42
Retribution
Perry- Now
As per usual, I receive a phone call from a blocked number while I’m still sitting at Mack’s bedside. I know who it is, and although the timing is completely fucked, I mouth to her that I’ll be right back. She waves me off, too busy staring at Judah with that love-drunk look on her face. And she denies it.
When I’m safely in the hallway, I connect the call. Robby starts talking before I even say a word.
“Twenty minutes. At the point.”
He hangs up as abruptly as he called and I scrub my hand down my face in frustration. That wasn’t a request, it was a demand. If I don’t show up now I may lose my chance, or even worse, Robby could be pissed I punked out and come looking for me. Thankfully, Judah comes strolling out of the room behind me. I grab his shirt, pulling him over with a rough tug.
“You need to do me a solid.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Um, dude. The last time I did you a solid I was assaulted by one of your jilted ex-girlfriends.”
I roll my eyes. “She was never my girlfriend.” Throwing my arm over his shoulder, I lead him farther down the hallway. “Besides, she’s a lot nicer than the kinds of people who are usually looking for me.”
His eyes widen. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”
I smile, releasing him from my grasp. “I need to leave for a little while. Something came up.”
“Okay,” he says slowly. I already see the hesitancy on his face. “Is this something you don’t want Mack to know?”
Fucking right it is—but he doesn’t need to know that. Mack never knew about the shit me and the guys were into, and if I have my way, she never will. The only problem right now is that it’ll look extremely shady if I leave during a time when I typically wouldn’t dream of it.
I grip one of his shoulders, looking him dead in the eye. “Just tell her I went to deal with something that involves Tess. She’ll understand that.”
I turn to walk away and he steps in front of me. “Wait,” he says, his eyes shifting back up the hall and then to me. “Should I be worried?” He’s so tall he has to lower his head a little as he whispers the next part. “Do you need like back-up? I could help you.”
I laugh and give him a playful shove to the wall. “You’re funny, Judah.” I pat him on the shoulder again. “I like you.”
He’s still sporting that dumbfounded look on his face when I walk away and head toward the stairs. Guys like Judah don’t need to be involved in the things guys like me do. You need to have many hardened layers and rough edges to be able to look yourself in the mirror after doing shit like that. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone—even myself.
The point is code for where we usually schedule drops. It happens to be about a half mile down from the bridge Walker and I were forced to leap from to escape the cops. It’s also the point in which Walker was killed.
Robby and several men are already waiting for me when I pull up along a dirt road, just before the bridge. He gives me an irritated look as I exit my vehicle and walk toward him.
“Your timing is shit,” I say, coming to a stop in front of him.
Robby’s expression remains stoic. “Sorry, Michaels. I didn’t realize you had your heart set on a specific time for this murder.”
I’m already losing patience with him and I’ve been standing here for all of thirty seconds. Instead of antagonizing him further, I nod to the duffle slung over his arm. “What’s that?”
He drops it at my feet with a smirk. “It’s a bag full of kittens.”
I grit my teeth, but he laughs. That actually pisses me off more. When he finishes his stupid joke, he nudges my shoulder like we’re buds. “You’re the bait and this is the sweet stuff that’s going to help lure him in.”
“Who’s he?”
Robby scratches his chin as if he’s considering lying to me. “Turns out, it was my old pal Sam. It seems that after I cut him out of the business, he wasn’t too thrilled about it. He must have thought Walker was an easy target to get to me.”
This surprises me and I release a low whistle. Truth is, we never met Sam. It would make sense that Walker would have no idea who he was if Sam ambushed him. But it still doesn’t seem right. Sam was the guy above Robby. If he wanted to get to him, it would have made more sense to just kill him. Why kill Walker?
“If I show up, and he knows Walker was my boy, what makes you think he’d want to do a deal with me?”
He shrugs. “He doesn’t know who you are and he already agreed.” Robby laughs. “You’re awfully full of yourself, aren’t you? You were small time at best. He won’t put two and two together.”
My eyes narrow to slits. This feels like a set-up.
Robby picks up the duffle and hands it to me this time. I immediately set it on the ground to open it and he laughs.
“What are you doing?”
I look up at him, laughing once. “I would like to see what I’m carrying around.” When I open the bag, my eyes widen. “What the fuck? This isn’t weed.”
He smirks. “No shit. It’s meth.”
Standing in one quick motion, I get in his face. “Jesus, Robby. If I get caught with this, I’m looking at twenty years. What if he’s an informant or undercover or some shit?”
His face scrunches up like I’m ridiculous. “You honestly think I wouldn’t know by now? He was my partner in this for years.”
My arms shoot out to my sides in anger. “Who fucking knows? The list of things that surprise me is getting shorter by the minute.”
He steps closer and places a hand on my shoulder. “Relax. You’ve done this a million times. Just make the drop and we’ll pick you up when you’re done.”
I shrug him off, the veins in my neck already bulging. “Yeah, and what if he wants to shoot me in the head?”
“Perry, you need to chill.” He lights a cigarette and nods me forward. “I got your six.”
Gritting my teeth, I pull the bag from the ground and start walking. “You got my six,” I mutter under my breath. “You shady, gangster motherfucker.”
“What’s that?” he calls after me.
I turn around and walk backwards for a few steps, throwing up double middles. “I said fuck you, Robby.” My voice booms through the silent night sky and a smile tips up the corners of his mouth.
When I face forward again, I hear his cackle float through the air after me. He probably wants to stab me again. My rage boils closer to the surface as I shove my hands in my pockets and continue down the road to the drop off point. If he does want to stab me, hopefully this time he jams the blade right through my heart. I don’t need it anymore anyway.
By the time I make it to the spot, I’m already second-guessing myself. To be honest, I’ve been second-guessing myself since the moment I agreed to this bullshit. I don’t have to dwell on that feeling for too long, because a black SUV pulls up and shuts its lights off. A guy gets out of the vehicle but leaves it running.
I nod as he starts to walk up to me. “You Sam?”