Page 23 of Hush Money & Hits
“This is crazy,” she said the next day when we left the courthouse. We’d stopped at a simple jewelry store, and I spent less than $600 on both our rings. They were just for show. In three days, we were leaving for Cabo, and then we’d hit Florida, so she could look at some places to live. Once she left, it would feel odd getting back to my life. Sleeping in my main home again. Without Tasha being there. Trying to find things to keep me busy since I was no longer going to be killing people for money.
“Most of the events that have occurred in the past month have been crazy.”
“That’s true,” she sighed. “I went from having a normal ass life to one that I barely even recognize.” I could see her glance over at me from her peripheral. “I feel like I should do more than say thank you.”
Licking my lips, I stole a quick glance her way. “You trying to get nasty?” I inquired making her laugh.
“I should have known,” Vanya shook her head as my shoulder hiked.
“You really don’t even have to keep saying thank you. I feel like I owe a lot more of this kind of energy to the world. I kind of like rooting for the good guy and pissing off the villain.”
“What if I’m not a good guy though? I mean, I’m not saying that I’m not. I’m just saying, how would you know? Like what if I knew Tee was going to try and set Kalim up? What if I was in on it?”
“That don’t have shit to do with me,” I asserted. “I’m not God. Judging whether you deserve to live, or die isn’t my call to make. And I know that sounds crazy as hell coming from me, but it’s facts. You had a real close brush with death. If you walked away from that and still decide to do underhanded or risky shit that’s on you.”
Vanya stared out of the window. The car was silent for a bit until I spoke again.
“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”
“Ummmm,” she hummed while tapping a finger on her chin. “Honestly, maybe cheated on a test in high school? The teacher stepped out of the room, and I took pictures of the answer sheet.”
I looked over at Vanya with a disappointed frown. “That’s it?”
“What? What am I supposed to be out here doing?” she asked with wide eyes. “I stole something once, and my mama beat meso damn bad, you can’t pay my ass to think about stealing not even as an adult. I snuck and smoked weed when I was like fifteen. Had sex for the first time at sixteen. I’ve done a lot of bad shit, I guess.”
“Man,” I drawled before laughing. “You call that shit bad? That’s normal teenage shit. You never drugged a nigga and robbed him? Set a nigga up? Fucked your friend’s man? Took a life?”
It was her turn to frown. “No,” her nose scrunched as she reeled back.
“You good people then, shawty. I damn sure can’t judge you. Not even a little bit. Kalim isn’t an angel either. If your cousin was going to try and rob him it wouldn’t be like he’d never robbed anybody. Life comes full circle. The only difference between him and Tee would be that she got caught.”
“True,” Vanya mumbled. “They still haven’t found my cousin’s body,” she sighed. “I know my aunt knows that he isn’t alive anymore. But as long as they don’t find a body, I’m sure she has some small sliver of hope. She just needs some kind of closure.”
“A body is something I doubt they find especially if Kalim had his goons to handle ole boy. He’s paid fishermen to take bodies out into the swamps before. Nigga has barrels of acid. Meat grinding machines. Wild hogs. A body isn’t something that’s hard for him to get rid of.”
Vanya slouched down in the seat. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but it was the truth. If her people were looking for closure, they’d probably never get it. Even if Kalim’s men had buried the body, they probably buried it so far out in such a random place that no one would ever find it. I had no clue why Tee or her brother felt it would be a good idea to play with Kalim. That man was the devil when he wanted to be.
Vanya was silent, and I let her sit with her thoughts for a bit. “You hungry?”
She shook her head clearly disturbed by what I’d just said. I need to stop by my house. If you’re hungry by the time we leave there, I’ll take you to get something.” She nodded but didn’t speak.
At my crib, I killed the engine, got out of the car, and opened her door. The house we were at was twice the size of the home that I’d been staying at with Vanya. Her eyes darted around her surroundings. “This is beautiful,” she breathed taking everything in.
“Thank you.”
“I couldn’t imagine living in something like this.”
“It’s just as nice as the home you’ve been staying in. It’s just more spacious. You can have a seat. The cleaning ladies came today. I just want to grab a few things from the laundry room.”
Vanya nodded and walked into the living room. All the clothes and shoes that were in the house I’d been in with Vanya had been brand new. I had been popping tags on clothes, draws, socks, the whole nine. The only thing I didn’t have enough of there were gym clothes. There were also some new things at my main crib that I wanted to take to Cabo with me.
It didn’t take me long to grab what I needed. When I walked in the living room, Vanya had her head on the back of my couch with her eyes closed. She could have been tired, but I knew her cousin was on her mind heavy. I walked over to Vanya and stood in front of her. She could grieve her cousins. That was to be expected. But if she was hanging on to any hope like her aunt was, I was pretty sure she’d end up disappointed. If her cousin’s body was in a place that it could be found, why hadn’t it been found already? At this point, it was more than likely decomposed.
Vanya’s eyes opened, and I leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips. I could have been playing a dangerous game. The fastest way to become attached was to keep having good ass sex every day. A small smile graced her beautiful face as she shook her head. “I can always count on you to be horny.”
“You’re not horny?” I asked nuzzling my nose in the crook of her neck.
“I hadn’t really thought about it.”
