I nodded.
“Lee know about this?”
“Matt was there.”
“Lee knows about it,” he said to himself. He dug into his jeans and pul ed out his phone. He was ignoring his food and so was I, even though I’d missed lunch due to iced tea and Days of Our Lives so I was real y hungry.
He hit a button and put the cel to his ear, his eyes flashed on me and he said, “Eat. I have a few cal s to make.”
I ate.
The waitress brought back our drinks.
Hank made a few cal s.
Then he ate.
“I don’t want them to be mad at me,” I said after we finished.
“Who?” he asked.
“The people who… wel , I think they’re kinda my friends and in a way doing this for me. I think they’re good people doing bad things.”
“It’s simple. A bad thing is a bad thing, no matter who does it or why, and homicide is the worst thing there is.” He was right. Though I figured forcing a girl to live in fear of being raped was pretty high up there.
“Jet,” Hank cal ed and I looked at him, “Fratel i has one true friend right now and that’s you. Marcus isn’t happy because not only is Daisy pissed at him, Vince is making him look bad. Eddie and Lee are gonna spend the meeting trying to talk Marcus out of giving the same order you heard today. Marcus is gonna pretend to play the game, because if he doesn’t, Eddie’l be al over him, he’s just looking for an excuse. But Marcus is gonna make the order anyway.
It’s the only way to send the message. Vince is in a load of hurt, with both Darius and Marcus ordering the kil . You keep Eddie, or me, informed of this shit when you hear it, maybe we can stop it before it happens.”
I nodded.
He watched me.
“You don’t look happy.”
“I think I betrayed a friend,” I whispered.
Hank caught my hand on the table and tugged at it. I came forward and so did he, but he didn’t let go of my hand.
“Eddie tel you about Darius?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I’ve known both Darius and Shirleen what seems my whole life. Darius came from a good family, but Shirleen married badly. Her husband, Leon, was a sonovabitch, mean as hel and dirty as they come. He’s the one that turned Darius. Shirleen was a different Shirleen back then, beaten down and powerless. She couldn’t control what happened to Darius and Leon had long since tied her up in that shit as wel . Leon was whacked two years ago and Shirleen and Darius assumed their positions when the king was dead. They did it because it’s al they know and the only place they feel safe. They got a different set of rules, but it’s the wrong set.”
I swal owed and his hand squeezed mine.
“Jet, it’s the wrong set. You did the right thing. I like both of them and I’d hate to see either of them go down but if they did, they’d deserve it.”
I moved forward a bit more and asked, “How do you live this life al the time? They’re your friends. How do you do it?
I couldn’t stand it.”
His eyes changed and his hand tightened even more on mine, “I can do it because their shit doesn’t stay in their circle, it filters down to kids in schools and old people wanting quiet lives forced to live next to crack houses and pretty girls who work in bookstores who have shitheel fathers. Someone has to protect those people.”
“That’s you,” I said.
“That’s me and that’s Eddie,” he replied.
“You don’t see gray,” I told him.
His hand let go of mine.
“Sorry?”
“You see black and white, you don’t see gray,” I said.
“No. I don’t see gray, it’s not my job, it’s the judge’s job to see gray,” he said it and he meant it. I could tel because his face went hard and kinda scary.
I stared at him. He was the boy-next-door, the boy-next-door with an edge.
“You’re scary too,” I said.
He grinned, taking us out of the moment.
“I’m the good guy.”
“You’re the scary good guy,” I said.
He motioned to the waitress. Our conversation was over.
“Let’s get you home.”
*
By “home” Hank meant Eddie’s. He parked on the street, I let us in using my key for the first time. He sat down and immediately found a bal game on TV.
(Why was there always a bal game on TV? Didn’t these sports people take a night off?) I got Hank and myself a beer and cal ed Mom and Lottie.
They were playing Trivial Pursuit with Tex. I cal ed Daisy.
She was waiting in the Denver Castle for Marcus to get home and giving herself a do-it-yourself facial. I cal ed Al y.
She was shouting to me over the crowd at Brother’s. I cal ed Indy. She was watching Chowleena while Tod and Stevie were flying off to God-knew-where (Indy’s words) and making cookies to bring into Fortnum’s the next day.
I ran out of people to cal so I took off my shoes, put my feet up on the table, sat back on the couch and took a pul on my beer.
I watched the game for about five seconds.
It was boring.
“I’m bored,” I told Hank.