JJ looked over at the guys standing at the door, watching quietly, wondering if Charlie was really going to shoot him and his dad. JJ’s eyes landed on Jesse, and Jesse nodded at him.
“Tell all of them except Jesse to leave,” JJ demanded. “Shut the door behind you, Jesse, when you come in.”
Charlie looked over at the door, enraged that his private business was being listened to by every man in the holler.
“Git the fuck outta ‘ere before I shoot yer asses next!” Charlie yelled.
The boys split, and Jesse did as he was asked. He walked in and closed the garage door behind him.
“Jesse Putnam, why does JJ need you to stay behind for this?” Charlie demanded.
Jesse glanced from Charlie to JJ, and JJ nodded.
“Because JJ didn’t do anything to Lynne,” Jesse replied.
“And how would you know?” Charlie asked.
“Because I was there. I was there when Lynne got her black eye,” Jesse replied.
“And just how did she get that black eye?” Charlie prodded, turning his attention to Jesse from JJ.
Jesse licked his lips and swallowed hard as his eyes glanced between Charlie and JJ nervously.
“My cousin Daryl,” Jesse replied. “He threatened to tell you, Charlie, that JJ and Lynne were sneaking around. He demanded a bunch of shit from Lynne. She came through and delivered, but…”
“But what?” Charlie hissed. “Out with it, boy!”
“He wanted more than what she brought him,” Jesse replied carefully. “And Lynne said no.”
“What do you mean wanted more?” Charlie asked.
JJ piped up, “He wanted her.”
It only took Charlie a few seconds to realize what they meant. He put his hands on his head with the gun pointed to the roof of the garage. He pointed the gun at Jesse’s chest.
“Why ain’t you tell me, boy?!” Charlie demanded. “Where is that mother fucker at? I’m going to make him wish his daddy had never shot him from his nut sack.”
“We didn’t tell you because nothing happened. I walked in when he hit her. I didn’t find out until later that night that he was trying to… we handled it, sir. That’s why you never heard about it,” Jesse replied.
“Handled it,” Charlie mocked. “Handled it how?!” he demanded.
“His body has been floating down the river since that night,” Jesse replied. “It’s probably already made it to the gorge by now.”
“Who killed him?” Charlie asked.
“Lynne did,” JJ replied. “She put a bullet between his eyes so you wouldn’t find out and go to prison for killing him and making an example out of him.”
“Why didn’t either of you pussies kill him?” Charlie demanded. “Why’d you make my daughter do something only men should be privy to?”
“I didn’t know that when JJ showed up what all had happened. So, while he beat the shit out of Daryl, I pulled a gun on him. JJ had every intention of killing him that night for her,” Jesse replied. “I still didn’t know what was going on that night. It wasn’t until after it all happened that JJ told me my gut instincts was right. Lynne didn’t want no one knowing what happened to her. So. before either of us could kill him for her, she put her own bullet in his head so the secret stayed between her and JJ.”
Charlie processed everything the boys told him.
“Who all knows what happened that night?” Charlie asked.
“Including Lynne, just the people in this room,” JJ replied. “It wasn’t no one’s business what happened. Lynne told everyone he fucked her over on a buy.”
“Let’s keep it that way. Her mama would have a heart attack knowing what really happened,” Charlie said. “Why is she so pissed at you?” Charlie asked. “How come you two stopped whatever you have been doing?”
JJ was quiet. “That’s personal,” he murmured. “But it all boils down to her not wanting a man to take care of her.”
Charlie nodded. “That sounds like her,” he said. “I’ll pay for the holes in your garage to be fixed and any other damages.”
“Don’t worry about it,” JJ replied. “Can I take my pops inside and clean that bullet wound?”
“Yea, yea,” Charlie said. “Sorry for the misunderstanding, Paul. If you had a daughter, you’d understand the rage. Hell, you still might understand having a boy of your own. Especially after what happened in NOLA all them years ago.”
Paul nodded. “Water under the bridge.”
Charlie walked out of the garage, and Jesse stood there, not sure to leave or to help JJ with his dad.
