The HUSH Series: (HUSH, HUSHED and JANE.)

by Sandra Raine

  Haven't mentioned it to him.

  "What of Bob Ray and Abel?"

  They're out looking for the men who put a bullet in their leg.

  "We we're angry."

  Well they're much more angrier.

  "I bet."

  I'll talk to them. Call Guillermo. Set up the meeting so we can get rid of the shit and get on with our lives.

  "We need money, Andy. Running on empty."

  Try the UBS.

  "Shouldn't you break it down into smaller banks?"

  I trust the Swiss.

  "You always have."

  Get back to me. I'll be waiting.

  "Fucking prick!" Jonah spat the second Dominic hung up with Parker. He got up from the table and headed outside for a breath of air.

  "So, it was that easy, huh? Convincing him, I mean." I mused only 'cause it sounded that way even though I knew the entire conversation was riddled in deception on both our ends.

  "Yup. He's not buying it." Josh then retorted the least bit phased as he reached across the table and picked up a pack of cigarettes. He pulled out a couple of cancer sticks, handing one to Justin.

  "Damn, this is going to go down bad." Justin said picking up the lighter beside him and lighting both his and Josh's cigarettes.

  "We've got to keep a positive attitude, Cuz," Dominic said picking up the cell and dialing.

  "You know that meeting is going to be crawling with Parker's men." I reminded.

  "Then we need to conduct business where there's plenty of open space." Marx then suggested seizing both Justin and Josh's attention.

  "Then maybe we should go out, scope a few places around here, see what we can find." I added, echoing Marx's suggestion.

  "It's there," Dominic announced. "All of it."

  "So when are you going to move it?" Justin probed.

  "Soon."

  "Why not now?" Josh urged.

  "'Cause he'll know something is up."

  "He knows something is up already," Marx interjected. "You saw how quick he was to forgive Dom here despite Dom almost blowing his fucking hand off his fucking arm."

  "We have to give him some sort of benefit of a doubt," Dominic stressed reaching for the pack of cigarettes.

  "Tomorrow we'll head out and see what we can find?" Justin said. "You hungry, Jane?" I nodded. "Anyone else hungry?" Both Marx and Josh shook their heads.

  "Nah. I'm cool, Cuz," Josh said dragging on the last of his cigarette before putting it out.

  "Well I'm gonna take Jane out for a bite." Justin said also putting out his cigarette and rising from his seat.

  We stopped off at Denny's with Justin having a coffee and some French fries while I had a chicken steak dinner. We didn't talk much for the first few minutes of our dinner, nor did we on our way to Denny's. I guess we were both feeling neutral; lost in our own thoughts.

  It wasn't until half-way through dinner when I noticed how much older Justin appeared despite him being twenty-five. And he looked tired, and not as in a lack of sleep "tired"; I mean he looked tired as in running from Parker, tired of this life - the hustling and the muscling. The only thing that hadn't truly change was his vanity, his rigid charm and his inner fire.

  "What?" Justin said taking a sip of his coffee. And it was strange watching Justin drink coffee when all I could ever recall was him drinking beer.

  "I want you to talk to me about Tia," I said leaving Justin to smirk as he settled his cup of coffee aside and added more ketchup to his fries. "That's an odd combination. . .ketchup and fries and coffee."

  "I've known Tia the majority of her life," Justin said settling the ketchup bottle next to his cup of coffee. "Her sick family knew my sick family."

  "'Sick?'"

  Justin nodded. "Both our families were fucked up in the head when we met. But then it's only expected when you live in the ghetto, in poverty, and the only thing a girl like Tia has going for her is her pussy, ass and mouth. I know where you're sitting it sounds pretty fucked up, but it is what it is." And this was one thing I honestly loved about Justin. . .his bluntness; the ability to call shit as he saw it fit. "Anyhow. Tia's mom was always strung out on something. And since my old man was heavy into dealing, he would deal to Tia's mom. Well, one day Tia's mom had no money. And since she was tweaking real bad, she instead offered Tia to my old man as payment. So my old man started banging Tia at the tender age of nine. I remember the first time he ever banged her. My old man had Tia screaming from the top of her lungs as he broke her cherry. It took a few more of his banging on her to finally get her used to his cock. And he was banging her pretty often even when Tia's mom wasn't looking to score. She would just send her daughter right over like he was ordering a fucking pizza!

