Page 74 of Intent to Kill
Mercedes dropped her eyes to the floor, as good as admitting her involvement.
“This time it was business,” Adam said. “Blake needs to know that he can’t threaten me and get away with it.”
“Blake can do whatever he wants and get away with it!” Paul shouted.
“That’s exactly the fucking problem!”
Paul’s eyes shuttered, the room silent until Carlos dared to speak. “You weren’t there with us all those years ago. You didn’t see what we saw.”
“Lose what we lost,” Dan chimed in.
“Dorian Blake may be a scary fucker,” Carlos admitted. “But after everything we’ve been through, I want to see him burn.”
Paul had made Adam promise he’d ask the others before he started a gang war with Dorian Blake. And yes... hehadforgotten. But it looked like they were on board, so Paul needed to back down.
“You don’t get it.” Paul shook his head, calming enough to let the pang of fear show across his dark eyes. “None of you worked alongside Dorian Blake for as long as I did. This isn’t how he operates, it isn’t how he works.”
“We know how we works,” Dan said solemnly. “Bribes and dishonor and murdering innocent bystanders. When he paid off one of our neighbors to give up someone who happened to be hiding on our street, do you think he took his target and stopped? Or do you think he slaughtered our entire neighborhood until there was nothing left.”
“Nothing left but the three of us,” Adam finished for him.
“I used to have three sisters, did you know that? These two were my brothers, sure,” Dan said, gesturing at Adam and Carlos. “But I used to have three sisters.”
“Six cousins, two aunts, and a mother,” Carlos said.
“So yeah, we know how he works,” Dan said.
“And when someone pledges loyalty to me, it won’t be able to be bought away with a fucking bribe,” Adam said. The mood in the room shifted dramatically, all three of them staring Paul down. And though Adam knew it wasn’t fair to put that on Paul, he did need him to understand. Because Dorian Blake was a fucking dead man, and he didn’t care how long it took. It was happening.
Paul shared a loaded look with Mercedes.
“I’m sorry. You know I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through at his hand. But I’ve been under this thumb, too. I was nearly a Second. I know how he operates. Much better than any of you do. And regardless of whathe’sdone tous, whatyou’vedone,” he squared his jaw at Adam, “you just signed our fucking death sentence.”
* * *
APRIL 1991
Adam had begun to find solace in the old lot. Their trailer park, the place that they once called home. Though now it was reduced to ashes, nothing left but rubble and brown, overgrown grass.
More and more often, he found himself spending time there. There was a wholesomeness to ending up back where he started. That day, he’d brought Paul to spend the afternoon shooting cans off broken brick walls.
Paul took care when lining cans up on the bricks, placing each with the delicate embrace of a lover. Adam smashed that all to hell when he shot it out of Paul’s hands.
“Can you wait until I’m done, please, before you start,” Paul huffed. “You’re a terrible shot. Could’ve hit me.”
Adam laughed and reloaded his gun, waving to usher Paul out of range. Sure, he was a little impatient. Call it a character flaw. Though he’d always thought impatience was more of a virtue.
He downed two more cans in the time it took for Paul to walk back to his side.
“Your shot.” Adam handed Paul the gun, covering his mouth with his palm to hold in another laugh. It was a taunt, always a taunt. Paulwasthe better shot, so Adam’s only hope was to psyche him out.
“That’s how it’s gonna be?” Paul gave him an incredulous look, rolling his shoulders like he’d only just decided to take this seriously. Taking only seconds, Paul focused the gun, shot seven times, and killed each can in succession. So quickly that smoke still hung and the shrill of gunfire rang into one long hum. When he turned back Adam greeted him with nothing but humility. “That’s what I thought.”
They both turned to look as Mercedes’s car pulled in, blowing the brown dust into a whirlwind. She was quickly out of the car, followed by Dan and Carlos.
When Adam saw her heading to him, his heart flashed with memory. One of her running into his arms in this very spot, five years earlier, with her hair flapping in the wind. Wrapping her arms around him and looking at him like the stars were born behind his eyes.
But it was just a memory. One that seemed less like reality with each passing day.
