Four Brothers
Feb. 22nd, 2010 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veiledndarknessTitle: Strays 15/?
Author: veiledndarkness
Pairing: Bobby/Jack
Rating: R
Summary: What’s it all worth when you’re alone?
Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made and no harm intended.
Notes: AU, the brothers were not raised together by Evelyn.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
X
He stood in front of the window, watching the snow fall and cover the first layer on the ground, his hands clasped behind his back. Any minute now...his prize was en route. Victor Sweet smiled, humming under his breath. It had been easy, far too easy to take Jack. Such patience to wait this long, he planned to savor every single second of this, right up to the moment of Bobby's fall.
Destroying Bobby was so goddamned simple, it irked at him, truly, to realize it only now. "And why do ya get attached, when you oughta know better, Bobby boy?" he chuckled.
His cell phone chirped on the desk, ignored by Victor as he watched the snow and the approaching vehicle in the distance. He rubbed his chin and turned away from the window, taking a seat at his desk. The phone continued to chirp, Jeremiah's phone number appearing in the viewer. Victor switched it to silent and sat back in his chair, waiting.
Time crawled and then, something that brought a cold smile to his face, a noise, a scuffle of sound in the hallway. The door opened and two of his men entered the wide doorway, a slumped over figure held up between them. Victor eyed the boy, watching with some amusement as they forced him to stand.
"Didn't I fuckin' warn ya?" the man growled, slapping Jack when he squirmed in the tight grip.
"Enough Luke," Victor sat forward, his heartbeat picking up a notch. "We don't want our lil' guest here to pass out. Jack, are you listenin', boy?"
Blue eyes spat fire at him, the boy's lips drawn back in a bloody snarl, his cheek already darkening with what would become a spectacular bruise. He stared back defiantly at Victor and spat a mouthful of blood tinged spit on the fancy carpet beneath him.
"Now that was rude, Jackie," Victor laughed. "Oh I like you, you got some fight in you, boy."
Jack glared at him, his chest hitching unevenly with each breath. Victor waited a moment before standing and walking around to them. He took his time, slowly walking over until he was in front of Jack. He looked at him, annoyed by the fact that had Jack been standing straight up, he would have towered over Victor by several inches.
Victor smirked and ran a hand through Jack's tangled hair, yanking a bit on the strands. "Yeah, you got a cocksuckers' mouth for sure. Bet you love doin' it too. Got that look about you, pretty boys got that look in their eyes, an' their mouths."
"Fuck you," Jack whispered, shaking with anger, raw hatred coming off him in waves.
"No, no, Jack. I don't fuck boys," Victor patted his bruised cheek, enjoying the flinches of pain that resulted. "Pretty as ya are, I know who's been inside you most recent, an' sloppy seconds ain't for me."
Jack lunged at him with a snarl, nearly breaking free of the men holding him. Victor took a step back and nodded to Luke, who shoved Jack's arm up higher along his back. "G' on, keep fightin' an I'll break it," he hissed.
He fell back into their grip with choked cry of pain and fear. Victor smiled a cruel smile and gave Jack a once over. "Street rat, then?"
Jack clamped his mouth shut, his eyes watering. Victor supposed it must have been quite painful to be held like that. "Yeah, I think so. Bobby sure loves him some street ass. Don't see why, you never know where that hole was an' you can't trust a street rat t' be honest, now can we, Jackie?"
"What the fuck do you want?" Jack stared back at him, breathing hard. A tear ran down his cheek, smearing the blood around his mouth. "Huh? What the fuck do you want with me?"
"Boy, who said it was about you?" Victor smirked and let out a small chuckle. "Oh, Jack, it ain't about you at all."
Jack licked his split lip, shaking more. Victor fisted his hand in Jack's hair again, wrenching him forward. Jack moaned, twisting away, his face contorted with pain. "It's you that hurts Bobby. Takin' you is gonna be the last straw."
"You... won't b-break him," Jack managed, his eyes rolling back when Luke shoved more on his arm.
