Grand Opening

by Carl Weber

  “So that’s it?” he asked, not able to stop himself from trying to work me, like his little hurt feelings were somehow going to influence me.

  “Look, you came to me for a loan. It wasn’t the other way around. Take it or leave it,” I snapped at him, because frankly, he had exhausted my patience with this bullshit.

  “Fine.” He finally relented and handed me his title.

  “Take this title and go on over to that office, and the lady will take it from you and have you fill out the paperwork.”

  “And the money?” He held out his greedy little hand, already starting to itch for the promised cash.

  “You’ll get that from me,” Larry informed him.

  Pookie was ready to leave, but I had one final thing to say. “And, brother? You don’t pay me back in sixty days, then on day sixty-one I own your ride.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me,” he promised dramatically, like his word was something I’d ever believe. “I’ll be back with your money, ’cause I love that car more than I love my wife or kids,” he swore before stepping into the office where NeeNee was waiting.

  Larry shook his head. “Negroes!” he exclaimed, sending us both doubled over in a fit of laughter. It didn’t matter that all the rules and regulations were printed out and hung on the wall. People were always asking for something extra, like a discount or more time. Every last customer we’d had since opening had tried the exact same lines and had been shot down just like big, dumb Pookie.

  The ringing phone stopped our laugher. I turned to pick up the receiver.

  “Duncan Brothers Title Loan,” I answered and was met by silence on the line. “Hello?”

  “Lou.” I recognized the voice right away, although Sam didn’t quite sound like himself. We hadn’t spoken since the night of the grand opening, when he had a gun to my head. I didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that he wasn’t happy about our taking over Waycross’s numbers racket or snubbing his offer for partnership.

  “Sam? What’s happening, man?” I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral, even though I was suspicious about the reason for his call. Sam Bradford was one of the most conniving people I knew, so I wasn’t taking anything at face value. “You ain’t looking for a title loan now, are you?” I joked. I tried to imagine Big Sam’s flashy ass having to come to me for a loan, begging like all my other customers.

  “Funny,” he answered bitterly and then changed his tone. “Lou, if we were ever friends, I need you, man. I need you and Larry.”

  “Sam, you know we’re trying to do our own thing right now,” I reminded him. As much as I enjoyed the extra money we picked up from hustling for Sam, I realized that LC was right. We needed to separate from him and make our own money.

  “Come on, man. This is serious!” His brash voice was ripe with impatience. “My life’s on the line. I got these two cats after me that I need you to handle.”

  “Sam, I’m sor—”

  He cut me off. “Look, I know we haven’t seen things eye-to-eye lately, but I’m begging you, man. These dudes mean to kill me.” I could hear desperation in his voice, and although Sam had been known to be full of shit, something told me this was genuine. “How about I give you your free pussy card back?” he offered.

  He had my attention. It would be nice to get access to all that pussy again. “How much you paying?” I asked.

  “Ten grand if you get them tonight. Another five if you bring them to me alive.”

  “Fifteen grand! You serious?” This price wasn’t just double, it was damn near triple the going rate, which meant he was more than desperate. To pay that kind of cash, this must have been important. “Hip me to the situation.”

  “There are two guys up here from D.C. aiming to make sure your man Sam isn’t above ground for long. One is the brother of that new Puerto Rican girl from Valdosta I got working for me. The other is her cousin. Guess she couldn’t wait to call home and tell her family she was in love. Ain’t that a bitch?” It sure as hell was. Any time one of those girls thought Sam loved her, she found out soon enough that the only thing Sam’s ass loved was money. It looked like this time Sam was the one who might be learning a lesson, though, if we didn’t help him out.

  “You got anything else on them?” I asked.

  “She’s supposed to meet them at that roadside diner on Route 38 at seven o’clock. They two big, well-dressed, high yella brothers that could almost pass.”