“I’ve got him,” JJ said, reading his mind. “Go on home.”
Jesse nodded once in acknowledgment and walked out the door. JJ worked at the ropes that had Paul tied into the chair. All the while he untied his dad, Paul stared at him. JJ glanced up at him, nervously as he undid the ropes.
“I’m sorry, Pops,” JJ said, breaking the awkward silence. “I know I lied to you.”
Paul stood from the chair. JJ flinched, waiting for the backhand to send him sprawling across the floor. Instead, his dad walked quietly from the garage and into the house, with JJ following behind, breathing heavily from nervousness. Paul walked into the living room and saw the busted down door. He ignored it, walking over to his bourbon and pouring himself a large glass of it.
“I’ll get that door fixed,” JJ said, hustling over to it and propping it upright against the door jam. It immediately slumped back over, hanging solely by one hinge.
JJ swallowed, waiting for his dad to lash out at him. Paul remained calm and collected as he walked to the kitchen and sat down at the table in there. He motioned for JJ to join him at the table and held his hand out motioning for him to take the chair across from him. JJ obliged his daddy’s wishes and sat down nervously across the table, facing him and maintaining eye contact. All of his training taught him that eye contact shows less fear. Paul carefully removed the suit jacket he had been wearing and inspected his bullet wound. He wiped the blood away with a towel that laid on the table.
Paul searched around his suit jacket pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. JJ had never seen his dad smoke before and didn’t even know he had the habit. Paul tapped a cigarette out of the pack and reached it up to his lips to slide it the rest of the way from the pack. He picked up his lighter and struck the flint, lighting the end of the cigarette until a glowing red cherry formed. He tossed the smokes and lighter onto the table and looked at JJ. He inhaled the smoke and exhaled it, quickly smoking the room up.
“Did I ever tell you how your mom and I met?” Paul asked JJ, standing from his chair and grabbing a medic kit from the cabinet above the stove.
Paul snatched a paring knife from his woodblock of knives and sat back at the table. He poured some of his bourbon onto the knife and then lit it with the lighter. It caught aflame before it burned all of the alcohol off, sterilizing the knife. Paul poured some of the bourbon on his wound and winced as it stung his open wound. He began to dig the knife around in the wound, looking for the bullet stuck in it.
“No, sir,” JJ replied. “You haven’t told me how you two met.”
Paul grunted as he dug around, hitting the bullet but not being able to pop it out. “We met here in this very holler.” Paul popped the bullet from his arm, and it landed with a bloody thud on the table. He grabbed his bourbon, poured some more on it, and then wiped the freshly running blood away with the towel. “Your mama came from a very prominent family that lived in Whitesville. Her dad owned a few stores downtown.” Paul poured some alcohol on a needle in the kit and lit it on fire the way he had the knife, setting it down in a clean ashtray and letting it burn until it went out. “They had this delivery system set up where you could order, and they bring your stuff out to you.” Paul threaded his needle with stitches. “I met your mama on a delivery one day. It was instant fireworks.”
Paul stuck the needle into his arm, wincing as he pushed it through with the stitches. “I worked
in the mines then. I didn’t have money like I do now or like I did when she was alive. But, she loved me anyway.” Paul continued stitching his arm up. “Her daddy hated me. Said I wasn’t good enough for his daughter. But we didn’t care. We were in love.” Paul passed the needle one final time through his wound, tied it off, and snipped the stitches loose from the needle. “Her daddy told her that if she wanted to be with me, she would be disowned from the family. No inheritance to her or her descendants.” Paul placed some gauze over his wound and taped it up. “She didn’t care about money. She left with me and never looked back.”
Paul took a long swig of his glass of bourbon and then set it back down on the table. “It’s one reason I know your mama loved me without any conditions. Whether we be rich or poor, she would be there for me because she left riches for me.”
JJ sat quietly as his dad told him the story about his mama.
