Fighting Dirty

by Sidney Halston

  “Enzo here came up with the genius plan of getting the cops involved in the area by donating a large amount of money to the Police Benevolent Association. Now we have two officers practically in our pocket just surveilling that area and slapping anyone they arrest with felony charges. They’ve done a great job scaring off the lowlifes.”

  JL tried to keep her composure, but it was getting difficult. “Yeah, I’ve heard about all the arrests lately.”

  “Yes, but Dan, why don’t you explain to her about my new vision—” Enzo began.

  Dan waved Enzo’s hand away. “He and another one of our associates, Rommel, tried to convince the rest of us that doing something different with the project would be better. Your father explained how you were still ‘in a state’ over your recent divorce.” Dan looked at JL apologetically. “And we’ve all agreed that we’re moving forward with the original concept. Now, for the St. Louis and Pasadena projects set for early next year, I’m thinking—”

  “So we’re back to a mall?” Enzo asked, surprised.

  “Yes.” Dan nudged Enzo. “After we scare all the rats out of there we’ll have this deal closed. It’ll be easy to sell it to the big guys at that point. Then we’ll just tear it all down and begin construction. We’ve been scared of building while there’s still gangs all over the place spray-painting—I think they call it ‘tagging.’ It may scare off the private investors and upscale retailers we’re vetting. Not to mention the cost of having to fix everything that those thugs destroy after we start building.”

  “And you’re building a mall?” JL asked.

  “The biggest mall in South Florida. We already have major retailers onboard.”

  JL had had enough. She slammed her glass onto a nearby table more forcefully than she had intended. “Have you ever stopped and looked at the art?”

  The man snorted. “Art?” He shook his head and chuckled.

  “Yes, what you call graffiti. It’s actually street art.”

  Dan laughed, not registering JL’s shift in tone. “That’s art? You’re yanking my chain, right?”

  “I am completely serious. It’s art,” JL said.

  “Jamie Lynn, I think it’s time that—” Enzo took her arm, but she yanked it away.

  “It’s nothing but vandalism. Have you met the people who do this so-called art?” The man leaned in. “They are the dregs of society. Most live in the trailer park down the street. They are full of tattoos and piercings and they probably do drugs. I bet most are homeless.”

  Enzo knew it would happen before he saw it. JL pushed the sleeves of her gown up on her arm, revealing her tattoos. “Oh, like this?” JL asked. Enzo tried to reach for her, but JL sidestepped him. “Those lowlifes that you had arrested? They are not homeless drug addicts. I know, because I’m one of them. The others are my friends. They’re hardworking people. Good people. Some with families.” Her eyes watered, which surprised Enzo. “They are good people,” she repeated. “They are artists.”

  “Lorenzo, does your father know that you are dating—”

  Enzo wanted to punch the man in the face, but he also wanted to explain to Jamie Lynn that all of this had been planned before he’d started spending time with her. That he’d already changed his mind. That he’d been working on stopping the machinery that had already been set in motion before she’d agreed to date him. Before he’d fallen in love with her.

  All JL saw from Enzo was hesitation.

  “Your father doesn’t know about me, does he?” After the briefest of pauses she answered for him. “Of course not. You’re ashamed of me, aren’t you?” A tear slipped from her eye, and she swiped it quickly away.

  “Of course he is.” Marianna had heard the commotion and arrived just in time to witness her meltdown.

  JL looked around. She was surrounded by rich, elegant people who thought she was trash. Her tears weren’t helping. It was high school all over again. Except in high school she’d been prepared for the fallout.

  Usually she did what she wanted and made no excuse. Usually she was true to herself. But not tonight. Tonight she had tried to be someone else, and she felt ashamed for it. Trying to be something she wasn’t just to impress a man was out of character. It went to show just how deep her feelings for Enzo were. The hurt she was suffering was immeasurable, but she wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction of seeing her break. She pushed Enzo out of the way and walked out with her head held high.

  Marianna reached out and gripped Enzo’s forearm. “You’re not going to go chase her, are you? Look around, Lorenzo. She already made a scene. You’ll lose our opportunity to wrap up this deal for our fathers.”

