Mercy

by Debra Anastasia

  I heard Feybi’s expensive loafers crackling the gravel on the street and gave my full attention to his approach. I was watching for tells and giveaways. Was he coming by himself, truly? Probably not. But Animal would see anyone headed this way. They had to go through a little valley and he had a great line of sight above us.

  “Mercy,” Feybi called out my street name.

  I didn’t respond. He sounded confident. A little too confident. I looked past him and saw an empty road.

  “We had a spot picked out. No need to move it.” Feybi finally came close enough that we were in talking distance. He stood there like a giant douchebag. Like his testicles were far too big. Like he was in charge of everything and expected to get things to go his way.

  I waited him out. He’d called the meeting, not me.

  “You sent me a hooker? Lovely thought, but I don’t need to buy it, if you know what I mean.” He ran a hand toward his crotch like he was showing off a new refrigerator to a potential buyer.

  I tilted my head. I wasn’t giving him a single thing. He had to lay his cards out.

  “Listen. I just wanted to thank you again about the unfortunate stuff regarding my granddaughter.” He was starting to bluster. I took in his white suit pants and black shirt. He was dressed like he was straight out of The Godfather movie, including the gold chain. There was such a thing as being too rich. Bat Feybi was surrounded by yes men judging from his dated style. Someone, somewhere was telling him he looked good. And they were wrong.

  “What’s Christina’s favorite cartoon?” I wasn’t sure why I was bringing it up.

  “What?” He stopped his pontificating.

  “You heard me.” I kept my voice soft.

  He tossed up his hands. “Why the fuck would I know that?”

  I watched his facial tics while he thought about his granddaughter. Was that guilt? I wasn’t sure. But there was something. Maybe it was the lack of empathy for her that stood out.

  “I’m a busy man. I don’t have time for that shit.” He shook his head.

  I changed the topic but not my analysis of him. “What repercussions have the Kaleotos implemented?”

  “For what? Oh yeah. Um, I had a few guys run into some things.” He ran his hand through his silver hair.

  I was right. He’d been playing the part of concerned grandparent. Because if a competitor and sworn enemy took something of yours that was special, that was important, then you decimated them. You had a checklist of what they had done and you made things right.

  I pulled my mask off. I knew the light from the closed store in the distance would highlight my ink. The dark would be menacing. My eyes would be spooky.

  “Oh shit. You really have the whole skull thing. I mean, I didn’t see it last time. But yeah. Anyway. I want to offer you another job…”

  My bike was already on its kickstand, so when I climbed off it, it stood. I walked up slowly to Feybi, never dropping my gaze.

  He was too much of an old bastard to show fear. He didn’t stay in his business alive this long if he pussied out. But I was betting it’d been a long time since he walked anywhere without his security.

  He had enough sense to stop talking. He knew things were changing. Once I was eye to eye with him, I let my nostrils flair. I spoke softly still. Almost a whisper so he had to lean in a little to hear me.

  “If I ever find out that you had something to do with Christina’s kidnapping, you will regret it.” I stood still, watching him closely. He had a pretty good poker face, but his left eye had a small twitch.

  “How could you think that? I love that little girl. I was devastated. But I’m a businessman. I can’t show that. You should understand how it is.” He tried to gain the control of the narrative again.

  I slowly started shaking my head. “If you ever see this face again…” I pointed to my disarming, permanent mask, “it’ll be because we’re sworn enemies.”

  I watched as he swallowed hard. “Listen. I understand that you’re a wild card, but you need to have someone to target what you can do. I have jobs that need to be done. I have resources that you can’t even fathom.”

  I actually could fathom. I’d been starting the process to hacking into his money. Because the money would tell me things this man never would.

  He switched tactics when I neither spoke nor moved.

  “My son—he wants no part of this business. I need someone I can trust. The work you’ve done, what you can do—I know you’re discreet. I know you have no attachments. We could work well together.” He started rubbing his palms against each other.

  There was family drama for sure, but the last person who needed to be punished for any of this man’s sins was a seven-year-old girl.

  I lifted my hand—it still had my driving glove on it—and I put my finger under his chin. He tried to shake me off, but I kept contact. He wouldn’t back up, because that would be giving me ground, literally.

  Finally, he tried to look annoyed, but let my finger stay under his chin. Now I delivered his fortune. “You’re an evil man. You want to hurt people. You’ll die alone and astonished that all your amassed power and wealth can’t save you. Nothing will save you from me. Christina stays safe. Every day she is alive is another day you get to live.”

  I snapped at him like a dog with a threatening bite.

  I heard a whistle. Animal was letting me know that I had taken too much time. I walked backwards to my bike. I had one more question.

  “Where’s the hooker?”

  Bat had the chills. I watched them shake through him. He answered honestly, “We weren’t sure how this was going to go, so we kept her.”

  I started my bike and tore out from under the tunnel. Animal’s engine was soon beside mine.

  I couldn’t let T be held by them.

  Gunshots rang through the quiet night. I turned my bike toward them and Animal fell behind me.

  I had no time to tell him we were going to war for the girl we’d bought, but I didn’t have to. He’d know.

