Chapter 29
Adam
Saturday
My phone rang cheerily on the kitchen table Saturday morning as I was reading the daily newspaper. It was part of the new routine Vanessa and I had on the weekends: sleeping in and having coffee together in our pajamas—the best part of my whole week as far as I was concerned. I glanced down at the caller ID and saw Max’s name blink across the screen. With a smile, I accepted the call and brought it to my ear. “Hey, Max.”
“Hey, you going to the meeting tonight at Bowling Green?’
My stomach clenched at the mention of our Men’s Club meeting. When Jon and I visited Brandon in jail yesterday, he had commented in a bone-chilling statement that he would be there. It blended my professional world and social network, tainted the group I friends I knew with nasty feelings. I didn’t want criminals infiltrating my life; it was too personal. I needed to keep them separate.
Yet, somehow, it felt like Brandon had taken that away from me, as though I wasn’t safe in their company anymore.
That was exactly the way Brandon wanted me to feel, like he had already won and I should just give up. I knew I had to go, if only for that reason. If I didn’t, then he would take it as a sign of weakness, and I really would have surrendered to him.
“Yeah, I think so,” I told Max carefully. “Did you want to carpool there together?”
Vanessa raised an eyebrow at me from across the table as she sipped on her morning coffee, but didn’t say anything. Her wavy blonde hair was all a mess, and she had a baggy t-shirt on; it was gorgeously casual. She grinned, looking over at me while I took the call and pulled her legs up onto the chair beneath her.
“Cool, you’re driving, though,” he insisted. “I’ll be at your place in about an hour.”
I snorted dryly and looked across the table at Vanessa smiling. “Alright, see ya then.”
We hung up the phone, and I cleared my throat before explaining, “Max is going to be here soon. We’re headed out to Bowling Green this afternoon.”
“Oh, that sounds fun. Another one of your Men’s Club things?”
I nodded, going back to the paper and folding it neatly on the counter. With a tired sigh, I walked back into the bedroom and changed into some appropriate clothes so that I’d be ready. Then, I bustled around the apartment and finished washing some of the dishes in the sink while trying to keep my hands busy.
Soon, there was a knock on the door and Vanessa went to answer it. “Max!” she cheered excitedly, giving him a welcome hug. He was all smiles and happy to see both of us, so I gathered he must have forgiven me about hooking up with her. Max was a warm and forgiving type to begin with, so I knew he’d come around eventually.
“Here there, sis!”
I came out of the kitchen and smiled at them. “Hey, man. You ready get going?”
“Hell yeah, let’s get out of here.”
Vanessa waved and gave a little smile on our way out the door. We talked on the way out of town, catching up on work and how things were going at the firm. I didn’t tell him about Brandon, though; it didn’t feel right to disclose that information to him yet before the charges had been levied.
Max was in a good mood, bopping his head along with the music in the car and playing the air drums with his fist. It was like we were back in high school: no worries, no responsibilities, just having fun.
When the song ended, he looked out the window along the freeway and sighed. “You know, they’re doing this new thing at my work about a ‘no crime policy’ that I thought you would be interested in hearing about.”
I nodded. “What does that mean?”
“Basically, some of the bankers got caught embezzling to offshore accounts. Our boss was not too pleased and made a blanket ruling that anyone caught doing something illegal, would be kicked out on the spot.”
“Whoa, good for him, I guess.”
“It gets better than that,” he added. “That extends to outside the office, too. Like if you get arrested for a DUI or anything else like that, it counts. He doesn’t want any of the employees conducting themselves in a less than congenial manner.”
“That’s pretty hardcore,” I agreed.
Max didn’t seem upset by these new rules that he was telling me, just intrigued. That made me feel better, knowing that he didn’t have anything to hide. I always knew he was not one of the corrupt people in Men’s Club. We’d known each other too long; I knew his character, and Max was not a criminal.
Eventually, we arrived at Bowling Green at the old fraternity house. After I put the car in park, Max and I got out and walked over to the group of friends. They greeted us cheerfully and directed us toward the drinks. For a while nothing seemed off; everything was going fine, and we were all getting along great. Ted filled us in on the details of his upcoming marriage, and I couldn’t have been happier for him.
