Bull

by B. B. Hamel

  It was petty, though. There was something bigger than both of us now. We were going to have a baby, and that little baby was all that mattered.

  “Yo, Bull.” I looked up suddenly. Calvin was staring at me. “What are you doing, man?”

  “Huh?”

  “We switched like five minutes ago. What are you doing?”

  I looked down and realized that I was doing the wrong exercise. “Shit,” I said. “My bad.”

  “It’s cool.” He gave me a look. “You okay, man? You seem more distracted, worse than usual.”

  I shrugged. “I’m good, I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “I haven’t seen Charley lately.”

  I cringed. I hadn’t told Calvin about what had happened. “We had a falling out.”

  “Who’s fault?”

  I paused. “Hers, but also mine.”

  “That’s how it always is.”

  “But she’s pregnant now.”

  He looked like I had socked him in the jaw. “You fucking serious?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “She’s pregnant, man.”

  “Holy shit. Did you get a paternity test?”

  “No, I didn’t get a fucking test, and I’m not going to.”

  “Dude, you gotta test that shit. I hate to be an asshole, but we have a lot of money, and some women will do whatever it takes to get it.”

  “She’s not trapping me with a baby. She doesn’t even want money from me.”

  “That’s what they say at first.”

  “Fuck off, Calvin. This is serious.”

  “I know,” he said. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to step up,” I said. “I’ll try and be a father to this kid.”

  “What about with her?”

  “I don’t know about that yet. Shit’s complicated.”

  “Look, I know she’s a journalist. I’m guessing some shit went down around that?”

  “Yeah,” I admitted.

  “You got a baby now, man. You gotta get over it.”

  “I know,” I said. “I’m working on it. I don’t let shit go very easily.”

  “I know. I’ve seen you level guys on the field just because they gave you a dirty look.”

  I grinned at him. “That’s just who I am.”

  “Yeah, but you can’t be right now. This girl needs you, and she’s carrying your baby.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “I know you’re right.”

  “Move past it.”

  “I am.” I laughed, shaking my head. “Since when did you get so fucking serious and smart?”

  “I’m growing up, brother.”

  “Yeah. I guess we all are.”

  We got back to work, lifting and working hard, but my mind was elsewhere.

  Calvin was right. I had to get over my shit and move past it. I had to help Charley.

  And the truth was, I wanted to help her. I wanted to fucking be with her. I wanted to let go of my prideful anger and do what I really wanted to do, which was strip off her clothes and fuck her deep until she screamed my name. Afterward, I wanted to hold her until our sweat dried on our skin.

  That was what I really wanted with her. Despite everything, I had this intense connection with her that I could barely explain. I’d let her into my world, and now I wanted to keep her in it.

  No more fucking around. I was getting to work, and I was getting to it seriously.

  25

  Charlotte

  Bull’s anger kept ringing through my mind all that next day at work. I struggled through my normal routine and even managed to talk to Coop about the supposed article I was writing.

  By the time I got off work, though, I was fried. My whole body felt heavy as I headed back to my building. I just kept seeing that anger in his eyes, and I wondered if he could ever move past it. I hoped so, not even for my sake, but for the baby’s.

  We still had a long road ahead of us, fortunately, and I was hoping he could maybe forgive me a little bit if my article was ever published.

  I told the truth about him. Normally when journalists wrote about Bull, they neglected to mention anything but his partying and his womanizing. Instead of doing that, I wrote about all the good things he did.

  It was the opposite of a hit piece. It was totally positive and sung his praises. It was basically the best kind of PR a person could hope for.

  As far as journalism went, it wasn’t a good article. People weren’t going to be very interested in it, since it just talked about how great Bull was. People wanted drama and negativity and parties, but I didn’t give them any of that. Coop was going to be very unhappy with me.

  But I owed Bull. Although he thought I had fucked with him, I really hadn’t, not toward the end. I was just as into it as he thought I was, and maybe even more. Now I wanted to show him that, or at least show him that I wasn’t a horrible person.

  I got back to my apartment and checked my phone. No new messages. I climbed the stairs slowly, taking my time, and finally ended up outside my apartment door.

  I put my key against the lock, but the door pushed open. It hadn’t been closed all the way. Curious and a little afraid, I pushed it open.

  “Hello?” I called out. I stepped inside and shut the door behind me, making sure it was definitely closed.

  “Hello.”

  I nearly jumped out of my skin. I spun around, and standing there in my kitchen was the mobster from before, the man named Rafa.

  “What the hell?” I said.

  “Sorry to startle you.”

  “What are you doing in my apartment?”

  “Waiting for you.”

  “You can’t be in here. This is trespassing.”

  He laughed. “Get in here. I’m going to break some more laws.”

  “No. Get the fuck out.”

  “Charley, please come sit with me in the kitchen before I get annoyed.”

  His expression was blank, and that scared me more than anything else. I walked slowly into the kitchen and sat down at my little table. He sat across from me and sighed.

