“That’s normal. If I’m out in my club cut, people assume the worst.”
“So why wear it, then?” he challenged. “They’d leave you the hell alone if you didn’t.”
“Because I didn’t do anything wrong,” I countered. “I’m literally just looking at clothes. If I constantly hid my connection to my crew, I’d be hiding half of myself just to fit in. I never subscribed to that mindset. I don’t want to fit in. I want to wear my cut without anyone looking twice at me. Why should I be the one to change when I’ve done nothing wrong?”
The shopper nearest us, an older man with a white goatee, scoffed. “Maybe not you specifically, but your crew has been causing trouble for weeks. All that nonsense about doing good for our community was only a ruse wasn’t it? A way for us to relax our guard so you could start causing trouble again.”
Straightening, I frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”
Another shopper, this one a woman with a blonde ponytail, waved her hands while she spoke. “The break-ins? The vandalism? Any of that ring a bell? Your crew has been at it for weeks now!”
Break-ins? Vandalism? That didn’t make any sense. My crew didn’t screw around like that. Prez would kill us.
My mind flickered back to the call from a while back. Butch warned me Battle’s crew was causing trouble. People were blaming us for it. Which was probably his fucking plan all along.
“That wasn’t us. There’s another crew trying to push into our territory. They don't follow the same rules we do.”
“And why should we believe you?” the old man demanded.
Opening my mouth, I was going to list off all the shit we’d done for the community in the past few months, but before I could, the sound of breaking glass and screams echoed from outside and spilled into the shop. Simone moved automatically, pulling Isla protectively against her body and grabbing Jasper’s arm. I looked between them and the exit, fear and determination making me hesitate. I needed to get them out. I couldn’t let them get hurt. How the hell was I supposed to protect them in a damn mall?
People ran past the shop entrance, looking terrified, and I knew we couldn’t get out that way. Spinning around, I looked at the cashier, who looked scared now. “Hey! Is there another way out? A back entrance?”
She jumped at my sharp tone, her eyes darting between me and the glass windows at the front of the shop. She was panicking and that wouldn’t help us right now. Moving in front of her, I blocked her view, making sure her eyes were locked on me.
“Don’t panic. Take a deep breath. I need to know if there’s another exit.”
She shook her head rapidly. “I don’t think so.”
“What about a storage room? Somewhere you all can hide.”
That finally got a sharp nod.
“Okay, good. Take these people into the back. Make sure no one makes a sound, alright? I’ll lock the door and shut off the lights–”
“You can’t!” she interrupted, her voice trembling as she hastened to come out from behind the counter. “There’s an electric box to shut the lights off. Only the manager has the key to it, and I don’t know how to turn it all off.”
That would be a problem for her, but not for me. “I’m an electrician, sweetheart. I can handle it. Now go.”
Thank god, Simone didn’t hesitate or try to argue. She hurried to move the kids to the back of the store, disappearing into the storage room with the rest of them. When the door closed and I heard the lock snick, I moved to the main door first, locking it before heading to the back where the panel was against one wall. Thank fuck, it had a universal key lock on it. I always kept one on my keys just in case. A quick twist and it popped open. I turned off all the lights, but not the security cameras and alarms, hoping if they still tried to break in, the alarms would go off and scare whoever was causing trouble from looking too closely inside. I was just closing the panel when a shadow passed in front of the glass front of the store. I ducked out of sight, peeking around the rack of clothing.
I couldn’t see shit from back here, and I wanted to see if I could identify the criminals causing trouble. Pulling out my phone, I moved, staying low as I snuck through the racks until I was close enough to the front window to see out.
“Where’d he go?”
“I don’t fuckin’ know. I saw the cut, and did what Battle asked us to do. I didn’t think we needed to chase the asshole around.”
“The whole point of this shit is to make it look like it's the damn Dirty Devils,” the first guy hissed. “We can’t do that if none of their guys are in the damn area!”
Zooming in on the guy talking, I hoped my phone could pick up the conversation. With the distant alarms and the way the windows and locked door muffled their voices, I couldn’t be certain I was getting anything decent.
“He can’t have left. We’ve got guys in the parking lot. He’s probably hiding like a little bitch.”
My eye twitched at the insult, but I stayed out of sight. They could spout shit all they wanted. I wasn’t risking my life to confront them like some kind of damn hero. Prez said to avoid them at all costs. I had too much to protect to pick a fight.
“Which store did he go in?”
“I thought he went in that one, but the lights are off and the door’s locked. It’s gotta be closed.”