Little by little, I started to relax and enjoy myself with familiar company. Max was talking up a storm with some of the other guys in the sitting room, and I made my rounds to make sure that I had the opportunity to say hello.
Out of the corner of my eye, I kept a wary eye for Brandon, wondering if he’d show. I wasn’t sure if it was an idle threat or if he’d be able to swing the hefty bail the court had set, but either way, I felt the need to be cautious.
It was getting stuffy inside with all the people and conversations going so I stepped outside to get some air and decided to call Vanessa. I smiled, pulling out my phone, and was about to dial her when a man stepped outside behind me. He had a tall and brooding figure, and it was just the two of us alone on the patio. I wasn’t sure if he was following me, or if he had just stepped out for some air himself; either way, it made me uncomfortable.
“Who are you calling?” he asked me casually. His voice was dark and throaty, not one I was familiar with from the other men here. There were a lot of new people since I joined, so it was hard to keep track of everyone part if the organization.
I glanced down at my phone and gesticulated nonchalantly, trying to keep the conversation light. “Just a friend.”
“Are you sure it’s not your girlfriend?” he asked coyly. I didn’t like the way he said it; it put my teeth on edge. “Or, maybe, it’s your dad? Such a good son you are, calling home to check in.”
His comment was like a bucket of ice-water had been thrown on me, sending an icy chill down my spine. It wasn’t a pleasantry, but a threat. Somehow, he knew about Vanessa, he knew about Dad, and he was letting me know they were keeping tabs on them.
“It’s just a call,” I stated firmly.
“You don’t want to know how I found them?” the man asked. “You put a giant target on their back the minute you decided to raise charges against one of our members.”
I balked at his accusation and sputtered, “Brandon—”
“Is one of us,” the man insisted, turning to face me properly. His expression was hard, like a stone as he looked back at me with cool blue eyes. “And, we protect our own. You’ll convince them to drop the charges if you know what’s good for you. You never should have gotten involved with this in the first place.”
My teeth gritted together in rage as I clutched the phone tightly in my hand and told him, “I’m not afraid of you. What we’re talking about is an ongoing criminal investigation, and I’m not going to discuss it with you any further. You should know, though, that I’m going to put Brandon away for the rest of his life. Men like him deserve to be in prison, and you should be ashamed of yourself for bringing that kind of filth into our organization.”
The man scowled at me and turned to leave, looking back over his shoulder. “You’ve been warned. I’d watch my back if I were you.”
As he disappeared back inside, I felt my heart rate rising. Even though Brandon had not actually been able to make it here himself, he sent one of his goons to threaten me, and I didn’t like being threatened or manipulated.
My entire body was shaking from adrenaline at being cornered like that, and I quickly returned the phone to my pocket to go back inside for Max. When I glanced around the room, it took me a moment to find him, but then I saw him by the refreshment table and made a beeline for where he stood.
He saw me coming up beside him and smiled, pouring himself a cup of ice water from the dispenser. I took him by the arm and carefully pulled him aside to speak in private. Max could tell that something was wrong, so he didn’t fight me. Instead, he came with me back into the hall where no one else was talking and eyed me curiously.
“Adam, what’s going on?”
“We need to get out of here now,” I insisted firmly. I tried to keep my voice as low and urgent as possible without anyone else at the party hearing us. My heart was pounding a mile a minute, all I could think about was getting home and making sure that Dad and Vanessa were safe.
He stared at me confused, as if I was speaking a foreign language, and said, “But the party is still going strong; they’re about to play some games.”
I gave him the death glare that I only reserved for very special occasions and responded, “Max, I’m serious. We need to leave. Make some excuse about the drive back or something, but I can’t stay here anymore; it’s not safe.”
He was familiar enough with my lawyer voice to know I meant business and it was not a laughing matter. His eyes widened with recognition at the finality of my tone and nodded stiffly. “Alright, but you’re going to tell me about what happened in the car.”
“Done.”