  “This has been an annoying few weeks. You know that?” he asked.

  “Sorry to hear it,” I said.

  “Thanks, but I think you and I can make my week better. What do you say?”

  “I say you should leave. I’ll get you the money soon.”

  “Oh, fuck that money. Five grand? I don’t care about five grand, Charley. I don’t care about it at all.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want real money.” He leaned forward. “I want fucking Bull back. You know that man has brought the mob a lot of cash over the years? He has had so many messes that we needed to clean up.”

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “You do, though, for your article. I want you to write the real one, and I want you to sell it to the highest bidder.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Charley,” he said, sighing, “we read the article you put on your Dropbox. Two thousand words of praising him, of sucking his dick. Didn’t you do enough of that already?”

  I clenched my jaw and wanted to smack him. “How did you get it?”

  “We hacked your Dropbox, obviously. Now, let’s talk business.”

  “I wrote what I wanted to write.”

  “You wrote trash. I want you to write the real article using the details I provide, including pictures. Then you’ll sell it to the highest bidder, and you’ll give me eighty percent of the profits.”

  “No,” I said. “I won’t.”

  “You will, or I’ll break your fucking knees, and then I’ll break Bull’s.”

  “You don’t scare me,” I said, though I was lying. I was practically shaking.

  “Okay, sure. I don’t scare you. But I bet you’ll do it to help Bull, won’t you?”

  “I’m not going to trash him for you. I won’t do it.”

  “You will.” Rafa stood up. “You’l
l find everything you need on this disc.” He took a CD from his jacket pocket and placed it down on the table. “Everything is on there. Write the real article, Charley, or else.”

  “You bastard,” I said.

  “Bye, Charley.” He smiled and then left, shutting the door softly behind him.

  I nearly fell out of my chair. I wanted to weep and I wanted to scream. Most of all, I wanted to get out of there.

  Not knowing what else to do, I got out my phone and sent a text. “The mafia came back,” I said.

  Two minutes later, Bull called me.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m okay,” I said, “just shaken up.”

  “Stay where you are. I’m coming.”

  “No. It’s okay. You don’t have to.”

  “I’m coming, Charley.” He hung up the phone.

  I stared down at the CD, feeling numb. I didn’t know what the mob had on that disc, but I couldn’t help but think about Rafa’s comment about Bull’s messes. What sort of messes had they cleaned up? There were probably seriously incriminating things on that disc, things that would really destroy Bull.

  He’d probably done some awful stuff. I knew some stories, and I’d bet that disc could confirm them. Everything about Bull that I had desperately wanted to know for so long was sitting right there in front of me, ready for the taking.

  I picked it up and looked at it. CDs were an outdated thing. I didn’t even have a CD drive on my laptop anymore.

  I bent it in half. It snapped. I broke it into tiny pieces and then threw it into the trash.

  I didn’t care what Bull had done. I didn’t care what the mob had cleaned up. All I cared about was who Bull was now and what he tried to do to better himself.

  I wanted to try to live up to that. I wanted to try to be better. I was done using; I was done blackmailing. I was done with all of that. I destroyed the CD and didn’t feel bad about it at all.

  I had made my choice.

  I was choosing Bull, even if he didn’t want to choose me.

  26

  Bull

  I drove my own damn car this time. I chose the fastest one I had and tore ass through the busy city streets.

  Those bastards were going after her again. I had hoped she had gotten away, but clearly they weren’t letting her go. I didn’t know what they had on her, or if they were just straight up threatening to destroy her career and hurt her, but they weren’t going to have that shit anymore, not if I could help it.

  I got to her building fast and parked my car out front. I jumped out and rang her bell, impatience and anger running through my body.

  “Bull?”

  “It’s me.”

  “I’m coming down.”

  I clenched my jaw. “Wait. Are they gone?”

  “They’re gone. I just don’t want to be here anymore.”

  “Okay. I’m down here.”

  I breathed my relief and leaned back against the wall. The mob was gone, but they had clearly scared her. Two minutes later, she came down the staircase and out the door.

  “Hey,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry? For what?”

  “For everything, but mostly for texting. I was just so afraid.”

  “It’s fine. You wouldn’t be mixed up with Rafa if it weren’t for me.”

  “Listen, can I just hang out at your place for a little while? Just until I calm down. Or we can drive around or something.”

  “Come on. Get in.” We headed over to my car. She climbed into the passenger’s seat and I got up front. “You can stay at my place tonight.”

  “Thanks,” she said, closing her eyes.

  “What did he say to you?”

  “He wants more money. Gave me a CD with dirt on you. Said if I didn’t write an article with that stuff in it, he’d break my knees and destroy me.”

  “Fuck,” I said, gripping the steering wheel. “He threatened to actually hurt you?”

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  “What a pathetic piece of shit, threatening a woman like that.”

  “I don’t know what to do, Bull. I’m not writing that article.”

  “What did you do with the disc?”

  “I destroyed it.”