  Their meeting was less than two hours from now. I glanced over at Larry, who had heard enough to understand the situation without me having to explain it. Truthfully, he probably didn’t care about the details. I had no doubt that he had decided he was in as soon as he heard me mention the $15,000 payout. Larry nodded his head.

  “We’ll take care of it,” I told Sam. “But I want the money up front.” I knew that if Sam agreed to give us the money up front, then he wasn’t playing a game, and he was desperate as fuck.

  “Sure, sure, Lou, you can send someone over to get the ten grand right now. And I’ll give you the other five on delivery.”

  “Okay, Harold will be over there in fifteen minutes.” I was about to hang up the phone when he made another request.

  “I want them alive—to prove a point to the girls.”

  “Whatever you say, Sam,” I said before hanging up. Shit, delivering them alive meant I didn’t have to do the work of disposing of any bodies. For the kind of money he was paying, I’d be happy to do less work.

  “That what I think it is?” Larry was already at my side by the time I lowered the phone to its base.

  “Yeah. Come on. We don’t have a lot of time, so we need to get moving,” I said as I began to put on my shoulder holster and slip my gun in.

  Larry laughed, snatching up his sawed-off. “Translation: Let’s get outta here and make that fifteen grand before LC gets back and talks us out of it.”

  I patted him on the back. “Exactly.”

  LC

  42

  “Who’s that in the cab?” NeeNee, always the busy body with one eye looking out the window, commented on the taxi stopping outside the front door of the station.

  Larry stood close by, peering out over her shoulder. I’d just come out front from the garage to grab a bite from the makeshift café that NeeNee had set up in a corner of the room, before getting back under the hood of a Ford I was fixing.

  “Humph! Nobody I want to see,” Larry snipped and walked over to where Lou and John were engaged in a heated game of chess. It looked like he was trying to get away from the door.

  NeeNee leaned forward to get a better look at whoever was outside. “It’s certainly taking them long enough.”

  “That’s where you gonna move?” Lou laughed confidently.

  John leaned back in his chair, looking unfazed. “I don’t know how long you’ve been playing this game, but I’ve been playing too long to let you fool me. Checkmate in two.”

  “LC?” The door opened and Donna sashayed in, a little too overdressed to be visiting a gas station. I hadn’t seen her in more than a week. I’d gone to her house after her dad skipped town, even rode down to Jekyll Island again to see if she was there, but she and her mother had gone missing in action. Larry and Lou had me convinced that she was probably somewhere with her old man.

  “I need you to pay this cab driver,” she said casually, as if the past few weeks had never happened. “I swear he was trying to get over on me, so I told him that my fiancé would be out to handle it.” She batted her eyelashes at me in that way that used to send my heart thumping into overdrive.

  “Sure,” I answered awkwardly and hurried out to settle up with the driver.

  “This color is too drab. I can’t imagine that it would make anyone want to spend their money here.” I heard Donna as I returned to the shop. “I read an article that certain colors make people more relaxed and willing to spend—like blue. And what’s this?” she said to no one in particular as she reached for one of the sandwiches wrapped
in twine on top of NeeNee’s counter, where she displayed her food.

  Speaking of NeeNee, she snapped back at Donna, “What does it look like?”

  “That’s why I asked,” Donna huffed. “I mean, do people even buy this stuff?”

  “Of course they do. We sell out every day,” NeeNee answered, her voice filled to overflowing with pride—and why not? Her food helped to make this place a destination for more than gas and car repairs.

  “Well, I guess if people are hungry they will eat anything,” Donna shot back, being plain ole mean.

  “Donna!” I raised my voice to stop her reign of terror, but also because I was afraid that NeeNee would kick her ass for insulting her food.

  Lou burst out laughing at the scene taking place with me in the middle of it. I knew I had to get Donna out of there before she said or did something else that I would never live down with my brothers. They loved to tease me over Donna’s prissy ways.