Victor's smile faded. "You fuckin' punk," he snapped and yanked hard on Jack's hair, backhanding him viciously. Jack slumped back down with a strained whimper. Victor flexed his fingers and walked away from him and over to his desk. "Pussy," he muttered.
Luke relaxed the grip on Jack's arm ever so slightly. "Want 'im in the one on Fourth?"
"Yeah, get the faggot outta my sight, 'fore he bleeds more on my fuckin' carpet."
They hefted Jack up, carrying his limp body from the room. Victor sat down on his chair and laughed wildly, the cackle bouncing off the walls and echoing around him.
X
"You don't even know where he's got 'im, Bobby, you ain't thinkin' this through," Angel frowned, watching Bobby collect a cache of weapons. He laid each item on the table, checking them over, his fingers moving over the guns, years of practice in the way he handled them.
Bobby spared a glance at Angel, leveled a glare at him and moved on to the next gun. He checked the bullets in it and reset the safety. "You think I care what you got to say? Far as I'm concerned, there ain't no place I won't go lookin'."
"An' maybe that's what Victor's hopin' on, huh? This could be one hell of a trap."
Bobby tossed a pistol at him. "Shut up or get out. I'm done with games, with people I can't trust. Either you're in or you're out."
Angel snagged the pistol, his lips tightening into a deep frown. "Bobby, man, don't play like that. You know I got ya back, always have. I'm jus' sayin' this could be a real fuckin' big trap. Jack's the bait."
"No, this is the fucking bait," Bobby took the crumpled note from his pocket and slammed it down on the table. "That's the bait, right there."
He leaned over and read the single line. His lips twitched. "That fuckin' prick. Pretty much ownin' up to what happened, ain't he?"
Bobby pushed a clip into one of the guns, a flicker of rage in his eyes for a moment. "She never did nothin', never deserved what they did. Lucy either."
"You got that right. So what's your plan?"
"I ain't got a plan," Bobby tucked a gun into the holster he had on. "I'm wingin' it."
"You always wing it." Angel folded the note up and held it out to Bobby. "You ain't tired of goin' on instinct yet but ya sure do need some backup."
Bobby snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah...Yeah, I think so, but this is serious shit, Angel. You're in or you're out. I want him back, you hear me? I want him back an' I want Victor Sweet t' die beggin' for mercy."
"Mercy?" Angel blinked and frowned. "Since when do you give out mercy?"
"No mercy," Bobby whispered. He picked up another gun, his hand shaking for a second. "None."
"Where do we start?"
Bobby arranged several guns across the table. "I called Evan, called in some favors, see what shakes loose. Victor, I know his family, they got warehouses, I'd bet my last dollar on it. He's got houses, different ones. Jack could be in any of them. Call up Damien, see what he knows. He spied for me before, he'll do it again. He's a bitch but he's only about the cost, not the moral."
Angel pushed the paper at Bobby. "Take it, man. An' listen, just a thought...what about Jerry?"
"Fuck him."
"He might know some shit..." Angel said cautiously. "Never know, right?"
Bobby let out a sound of cold rage. “Fuck him. He made his goddamned bed, now let him lie in it with his whore.”
Angel kept his mouth shut, not wanting Bobby's rage directed at him. He could see it, the anger that left deep shadows under Bobby's eyes, the pronounced lines in his forehead and the grim downturn to his mouth. He resumed checking the guns. If Bobby knew he'd hung up on Jerry...
X
After several hours of chasing his tail, as Bobby was apt to describe it, Green sat down in the booth seat with a weary sigh. He loosened the tie around his neck and offered the waitress a wan smile. "Hey Doll, you got any specials I oughta know about?"
She raised one gray eyebrow at him, her lips curved with a light smirk, battered notepad in hand. "Oh sure do, same shit as the day b'fore, an' the day b'fore that, an' so on, Mr. Big Shot Detective. You want ya usual?"
Green chuckled. "That's Lieutenant, Doll, an' you know I do."
