making sure my story didn’t contradict what I’d told Marlene. “I was walking to my car when I saw someone knock this guy against his car and take off. I don’t know if he snatched his wallet or what. It freaked me out. You just don’t think about that sort of thing happening around here.”

The other responder had already knelt beside Drunk Face and had begun looking him over. “Was he conscious at the time? Responsive?”

“No. He sort of slumped to the ground, and the kid jumped out to help. She must have been waiting for him in the car. Alone.
Unattended.
”

He met my gaze and nodded. “Understood.”

“Why you touchin’ me, man?” The drunkard swatted at his hands. “Mm’fine. Just dizzy. Konked my head or somethin’.”

“Sir, have you been drinking tonight?”

“Have
you
?” he answered their question with a question, and so help me—if Marlene hadn’t been standing three feet away, I would’ve backhanded the guy. Where was Tits when I needed him? He always had a good distraction up his sleeve to help with my impulse control.

Wait.
Speaking of Tits, I still needed to talk to him about getting money together to move Grandma’s house. I’d completely forgotten with everything else going on, and now we were going to be under the wire. If we set up a—

As if sensing my desire to acquire funds through questionable means, a cop showed up. No sirens. No woo-woo lights. Just a quick angle-in behind the ambulance.

Marlene’s eyes got huge.

“Don’t worry,” I told her, drawing her attention back to me. “They’re just going to hang out until your mom gets off work. You know, to make sure everyone’s safe.”

“Kinda like your job?”

The corner of my mouth twitched. “Yeah, kinda.”

When the lady officer asked to take my statement, I cooperated. Hell, I even managed to keep my uniform fantasies to a minimum. Talk about being a good role model.

After ten minutes, she sent me on my merry way. Lingering at the scene would only provoke suspicion, and I knew Marlene was in reasonably good hands for the time being. So, I threw her a wave over my shoulder and pretended to walk to a random car at the far end of the lot.

“Thanks for staying, Mr. B!”

I turned around to find Marlene hanging off of her dad and waving like I’d saved the day. Frantic, relieved. The innocent gesture was sweet, but I didn’t deserve it. It burned like acid in my chest.

“No problem.” I forced one last smile and melded into the shadows.

There wouldn’t be another night like this for a while.