“Do you think you could get him to talk to us?” I asked. “I’d really love to talk to him.”
Kyle nodded at me, and it was then that I noticed how exhausted he seemed. “It’ll take some doing, but I can get it done.”
“Then while Sicily works on the phones, we’ll go talk to Brayden,” Nathan said.
“Not too many people,” Kyle said. “I don’t want to spook him.”
“Just the three of us then,” I said. “You, me, and Nathan.”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah. I think that’s the safest bet.”
“Tomorrow, then?” Nathan asked.
Kyle and I locked eyes in silent agreement, and said the same thing in unison. “Tomorrow.”
3
Deon
It felt weird not having my heart pounding out of control. For months, I’d constantly been on the run, constantly dodging the police, at the same time ducking the men my father had hunting me. I was trying to figure out exactly where my father was, all while being at large in the wake of violating my parole. Being stressed had become my new permanent state of mind.
Thanks to Venom, that was about to come to a stop, at least for a little bit. I stared out the window of my taxi at the large, three-story, green and white bungalow that he’d described to me. He wasn’t able to give me much when I took the risk to go and visit him in prison, but he was able to potentially give me the most important thing—somewhere to stay with someone I could trust.
“You good, sir?” the cab driver asked.
I jumped a little bit, but turned and nodded at her. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.”
I leaned over the seat and handed the driver the $500 that one of the prison guards had supplied me on Venom’s behalf to pay the taxi with. A nearly two-hour drive from upstate Maine to the Japanese-inspired city of Ushuru near Maine’s border was probably a little outside of the driver’s purview, but whatever the guard who Venom had help me told him was enough to develop enough confidence or fear that the trip would be worth it. $500 for a single ride was probably a good trade off for the fares he lost shoveling me halfway across the state.
I opened the door, offered a final, “Bye,” to the driver and then climbed out. Venom must have used intimidation to get me my ride, because the door had just barely met the frame before the driver was screeching away.
Whatever. That driver having a little pee in his pants was the last thing I needed to be worried about. Unkempt was an understated description for my appearance, but I did the best I could to comb my hair back with my fingers and smooth down my beard, though it was a far cry from my typical short goatee and much closer to a lumberjack goatee now. A shower would be needed for sure, and I’d have to start a new collection of clothes, but for now the mission was to just knock on the door.
With a deep breath, I walked up the sidewalk and up to the large white door. It had a giant “beware of dog” sign on it, but there were far scarier things in my life, so I knocked. Immediately, a dog’s deep, bass-filled bark emanated from the other side of the door, followed by a woman yelling, “Concrete, hush!” Footsteps got closer and closer to the door until the door finally unlocked and opened. “Hello. You must be Deon.”
The woman standing in the doorway was as beautiful as Venom had told me she would be. She had mocha skin, bright hazel eyes, and long, black braids held up on top of her head in a twisted bun. Even though it was mid-day, and she was dressed in a tank top and sweatpants, she had on a full face of makeup. She was curvaceous, slender and tall—there was no need to guess why Venom snatched her off the market. Behind her, there was a large, charcoal gray pitbull who was sitting, but had his eyes dead set for me.
“Yeah. Venom sent me,” I said.
She smiled. “You’ve had a rough time I hear.” She stood aside. “Come on in. Let’s see if we can’t get you in better shape.” Even the tone of her voice was warm and inviting. It made me miss my mom.
There was something familiar about her that I couldn’t quite pinpoint, but I was so happy to just be in a warm, inviting place again, I didn’t care. “Thank you.” I walked past her, into the house, and the pitbull quickly stepped up to me and started sniffing. I stood perfectly still and let him get a read. “Hello.”
Behind me, the woman laughed. “I’m Felicity, and that’s Concrete. He’s a good boy. As long as you don’t pose a threat to him, he won’t pose a threat to you. He loves ear scratches.”
In response to that, I crouched down a little and reached a hand out to start scratching behind Concrete’s ear. Immediately, his tongue rolled forward out of his mouth and he flashed me an adorable dog smile, his tail wagging back and forth with vigor. “Ah, you’re a good boy,” I said, and he lunged forward a little to lick my face.
Felicity walked past us and down the long hallway that jutted out from her front door. Rooms to the left and right looked like a living room and dining room respectively, and the hallway led down into what appeared to be a kitchen. I stood up and followed her down, Concrete at my heels, into the large, open kitchen with a table of its own. Glass doors led out to the backyard and were a beautiful depiction of the wooded area that was nestled behind. It was a stunning home.
“Go ahead and sit down. Are you allergic to anything?” Felicity asked.
“Penicillin,” I replied.
She chuckled. “I promise not to put any penicillin in your food.”
“I’d appreciate it,” I said, sitting down at one of the kitchen table’s chairs. Concrete continued over to a water bowl against the wall and started to lap up scoops of water. “Thank you so much, by the way. It’s been a long time since I’ve been somewhere comfortable.”
“That’s what Garrett tells me.”
I tilted my head. “Garrett?”
She looked up and furrowed her brow, then unwrinkled her face as the realization hit her. “Sorry, Venom. I know him by his government name, Garrett.”
I offered a small smile. “I never knew that was his real name.”
“Yeah, well you know. He’s got super tough appearances to keep up,” she said with a laugh. “I’m surprised he didn’t tell you, though.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Because, Venom really cares about you. He’d never send someone to see his wife unless he really trusted them,” she replied. “ He talks about you like you’re his actual son. We’ve never had any kids of our own, but I don’t know, every time he would call me and be like, ‘I love this kid,’” she did a deep voice to imitate Venom, “I would think to myself, ‘Sounds to me like I have a son I’ve never met before.’”
It was nice to know that Venom truly cared about me. I never understood why he took me under his wing so suddenly when I was locked up, or why he looked out for me as vigorously as he did, but even when I went to visit him, I was met with an intense desire to help me. He pulled all the strings he had, making sure the guards didn’t violate me even though I was at large, and immediately gave me Felicity’s address, telling me to come see her and stay with her. He was doing what an actual dad would do, and all from behind bars.