  He yanked his arm away so fast that Marianna teetered on her high heels, almost falling flat on her face. For a split second he thought about how she would react to falling in front of these socialites. She wouldn’t feel even half as humiliated as Jamie Lynn probably felt. “Don’t touch me. Don’t you ever touch me again,” he snarled.

  “Lorenzo, think about what you are doing.”

  “For the first time in my entire life, Marianna, I am thinking about what I’m doing. I am doing what I should’ve done a long time ago.” He took a step forward. “You are nothing but a toxic, manipulative bitch who’s lucky enough to have found another toxic, manipulative little bitch in Gino.” Leaving her wide-eyed and openmouthed, he ran after JL.

  Enzo stepped out of the hotel into the humid heat, feeling the bow tie tight around his neck. He looked right and then left, trying to figure out which way Jamie Lynn had gone.

  —

  JL refused to shed another tear. Not one more tear. Not for a man who’d done nothing more than what she’d expected him to do. He’d definitely had her fooled, she admitted. Time to be a grown-up and handle things like she always did—push the feelings aside and keep surviving. Or do the next best thing and hide.

  She paid the taxi and got out of the car, dust and pebbles flying everywhere as it pulled away, leaving her standing five feet from her mother’s trailer. She blew out a breath, then knocked on the door and waited. Her mother had been sober for less than a week and JL knew that running to her wasn’t wise, but she had no other place to go.

  “Hi, Mama,” JL said when her mother appeared at the screen door. Even though it had only been two days since she’d last seen her mother, she wasn’t sure who she’d find: a sober recovering woman or a mean, spiteful junkie. Luckily, it seemed as if her mother was still sober. She even looked as if she’d gained another pound or two since Thursday.

  “Jamie Lynn? What are you doing here?” her mother said, moving aside to allow JL to open the screen and step inside. “You’re supposed to be at the fancy party.”

  “Didn’t go so well, Mama.”

  “Oh,” her mother said, seeming unsure how to comfort JL. These were uncharted waters for both women. “You look beautiful, though.”

  Her mother had never complimented her. Not once in thirty years.

  JL looked around and was startled to find the double-wide neat and tidy. “Proud of you, Mama.”

  “Thanks, darlin’. It’s only been a few days, but I’m tryin’.”

  “You mind if I crash here tonight?”

  “You hidin’ from someone?”

  “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  Rita nodded and gestured toward the corner, where there was an extra bed. “I’ll get you some clothes. Go ’head and use the washroom. Be right back.”

  JL was surprised at the turn of events. Truth be told, she’d had a terrible childhood and her mother had been nothing short of cruel. Travis had cut Rita off a long time ago. But JL had never stopped speaking with her. It had come back and bitten JL in the ass a time or two, but she just couldn’t seem to disconnect. And tonight when she had jumped into the cab, the thought of going to her lonely apartment made her beyond depressed. Not to mention that Enzo would go there to find her, and he was the last person she wanted to see. It had been almost instinctual to give the cab driver th
e address of her mother’s home. Sometimes a girl just needed her mother.

  Rita returned holding a T-shirt and cotton shorts. “I know I don’t deserve it, honey, but I’m here if you want to talk about it.”

  “Thanks, Mama,” she said with a lump in her throat as she took the clothes and went into the bathroom to wash up and change. She’d seen her mother sober before. It usually lasted a few weeks and then she went back to using. It made JL extremely wary of dropping her guard too much and revealing any of the mess that was her life at the moment. Between Enzo’s lie, the demolition of the Walls, and the possibility of being pregnant, her heart couldn’t handle too much more.

  Rita went to her room and JL lay down on the bed. There wasn’t much to do other than think. She could hear her phone chirping from her purse, which she’d thrown aside. This wasn’t anyone’s problem but her own, and she didn’t want anyone to worry. Enzo seemed to have already called a few people, by the look of the texts from Violet and Travis asking where she was. She replied to both of them, telling them that she was fine but wanted to be alone and that she’d call them soon. Then she powered off her phone and threw it back into her purse. Her mind drifted to thoughts of possibly having a baby. To possibly be in love with a man who’d lied to her. And to the real possibility of not having the Walls as an escape anymore.

  Chapter 16

  The next morning JL woke with a throbbing headache and an aching heart. “Good morning. I made you some eggs—they’re waiting for you in the microwave,” Rita said.

  “Thanks.”