  Before we could even pull into the park, the girl in question bolted out of the footpath.

  Animal didn’t slow the bike down completely, but held out his massive arm to her. T swung onto the bike, her gun in her hand. As we crossed the overpass that had the river flowing below it, I caught sight of her tossing her gun into the water in my side view mirror. There had to have been four gunshots. We took the long way back to her street corner. She got off the bike and walked away from us immediately.

  Animal called after her, “Hey.”

  She didn’t turn.

  He used her name. “T.”

  She stopped walking and tilted her head a little. We could only make out her profile.

  “We owe you for the gun you lost. And they knew you were a hooker, so I’m not sure it’s cool for you to stay here.” Animal was reaching into his wallet pocket.

  I saw her lip twitch up in a half-smile before she held up her hand and gave us both a tall, proud middle finger. She took off down the alley the other hookers had disappeared into earlier.

  Animal tossed up his hands. “What do we do?”

  I shook my head and gave him a wrap-it-up signal. I had a feeling that T could take care of herself just fine. I’d keep a watch out as best I could to make sure her description wasn’t passed around on the dark net.

  Animal and I revved and went back to eating the road in the dark night. Feybi was more evil than I had originally anticipated. Shit was going to go down and I hated surprises.

  12

  NO LEAVING

  Becca

  I never imagined I would be putting makeup on my knees before work, but that was what I had going on. The bruises from hitting the tile were painful and ugly. But I was okay. My dress tonight would cover my knees, for the most part. The jagged hem would be much better than my normal hot pants for hiding what I had going on.

  There were no leads on the man who attacked me in the bathroom so far. I had hoped the police would catch him rig
ht away. The policeman I spoke with surmised that I walked in on a drifter using the bathroom as maybe a place to sleep. The back door of the restaurant was right by the ladies’ room door, and it was always propped open so the kitchen staff didn’t get locked out when they went to dump trash or take a smoke break. Now, they would close it. I still wasn’t going back there.

  Alton had been messaging my mom and me, checking up on us in a group text. Mom was way too interested in giving him information. She even sent a few pictures of me to the group. I died inside.

  But tonight was work. And before yesterday, I was excited to have the Off- Season Day of the Dead event at Meme’s. Something different than that same old, same old.

  But I had the creeps. I felt anxious. I should probably take the day off, but I liked to face fears. I never wanted to give them power they didn’t deserve.

  I put makeup on my face as well. I went for a dark fairy Goth look that a YouTube tutorial helped me complete.

  I even had dark wings to wear. I set them next to me on the passenger seat during my ride in. It was still light out, which I was grateful for. I think being alone in public at night was going to be an issue.

  I still hadn’t told Henry what had happened. Mostly because I knew I’d cry if I talked to her. And I was cried out. After work tonight I’d tell her. And maybe impose on her and Dick to take me home to my apartment. Because friends imposed on friends at times like this.

  I thought about her kidnapping, which was so much worse than what I had been through, but she would probably have some good advice about dealing with feeling scared. Of course, her muscle-bound boyfriend probably helped a lot.

  When I got to Meme’s, I was impressed. There was a crew hanging lights outside. Inside, the place really looked festive. There were silk flowers everywhere and sugar skull decorations too. There were very real looking candles that were actually fake. The DJ was setting up and Henry was behind the bar. Her outfit was amazing. I laughed because I was the dark angel and she was the light one tonight. Salt and pepper. We were fools for each other. She shook her boobs at me and then I did the same in return. I walked around the bar so we could take some selfies. Bossman texted us both that he wanted pictures of us among the decorations on all of Meme’s social media. And I couldn’t even blame him. Henry and I looked hot as hell. As we used the bar iPad to upload the pics, I had second thoughts before hitting send.

  Henry noticed. “What’s up, Pretty Tits?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing. It’s cool.” I made sure to tag the Bossman on the photos. The pictures started getting reactions right away.

  Henry put her hands on my shoulders. “You’re lying and I can tell.”

  “Can I tell you later? It’s screwed up. And it’ll make me cry.” I didn’t look her in the face.

  “Shit. Yeah. Is it your mom? Wait. Okay. Let’s do it later. Your mom, though? No, it’s gonna be all right.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to think of anything but how much I wanted to tell her what happened to me. It didn’t work.

  “Yesterday I was sort of grabbed by a guy in a bathroom.” I felt my eyes starting to water.

  Henry’s eyes did the same as she tried to process what I was saying. “What the hell?”

  I waved my fingers like little fans to try to dry my eyes. “I’m okay, just a little bruised on my knees.” My voice started to crack a little.

  Henry squinted at me, “You know what? Let’s just make each other laugh tonight and plan on a talk later.” Henry pulled me into a hug and my wing poked her face as her wing did the same to me. She mumbled into my ear, “This is why it’s hard to be sexual when you’re an angel.”

  I laughed at her unexpected theory.

  “I’m going to tell you this once. You can go home at any second, but if you want to stay, that’s okay too.” She rubbed my upper arms.

  I wordlessly agreed to stay with head motions and my index finger pointing.

