Chapter Twenty-Three
Cooper
The light turned red and I was forced to slam on my brakes, my heart hammering in my chest. I blew the horn and zoomed around the car suddenly stopped in front of me, glad that I had given them at least a little bit of a leeway or else I would have rear ended them. I was still trying to get to Emma’s dad’s house so that I could explain myself and beg her forgiveness. Finally, when I had found someone who had liked me for me, the money had once again slammed that door and ruined it all. I hated the money. I wished that I had never walked into that mart that day. My life was so much simpler without it. Though it had provided me with some opportunity, it was costing me probably the greatest opportunity of my life — a future with Emma.
The light turned green and I pressed the gas, looking in my rearview mirror for the car that had been tailing me for the last few minutes. Sure enough, it was back there, still following me. Damn Felix and his goon of a friend. I wasn’t about to lead them to Emma, not when I wasn’t sure what they would do to get their greedy hands on some money. I pulled over into an empty parking lot and waited as the car did the same before I jumped out, slamming the door shut behind me.
“Felix, come out and talk to me face to face!” I yelled as I approached the car. I was tired of all of this talking on the phone, these threats I was going to stop once and for all. “Get out of the car!”
The car door opened, and I prepared for a fight, unless they had a gun and then I was going to be dead before we even started. But at least I had stood up for myself. I was tired of being pushed around.
Felix’s name died on my lips as I realized that my follower was actually Emma’s ex-boyfriend, his face red with anger as he shut the car door. “I’m tired of you trying to steal my girl away,” he said, pointing a finger at me. “She’s mine, and she will always be mine.”
I started toward the guy, not believing that he was still so delusional that he couldn’t get the picture that Emma didn’t want to be with him. Hadn’t she already dumped him before I ever came into the picture? “You’re kidding, right?”
“No I am far from it,” he yelled, rolling up his sleeves of his dress shirt. “I was well on my way to getting her back before you and your billions showed up. Well, I can say I don’t have to worry about her going back to you anymore.”
“It was you,” I said, surprised. “You told her about the money.”
He grinned, looking extremely pleased with himself. “You should have seen her face. She couldn’t believe that you had lied to her. You’re no different than me, man, other than I am going to swoop in and sweep her off of her feet once more and you will be nothing but a distant memory.”
I felt the anger start to rise in my chest as I looked at him. “She will never take you back.”
“Oh, she will,” he laughed. “I will be there to pick up the pieces from you. Don’t you have a plane to catch, loser?”
“Stay away from her,” I warned, thinking this had gone on too long. “I am the man in her life now, not you. You had your chance and you blew it.”
His grin fell into a sneer, and I watched as his hands balled into fists. “I will be here long after you go back to wherever the hell you are from.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said firmly as he approached me closer still. I wasn’t either. I was planning on making my home here, giving the bar back home to Jane and patching things up with Emma. Oh, and getting rid of my ex-friend Felix, but I already had a plan in the works for that. “So I suggest you get your ass back in your car before things get ugly.”
“You threatening me, pretty boy?” he asked, right before he swung at me, missing my face by inches.
“I’m doing more than that,” I said. “You’ve seen where I am from and what I had to grow up in. A pansy boy like you doesn't scare me.”
“You asshole,” he said, swinging at me again.
I was able to see it coming and dodged it, too, thinking that this was getting quite ridiculous. I grabbed his fist and turned it quickly, spinning the guy down on the pavement before he realized what was happening. While I tried to stay away from trouble, it didn’t mean I hadn’t learned a thing or two on the streets growing up. There was more than enough training in between the scrapes that Felix liked to get in and the run ins with the wannabe gang members. I had protected myself pretty well in my day. “No,” I said, pinning him down with my knee. “You are the asshole and it’s about time that you realized it. I’m not going to tell you again. Leave me and Emma alone.”
He struggled under my weight but I held fast, letting him feel the hurt of his face being pressed up against the pavement, hoping he realized that this was how much he had hurt Emma. I wasn’t going to do that to her ever again, even if I had to spend a lifetime making it up to her. I cared about her too much to be hurting her in such a dumbass manner. “Promise me you will leave us alone.”
“Yeah, fine, whatever, let me up!” he yelled.
I lifted my knee off of his chest and released his hand, stepping back as he peeled himself off of the pavement. I grinned as I saw the small cuts on his face, glad that perhaps this was his wake-up call. He could go and find someone who would deal with his lies, but he couldn’t have Emma. He didn’t deserve her and lately, I didn’t either.