"Ain'tcha ever thought 'bout orderin' somethin' new?" she tucked her notepad into the faded apron pocket.
"Changes aren't always good, Dolores Doll."
She cracked a smile at him, lighting up her wrinkled face. "So damned bitter, you are. Sit back, I'll getcha what you need."
Green ran a hand over his tie, leaving it draped loosely over his shoulders. No one was talking, there was no info on Sweet's whereabouts. Green frowned. That in itself was unusual. Victor Sweet was loud, proud of his background and obnoxious as all hell, never one to keep quiet about his life. He should have been shouting from the rooftops that he had something of Bobby Mercer's. That would have fit his usual patterns.
He drummed his fingers on the well worn Formica table top, listening to the sound of a boxing match playing on the grainy television by the bar. And if Victor wasn't waving a red flag at Bobby, then what was the point? He sighed again, letting his eyes close for a moment.
"Look who get got here, sleepin' in a shit hole. My, my, what's become a' Detroit's finest?"
Green glared across the booth as someone slipped in across from him. She smiled at him, not entirely friendly and flipped her mane of glossy black hair back from her face. "They payin' you overtime for running you ragged, Baby?"
"Sofi, s' kinda early for you to be up," Green drawled. "You got yourself a date with someone respectable?"
She sniffed and set her purse on the table, taking out a metal file. Examining her nails, she ran the file over one. Sharpening her claws, Green thought with some amusement. "You don't know how t' talk to us ladies all proper, do you? All that education, goes t' nothin', Baby. Buy me a drink, hm?"
"How 'bout you tell me some things, an' maybe I'll buy."
Sofi pouted a little. "Tell you what?" She picked up the file and rubbed her thumbnail across it. "What do you think you gotta know?"
Green watched her for a minute. "You hear anything about Victor Sweet lately?"
"He fucked up my friend, Bibi!" she hissed, dark eyes flashing, her full lips drawn back over her teeth. "Son of a bitch, he beat her, dump her outside like she's trash..." she trailed off, swearing fluidly in Spanish.
Green winced. "Shit...I'm real sorry, Sofi. She ok? Got a safe place to be?"
Sofi sniffled and nodded. She put the file down and shook her hair back. "Devil man, the girls, they call him Devil man. There's nothin' good from his money. Filthy money, blood money. They all scared of him, Baby, all of us."
"Anythin' else though, anything at all?"
She shrugged. "Nothing new, but maybe I heard somethin', maybe I didn't. What's it worth?"
Dolores cleared her throat. "Oh do pardon me," she placed the tray of fries and a steak sandwich on the table. "Can I get the lil' lady somethin'?"
Sofi sneered at her. "You jealous cause you remember your days or cause you never had them, huh?"
"Sofi..." Green groaned. "Don't start, girl. Doll, we're fine. Bring her somethin', charge it to me."
Dolores eyed Sofi. "Don't give me no excuse t' put your ass outside t' night girlie. S' gonna get real cold out there."
Sofi turned away, clearly ignoring her. "Jealous," she muttered under her breath. She stole one of Green's french fries, eating it fast and daring him with a cheeky grin to say something.
"What'd you hear? This is important, girl, real important."
She took another fry and nibbled the end of it. "I heard some things, might be important. He got shit moving around the city faster lately, here n' there. That Bobby Mercer's on his list but that ain't no surprise, Baby."
"You don't know the half of it. What 'bout Jeremiah Williams?"
Sofi giggled and gestured with the french fry. "Oh him, Mistah Playboy, he got Camille up an' comfy in his condo, he pay her real good."
"Camille hooks?"
She rolled her eyes. "For a cop, you sure are dumb. She ain't no street walker, she's a high class lady. Like me."
"Uh huh," Green took a fry from his plate. He dipped it in the ketchup streaked over the fries. "What do you know about Jeremiah?"