“I have never loved another woman. I couldn’t bring myself to love someone else after she passed,” Paul said. “Charlie was right. I have known about you and Lynne for quite a while now. But I also knew that if it was love, there wasn’t a damn thing either of us could tell you two to keep you apart. I just didn’t want you getting into trouble over her.”
JJ nodded quietly, unable to form any words to reply.
“If you love that little girl, you let her know,” Paul proclaimed, pointing his fingers he held his cigarette in. “You tell her. You run away with her. You take her away from this place.”
“She won’t leave,” JJ murmured. “She won’t leave her family behind. She won’t leave the gangster shit behind. She won’t leave her boys behind. She ain’t mama.”
“She might not be your mama, but I know the two of you have something. It might take time. Hell, it might even be years before you get her out of here, but you get her out of here, or she will end up dead,” Paul replied. “Your mama ran, and she still ended up dead.”
“What do you know about her death?” JJ asked. “Do you know who did it?”
“I know the person who put the hit on her. It was her own damn daddy. But, I don’t know who pulled the trigger,” Paul mumbled, quietly drifting off into his own thoughts. “It’s water under the bridge now, though.”
Paul looked at JJ as he took a drag off of his cigarette. “Do you love her, son?” Paul asked.
“I honestly don’t know, Pops,” JJ replied, slumping down in his chair. “What I do know is I would do anything in the world to keep her safe even if it put me in harm’s way.”
“So, you’re saying you would die to protect her?” Paul asked.
“Yea and not just protect her. To keep her secrets. To make sure her name isn’t run through the mud. I would do anything for her to stay as innocent as she possibly can stay,” JJ replied.
“That’s love, son,” Paul replied. “And the kind of love you just don’t throw away because things got messy. You work on it, and you fix it.”
“It don’t matter,” JJ replied. “She’s done told me she can’t be with me. Our lives are too outlawish to make things work.”
“Boy, you’re eighteen years old. There is nothing outlaw about you yet,” Paul replied with a chuckle. “Had your mama been alive, you wouldn’t have even learned what you have by now. I had to prepare you for this life because it came looking for you.”
“I’ve always known one day it would be my life anyway. Take over the family business,” JJ said, shrugging his shoulders.
“And when that day comes, the empire you will have will be a clean empire. Nothing but legitimate businesses that aren’t used as a front to peddle black market shit,” Paul replied. “Time changes a man, and I don’t want you having this life full of death and shooting. I want you to have a good life. You will have my workers, but by then, they will be on the books, clean workers. I ain’t here to get people on drugs. I am here to get them off drugs.”
JJ sat in silence with his father at the table as he finished his cup of bourbon and cigarette. Paul patted JJ on the back before he retired to his room for the night. JJ just played his dad’s words over and over in his head. He didn’t have to live this life… not if he didn’t want to...
Chapter Six
Things began to slowly change between JJ and his dad. His dad started to take him with him to his meetings, mainly to share dinner time with JJ. JJ learned the ins and outs of things he had no clue about before. JJ met his dad’s lawyer at one dinner meeting. Mr. Brubaker was a younger lawyer, but he was good. He crunched numbers for Paul as an accountant would. He kept the share stocks cataloged and would sell when he needed to and buy when it was appropriate. Looking at him, he didn’t seem like much. He was roughly ten years older than JJ and green, fresh out of law school. Paul never explained to JJ how he came across Mr. Brubaker, but JJ had an idea. A lot of the workers Paul took a personal interest in and pushed the hardest were either once addicted or still addicted to drugs, and he was helping them get off the shit. Mr. Brubaker looked like a recovering addict; however, it was rude to ask those kinds of questions, especially at the dinner table.
“So, JJ, your father tells me you have plans to go to Ivy League for a business administration degree,” Mr. Brubaker said as he cut up a piece of his steak and shoved it in his mouth.
“Yes, sir,” JJ replied. “Although, West Coast isn’t considered Ivy League schools.”
“The West Coast has some of the best schools in the country. Don’t worry about that stamp of approval. What do you plan on doing with that degree?” Mr. Brubaker asked. “Specific ideas in mind?”