“Fine,” he said again before he launched himself at me. I struck him right on the side of the jaw, sending him careening against the hood of his car, my hand stinging from the force of the blow. I might have looked like a pushover, but he had brought the worst out in me. “Dude, are you never going to learn your lesson?”
He looked at me then, rubbing the side of his jaw. “I think you cracked some of my teeth!”
“I will do worse than that if you don’t get back in your damn car and drive off,” I said, anger rolling out with every word. I saw the uncertainty in his eyes and inwardly grinned, glad that I was scaring the hell out of him. I was running out of tricks to keep him down and just hoped he was tired of being beat up. My hand was throbbing, and I was sure it was going to be twice the size it should be by the end of the day.
“You know what, it’s not worth this,” he finally said, yanking his door open. “I can get any bitch I want. You can have that one.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited until he had peeled out of the parking lot before I took in a deep breath, flexing my aching knuckles. I hoped I had done enough to keep him away from Emma from now on. Next time, I was just going to file a restraining order.
With a sigh, I climbed back in the car, noticing the text message light was blinking on my phone. Maybe it was Emma wanting to talk. This would be the perfect time to apologize to her and beg her to take me back. I would give her whatever she wanted. Scrolling through the texts, I frowned as I saw it was a text from Felix, sent five minutes ago.
Call me, it read. I got a funny feeling in my chest as I looked at the text message, the internal conflict on whether or not I needed to call him raging within. I knew what he wanted, and I was still on the fence whether or not to actually give him the money. It wasn’t going to solve anything, but on the other hand, I would be risking someone’s life in the process if I didn’t.
“Argh!” I yelled out, beating my fists on the steering wheel. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hitting the send button, I held it up to ear and waited for them to answer.
“Yo.”
“Felix,” I forced out, keeping my voice as even as possible. “This is Cooper.”
“Coop! I knew you would call. This dude thought I was tripping, but I know you.”
“What do you want, Felix?” I asked, wishing he would just get to the point. We were far beyond any niceties between us now. He had overstepped the friendship boundaries a long time ago with his first attempt to fleece me out of money.
“Dude, no need to be so mean,” Felix replied, hurt actually in his voice. I wanted to beg to differ that I had plenty of reason to be mean, but I also needed to know what he wanted as well. “Listen, I got something to tell you.”
“Felix, if this is about the money,” I started, making up my mind. He could threaten me or those I cared about all he wanted to. I had my mind made up and I wasn’t going to be bullied into blackmail constantly. I was going to make a stand on this and let him know that I wasn’t scared of him or the rest of his gang friends.
“Wait, Coop, before you say anything,” Felix interrupted. “I got someone here that wants to talk to you.”
“Cooper?”
I froze as I heard Emma’s shaky voice on the other end, all of my well-laid words going by the wayside. “Emma?”
“Cooper,” she said with some relief in her voice. “I don’t know who these people are but they say that they know you. They are here at my dad’s house and Cooper; th-they have guns.”
I felt my rage exploded internally, my hands literally starting to shake as I realized that Felix had gone after Emma and her ill father. All because of some money. “Are you okay?” I asked, my voice barely constrained.
“W-we are okay,” she replied. “Just hurry, Cooper, and give them whatever they want to make them go away.”
“I’m coming for you, Emma,” I said into the phone, already cranking the engine.
“Dude, how’d you bag that babe? She is hot.”
“Felix,” I growled. “If you lay one hand on her or her father, I will kill you with my bare hands. You got that?”
“Relax, Coop,” Felix laughed, though I could hear the uncertainty in his voice and I wondered if he thought that maybe, just maybe, he had overstepped a dangerous line. Well, he had and he was going to pay for it. “We aren’t going to harm your pretty little girlfriend or her dad. We just want the money.”
“Felix, how the hell did you even know I was out here? And how the hell did you find me or Emma for that matter? This is way beyond your pay-grade,” I wanted to try to keep him on the phone. The longer he talked to me, the less attention he would pay to Emma and her dad.
“How we found you doesn’t matter, Coop. But once Axe saw you with your girl here, we followed her. I know you, Coop. Always putting others before yourself. Kinda figured your girl would fit into that.”
I heard some commotion in the background and felt my heart drop into my stomach. Was I about to hear a gunshot?
