Tank
The next morning, I got up early, the sun barely up when my eyes opened. I had a busy fucking day ahead of me and needed to get on it. I took a quick shower and threw on some clothes. On my way down from the third floor, I peeked into the bedroom of my newest purchase to see how she was getting used to things. She was sprawled out on top of the bed, still wearing her dress. I took a quick look over her and saw that she was out like a goddamn light.
She’d had a wild day yesterday, probably the wildest of her life, so I decided to let her sleep. But as I looked her over, my eyes moving along the curves of her hips and ass, part of me wanted to jostle her awake and give it to her right then and there. But I used some restraint, keeping in mind I could only fuck her for the first time once.
I made a cup of coffee, not feeling like a real breakfast. Looking over my fancy-ass kitchen, I couldn’t get over the fact that this place was all mine. It was a little ritzy; I could tell that Star was pretty surprised to see that a rough motherfucker like me would have such fancy digs. But I liked it. Maybe a little of the museum-type shit could go, but I liked the rest. It sent a clear message that I was loaded as fuck, and anyone who walked through those doors would know right away that I wasn’t a guy to take lightly.
Draining the last dregs of my coffee, I headed out the door. An hour on my bike later and I was with the rest of the boys at Razor’s, the dive near Gainesville where the boys and I met up every now and then. Cruiser and the rest of the boys were already there, girls from last night on their arms. The guys looked loaded as shit, most of them probably keeping the partying from last night going. Normally, I would’ve joined them. But I had another deal with Dakin to work out today, and I needed to have a clear head for that. Dakin wasn’t a dude to mess with, and part of me was regretting swiping Star out from under him.
“There’s the fuckin’ man!” shouted Cruiser, giving the girl he was with a hard squeeze on the ass before coming over to greet me with a slap on the shoulder.
“You boys have fun last night?” I asked.
“Sure did, boss,” said Cruiser. “Got these girls good and broken in.”
“That’s what I like to fuckin’ hear,” I said.
Cruiser shoved a drink in my hands and I set it down before taking a sip.
“Come on, man,” said Cruiser. “Let’s keep this party goin’!”
“The rest of these dudes can party and fuck all day if they want,” I said. “But us bosses don’t get that luxury. You and I gotta meet with Dakin.”
“Oh, shit,” said Cruiser, slapping himself on the forehead. “I forgot that was today.”
I swear, sometimes running this crew felt like keeping a kid’s clubhouse in line. Sometimes I wondered what would happen to the Warhawks if I decided to fuck off with all my money someday and just get fat in my new mansion. I loved these guys down to the last man, but they wouldn’t know what the fuck to do with themselves. I’d made Cruiser VP for a reason, but I found myself wishing he’d get his act together and step up to the plate. I wasn’t gonna be around forever, and I’d need someone trustworthy to step into my shoes if I decided to retire. Or if I happened to catch a stray bullet.
“Get a fuckin’ day planner—I can’t have you missing this shit.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he said, draining the last of his beer.
He turned to the rest of the crew.
“All right, you motherfuckers! Boss and I are gonna go take care of some shit. Keep this party going ‘till we get back!”
The crew roared in agreement. Cruiser gave his girl one last ass squeeze before we were out.
Checking my watch as we headed to our bikes, I saw that we were making good time. Dakin was a smart motherfucker and pretty reliable. But he had a temper as wild as his mind was sharp and had a real stick up his ass for punctuality. The Warhawks were too powerful for him to do anything too crazy if I rolled up late, but I didn’t feel like seeing him flip out.
Cruiser and I hit the road, and about a half hour later we were at the designated meeting place, which was some abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere between Orlando and Gainesville. Dakin some other boys in his crew were there waiting for us. A van nearby held the merchandise and I was in a buying mood. The Warhawks had been making money hand over fist doing these gun-running operations for Dakin, and I was ready to make some more hard cash.
“There’s the man of the fuckin’ hour,” said Dakin, his hair wild around a pair of eyes that were locked onto me from the moment I rode up.
“What’s new, my man?” I asked, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake.
His grip was firm—maybe too firm. I wondered if something was up. Was he sore about me buying Star out from under him?
“How’s that piece of yours?” he asked.