  Unfortunately, Donna wasn’t done. “This place needs somebody with class to bring it up a notch. Now, once we change the color and add some curtains, that will help, but it’s still just a start.”

  “You got a lot of opinions for someone who ain’t never really been up in here and don’t get a vote,” NeeNee snapped at Donna. She was staring at her like she’d lost her mind.

  Donna put her hand on her hip and stared right back at NeeNee. “Last I checked, this was LC’s shop, and his name is the one on the bill of sale, so since I’m going to be his wife, I do get a vote,” Donna bragged, attempting to put NeeNee in her place.

  “Larry, we need to get out of here before I’m facing homicide charges,” NeeNee announced, gathering her things. “Somebody handle the food.”

  “I got it,” John volunteered.

  When the door slammed shut after Larry and NeeNee, I turned to Donna, who was checking out the place with a real intensity. It didn’t make any sense to me, especially since she had told me in no uncertain terms how much she hated this place. I found that I had little patience for this brand new attitude of hers, and I didn’t feel like holding back.

  “What exactly is this about? Since I got this place you haven’t given a damn, and now you wanna make all kinds of changes?” I said.

  “Look,” she said, not dialing down the attitude one bit. “No husband of mine is going to be running a second rate business. I’ve had time to do some soul searching, and if this place is important to you, then it’s important to me too.”

  “Is that so?” I asked, more than a little skeptical because I couldn’t believe the one-eighty she had just done.

  “LC, if this place has the potential to make us money to support our family, then we need to make sure it can make as much as possible.”

  I grabbed her arm and led her outside, embarrassed that both Lou and John were listening to her come in there like a boss, showing a sudden interest only because of the financial gain.

  “Is this about your father?” I asked when we were outside. I knew that Donna had just been through a lot, and I wanted to be supportive, but her attitude was challenging.

  “No. Look, what Daddy is going through is temporary. He’s gone off to figure out who set him up and made him look like a criminal, but he will be back and everything will return to normal. It may take a little time, but Daddy always comes through,” she said, sounding absolutely convinced of her father’s innocence. It was a shame the local authorities didn’t feel the same way.

  I attempted to reason with her. “Donna, I saw your father, and I’m telling you that he went on the run. He’s not coming back.”

  She gave me a look like I was the crazy one. “Sure he is, and he’s going to walk me down the aisle. LC, I know my daddy, and he would never do that to me.”

  “Donna?” I tried to figure out how to talk some sense into her.

  She dismissed my concern with a wave of her hand. “We have more important things to think about. How much money do you have toward our wedding? I’m thinking two weeks from Saturday will be a good date. Does that work for you?”

  Big Shirley

  43

  “Sh–Sh–Shirley, you are beautif–f–ful! And you-you g–g–got g–g–g–good pu–pu–pussy t–too.” Levi handed me the daffodil he’d just picked from a patch of grass. He was walking me back to Big Sam’s after we’d spent the day together at the Duncan farm, half of it in bed and the other half on a picnic by the creek that ran through their property. What most people didn’t understand about Levi was that while he was slow with some things, he wasn’t no joke with the things that he knew. Not to mention, he was very sweet.

  I hated that the wonderful day I’d spent with him was coming to an end, but Sam made it clear that he wanted me back for the Saturday night crowd, despite the fact that I’d already made my quota.

  “Levi, you are the nicest man I ever met,” I told him when we approached Big Sam’s and the end of our time together. I meant it, too.

  “Ca–ca–can I see y–you again W–W–Wednesd–d–day?” He stuttered out his request, which I never thought would sound so good to my ears.

  The crazy thing was that I liked being with him so much that I hated to charge him for our time together. Anybody who made me feel as good as he did should have gotten the goods for free. It wasn’t just that he was sweet and constantly complimenting me, either. He was pretty damn good in the sack, and he took direction real well too.

  “I’d really like that, Levi.”