"Flashes his money, he think he's some big shot. We all know the truth, he be at Bobby's beck an' call," she smirked and flicked her fingers. "Big, bad Mercer, he don't want none of us, we ain't got what his nasty needs want."
Green ate another fry. "You know 'bout that?"
"Please, Baby, don't act like you don't know. I wouldn't touch him, no never, who cares how much he got when he can't be nice. I heard, I see things, I listen, Baby, I do," she batted her eyelashes at him. "He saw me once, he be cruisin' and he slowed at a light. Me an' Bibi go up to the window an' he looked like he wanted t' fly away," she laughed, the sound rich and throaty. "Oh boy, Mister Big Boss Man, he don't like us ladies, no Baby, he sure don't. He gets real nasty if'n he sees you laughin'."
"Tell me you didn't cross him, Sofi," Green looked up, a hint of fear passing his face. Bobby could be horribly unforgiving.
Sofi waved one hand, her nails painted with red and black stripes. "He yell an' I yell. I ain't scared of no queer man. He never hit a woman, I betcha that much. Who cares who he is? Always another man waitin' to come along. Maybe the next one will want some of me."
Dolores dropped a plate in front of Sofi. “Don't be countin' on that.”
Before she could rise, Green grabbed Sofi's wrist, holding her in place. “Don't, I mean it, don't make me cuff you!” he whispered fiercely.
Sofi stilled and then winked at him. “Ohh Baby, you jus' wanna cuff me up an' have your way huh? S' ok, I got a few cops in my corner.”
“Not today, Sofi, not today. Here,” he let go of her wrist and nodded to Dolores. “Eat up, ok?”
She laughed and took another fry off his plate, ignoring the fresh ones before her. “Tell you one more thing. S' gonna cost you more than food.”
Green nodded, resigned. “Make it worth the paper it's printed on, girl.”
“I seen somethin' t' night, on my way up Fourth. Don't know what, but I saw some big car travelin' through there, goin' real slow.”
“So?”
Sofi favored him with another of her smiles that implied his stupidity. “Ain't nobody goin' through Fourth at night an' movin' real slow, Baby.”
X
Author: veiledndarkness
Pairing: Bobby/Jack
Rating: R
Summary: What’s it all worth when you’re alone?
Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made and no harm intended.
Notes: AU, the brothers were not raised together by Evelyn.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
X
He stood in front of the window, watching the snow fall and cover the first layer on the ground, his hands clasped behind his back. Any minute now...his prize was en route. Victor Sweet smiled, humming under his breath. It had been easy, far too easy to take Jack. Such patience to wait this long, he planned to savor every single second of this, right up to the moment of Bobby's fall.
Destroying Bobby was so goddamned simple, it irked at him, truly, to realize it only now. "And why do ya get attached, when you oughta know better, Bobby boy?" he chuckled.
His cell phone chirped on the desk, ignored by Victor as he watched the snow and the approaching vehicle in the distance. He rubbed his chin and turned away from the window, taking a seat at his desk. The phone continued to chirp, Jeremiah's phone number appearing in the viewer. Victor switched it to silent and sat back in his chair, waiting.
Time crawled and then, something that brought a cold smile to his face, a noise, a scuffle of sound in the hallway. The door opened and two of his men entered the wide doorway, a slumped over figure held up between them. Victor eyed the boy, watching with some amusement as they forced him to stand.
"Didn't I fuckin' warn ya?" the man growled, slapping Jack when he squirmed in the tight grip.
"Enough Luke," Victor sat forward, his heartbeat picking up a notch. "We don't want our lil' guest here to pass out. Jack, are you listenin', boy?"
Blue eyes spat fire at him, the boy's lips drawn back in a bloody snarl, his cheek already darkening with what would become a spectacular bruise. He stared back defiantly at Victor and spat a mouthful of blood tinged spit on the fancy carpet beneath him.
"Now that was rude, Jackie," Victor laughed. "Oh I like you, you got some fight in you, boy."
