by Deja Voss
A girl that looks strangely familiar, even though her hair is tucked back in a bandana and her eyes are covered with big black sunglasses, comes up to me and gives me a hug.
“I’m sorry about your loss. I’m sure Vinnie was a real great father,” she says, and I don’t know if it’s the vodka rendering me angry or if there actually is a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
“How do you know him?” I pull the urn away from her protectively. I can’t quite read this bitch, but I have a strange feeling she wants to knock it out of my hands, wants to see my dad shatter to the floor in a cloud of dust.
“Oh, I don’t, love. Just know of him. I’m sorry about your loss,” she says, and she disappears into the crowd of people.
“Who the fuck does she think she is?” Riley squeals, clenching her hand into a fist.
“Not here,” I say. I realize that she’s already a pariah by the way literally everyone avoids making eye contact with her. I appreciate the guys wanting to be kind to me on this day, knowing that Riley was my best friend, but honestly, I don’t really like having her around. There’s obviously more to her story than she used to date Brad. I just have bigger things to worry about today. “Can you just get me another drink or something?”
“Damn, girl. Don’t you think you should slow down?”
“Since when do you give a fuck, Riley?” I realize too late I said that out loud. For one second, the way she’s glaring at me kind of feels bad. I start to apologize and then realize that’s bullshit. “All the years of our friendship, you just pop up when it’s convenient for you. When you have some other sort of fucking motive. You don’t even know me anymore. I sure as hell don’t know you.”
“You don’t mean that. You’re emotional. You’re drunk,” she says, reaching out for me. “You know I’d do anything for you, Pearl.”
“Great,” I say, storming off. “Then watch the fucking door.”
I need air but I don’t want to go outside and face the rest of the club. I need quiet, but I don’t want to brave the crowd to get to the other side. I need comfort, but I know the only person I can find it in is nowhere to be found.
As I take off down the hallway back to the bedroom, I realize how wobbly my legs are. The urn feels heavier and heavier with every step I take.
“What are you doing here?” a man shouts from the end of the hall. I squint my eyes in the darkness, realizing it’s Stoney standing there. For some reason, I feel like maybe he’s the exact person I need to talk to.
“I know, I know, I should be out there talking to everybody.” I stop and lean up against the wall for a second.
“How did you get here? I thought… I mean… Where the fuck is Vinnie?” he says with an angry growl.
“I got him right here, Stoney,” I say, holding up the urn. “He’s fine. I promise.”
He charges towards me, the rage in his eyes horrifying. He doesn’t look like the man I know. He looks wrong… distant… like he’s reaching out in the dark for something that isn’t there. I duck down just before his hand can make contact with my face.
“You’re not supposed to be here, Lucy.”
“I’m not…” I blink up at the man staring at me and bite my lip. He doesn’t realize who I am. He has no idea what’s going on. Driller had mentioned the episodes he’d been having lately, but I guess I didn’t truly understand until this second. “I was just looking for the bathroom,” I lie through my teeth.
“Get up, woman,” he shouts, roughly grabbing me under the arm. For an old guy, he still has a lot of strength in him.
I should scream. I should run. I should do anything but let him drag me down this hallway and out the back door, but I realize in this instant whatever is hidden in the depths of his mind might lead me to finding out exactly what happened to my dad. Maybe it’ll even lead me to Driller.
“Where are you taking me?” I ask, as he throws open the door to a white van and stuffs me in the back.
“You know exactly where I’m taking you. I’m taking you right back where you belong.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Driller
There’s a throbbing in my head like somebody bashed me with a blunt object. A dull ache, one of those kinds of hits to the head that knock you clean out but don’t kill you. I guess the beauty of this situation is whoever did this to me didn’t want me dead. Not yet at least.
Opening my eyes is a struggle, and I instantly regret it when I do. The pain of a million hangovers washes down on me as I catch the morning light shining in through the crack in the window blinds. My stomach lurches as I roll over on my side and try to get up.
“Dude, I think I shit myself,” I hear Ransom’s voice grumble from nearby. “Nope! False alarm.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I hiss. I have no idea where I am right now and even less of an idea of how we got here. Last thing I remember was walking up the steps of Barret’s apartment. Knocking on the door. He sticks his head out.
Then bam.
Everything went black.
“Barret, you slimy motherfucker!” I shout as I push myself up off the floor. “The fuck did you do?”
The room looks strangely familiar. And strange. Like creepy strange.
“I don’t know about you, but this place has me intrigued,” Ransom says, jumping up on the four-poster bed with the handcuffs hanging from the posts and sprawling out. “Did last night get even crazier than I remember?”
“This is Pearl’s place!”