“I want to build a business from the ground up and then franchise it,” JJ replied, sipping his glass of water.
“Any particular business you have in mind?” Mr. Brubaker prodded. “I can help you out with the legalities and all when the time comes.”
“I don’t have one in mind yet,” JJ smiled. “And thank you for the offer. I will most likely take you up on it if it is still available when the time comes.”
“Oh, that offer has no expiration date,” Mr. Brubaker chuckled. “Your dad really helped me get on my feet, and the best way to return the favor would be to help his son do the same thing.”
“I really appreciate that, Hal,” Paul said with a smile.
Paul looked down and read the headline of the newspaper that was lying with all of the paperwork Mr. Brubaker had brought with him. He picked it up and smacked his hand against the article.
“This is the bullshit the people are facing daily,” he said tossing it back down.
JJ stole a glance at the article. It was about a local heroin house being busted. They found five overdosed and dead. It seemed they had been there for a few days compared to the bloat their body had. Among those that were dead were over thirty people that were cracked out of their mind on crack, heroin, meth, pills, and anything else they could get their hands on.
“The damn Browns are ruining this tiny section of West Virginia,” Paul hissed. “We all know that’s his shit he has been peddling.”
A stranger caught JJ’s attention out of the corner of his eye as his dad and Mr. Brubaker spoke amongst themselves about how Charlie Brown was ruining West Virginia and needed kicked out. JJ looked over to see a scroungy man in rags sit down at the bar and stare over at the table. He was dirty from what looked like coal, but these days you couldn’t tell with homeless people what covered them and made them look filthy. One thing JJ could tell, though, was that the guy was an addict. He had a shake to his hands and an all-around anxious and nervous temperament. JJ excused himself from the table and walked over to the man. The man’s facial expression went from curious to fearful as JJ approached him. He went to stand and leave when JJ raised his hands up in a soothing way.
“It’s ok, bud,” JJ said calmly, extending his hand to shake. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just came to ask you your name.”
The man looked around to see if anyone was watching before taking JJ’s hand in a handshake.
“My name i
s Buddy,” he said, rubbing his hair nervously.
“Howdy, Buddy. I’m JJ,” JJ replied. “You hungry?”
Buddy nodded. JJ raised his hand to get the bartender’s attention.
“No, no,” Buddy spoke quickly. “You don’t have to do that. I don’t have any money for this place.”
“I will pay for it,” JJ replied with a smile. “Treat is on me. Order anything you want.”
The bartender walked up to the two of them and glared at Buddy. JJ took a hundred-dollar bill out of his wallet and handed it to the bartender.
“Give this man whatever he wants to eat,” JJ said as the bartender accepted the money. “Only one beer for him, nothing more than one beer. Other than that, he can have whatever he wants off the menu that isn’t alcoholic. If he needs more money, I am over at that table,” JJ said, pointing to where his dad and Mr. Brubaker sat. “Give him the change from whatever is left over, then let me know, and I will tip you accordingly.”
“Yes, sir,” the bartender replied with a nod and turned his attention to Buddy. “What will you have?”
Buddy looked from JJ to the bartender then back to JJ. “Anything I want?” he asked.
“Yea, man. Anything you want,” JJ replied.
“Thank you,” Buddy replied.
JJ walked back over to the table his dad and Mr. Brubaker sat at while Buddy rambled off his order to the bartender. He didn’t even ask for the one beer JJ allowed. He ordered a sweet tea instead. JJ’s dad and Mr. Brubaker watched as JJ sat down.
“What?” JJ asked, picking his water up and taking a sip.
“Who is that?” Paul asked.
“A bum off the street,” JJ replied. “He looked like he could use a helping hand. So, I gave the bartender some money to feed him.”
“That was mighty nice of you,” Mr. Brubaker exclaimed. “Your boy has a heart of gold, just like his dad, Paul. You should be proud.”
Paul smiled. “Before we leave, Hal, give that gentleman my card. I may have some work for him to do.”
Them Holler Boys (A Southern Outlaw Series Book 1) Page 7