Jack glared at him, his chest hitching unevenly with each breath. Victor waited a moment before standing and walking around to them. He took his time, slowly walking over until he was in front of Jack. He looked at him, annoyed by the fact that had Jack been standing straight up, he would have towered over Victor by several inches.
Victor smirked and ran a hand through Jack's tangled hair, yanking a bit on the strands. "Yeah, you got a cocksuckers' mouth for sure. Bet you love doin' it too. Got that look about you, pretty boys got that look in their eyes, an' their mouths."
"Fuck you," Jack whispered, shaking with anger, raw hatred coming off him in waves.
"No, no, Jack. I don't fuck boys," Victor patted his bruised cheek, enjoying the flinches of pain that resulted. "Pretty as ya are, I know who's been inside you most recent, an' sloppy seconds ain't for me."
Jack lunged at him with a snarl, nearly breaking free of the men holding him. Victor took a step back and nodded to Luke, who shoved Jack's arm up higher along his back. "G' on, keep fightin' an I'll break it," he hissed.
He fell back into their grip with choked cry of pain and fear. Victor smiled a cruel smile and gave Jack a once over. "Street rat, then?"
Jack clamped his mouth shut, his eyes watering. Victor supposed it must have been quite painful to be held like that. "Yeah, I think so. Bobby sure loves him some street ass. Don't see why, you never know where that hole was an' you can't trust a street rat t' be honest, now can we, Jackie?"
"What the fuck do you want?" Jack stared back at him, breathing hard. A tear ran down his cheek, smearing the blood around his mouth. "Huh? What the fuck do you want with me?"
"Boy, who said it was about you?" Victor smirked and let out a small chuckle. "Oh, Jack, it ain't about you at all."
Jack licked his split lip, shaking more. Victor fisted his hand in Jack's hair again, wrenching him forward. Jack moaned, twisting away, his face contorted with pain. "It's you that hurts Bobby. Takin' you is gonna be the last straw."
"You... won't b-break him," Jack managed, his eyes rolling back when Luke shoved more on his arm.
Victor's smile faded. "You fuckin' punk," he snapped and yanked hard on Jack's hair, backhanding him viciously. Jack slumped back down with a strained whimper. Victor flexed his fingers and walked away from him and over to his desk. "Pussy," he muttered.
Luke relaxed the grip on Jack's arm ever so slightly. "Want 'im in the one on Fourth?"
"Yeah, get the faggot outta my sight, 'fore he bleeds more on my fuckin' carpet."
They hefted Jack up, carrying his limp body from the room. Victor sat down on his chair and laughed wildly, the cackle bouncing off the walls and echoing around him.
X
"You don't even know where he's got 'im, Bobby, you ain't thinkin' this through," Angel frowned, watching Bobby collect a cache of weapons. He laid each item on the table, checking them over, his fingers moving over the guns, years of practice in the way he handled them.
Bobby spared a glance at Angel, leveled a glare at him and moved on to the next gun. He checked the bullets in it and reset the safety. "You think I care what you got to say? Far as I'm concerned, there ain't no place I won't go lookin'."
"An' maybe that's what Victor's hopin' on, huh? This could be one hell of a trap."
Bobby tossed a pistol at him. "Shut up or get out. I'm done with games, with people I can't trust. Either you're in or you're out."
Angel snagged the pistol, his lips tightening into a deep frown. "Bobby, man, don't play like that. You know I got ya back, always have. I'm jus' sayin' this could be a real fuckin' big trap. Jack's the bait."
"No, this is the fucking bait," Bobby took the crumpled note from his pocket and slammed it down on the table. "That's the bait, right there."
He leaned over and read the single line. His lips twitched. "That fuckin' prick. Pretty much ownin' up to what happened, ain't he?"
Bobby pushed a clip into one of the guns, a flicker of rage in his eyes for a moment. "She never did nothin', never deserved what they did. Lucy either."
"You got that right. So what's your plan?"
"I ain't got a plan," Bobby tucked a gun into the holster he had on. "I'm wingin' it."