A different voice rang through the phone. “I ain’t as nice as F-bomb here. Bring the money or I will hurt your girl and her daddy dearest here.”
I recognized the voice from the first phone call and gripped the steering wheel tightly in my hand, itching to get them around this guy’s neck. Axe, I presumed. “What do you want?”
“One million,” he said automatically. “Or you will be finding some dead bodies.”
I heard Emma sob in the background and felt the urge to throw something or punch something really hard in anger and frustration. I had caused this. I had gotten her into this mess and now her life was in danger.
“That’s going to take me some time,” I finally said tightly. “I need several hours at least.” It was getting on three o’clock in the afternoon and attempting to get that kind of cash was going to prove difficult.
“I’ll give you three,” Axe said with a sneer. “Don’t call the cops either. One even comes around this house I’ll blow the father’s head off and then I will have some fun with yo girl.” He then hung up and I threw the phone into the seat, my entire body trembling in anger. “Shit!” I yelled in the interior of the car. This was not what I had thought was going to happen this morning when I woke up. I had some serious issues going on in my life and now I had two hours to figure out how in god’s name I was going to get one hundred thousand dollars.
Should I involve the police? The thug of course had said not to but how was he going to know? I couldn’t let them get away with this. I couldn’t let them just walk out with the money after threatening Emma’s life and that of her dad’s. It wasn’t right and they should never be able to do this to anyone else again.
I threw the car in drive and pulled out onto the highway, ignoring the honks of the cars around me. I had two hours to fix this.
* * * * *
“So you say that this guy is from the East Coast? Why in hell would he be coming all the way out here to get money from you?”
I sighed in frustration as I looked at the detective across from me, wishing that he would just trust that this was going on and help me. For the last hour, I had been sitting at his desk while I told my story, seeing his expression go from incredulous to downright unsure. Right now he was somewhere in the middle. “I don’t know, Detective, but I have two people who are depending on me to make an appearance in an hour to save their lives. Are you really going to have me at this desk knowing that I could be telling the truth?”
The detective looked at me hard for a moment and then pushed his chair back, grabbing his suit jacket off of the chair. “Walk with me.”
I rose and hurried after him, following him through a maze of desks and then into a hallway where he pushed open a door. Behind the door sat a large man in a suit, who looked up from the paper that he had been reading. “What?”
“This guy has a pretty impressive story to tell,” the detective said, gesturing toward me. “But he’s on a deadline, and I need permission to wiretap him so that he can make a $100,000 drop to some gang members.”
I wanted to thank the detective for not making me explain the entire story to his chief, whose eyes raised in surprise, then narrowed at me as he laid his paper down. “Are you fucking serious?”
“As a heart attack,” I rushed out, not caring anymore. “There are two people’s lives at stake right now and if I don’t do this, you will have two innocent lives taken in a homicide. Which one would you prefer to deal with?”
The chief sat back and eyed me for a moment before looking at his detective. “Suit him up and by God if he’s lying, drag him in for false reporting. I want someone’s ass in jail by the end of the day.”
“Yes, sir,” the detective responded, walking back out of the office. I didn’t know really what to say so I just followed behind him, my anxiety at a peak level. I was itching to get to Emma, to ensure that she was okay, but this was necessary. If I wanted to stop Felix and his goon of a friend from doing this again and again, I needed to involve the law. They weren’t going to stop, no matter what they said. I could potentially have to deal with this later, and I would rather just put an end to it right now.
We walked past the room with all of the desks into a storage closet, where he pulled down a small mic the size of my pinky nail attached to a small black box.
“This part goes onto your chest right here,” he said, pointing to the center of my chest. “This box goes into your boxers.” I raised my eyebrow, and he laughed. “Trust me, it’s the last place they ever expect to find this. We are going to run this down from your chest and conceal it under your shirt. If these guys are as dumb as I think they are, they won’t even expect you to be wearing a wire.”
“And what if they do search me?” I asked, eyeing the wire. Could I take that kind of risk? Could I actually bet on the lives of Emma and her dad like this?
“Trust me, by the sound of it, they won’t,” the detective replied, pushing the wire to me. “Are you in or not?”