  “There we go. Okay, you should go check your section. We’ve got prizes to hand out and fun stuff. This bar will be fun to work in tonight. I wish it was like this all the time.” Henry slapped my ass as I walked away. I stutter stepped around the bar and put a fairly fake smile on my face.

  Tonight I would have fun. Yesterday was over. I tried not to fret over my picture on the bar website telling the whole world I was here. Or the fact that the bathroom here was a one-seater deal that was pretty isolated. Or the fact that our patrons would be in costume. I wasn’t thinking about any of that at all.

  ~Fenix~

  I’d walked up to the door twice without touching it. Then the third time I opened it and then closed it. Meme’s bar. Where Becca was currently. Where I was currently.

  Animal had said he was stopping by a little later and I better be talking to Basement Girl or he was making introductions.

  It was time. I was wearing my leather jacket without the customary hoodie underneath that I used to hide myself. It felt baggy.

  I checked Meme’s Instagram and saw a picture of Henry and Becca looking very much like temptation in their black and white angel outfits.

  It was a group of ten frat-looking guys that motivated me to get my ass inside. The possessive part of me. The obsessive part of me. That part demanded that I get in there.

  I pulled open the door.

  I looked down at my leather jacket and dark jeans. The combat boots were well worn. My face was…what it was. But I could be in the same room with her in living color.

  In Meme’s the decorations were skull based. Flowers and skeletons and candles were tucked away everywhere.

  Becca’s back was to me. I could sense where she was. I knew the bar layout from the surveillance camera I watched regularly, but being here was different.

  The whole room was full of people in makeup. At least five other guys had skulls painted on their faces.

  Her section was toward the left, and I requested it from the hostess. The place was sort of a dump normally, but it shined up pretty good tonight.

  Becca looked like a dirty angel and I wanted to walk up to her and kiss her.

  She had on black angel wings and dark lipstick. The black corset was supporting her breasts in such a way that I pretty much wanted to build an altar for them.

  Her skirt had a ragged hem and her black shoes had silver high heels. She danced out of the way of a reaching male hand with a smile on her face.

  “I’ll be back. Let me greet this customer.”

  And then she locked eyes with me. My mouth went dry.

  She smiled. I knew it was part of her job, but it was like a time warp to when I saw her bravery in the supermarket as a kid.

  I felt a spark of fear, wondering if she would think I was my father. And then I took a reassuring inhale. The ink hides me. Its whole purpose.

  “Hey! Welcome to Meme’s. You get your first drink free for that awesome makeup job. I’m Becca and I’m here to serve you.”

  She handed me a menu from her tray.

  “Do those shoes hurt your feet?”

  I was so stupid. Why would that be the first thing I said to her? After all these years when we were face to face with nothing between us.

  She looked amused and tapped her foot. “Like a bitch.”

  Then she leaned down close to me and half-whispered, “Don’t tell my boss I said so, though.”

  Then she winked.

  It was an act I’m sure. The friendliness and the winking. Waitresses and bartenders made their living on tips.

  Her eyes were blue and her skin had to be the softest thing on the planet—I was guessing.

  She could see me like this. Like she was seeing me now. I didn’t have to explain my fucked-up past. Or how I stalked her.

  “I’ll keep any secret you need me to.” I tilted my head back and winked back.

  “That face paint is incredible.”

  I braced myself as her right hand came close to my cheek. Her touch. To have her touch…

  Her hand hovered just b
efore the contact. “Are you an artist?”

  I shook my head, afraid that I’d be touched by her and petrified that I wouldn’t be as well. “I know one.”

  “Becca!”

  Her best friend, Henry, was manning the bar. I knew so many little details about Becca’s life from my years of stalking.

  She held up a lighter.

  Becca looked over her shoulder. “Be right there.”

  She turned to me. “She hates the flaming drinks. I have to go help her. I don’t know why. Do you have an order?”

  She smiled again.

  “I’ll have whatever you’re lighting on fire.” I lifted my eyebrows.

  “A dangerous one? All right. I got you. Hope you’re wearing steel-toed boots because this drink will kick your ass.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be back soon.”

  The touch was through my jacket and my T-shirt, but it was like a live wire.

  I swallowed hard.

  Thinking I was emotionally ready for this with her was foolish. But as she held up two glasses behind the bar and made them clank while looking at me, I knew there was no turning back. And certainly no leaving.

  13

  FAKE BOYFRIEND

  Becca

  Henry already had the ingredients ready to go. She hated lighting drinks on fire. We all had our things. I couldn’t open cans of biscuits. They were like evil little jack-in-the-boxes.

  She was giving me looks that made me feel like I was taming wild spiders. Fire didn’t scare me. I made a big show about the fancy drinks. I smiled at my latest customer. He’d gone all-out for the Off-Season Day of the Dead party. The shading alone on his makeup must have taken a long time. He must have set aside a sizable chunk of his day to be ready for tonight.

  I carried Henry’s customer’s drink to their table and set it down. Then I carried the duplicate over to table eight.

  “Here you go. You’re a brave one.” I wrinkled my nose at him.