"You always wing it." Angel folded the note up and held it out to Bobby. "You ain't tired of goin' on instinct yet but ya sure do need some backup."
Bobby snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yeah...Yeah, I think so, but this is serious shit, Angel. You're in or you're out. I want him back, you hear me? I want him back an' I want Victor Sweet t' die beggin' for mercy."
"Mercy?" Angel blinked and frowned. "Since when do you give out mercy?"
"No mercy," Bobby whispered. He picked up another gun, his hand shaking for a second. "None."
"Where do we start?"
Bobby arranged several guns across the table. "I called Evan, called in some favors, see what shakes loose. Victor, I know his family, they got warehouses, I'd bet my last dollar on it. He's got houses, different ones. Jack could be in any of them. Call up Damien, see what he knows. He spied for me before, he'll do it again. He's a bitch but he's only about the cost, not the moral."
Angel pushed the paper at Bobby. "Take it, man. An' listen, just a thought...what about Jerry?"
"Fuck him."
"He might know some shit..." Angel said cautiously. "Never know, right?"
Bobby let out a sound of cold rage. “Fuck him. He made his goddamned bed, now let him lie in it with his whore.”
Angel kept his mouth shut, not wanting Bobby's rage directed at him. He could see it, the anger that left deep shadows under Bobby's eyes, the pronounced lines in his forehead and the grim downturn to his mouth. He resumed checking the guns. If Bobby knew he'd hung up on Jerry...
X
After several hours of chasing his tail, as Bobby was apt to describe it, Green sat down in the booth seat with a weary sigh. He loosened the tie around his neck and offered the waitress a wan smile. "Hey Doll, you got any specials I oughta know about?"
She raised one gray eyebrow at him, her lips curved with a light smirk, battered notepad in hand. "Oh sure do, same shit as the day b'fore, an' the day b'fore that, an' so on, Mr. Big Shot Detective. You want ya usual?"
Green chuckled. "That's Lieutenant, Doll, an' you know I do."
"Ain'tcha ever thought 'bout orderin' somethin' new?" she tucked her notepad into the faded apron pocket.
"Changes aren't always good, Dolores Doll."
She cracked a smile at him, lighting up her wrinkled face. "So damned bitter, you are. Sit back, I'll getcha what you need."
Green ran a hand over his tie, leaving it draped loosely over his shoulders. No one was talking, there was no info on Sweet's whereabouts. Green frowned. That in itself was unusual. Victor Sweet was loud, proud of his background and obnoxious as all hell, never one to keep quiet about his life. He should have been shouting from the rooftops that he had something of Bobby Mercer's. That would have fit his usual patterns.
He drummed his fingers on the well worn Formica table top, listening to the sound of a boxing match playing on the grainy television by the bar. And if Victor wasn't waving a red flag at Bobby, then what was the point? He sighed again, letting his eyes close for a moment.
"Look who get got here, sleepin' in a shit hole. My, my, what's become a' Detroit's finest?"
Green glared across the booth as someone slipped in across from him. She smiled at him, not entirely friendly and flipped her mane of glossy black hair back from her face. "They payin' you overtime for running you ragged, Baby?"
"Sofi, s' kinda early for you to be up," Green drawled. "You got yourself a date with someone respectable?"
She sniffed and set her purse on the table, taking out a metal file. Examining her nails, she ran the file over one. Sharpening her claws, Green thought with some amusement. "You don't know how t' talk to us ladies all proper, do you? All that education, goes t' nothin', Baby. Buy me a drink, hm?"
"How 'bout you tell me some things, an' maybe I'll buy."
Sofi pouted a little. "Tell you what?" She picked up the file and rubbed her thumbnail across it. "What do you think you gotta know?"
Green watched her for a minute. "You hear anything about Victor Sweet lately?"
"He fucked up my friend, Bibi!" she hissed, dark eyes flashing, her full lips drawn back over her teeth. "Son of a bitch, he beat her, dump her outside like she's trash..." she trailed off, swearing fluidly in Spanish.