***
Ur time is almost up, Coop. I don’t want to hurt her, the text read. But we will if you don’t bring the money and come to the house. You know where we are at. Shit. I threw the phone in the passenger seat and started up the car, peeling out of the police station parking lot as I raced toward my original destination. Emma was probably scared out of her mind, and I hoped to God that they hadn’t laid one hand on her. Felix was not the guy I had grown up with. He would never do something like this to put anyone’s life in danger but since his affiliation with this gang, he was making stupid mistakes. And I was going to make him pay for it. Giving him money wasn’t going to make him or any of his new friends go away. I had to end this now, once and for all. Picking up the phone, I started dialing a number. I had a plan.
* * * * *
Thirty Minutes Later
“You have arrived at your destination.”
I looked up at the ramshackle house on the right, frowning as I took in the state of the place Emma’s dad called home. How could anyone get better with a house that looked like this? The yard was in a sad state, the grass starting to look more like a field, the paint peeling from its boards and a porch that looked like it had seen better days. I had been where he was now, but he was sick and this situation couldn’t be helping him get well or even concentrate on his health.
I looked in the driveway and noticed Emma’s car right away. There was also another car, one of those four-door deals with massive rims and an out-of-state license plate. Had those goons really driven all this way for what they considered easy money? They’d probably spent more on gas getting out here!
Shaking my head, I cut the car off and climbed out, grabbing the suitcase from the passenger seat. I had delayed my arrival by ten minutes, making several calls to get the cash that was now in the suitcase in my hand. It paid to be a billionaire sometimes and today was one of those days. The detective had also pulled some strings as well, and without his help, I probably would still be trying to get the money. Otherwise, I would have still been arguing with the woman on the phone.
Straightening my shoulders, I walked up to the porch, my nerves a jumbled mess. I didn’t know what I was about to encounter in there or whether or not they had already killed Emma and her dad. I could be shot as soon as I entered the house. But there was only one way to find out. I twisted the knob and the door opened easily.
“Come on in and join the party, Coop.”
I gritted my teeth at the sound of Felix’s voice, wishing he would be a man and let us go a round so that I could beat the shit out of him. While I didn’t condone violence, I was willing to put all of that aside to get my hands on my former friend. He deserved everything he had coming to him.
I stepped inside, seeing the interior of the home was in no better shape than the outside. The small living room gave way to a smaller kitchen. My stomach lurched uncomfortably as I came in view of Emma and her father seated at the table, a gun pointed at them. Felix was standing behind Emma, a gun resting against his chest and a weird look on his face as I approached them. The other guy I recognized from the neighborhood, his clothing telling me that he was one of those gang members that Felix idolized. He had a sneer on his face, and I wanted to hit him, hard. This was the guy who had actually threatened to kill the two people before me. He was stone cold, and I couldn’t believe that Felix was part of this. I didn’t want to believe it, but the proof was right in front of me. Surely this wasn’t what Felix wanted to be part of.
“That’s close enough, Coop,” Felix said, his voice nervous, his eyes darting around as if he were high on something. A few sodas sat on the table, along with an open bag of chips, like they had made themselves right at home while scaring the bejesus out of Emma and her dad. “Put the case on the chair over there.”
“You don’t have to do this, Felix,” I said slowly, putting the case where he had indicated before backing away, my hands in the air. “This isn’t the guy I knew from the hood, the guy who was with me the night I got that lotto ticket. This isn’t the guy I played basketball with before we were even old enough to dribble properly.”
“That guy is long gone, Coop,” he said, a hint of sadness in his voice as he struggled to maintain his easygoing smile. “Long gone, dude. I’m looking out for me and my boys, Coop. Surely you can see that.” He then looked over at the case, his eyes gleaming with greed. “I didn’t want it to turn out like this, Coop. All you had to do was give us the money, and everything would have been okay. We wouldn’t have to do this, you know.”
“These are innocent people,” I argued, holding up my hands. “They have no idea why you are doing this. Why would you want to scare them like this?”
Felix’s smile slipped a little, and he motioned to the case. “Open it, Cooper.”
I moved to do as he asked, showing both of them the money. “It’s five hundred thousand dollars,” I said, my eyes briefly connecting with Emma’s. She was looking at the money in surprise, her eyes flitting up to mine so I could see that they were tear filled and scared. It nearly broke my heart to see that. She shouldn’t be in the midst of this! It was because of me that she was even in this situation but I was going to get her out, even if it cost me my life. “It’s all I could get my hands on in the timeframe you gave me without tipping off the cops. Take it or leave it.”