  I was surprised. “Thanks,” I said. “Did you look at it?”

  “No. I don’t want any of that stuff anymore. I want to be done with that, Bull.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Okay. We’ll be fine. Let’s get back to my place, try to calm down, and then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

  “Can we call the police maybe?”

  “They’re probably paid off. I don’t think that’s worth our time.”

  “Shit,” she said.

  “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it out together.”

  “You don’t have to do this. You don’t owe me anything.”

  I laughed as I headed back to my place. “I know that, but you’re the mother of my child and I need to step up.”

  “I thought you hated me.”

  “I don’t hate you,” I said softly. “Never have.”

  “Sure seemed like it yesterday.”

  “I was angry and taken off guard. I didn’t know what the hell I felt yesterday.”

  She nodded, looking out the window. “I understand. I didn’t like myself very much these past few weeks, and now you’re stuck with me.”

  “I don’t feel like I’m stuck,” I said. “I feel like something important is happening. This kid is all that matters anymore.”

  She looked at me. “Really?”

  “Really. This kid is all I care about. I’ll step up and do whatever you need me to do. If you need money, you’ll have it. I’m going to be there for this kid, Charley, and for you. We’ll start with the fucking mob.”

  “Thank you,” she said softly.

  I grinned at her. “Don’t get all soft on me now.” I pulled up into my apartment building’s garage and parked. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  We climbed out of my car and headed upstairs. We got into the elevator and rode up toward my apartment. She was quiet, and I didn’t want to press her, not yet at least.

  We had a common enemy now. I wanted to be done with Rafa and his people, and she wanted to get away from them, too. We needed to work together to finish this and to finally be free.

  As we stepped out into my apartment, I sighed. “Want anything?” I asked her.

  She shook her head. “No, thanks.”

  “We should probably talk.”

  “I guess so.”

  I walked over and sat down on the couch. She joined me, sitting at the other end.

  “Listen, I need you to understand something,” I said to her. “I’m not going to run out on you.”

  “I don’t need anything from you.”

  “I know. You keep saying that. But I just want you to know that I’ll do anything to help this kid, and to help you.”

  “What do we do then?”

  “What did Rafa want?”

  “More money.”

  “I can pay him.”

  “I don’t know if it’s that simple. He really wants me to publish an article about you.”

  I nodded. That made sense. Rafa was angry with me for turning away from them, so he wanted to destroy me. He probably wanted to use Charley to do that, since it would be more painful for me.

  Those manipulative bastards. Bleeding me dry wasn’t enough for them. They had to try to destroy everything about me.

  But maybe I could take that away from them. Their strength came from two things. First, they had dirt on me, lots of dirt. Second, they had Charley.

  I could take both of those things away from them while still maintaining my dignity. Maybe I could even salvage my career.

  “I have an idea,” I said to her. “I think you should write that article.”

  “I told you, I won’t do it.”

  “But I think you should write it with me.”

  She cocked her head. “What?”
>
  “Unlimited access. We write it together. We tell the truth, the whole damn truth, absolutely everything, including my ties to the mob. Maybe we leave out some of the outright illegal stuff, but we tell as much as we can.”

  “Bull,” she said softly, “I don’t know. That seems like a bad idea.”

  “I’ll call that PR woman. We’ll get her involved so that we can make sure whatever we write won’t be completely destructive. It’ll be great for your career, too.”

  “I doubt I’ll have a career after it comes out that I got pregnant by the man I wrote my article on.”

  “I think you can survive it. Hell, I think you can survive anything.” I stood up and moved closer to her on the couch. “We can do this.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We can. You have to trust me. This will work. We can take the mob’s power away from them.”

  “What about the money?”

  “Fuck the money. I can pay.”

  “No,” she said. “I won’t let you.”

  “Fine. We’ll sell the story.”

  “I’m not sure my boss will pay more.”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “Don’t you get it? We can sell this story to anyone for a fucking fortune.”

  “Why?” she asked softly. “Why would you do this? It could destroy you.”

  “Easy,” I said. “I’m finished being the prick I used to be. I have a child now, and I have you. It’s time to be the man I’ve always wanted to be.”

  Before she could argue, I took her by the chin and kissed her. Her defenses melted instantly as she kissed me back. I pulled her over toward me, placing her in my lap as she kissed me hard, her body pressed against mine, her legs straddling my lap.

  She was warm and hot as she kissed me. I took her hair in my hand and tipped her head back, kissing her neck. “We’re going to finish this together,” I said softly, “and now I’m taking what I’ve been thinking about for weeks now.”

  “What have you been thinking about?”

  “Your body, your pussy wrapped around my tight cock, those breasts as I fuck you deep, that ass backed up against my big dick, and the way you moan as you take it all.”

  She practically threw herself against me, kissing me hard and rolling her hips against my cock. I was already hard as I stripped her shirt off and unhooked her bra. I felt her breasts and teased her nipples with my mouth before kissing her harder on the mouth.