Page 87 of My Heart Still Beats
“Betsy. Manfred.”
“Good morning, Mr. Black. Can I get you anything?”
“Absolutely. A cup of your strongest black coffee, some scrambled eggs, bacon, and ackee and salt fish.”
“Coming right up.”
“Bring it in about twenty minutes,” he says. “Ms. Logan and I will be back by then.”
Betsy takes her plate of fruit and brings a slice of watermelon to her mouth. “Are you two going somewhere?”
“We are,” Ben says. “We’re going to go take a cold plunge.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ben
Fifteen years earlier…
“You’re just the kind of guy we need, Black,” Dirk says.
“You think, huh?”
“You’ve got brainsandbrawn. We need some brains.”
“What the fuck for?”
“We’re going to rob the convenience store,” he says, “and you’re going to help us.”
I take another drag off my cigarette. “Yeah? Good luck with that.”
“We don’t need luck. Didn’t I just say you were going to help us?”
I throw my butt down on the asphalt, stamp it out with the bottom of my steel-toed boot. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
Dirk takes a step toward me. “You’re in now. Because you know.”
“Bullshit.”
“I could kick your ass,” Dirk says.
“You and what army?”
I’ve got five inches on him in height, and I’m just as muscled as he is. Of course, he’s got Carlos and Jerry.
“Hey, man, I’m just thinking of you. I see that shack you live in with your father and brother. Everybody knows how hard you work. Wouldn’t you like a little something for nothing for once in your life?”
My father’s not the greatest father in the world, but he’s no thief. He’d hate me even talking about something like this.
But damn…
It would sure be nice to have some extra money once in a while.
Stealing is wrong. I sure as hell know that.
So why the fuck am I actually considering this?
These three are losers. The kind who cut school half the time and smoke weed in the bathrooms the other half.
