I look at the hole in the wall behind me, as does Gerry.
“Did you just try to shoot me?” It’s a dumber question than the man in front of me, but I’m flabbergasted that I was the idiot who almost let that happen. I was annoyed at having to do this before. Now I’m raging out and barely hanging on.
I take four steps and grab the shotgun barrel just as he loads it and gets another shot off, but this time, I’m pushing the barrel up in the air, and it hits the roof. Debris falls on me, and I feel my mood get darker a second before I push the barrel back into his face and bust his nose open. Then I rip the gun out of his grasp and hold it in my left hand as I punch him with my right.
“Big fucking mistake, Gerry.” I punch him again, and he stumbles and falls. Breaking open the gun, I see one is still in the chamber as I hold the barrel at the guy’s cheek. He hisses from the hot metal pressing into him, but other than that does nothing.
“I just wanted to talk, Gerry. To see if you and I could come to an understanding about Ruby’s apartment. But no, Gerry had to grow some balls and think he knew what was right. Didn’t you, Gerry?” I always like using their name over and over when shit like this goes down. I want them to grow to hate their own name. To fear that one day it will be me saying it again to them. And the fear of hearing it said out loud will cause them to pee themselves. Like Gerry is doing now.
I don’t even acknowledge that he pissed himself. It happens a lot. You don’t get used to it, but you just deal with the expected.
“Now, about Ruby’s damages.”
“None. There are none,” he backtracks.
“But the pain you caused her, and me for coming out here, is damage in itself. Isn’t that right, Gerry?”
“I’ll take a hundred bucks off the rent.” I push the barrel into his nose, and he cries out in pain. “Two! Two hundred off a month.”
“Make it four for each of them, and we call the damages paid off.”
“Come on, man, that cuts me off at the balls. I’ll barely make a profit from that.”
I move the gun to his junk. “We could always remove them permanently.”
“No, no.” He’s quick to shake the idea off. “Four hundred each. Promise.”
I back off, taking two steps back and lowering the barrel from his groin. I watch him take a deep sigh of relief and close his eyes.
Only when he thinks it’s over do I pull the trigger.
He screams as he grabs his knee. “What the fuck, man?”
“That was for taking a shot at me. You missed, so you only get that. If it were a direct hit, I’d make mine count too. Get your shit together, and don’t pull this crap again. I might have come alone, but don’t think that means the Hounds won’t drag you to hell. If you think revenge is going to be your next bet, let me remind you that I know where you live,where your parents live, and where that little girl you have lives. I know everything about you. If you take me out, a file gets sent to my boss and his friends. I might not be alive to end you, but they will be, and they will take out your entire damn line while they’re at it.”
I watch him take that in. They say reading a person is easier if you’ve known them for years. I say it depends on what you’re trying to see. When I watch the shock fade to fear and then recognition that I’m not bullshitting, only then do I head out, taking the shotgun with me. He might have other weapons in his house, but I don’t hear him move as I leave his place, so I know I’m good to turn my back as I ride away.
It takes me another fifteen minutes to get to my next stop. I carry the shotgun up to the second story and bang on the door once. I could use the key, but I don’t want her to know I have one.
“You’re not pizza,” Ruby says as she opens the door dressed in an oversized tee with biker shorts underneath. When she crosses her arms, I see she’s not wearing a bra. The curve of her breasts gives away her age—young. Too damn young to know what a pair like hers can do for men.
Not me. I never was a boob guy.
“And you’re not what I ordered either.”
She rolls those eyes so perfectly some days, but at least she leaves the door open when she turns to go back inside.
I follow and make a note that Nat’s bag is gone. She keeps it on the hook by the door when she’s home, so she must still be at the library.
“Dad sent you?”
I nod when she looks over at me before plopping down onto the couch and grabbing the remote.
She sighs. “I told him I’d take care of it.”
Her place is relatively clean. A small kitchen with only a few dishes in the sink. The round dining table is covered with textbooks and notebooks, letting me know Ruby’s keeping up on her studies. If she ever slacked off, her dad would have her hide. Not because he’d be pissed if she spent his money on college for nothing, but because she was wasting her potential. But Ruby ain’t the type to just sit and be lazy. She’s always doing more and putting her all into everything. Might not have grown up here, but I’ve done the research and saw that she was the valedictorian of her high school but chose not to do the speech. Instead, she opted to have the next two best in the school do it as a duo. Most had no idea Ruby had that much power, but her elders realized she was clever and smart and had a pull that drew people in to do what she asked. Just like her father.
“He said it had been going on for a bit. How much did you lose to him while you were ‘handling’ it?”
