As soon as my brain registered another threat, I went after him.
Time became inconsequential as I pounded the shit out of the two motherfuckers, taking punches but delivering three times as many. By the time someone came to pull me off, the fucker who’d hit Jinx with the pipe was unrecognizable, and the other was stumbling like he was drunk.
The cop who pulled me off earned a punch for surprising me, which tacked on a little more time to the multiple assault charges I earned—including assaulting a minor because those stupid fuckers were sixteen.
The good news was Jinx would live.
The bad news was I would spend the next six years in prison.
That was the day I learned the universe sometimes answered philosophical questions for you.
As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.
* * *
Jinx
Twelve years ago…
I parked my car outside the gates of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and got out. The sun beat down overhead, the slight breeze doing little to diminish the heat that rose from the asphalt. I swiped a hand over my head and leaned against the car, ready to settle in for the long haul.
Aside fromsometime today, I had no idea when Rule would walk out of that place, but I intended to be there when he did, if for no other reason than to give him a ride wherever he wanted to go. It was the least I could do, really. I mean, the man had saved my life. Probably.
Of course, no one knew what those assholes would’ve done that day if he hadn’t intervened. Maybe they beat me to death. Maybe they left me to bleed out. Maybe they grew a conscience and called 911. Considering I spent several days in the intensive care unit after having my head bashed open with a steel pipe, I figured instead of forking over the money for the hospital stay, the state would’ve applied it to the pine box they tucked me in and buried me in the dirt.
No one knew for sure how it would’ve turned out because those dickheads hadn’t been given an opportunity to make a life-or-death decision. Rule had done that for them.
Because Rule had been there, here I was, ready to return the favor in some way.
I only hoped no one came out to ask me what I was doing. I hadn’t spoken a single word since I was eight years old, and I wasn’t even sure I was capable at this point. Of course, that probably hadn’t helped Rule’s cause much since I hadn’t opened my mouth to relay what happened that day. I tried. Honestly. I’d spent days trying to muster the courage to get a syllable out of my mouth, but in the end, I failed epically. Another reason I owed Rule. For all I knew, he might’ve avoided jail time altogether if I could’ve told them he had saved my life. Instead, those dickheads told the cops that Rule was the one responsible for my beating, too, and they’d walked away without so much as a slap on the wrist.
They onlythoughtthey’d gotten away with it, but they forgot I knew the truth.
Six months after I got out of the hospital, I returned the favor when I hacked their parents’ bank accounts and drained every penny, moving it to an account I created in their names. I purposely made it somewhat easy to discover, and two months later, the FBI tracked it back to those two dickheads.
Oh, did I mention I concocted a nefarious, if not fictional, plan—complete with traceable email correspondence—where they hired a hitman to eliminate their parents? Yeah. That was me. No, the charges didn’t stick, but watching them squirm as the media compared them to the Menéndez brothers, claiming they nearly got away with killing their parents in order to inherit their millions was rather satisfying.
Minutes ticked by as I stared at the enormous white stone building and briefly wondered what went on inside those walls. I didn’t really want to find out, but like so many other things, I was curious. Perhaps one day, Rule would tell me.
As though I’d summoned him from my thoughts, the large chainlink gates began to open, and a single guard escorted Rule away from the building, delivering him to freedom.
As soon as he passed the gate, it began to close.
Wow.
That wasn’t the same guy I remembered. Somewhere along the way, my memories had been jumbled because I didn’t recall him being quite so fucking … big. And I wasn’t talking about him being over six feet tall. It was the breadth of his damn shoulders that tripped me up now. He’d put on some serious muscle during his time in there.
I stared at him, wondering if he would even remember me. Six years was a long time, after all, and I wasn’t a scrawny fifteen-year-old anymore.
While he’d spent his time locked in a cell, I’d focused my efforts on graduating from high school and making money. Since college wasn’t an option, I started out with part-time jobs. Due to my inability to speak, finding something suitable hadn’t been easy, but I’d found work in a garage, tinkering under the hoods of cars and handling the maintenance jobs for the shop. It paid enough to keep my head above water and gave me something to do while I waited for this day.
But it was what I’d done with my spare time that had made the difference. I’d bought a laptop with my first paycheck and used it to make real money. I’d learned from my hitman setup that I had a real knack for computers. More specifically, for gaining access to places I shouldn’t. People paid hefty for that skill, and that was the money I invested. A few good gambles and I was now set for life.
When Rule looked my way, I tilted my chin in acknowledgment, noticing the way his dark eyebrows pinched.
“Who’re you?” he asked, angling toward me.
I lifted my eyebrows in response.