“It ain’t no million like he said,” Axe said, looking over at Felix angrily. “He’s playing us for a fool.” He then pointed the gun at me, and my heart came to a dead stop in my chest. This was going to be the end of it all. I was going to die over this money that I had never wanted in the first place. It had nearly ruined my life on more than one occasion and now it was going to cost me my life. I was never going to see my family again, never hold Emma in my arms, never get the chance to tell her how I felt. “I swear that was all I could get,” I said again, allowing the tremble to come out in my voice. “It’s more than enough. Just take it and go.”
Felix reached up and turned the gun away from me, forcing his partner to point it elsewhere. “We ain’t gonna kill anyone,” he said, looking at me. “We came for the money and we got it.”
“It ain’t enough, I tell you,” his partner replied, his hard, cold eyes now looking at Felix. “You said he would give us more if we came and messed with his girl here. Maybe I should rough her up a little. Then he will cough up the rest.”
Emma whimpered and ducked into her chair, her body cringing at what was about to come. I flexed my arms angrily, shooting a look to Felix that was pleading in nature. He wasn’t this guy he was pretending to be. He wasn’t a guy who hurt innocent people just to get an easy buck. I watched Felix’s expression as he stared at his partner, trying to weigh in what he was going to do about it. All this time I thought Felix was a follower. I thought he wasn’t strong enough to be the one doling out orders and bossing people around, but this was telling me otherwise. Could he turn the gun on me and shoot me in the head without a second thought? Could he really stand back and watch Emma get hurt or worse without feeling a thing? I really hoped that he wasn’t capable of such a thing.
Our eyes briefly connected, and I was surprised to see the regret in his, like he didn’t know what he was doing here. I couldn’t help him now. He was in too deep and after today, I was going to never see him again. He had severed our friendship over money, and I didn’t need people like that in my life.
“It’s enough,” Felix finally said, motioning toward the case. “Go get it so we can get the hell out of here.”
Axe cursed and walked over to the chair, grabbing the suitcase out of my hand and closing the top. I watched as Felix pointed the gun at me, backing toward the door. “Dude, I’m sorry. I really am. This will be the last time, I swear.”
I don’t ever want to see you again, Felix,” I said evenly as he opened the door. “We are through.”
He gave me a nod, and they were both out of the door, leaving it wide open as they ran out. I watched as the police surrounded the two, forcing them to drop their weapons as they made them lay on the ground.
“You called the police.”
I turned to see both Emma and her father behind me, both watching the actions outside. “Of course. I wasn’t going to let them get away with threatening you. That’s what took me so long.” I had wrestled with the fact that I was taking a huge risk allowing them to wiretap me, but in the end it had been the right decision. So they had hung back until the right moment, which, by the looks of it, had been the correct moment.
The chief was going to have two people in jail tonight, and I wasn’t going to feel one ounce of sympathy for my former best friend. Felix had ruined his life by getting messed up with people he thought cared about him but in reality they didn’t care about anyone but themselves. I could help him out if I wanted to, but this was going to be a lesson Felix was going to have to learn by himself.
The detective I had worked with approached the door, the expression on his face one of surprise, as if he still hadn’t believed that I was telling the truth. “I can’t believe this,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “You were telling the truth all along. This is some crazy shit.”
I pulled on the wire box and slid it out of my pocket, not ever wanting something like that to be in my boxers. After dislodging it from my chest, I handed it over. “I hope this helps the case.”
He looked at the box and shook his head as one of the officers came over and handed him the case. “These were complete idiots to come all of this way for the money.”
“I told you,” I said with a sigh, feeling Emma’s presence behind me. I was going to have a lot of explaining to do with her but I was ready for it. It was time she knew the real me.
One of the officers approached the door, looking at all of us. “Anyone hurt?”
“No,” I replied, holding out my hand. “We are all okay. Thank you for coming.”
He shook my hand and jotted down our names, giving his card to Emma’s dad in case he had any questions. “We will have to keep the money until they get the prints off of it and extract the dye packets. Then you can pick it up from the station when you come in to make your final statements.”
“I’m in no hurry,” I responded as he tipped his hat and walked back toward where they were loading the two men into the police car. I saw Felix’s face through the window of the car and refused to even acknowledge him. Felix was going to jail now, and I just hoped that he could get straightened out and realize that this wasn’t the life to live. If he continued down this path, he was going to be killed one day.
I closed the door and turned back to the two people inside the house, my heart hammering in my chest. Now that the threat was over, it was time to explain myself and hope to God that she could forgive me for all of this. If she didn’t, I didn’t know what I was going to do.