  But shit, and anyhow. . .Whenever the old man would get done banging her, I would sneak into the room and help Tia out of bed. Sometimes she would be laying there crying her eyes out; other times she would be bleeding from between her legs 'cause he banged her so hard. There were times when I would lay there next to her, holding her in my arms, comforting her. And that went on until she hit twelve. Because by that time my old man started making sexual advances at me. And I was to busy having sex with Tia. I mean, you can say that by that time we considered ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend until I summoned up enough courage to run away from home. And that was the day after my old man raped me. So that same night I hooked up with cousin Josh who was having just as much problems at home, and together we hit the road, hitchhiking our way to the west coast, landing on Skid Row, hustling people, hustling ourselves for a few bucks. Then we bumped into Parker and Bob Ray and we hooked up with them, becoming a part of their crew.

  When I made my first grand, I summoned for Tia. Bought her a one-way ticket to LA. Then Parker got a glimpse of Tia, liked what he saw and coerced me into bringing her into the business. Tia didn't put up much of a fight. She always said she did it for me only because I promised her that we would one day be together. And believe it or not, Jane, she's still holding me to my promise. But now I feel like shit 'cause I haven't been able to live up to it. Parker grabbed a stern fucking hold on her and that was that. Haven't been able to take her away. But I am hoping that with this thing that's about to go down with Parker, something will prevail, and I'll get my Tia back."

  "Where is Tia now?"

  "Still in Arizona. The last I checked. She speaks badly of me, doesn't she?" Justin mused with a wink.

  I didn't answer. Instead, I picked up my fork and continued eating. I think my silence was enough to convince him about Tia speaking badly about him. But it only served him right. He deserved it.

  "What's up between you and Marx?" Justin then pried suddenly, and somewhat aggressively.

  "He wants to marry me," I said through a shrug of my shoulders.

  "He's not for you." Justin said bluntly. I didn't argue. I just shrugged my shoulders and took a sip of my soda.

  "He brings me comfort." I confessed.

  "What was it like. . .fucking him?"

  "I think what you meant to say was 'sleeping with him'."

  "No. I meant what I said."

  "And why would you mean it like that?"

  "'Cause it's all I know. . .Fucking and gambling. I don't know shit about love!"

  "You sound angry?"

  "Well you can fucking thank my drugged up mama and my perverted old man for that."

  "You can change all that," I said with a great amount of hope in my tone. And I don't think Justin was expecting that, not from someone like me. And instead of arguing or saying something blunt or negative, Justin reached across the table and slipped my hand into his and gazed into my eyes the way two pre-destined lover's gazed at one another.

  "I regret the past, Jane. Every second. Every minute. Every hour of it." Justin sighed, caressing the back of my hand with a lone finger. "And if I could take it all back, I would but I can't. All I can do now is. . .change. . .the future. Your future." I knew it must've been hard for Justin to summon up the courage to
say what he just said. . .and to me. I sensed it immediately in his tone, the way his words staggered, how he tried to keep a sincere face as he said it - he was making every attempt for me to believe him.

  "Will you make me a promise, Justin?" Justin nodded keenly. "Promise me that you will not let them harm me." Justin squeezed my hand.

  Chapter 18

  March 13th, 2013

  Caldwell, Idaho ~

  It took us a day to find a decent meeting place between Parker and Guillermo. It then took us another day to set up the meeting. And a couple of more days to prepare our surroundings and furnish the first floor of the building which was a two story home smack dead in the center of a four acres property. With a minimal amount of snooping, we had come to discover that the sale of the house had been previously suspended due to some foundation problems, and the owners didn't have the funds to fix it so they just been leaving it alone.

