King
Jarren Rossi was slowly killing me. At first, I thought I could handle him, stay on long enough to find out what I needed, and set him up like he’d tried to do to me. It was barely a day before I realized I was sorely mistaken.
I’d tried to contact Don again, but to no avail. In fact, I’d tried to contact everyone in my old crew, just to talk to them, and found that I wasn’t able to reach a single one, If that wasn’t bad enough, I realized that Rossi was my only connection to my old crew and the only way I could reach them. Ironic, since I wanted to talk to them about him.
So, there I was, stuck with Rossi and refusing to leave until I’d solved all the mysteries going on in my life. I hadn’t lied when I told Christy that I had unfinished business with him.
There were three things I was struggling to solve at that moment. One was the rich man who was undoubtedly part of the mafia, Christy’s favorite customer, beating the shit out of Rossi in the back alley behind Diamond Castle. Did the man have something on Rossi, or was he his boss? There was also the theft of Christy’s security deposit, which she was sure had something to do with Rossi. Did that mean the mob boss was involved too? And, finally, the break-in and failed robbery by my old crew at the club, which Don had implied was because they’d been hired for. Again, if Rossi was responsible, did that mean there was another guy higher up dishing out the orders?
Rossi seemed too stupid and self-centered to have so many convoluted connections and plans going on.
What I really needed to do was find the mob boss and confront him about his plans. The only problem was, my only connection to him was through Christy and the club. If he knew as much as I thought he did, then he wouldn’t be back at the club anytime soon, especially since Christy wasn’t here, and he visited her every time without fail.
It made me wonder how and why she was involved with all of this. She was being targeted by Rossi and favored by the mob boss, contradicting my theory of them working together.
It was just too hard to piece the entire puzzle together, especially with so much information missing. The only thing I could do was stick around for a little longer, until I discovered what was truly going on and who was behind everything.
As much as I hated the sleaze ball, it was necessary to keep working for him like there was nothing wrong, and I was none the wiser about him. He had connections to the police and the mob, so he could get me into all kinds of trouble if he wanted to. At the same time, his connections could keep me out of trouble as well.
The only thing I could think of that Rossi might have against me was that I saw him in a weak position. I hadn’t even told anyone about it, since I’d witnessed it. I had just kept my head down and kept on living, not planning to tell anyone what I saw or heard.
Though I tried to keep myself from expressing any dislike towards him, he made it extremely difficult when he ordered me around to do anything and everything, just because he could.
After being ordered about all night to deal with every petty thing that Rossi wanted, I finally left the club after work, with one person on my mind. I had to get to Christy and explain a few things. Even if I didn’t tell her everything, the least I could do was give her something. Especially since she’d been robbed and was now unemployed. Life was dealing both of us some pretty hard blows, and I couldn’t just leave her in the dark about everything.
Driving over to her place, I didn’t even stop to consider that three in the morning was maybe not the best time to have this talk. By the time I arrived at her door, it was too late for second-guessing, so I knocked my fist firmly against the wood.
Surprisingly, the door swung open a minute later.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Christy demanded angrily.
Even in pajama shorts and an almost transparent tank, she could still make grown men quake in their boots. Good thing I’d seen under that tank and those booty shorts, so her anger had little effect on me.
“We need to talk,” I said simply, hoping she’d just move to the side so I could enter.
“How’d you know where I live?” She narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously, and I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my own.
“I followed you once, does it matter? Let me in.” I tried to step around her, but she held her ground. It seemed a little pointless, considering how I could lift her out of the way or shove her to the side with little effort, but I decided to wait until she moved over, just to save some time arguing later.
“And why should I let you in?” She had her arms crossed, probably trying to remain firm and defensive, but it had pushed both her breasts up, and I could now see the outline of her nipples through her shirt. That was probably not what she wanted me to focus on at the moment.
“Look, you have questions, and I have answers. Can I come in now? It’s freezing, and I think we’re about to wake up the neighbors.”
Christy didn’t answer, but stepped back slightly to give me just enough room to slide by her. Again, it didn’t really have the intended effect, when I ended up having to rub across her to get by. She must have noticed too, because she stepped back a little further to give me more room, and I entered feeling more confident than before. Christy couldn’t stay mad at me for long. It just wasn’t in her DNA.
“What do you want?” Christy said sharply, still pissed as far as I could tell.
“Don’t be angry. I did what I had to do.”
“I thought we were on the same side, you dick! There I was thinking ‘oh this will be so funny when Rossi calls King in. Rossi will never know what hit him.’ Instead, you walk in like you’re his puppet and don’t even stand up for me.”
“There’s a reason for that. Look, Rossi’s up to something, and I’m trying to figure out how it’s connected to you and me.”
“I know how it’s connected! He stole my money, so I wouldn’t open up a rival club! I thought you had my back. You know he was behind it, and you know it. The least you could have done was confront him about it.
“Come on, Christy. I told you that it was a bad idea. I told you to just keep your emotions in check, and wait until you had proof. So, what did you do instead? You went storming down there in a rage, threw some insults and accusations, tried to make a fool of him in front of his staff, and he retaliated.”
“He stole my life from me! How can you expect anyone to remain calm when their whole future is ripped away from them?”
“What did you want me to do? Throw a punch and get us both fired? What would that achieve?”
Christy was furious now, marching up to me and poking me in the chest to enunciate her words. “You should’ve been on my side.”
“And you should’ve listened to me!” I yelled right back.
Our faces were incredibly close to each other’s at that point, as we shouted back and forth.
“Why are you such an–”
I couldn’t take it anymore. Something had come over me at the sight of her, so fiery and glowing with passion. I had to have some of her. I had to get closer to her. Before I could even think of stopping myself, I bent down and smashed my lips to hers.