“Good, man,” I said. “Expensive as shit, but good.”
“Can’t put a price on premium pussy like that,” he said, his tone hard-edged.
“I sure as shit can; my account’s a half-mil lighter.”
“You know, I really had my eye on that bitch,” said Dakin.
“Sorry, my man,” I said. “Maybe I’ll let you take a crack at her some time.”
Imagining letting Dakin fuck a girl of mine was enough to make my stomach a little queasy. But I needed to say something to calm his ass down; he seemed a little more peeved than I was anticipating. A moment hung in the air, and I wondered if Dakin was going to have one of his trademark flip-outs. He was ice-cold ninety-nine percent of the time, and a murderous wild man the other one percent. I hadn’t seen him go nuts in person, but I’d heard some pretty gnarly stories.
“Fuckin’ funny seeing that chick again,” said Dakin.
“What?”
I had no idea what he meant by that, and my tone reflected it.
“You know that house I bought? The one I got on the cheap? It was her fuckin’ place.”
“No shit?” I said.
What a goddamn coincidence.
“Yep. I was about ready to claim her with the rest of the shit in that place, but she got out right from under my nose.”
“Small world,” I said, not sure of what to do with this new information; did this mean that Dakin thought she was already his or something?
The air was tense, and I wondered if Dakin really wasn’t going to let this go. He stared at me hard, and I looked at him right back. I got the sense he was trying to see if I was gonna back down. Not a chance of that. We held eyes for another long series of minutes, and right at the moment I was sure he was gonna pull out his piece and light me up, he broke out into wild laughter.
“That’s right!” he said, a big smile on his face. “Small fuckin’ world.”
He turned towards the van, now ready to show off the goods.
“Have fun with that one,” he said, putting his hands on the door handles. “She looks like the type you can get trained real nice. Have her workin’ your pole at the snap of your fingers.”
To make his point, he snapped his fingers in the air, the sound a sharp pop. He seemed to have moved on, but I got the sense that this particular subject wasn’t put to bed just yet.
“Got some good, good shit for you, my man.”
He pulled the doors open, revealing a van packed full of all kinds of guns. Cruiser whistled as he looked the merchandise over.
“Hot damn!” he shouted, slapping his hands on his thighs. “Enough guns here to take over the goddamn state!”
I stepped to his side. He wasn’t lying—there were a shitload of guns there. Assault rifles, handguns, explosives—you name it, it was there. All unregistered. Probably a couple mil worth of weapons, and all goods that could be easily sold throughout the state.
“Same deal as before?” I asked.
“Yup,” said Dakin. “You buy ’em from me and do with ’em whatever the fuck you want.”
I stepped into the van and picked up one of the assault rifles. It was good stuff—military hardware that Dakin had probably gotten from some ex-Soviet bloc countries. I had no idea how he’d managed to get this shit into the country, but I was glad for it. And it was a good racket: once he got it in, his job was done. I’d just buy the goods and get my boys to distribute it. The arms merchants overseas got paid, Dakin got paid, and my boys and I got paid—money all around.
I was already adding up how much money I’d make from this cache; it’d likely be more than enough to sock away and ensure that I’d have a real comfy retirement to look forward to whenever I decided to get out of the game. And with my properties all sorted out, I could filter the cash through them.
“Done,” I said.
“But not yet,” said Dakin.
“Huh?” I asked.
This was strange—before, Dakin had been all too eager to get the goods off his hands.
“I still haven’t figured out just how much I’m gonna charge you. Still thinkin’ that one over.”
“Then why’d you have me come all the way out here? Just to say ‘hi’?”
A little smirk formed on Dakin’s lips.
“Just wanted to, you know, gauge your interest. Don’t worry—once I get this shit all appraised by my guy I’ll have you right on the line.”
I didn’t like this shit one bit. Dakin should’ve had this all sorted out beforehand. Something was up.
“‘Till then,” said Dakin, turning and heading back to his bike.
He snapped his fingers in the air and the rest of his crew hopped on their rides and peeled out. Less than a minute later, all that remained of Dakin and his crew was the dust that the bikes and the van had kicked up into the air.
“I got a bad feeling about this,” said Cruiser, swatting the dust away.
I didn’t say so, but the feeling was more than mutual.