  So for two days we scoped out the house, it's surroundings, and clocked the traffic on the street which ran parallel to the house. And since there was no fencing or wall surrounding the property we then had to determine from the street how much attention would be drawn to the house and to the vehicles that were expected to show up. What we were trying to do was avoid a curiosity factor. But since Caldwell was a relatively small town, and the surrounding houses had some distance between one another, the traffic posed minimal, and so we presumed the attention would be just as minimal.

  We had originally scoped out the neighboring town of Murphy but the population was extremely sparse and we didn't want to risk heavy gunfire if the meeting came to that 'cause the lack of law. We were seeking a more heavily populated town where we could be lawfully protected only and if a heavy gunfire was to break out.

  Since there was no electricity in the house, we purchased a generator and a mini fridge and stacked it with the most priciest bottle water we could find, along with some imported beer and champagne and champagne flutes. We also purchased a conference table from a local consignment store and some decent office chairs to compliment the table. Then once that was done, we then took the liberty of stashing a few guns around the interior and the exterior of the house from what was left of the Suburban's artillery.

  We were ready. And I was scared as all hell. I couldn't sleep the night before, nor could I eat. I was worried about what could happen to us. I was worried about how many men in Guillermo's crew were going to show. I was worried about how many men in Parker's crew were going to show. I worried about what Parker was going to do when Dominic and Justin and Josh showed up empty handed of Guillermo's product? I worried if Guillermo would retaliate on Parker for the money scam and the deception? I worried about Parker retaliating on Dominic. . .I mean, it was to much to ingest.

  I didn't hear Marx come into my motel room from the bathroom until I stepped out and found him sitting on the edge of the bed staring at the beige carpet. He, too, looked slightly worried about the meeting. I mean, I think we all were.

  "You can't sleep either," I said crossing to him from the bathroom. Marx smirked. He took my hand and pulled me to him. He then wrapped his arms around my body and gave me a tight squeeze.

  "After the meeting tomorrow, Jane, I'm going to go my separate way and I'd like you to come with me."

  "Where to?"

  "I don't know? East. North. Nowhere in particular really."

  "Why don't you want to stick around? You seem to get along with the other Chiefs. Maybe you could go venture in business with them. Like open a pawn shop? A gun shop? Some kind of shop. I mean, you don't have to go anywhere. . .We're like family."

  "Trust me, Jane, all that sounds inviting but I work better alone."

  "Well if that's the case, why have me around?"

  "Companionship, for one. Sex for the other." And Marx laughed coercing me to laugh, too. Damn! He still had a beautiful laugh.

  "I'll go if I can swing it passed Jonah."

  "He's not going to let you go, Jane. You mean too much to him." I nodded in agreement. Marx lessened his hold on me and I sat down beside him. And for the next few minutes we just sat there in the semi-dark staring into nothing with our thoughts obviously lost on one another.

  "I am going to miss you, Jane," Marx said sounding heartbreakingly sincere. I lowered my gaze and just shook my head with tears gathering heavy in my eyes.

  "I could sneak away with you," I suggested, almost sounding desperate. "Seriously," I sniffled.

  "As much as I would like that, Jane, I can't let you do that. It wouldn't be fair to Jonah. It wouldn't be fair to you or me."

  "Jonah doesn't own me, Marx. No one owns me."

  "No one's trying to own you, Jane. We're only trying to protect you - "

  "But I need you. I mean, what good is protecting me if you refuse to stay?"

  "You're starting to complicate this, Jane."

  "No. You are."

  "How do you figure?"

  "One minute you're asking me if I'm going to go with you. The next minute you're telling me to stay. It seems like you can't make up your mind about what you want of me."

  "I guess that's where that term, "She makes me crazy" comes into play," Marx laughed again.

  "Maybe we should have this conversation tomorrow when it's no longer the 13th," I suggested, playfully.

  Marx nodded. "I can live with that."

  And instead of Marx getting up and walking out of my room, he laid himself down on my bed bringing me down with him. And instead of staring into the darkness, I leaned up on one elbow and gazed upon Marx admiring everything that I saw in him. I mean, he reminded me so much of Justin so perhaps that was why I was so in awe of him.