  “I have to go to work. I landed a job as a dishwasher at EE’s Diner. Lock up before you leave…and if you need anything, call me,” she added hesitantly.

  Rita stepped toward JL as if she was going to hug her but then appeared to change her mind and pulled away. Truthfully, JL was glad, because she wasn’t ready for that kind of affection from her mother just yet. “Okay, Mama. Stay good, you hear?”

  Her mother gave her a shy smile and left. JL stretched and went straight for the food. She was starved, as usual. After she ate and freshened up, she called Violet and asked her friend to please pick her up and take her home. She didn’t have clothes, and she didn’t want to put on that dress again. Actually, she wanted to burn it.

  —

  Violet pulled up in front of the trailer a few minutes later. “Hey,” she said sweetly.

  “Hi,” JL said to Violet as she got in and buckled up. “So guess what—Mom’s sober and has a job. And get this—she made me breakfast.”

  “Holy crap. That’s pretty astonishing stuff, JL. I’m happy for her. For you, too.”

  JL nodded and looked out the window as her best friend continued to drive. “Home?” Violet asked.

  “Yeah, please. Thanks for driving me, Vi.”

  “Of course. Anything for you, JL. You know that,” she said, and squeezed her knee. “You want to tell me what happened? I know you didn’t just decide it was time to have a slumber party at Rita’s. Enzo was going out of his mind looking for you last night.”

  JL let out a deep breath and told her best friend what had happened, including the Walls and her secret artistic side. She didn’t, however, tell her about that date with Andy back in high school, or the possible pregnancy scare. No one else knew about that except the man who had betrayed her and broken her heart.

  “Not really sure what to say,” Violet replied somberly.

  “Had me fooled,” JL admitted. “But I should’ve seen it coming. Actually, that’s not even true. I did see it coming. It’s the reason I avoided him for so long. Yet I was stupid enough to think he was different. That he didn’t see me like everyone else sees me—a lowly bartender with an old beat-up car and a drug addict mother. No future except more bartending and possibly more disappointment from my mother—although I hope to God I’m wrong this time.”

  “You always assume the worst. Instead of giving people a real chance, you make assumptions as to what they’re going to think, and close yourself off before they get a real chance with you. I don’t get the impression that he thought anything even remotely close to that.” Violet chanced a quick glance at JL. “If you’re right, why would he be going crazy looking for you?”

  “More sex, probably. We had superb sex.”

  “TMI, honey,” Violet snorted.

  “Men suck, Vi. Well, except Cain. He’s great. But even at the beginning he sucked. He was a complete asshole.”

  “Yeah, but he’s changed. People change.”

  “Do they? Cain was always in love with you, so it really wasn’t a change. He had issues to work out, but now it seems like you guys are on a perpetual honeymoon. It’s not like now he’s super talkative and bubbly or anything. He’s still surly and ornery to everyone but you. Plus, you two came from the same upbringing. You’re compatible. Enzo’s rich—rich like the guy that owns Facebook, not rich like anyone we know. Not like, ‘Hey, I saved up a few thousand to possibly buy a real cool motorcycle.’ More like, ‘Hey, let’s go to the Harley-Davidson headquarters in my own private jet and let them design my motorcycle and then I’m going to buy all my friends one just like it.’ I grew up in a trailer park in Texas and upgraded to a double-wide here in Tarpon Springs. Look at me.” She extended her arm and pointed at her tattoos. “He doesn’t even have a single tattoo.”

  “Neither does Cain. That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “It means that we’re too different, Vi. It would never work. Plus, I’m happy with my life. I don’t need a guy to come and sweep me off my feet with his money and try to change me.”

  Violet parked her car at JL’s apartment complex and turned to look at her best friend. “Is he really trying to do that, JL? Honey, you’re not happy. Not really. I’ve known you for fifteen years and you weren’t always this tatted-up fireball. I mean, I love the tattoos and you’re beautiful and I’d give anything to have your backbone, but there’s a reason you change your hair every other day, a reason you keep getting inked. I’m not telling you to change or let him change you, but I think you’re missing something. Maybe he’s the answer. You need to open your heart again. I know something happened with Andy. You never said anything, but you changed overnight. You don’t have to tell me, but I know something happened.”

  JL closed her eyes and dropped her head onto the dashboard. “Yeah, something happened, but it’s not important anymore. It’s been a long time. It can’t define me.”

