The last message he sent?
I just drove by your apartment. You’re not home. I need to see you. Right now.
Who the hell would send a message like that to a woman? My mind raced faster as I kept reading these messages that were all borderline psychotic. Was that why Belle had come to the garage and left with me on my ride? Was she trying to get away from this Kyle guy? Shit, why not tell her old man? Chief Richards would probably castrate someone for touching his precious daughter.
Well, I got that answer a few text messages back.
Your father gave his blessing, Belle. We are destined to be together. There’s nobody else but me.
“Christ,” I said and spun the phone back around.
I shook my head.
So her father approved of this psycho?
Of course he would.
So Belle was being tossed into this life of hers.
Shit, and I was there to fuck it up even more.
Before I could get one thought to myself she appeared from the back of Auntie Ang’s, with Auntie Ang behind her with two plates with pizza.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“Here you go, Spencer,” Auntie Ang said. “I’d offer you a drink but there’s no way someone as beautiful as Belle is getting on the back of a motorcycle with you after a drink.”
“Agreed,” I said and eyed Belle.
She blushed.
“Thank you,” Belle said to Auntie Ang.
I grabbed a slice of pizza and downed it in three big bites. I was agitated and ready to explode.
Belle took a few bites and the awkward silence between us couldn’t last for long.
“Say something,” I said. “Because in about two minutes I’m going to ruin the rest of the day.”
“What…”
“Just do it, babe.”
“This place then,” Belle said. “That lady.”
“How do they connect to me?”
“Yeah.”
“Auntie Ang is not my aunt. I used to hide out here to avoid my father. My house was hell, always hell. So I would come here. When I’d have no money, Auntie Ang would put me to work. Her husband, Big Tony, was still alive then. He used to talk to me all the time. I’m pretty sure he was in the mafia so that’s where my love for the outlaw began. He died when I was eleven. It was devastating to me. Worse than when my father died. The last thing he ever told me… ‘anyone ever gets in your fucking way, kid, you fucking hit them as hard as you can… and if they hit you back, then you didn’t get them hard enough. And if anyone ever hits you first, kid, you get back up… and you keep getting back up until they fucking kill you. A real man dies with honor, not fucking memory.’ That always stuck with me. I started helping Auntie Ang here more and more. Then I started running outlaw. One night I got into something bad and came here to clean myself up. Auntie Ang was waiting for me. She let me hide out and lied to the cops for me. She took care of me. She was even there when I got patched into the Reap. Like a proud mother watching her kid graduate high school or some shit.”
I laughed, thinking back to those crazy fucking days.
“So your entire life you’ve been a villain?”
“Since birth,” I said. “What about you? Silver spoon fed from Daddy’s pistol and badge, huh?”
“Hardly,” Belle said.
“Look, I’m trying to connect some dots here, Belle,” I said. “You looked ready to try and hurt yourself on the ledge over there a little bit ago. Then your phone is going off like crazy. Who the hell is Kyle?”
Belle dropped her slice of pizza. “What?”
“I checked your phone. Get fucking pissed if you want. We’re not friends, right? You made that very clear. Why the fuck is he checking your apartment for you?”
Belle scrambled to grab her phone. I saw the look on her face when she read the last text message sent. She looked at me and I needed no other reply. She was terrified of this guy.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Some guy,” she said.
“Handpicked by your father?”
“Something like that. Look, I have to go. I’ll call a cab or something.”
Belle got to her feet and started to walk away. I grabbed the pizza off the plates and took my life into my hands as I walked to the edge and threw them into the ocean. No lie there because if Auntie Ang saw me wasting her pizza she would have put a bullet in my head. She was little and old but she was a vicious woman. There were a lot of ghosts around the pizza place and yard if you know what that means.
I chased Belle down and grabbed her, stopping her.
“You can’t get a cab here,” I said. “Look at me right now.” I spun her around and there were tears in her eyes. “Christ, babe, what is it?”
“He’s just an obsessed guy. That’s it. He tried to come onto me the other night at a party too. I pushed him away and he’s mad at me.”
“So that gives him the right to text you like this? You need help, Belle. And, shit, you can’t go to your father either.”