  His face lit up with real joy. I raised my hand to his face and stroked it lovingly. He did the same, running his fingers down my scar. I gasped, feeling embarrassed. For the first time that day, I’d remembered all the scars on what used to be my pride and joy.

  “Y–y–you are s–s–sooo pr–pr–pretty.”

  “Well, I don’t feel that way anymore—’cept when I’m with you,” I admitted, turning away so that he didn’t see how true that statement really was. Instead of responding, he pulled me into a hug, running his hand soothingly along my back. I almost wanted to cry because it felt so good to have someone genuinely care about me.

  Finally remembering Big Sam, I pulled away. “I better go in here so I’m not late.” I planted a long, deep kiss on his lips. Normally I would never allow a man to kiss me on the lips, but with him I made an exception. I patted his ass affectionately then bounded up the stairs, thinking about the fact that if anyone had told me I’d fall for a guy like him, I would have called them a bald-faced liar. I’d always gone for the flashy, Super Fly types like Sam and Lou, who made me feel like I was lucky just to be with them. They made me feel worthless.

  “B–b–bye, Sh–Sh–Shirley,” Levi shouted after me as I stepped through the front entrance.

  Of course, all the girls perked up hopefully when the door opened, but once they realized it was me and not a paying customer, they deflated and went back to talking shit and joking with each other. Sam had scared the crap out of us to the point that no one was able to relax, for fear that he’d accuse of us of intentionally trying not to make him money. I kept moving to Sam’s office so he wouldn’t berate me for being late. I pulled the money Levi had paid me out of my pocket and knocked on Sam’s door, knowing that the only thing that made him remotely happy these days was cold, hard cash.

  I heard Sam grunt something from the other side of the door, so I pushed it open. When I walked in, I found Sam sitting at his desk, holding the head of some bitch that was on her knees, sucking the hell out of his dick. Sam had his head thrown back in rapture and his ass six inches off the seat, with his eyes rolled back in his head.

  “Oooooh, shit, baby. That’s it. Don’t stop. Don’t stop. You about to make me cum!”

  Now, I’d seen Sam get his dick sucked more times than I want to remember, but I’d never seen anyone turn him out like that. He was jumping around like a bucking bronco.

  “Fuuuuck! Can’t nobody suck a dick like you!” he shouted before collapsing in his chair. He was so spent that I don’t think he ev
en realized I was in the room, and neither did his companion, until Sam released his head. I could barely breathe when I realized who the giver of his tongue bath had been.

  “Jefferson?” My insides shook when I saw the accountant’s guilty face pop above the desk, staring back at me. What the hell! You know the phrase “Don’t believe your lying eyes”? Well, that’s exactly how I felt.

  “Oh, crap!” Jefferson blurted out, shaking Sam back into the real world. “I thought you said you locked the door.”

  “I did.... Oh, fuck!” Sam’s eyes opened, and it didn’t take long for his satisfied expression to disappear, replaced with a grim frown.

  “Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” I stumbled backward out of the room in a state of total shock. The last thing I wanted was to be standing there with that image in my head. Hell, I still couldn’t believe what I’d just seen.

  “Shit, Shirley, what the fuck are you doing in here?” Sam called after me, sounding worried—which he should have been after what I’d seen. Now on his feet, Sam came toward me as he zipped his pants, but by now I had crossed the threshold and was moving fast.

  “Get your ass back in here!”

  I started heading for the front door, but I could hear Sam behind me. All of a sudden, someone grabbed me by the shoulders, and the next thing I knew, I felt a fist come down on the side of my head. “Noooooo!” I cried out as I went down, landing on the floor.

  “Don’t you fuckin’ open your mouth! Do you hear me?” Sam bellowed. I looked up at Sam as he began to kick me, his boots landing deep in my side. “Keep your fucking mouth shut.”

  “I will! I will, Sam. You ain’t got to worry about me,” I swore, but he just kept kicking me. “Help me! Please, somebody help me!” I hollered, trying to avoid Sam’s fists as they rained down on me.