  I ran a delicate finger across Marx's chest, swirling a heart around his heart - a sign that I was falling in love with him. And Marx must've grasped that sign 'cause he grabbed my arm and pulled me just slightly above him. He then grasp the sides of my face gently and kissed me passionately on the mouth.

  "I'm just going to kiss you, Jane," Marx whispered softly against my lips once we broke for air. "I won't have sex with you until you hit eighteen."

  "Think you can wait two months?" I proposed, brushing my lips against his. Marx then smirked against my lips.

  "Think you can restrain yourself from me for the next two months?" he countered sweeping his plush tongue across my lips teasingly. I shivered. And for the first time in my life, I welcomed it instead of running from it. And this was how the breaking down of an inner oppression started: not with a fist but with a kiss.

  PART 3

  Chapter 19

  March 14th, 2013

  Caldwell, Idaho ~

  They relocated me to another motel an hour before the meeting. Jonah and Dominic, along with Marx decided it was best to avoid an ambush. I didn't argue. I just packed the little of my things from one motel and unpacked them in another.

  The plan was that Josh would head to the meeting first to meet up with Parker. Then, when Guillermo arrived twenty minutes into the meeting, Josh would call Dominic and Dominic and Justin would then arrive at the meeting. During the meeting it would be announced that there was no girl however, there was an intent to defraud Guillermo and that Dominic, Justin and Josh would declare Parker a thief with Dominic announcing to resume in Parker's place. And to show good faith and good business ethics, Dominic would then, and only if the topic came up, offer to return Guillermo's money via bank transfer which would be through a separate account. If agreed, Dominic would then phone me and I in turn would make the bank wire transfer into Guillermo's account. And at that point, either Parker's life along with Bob Ray and Abel Jr. would end in gunfire or by single bullets from Guillermo's gun. Then after, Dominic, Justin and Josh would go one way and Guillermo would go the other with nothing being lost except for Parker and the crew he commanded. And all the while, Jonah and Marx would be sitting quietly in the very back of the Suburban keeping watch behind thick tinted windows, only surfacing if there were signs of distress.

  The mee
ting had been scheduled for two in the afternoon. I watched as Dominic, Justin and Josh got ready in their guns and bullet proof vests - compliments of Jonah and his Suburban.

  Meanwhile, Marx casually strolled my way, grinning ear-to-ear as if he was taking a stroll through a garden. And all that was missing was some rocks to casually kick up.

  "So," he continued to grin. "Where is it?" he then said prompting Jonah and Justin to glance our way while leaving me to cock my head and shrug my shoulders 'cause I had no idea what he was talking about.

  "Where's what?" I retorted, my comical tone grabbing Dominic and Josh's attention.

  "My piece. My gun. You know, the one you took from me back at Jeanest's?"

  Oh, God, my mind suddenly groaned 'cause I did not know how I was going to explain my selling his gun to him. So instead of dicking around the question, I seized it. "I sold it."

  "What?!" Marx just about shit himself a brick.

  "You did. . .what?" Jonah mused.

  "Ah, man!" Josh exclaimed a bit amused himself. "Now that's fucked up!"

  "To whom?"

  "'To whom', what?"

  "To whom did you sell my gun to?"

  "Oh. A pawn shop."

  "Well you can kiss that piece goodbye!" Josh instigated with a laugh while Dominic and Justin kept to themselves, shaking their heads and smirking. "Don't sweat it, Bro." Josh then comforted. "I've got a couple you can borrow."

  "Great," Marx groaned, strolling away, shaking his head in disbelief while Jonah stood there scolding me with his eyes and one hand on his hip - so fucking brotherly!

  "I'm sorry, Marx," I apologized with every sentiment inside me. Marx scratched his head and said nothing.

  I couldn't bring myself to look at Marx as he slipped into the Suburban with Dominic, Justin and Josh while Jonah stood behind reminding me of the one thing I had to do. I merely nodded. Then we parted ways, with Jonah kissing me on the cheek.

  After the Suburban disappeared from my sight, I turned around and headed back into the guy's motel room, took a seat and waited for Dominic's call.