  “But it is still important,” Violet said gently.

  The words hit JL in the gut. Was it? Not anymore. At least she didn’t think it was.

  “Hey, listen, thanks for all your help.” She didn’t want to be a bitch, but she didn’t want to discuss it anymore, or at all, really. She was done having the conversation. But she didn’t want to hurt her best friend’s feelings, either, so she brought her close for a hug. Violet loved to hug. Not that JL didn’t, but it was more for Violet than anything else. Still, JL held on tighter than was necessary, and the hug lasted some time. Maybe she did need a hug more than she thought.

  “If you need anything, anything at all, let me know, okay?” JL nodded through the tightness in her chest. “I have to run, but I miss Bird. Say hello to him for me, ’kay? Renovations should be finishing soon and he can come live with us.”

  “ ’Kay.” JL waved and headed to her apartment—alone, again.

  She walked along the long corridor that led to her apartment, feeling mostly numb. Not paying attention, she tripped. Luckily, she landed not on the concrete but on a pair of muscled thighs.

  “Where’ve you been?” Enzo said, holding her tight.

  His skin was so smooth—God, why did he have to feel so good? And those gorgeous eyes…She tried to push him away and get up, but he held on tighter. She didn’t need to be swept back into his spell.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked. His back was against her door, his legs outstretched, crossed at the ankles.

  His jaw twitched. “I’ve been waiting for y
ou.” He was mad? Really? Well, wasn’t that fresh? She tried to push off him again, but he wouldn’t let go.

  “Let go of me,” she seethed. He’d completely betrayed her. It was his fault she’d gotten arrested, for Christ’s sake. It was she who had a right to be upset, not him.

  He must’ve grasped her resolve, because he let her go. She got up and he followed, stretching his neck and shoulders. She wondered how long he’d sat there, but chose to ignore the thought. She pulled out her keys and walked in, closing the door behind her, but not surprised when he slipped inside before it slammed shut. She busied herself taking out Bird’s food and preparing to clean the cage. Enzo was on her heels, though. “Would you please stop?”

  “Got things to do.”

  “Jamie Lynn, baby, please…” He placed his hand on her shoulder, and that was the final straw.

  “Don’t call me that! We had fun, okay? It’s over. Just leave me the hell alone.” She opened the cage, and Bird snapped his beak while at the same time scurrying to the top far corner. The creature was all bark and no bite. And wasn’t that just the funniest thing? So was she. She had attitude in spades, but the truth was that her heart was shattered and she had no clue how to handle it. And what if she was in fact pregnant? That terrified her most of all.

  “I have to leave for—”

  “Not my problem.” She refused to meet his eyes. She would not let him see her shed tears.

  “Jamie Lynn…”

  She whipped around to face him. “You know, I’m not really mad about all the shit that your wife said.”

  “Ex,” he corrected her, but she plowed on.

  “I never deluded myself into thinking you’d want more with me than one night. It turned out to be more than that, but I knew this wasn’t some sort of thing that had a future. We got caught up in the sex. Marianna’s right, we’re too different. It would never have worked. I knew that. It’s the fact that you didn’t tell me about the Walls. We weren’t together when you decided to knock them down. You didn’t owe me anything except the truth. A simple explanation. You didn’t have to change your plans, but you did have to tell me about them. You lied to me. You spewed all this BS about honesty, and you weren’t honest with me. Not at all. And that’s what pisses me off. I would’ve understood about the Walls. I wouldn’t have been happy and I would’ve tried to convince you to change your plans, but now it’s a double whammy. It’s the actual act plus the lie, and truthfully, I don’t know which is worse. I mean, Jesus Christ, I got arrested. Do you have any idea how that made me feel? Arrested?” A tear streamed down her face even though she was trying her hardest to keep them inside. “My mother was in jail a dozen times. I was bullied and teased about that my whole life, and I swore to myself that I’d never be…whatever.” She swiped away the tear. “Shit!” she said, having just realized the truth. “That’s why you had all that clout with the cop. I’m so damn stupid.” She scrubbed more tears away and then stood up straighter, resigned. “The point is that you lied. I feel humiliated, betrayed, and pissed as hell. I don’t want to see you again.” She turned around and busied herself with the birdcage.