Green winced. "Shit...I'm real sorry, Sofi. She ok? Got a safe place to be?"
Sofi sniffled and nodded. She put the file down and shook her hair back. "Devil man, the girls, they call him Devil man. There's nothin' good from his money. Filthy money, blood money. They all scared of him, Baby, all of us."
"Anythin' else though, anything at all?"
She shrugged. "Nothing new, but maybe I heard somethin', maybe I didn't. What's it worth?"
Dolores cleared her throat. "Oh do pardon me," she placed the tray of fries and a steak sandwich on the table. "Can I get the lil' lady somethin'?"
Sofi sneered at her. "You jealous cause you remember your days or cause you never had them, huh?"
"Sofi..." Green groaned. "Don't start, girl. Doll, we're fine. Bring her somethin', charge it to me."
Dolores eyed Sofi. "Don't give me no excuse t' put your ass outside t' night girlie. S' gonna get real cold out there."
Sofi turned away, clearly ignoring her. "Jealous," she muttered under her breath. She stole one of Green's french fries, eating it fast and daring him with a cheeky grin to say something.
"What'd you hear? This is important, girl, real important."
She took another fry and nibbled the end of it. "I heard some things, might be important. He got shit moving around the city faster lately, here n' there. That Bobby Mercer's on his list but that ain't no surprise, Baby."
"You don't know the half of it. What 'bout Jeremiah Williams?"
Sofi giggled and gestured with the french fry. "Oh him, Mistah Playboy, he got Camille up an' comfy in his condo, he pay her real good."
"Camille hooks?"
She rolled her eyes. "For a cop, you sure are dumb. She ain't no street walker, she's a high class lady. Like me."
"Uh huh," Green took a fry from his plate. He dipped it in the ketchup streaked over the fries. "What do you know about Jeremiah?"
"Flashes his money, he think he's some big shot. We all know the truth, he be at Bobby's beck an' call," she smirked and flicked her fingers. "Big, bad Mercer, he don't want none of us, we ain't got what his nasty needs want."
Green ate another fry. "You know 'bout that?"
"Please, Baby, don't act like you don't know. I wouldn't touch him, no never, who cares how much he got when he can't be nice. I heard, I see things, I listen, Baby, I do," she batted her eyelashes at him. "He saw me once, he be cruisin' and he slowed at a light. Me an' Bibi go up to the window an' he looked like he wanted t' fly away," she laughed, the sound rich and throaty. "Oh boy, Mister Big Boss Man, he don't like us ladies, no Baby, he sure don't. He gets real nasty if'n he sees you laughin'."
"Tell me you didn't cross him, Sofi," Green looked up, a hint of fear passing his face. Bobby could be horribly unforgiving.
Sofi waved one hand, her nails painted with red and black stripes. "He yell an' I yell. I ain't scared of no queer man. He never hit a woman, I betcha that much. Who cares who he is? Always another man waitin' to come along. Maybe the next one will want some of me."
Dolores dropped a plate in front of Sofi. “Don't be countin' on that.”
Before she could rise, Green grabbed Sofi's wrist, holding her in place. “Don't, I mean it, don't make me cuff you!” he whispered fiercely.
Sofi stilled and then winked at him. “Ohh Baby, you jus' wanna cuff me up an' have your way huh? S' ok, I got a few cops in my corner.”
“Not today, Sofi, not today. Here,” he let go of her wrist and nodded to Dolores. “Eat up, ok?”
She laughed and took another fry off his plate, ignoring the fresh ones before her. “Tell you one more thing. S' gonna cost you more than food.”
Green nodded, resigned. “Make it worth the paper it's printed on, girl.”
“I seen somethin' t' night, on my way up Fourth. Don't know what, but I saw some big car travelin' through there, goin' real slow.”
“So?”
Sofi favored him with another of her smiles that implied his stupidity. “Ain't nobody goin' through Fourth at night an' movin' real slow, Baby.”
X