“Damn,” he says, rolling over on the bed and grabbing this floppy footlong dildo, waving it in the air. “Y’all have been holding out.”
“Quit being a clown. It was her place. I don’t know anything about the guy who was living here before her dad died, but I’m assuming he was a freak.”
“Yikes,” he says as he tosses the fake cock to the floor with a thud. “What the fuck happened?”
“Fucking Barret,” I mumble. “Should’ve known better. We had no business going over there without backup.”
“Fucking Barret is right.” The overhead lights flick on, damn near blinding me, and a woman who looks a little too familiar for my liking stands up from the couch. She’s got this curly mane of hair just like Pearl’s. She’s a little taller than her, definitely looks like she’s lived life a little harder than Pearl, and she doesn’t have a single tattoo on her skin, but damn if they couldn’t be twins.
She motions to the body lying on the floor in the corner, fresh blood dripping from the hole in his head. Fucking Barret. Apparently he got the worst part of this deal.
“Who the fuck are you?” Ransom asks, jumping up from the bed.
She purses her lips and walks over to me, running her fingers over my face. “Isn’t it fucking obvious? I knew from the day I started trailing you guys, that one isn’t exactly the brightest one.”
I grab her arm and jerk it away from me. The click of a pistol catches my attention. There are three men I’ve never seen before in my life with guns trained right at Ransom and me. I can tell I don’t have mine in my holster anymore.
“What do you want?”
She laughs and shakes her head as the men close in on us.
“I want a sit-down with Stoney. He’ll know exactly who I am. Tell him I’m not messing around anymore. You think taking out Vinnie was bad? You ain’t seen nothing yet. That little funeral celebration you’re having over there at your clubhouse? It’s about to get quite explosive if you know what I’m saying. Get your uncle over here, and don’t say a fucking word unless you want me to hit the button.”
“Pearl’s in there,” I blurt out.
“She sure is. Saw her with my own two eyes. It was like looking in a mirror. A sad, pathetic mirror.”
“Give me my phone.”
“How the fuck do we know she’s not bluffing?”
She walks over to Ransom and runs her fingers down his chest. “That’s your call to make. I mean, you don’t know me like you know Pearl. You don’t know what I’m capable of
. I will say, if I was going to blow up the clubhouse, though, today would be a fucking great day to do it. All your friends and family gathered in one place to celebrate the death of that piece of shit… it kind of makes me wet thinking about it.”
“You’re crazy, bitch,” Ransom says, shaking his head.
“Give me my phone,” I demand. “What do you want me to tell him?”
There’s a clatter from downstairs.
“What the fuck did you do?” the woman asks.
“I just fucking woke up from whatever kind of coma y’all put me into,” I say. “I don’t fucking know.”
“VINNIE!” a muffled voice shouts from the shop below. More clattering. Sounds like glass breaking. Pounding on the walls. “Vinnie, where the fuck are you you dumb bastard! You can’t hide!”
The sound of footsteps on the steps is urgent. Angry. I can tell Uncle Stoney is taking the steps two by two.
“He’s not here, Stoney, please!” I hear Pearl’s voice whimper from the other side of the door. “Let go of me, please!”
“Looks like you won’t be needing your phone after all,” the woman says with an evil laugh.
Chapter Thirty
Pearl:
“You know the deal, Lucy. You got the cash, didn’t you? Now you gotta stay the fuck away.”
Stoney’s got his foot on the gas pedal and I’m bouncing around in the back of this van, hanging on to the Jesus handle for dear life.
“I don’t care what you say, you’re not gonna see her,” he growls. “I’ll fucking kill you before you even get a chance to be in the same room as her.”
Shit’s starting to get real. It’s starting to get weird. I don’t doubt that whatever is going on in his clouded mind is the truth to him. I don’t doubt that this man is capable of killing me if he wants to. I think it’s time I probably start trying to talk some sense into him, but I don’t know how.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about, Stoney. Who is Lucy?”
He slams on the brakes and reaches for me in the backseat, grabbing ahold of the sleeve of my t-shirt. “Bitch, don’t play dumb with me. I’m not as stupid as Vinnie. You’re not taking me for a ride.”
My heart is pounding. I’m terrified. Nothing about this situation is safe. Not being in a vehicle with him when he’s acting like this. Not being anywhere near him when he’s acting like this. He’s going to kill me if I don’t get away. I jerk from his grip as fast as possible and throw open the door of the van. He slams on the gas pedal, but I don’t even care. Duck and roll sounds like a cakewalk compared to the Russian roulette that is hoping he snaps out of his fever before he decides he’s going to murder me.
My body hits the pavement with a thud and I instantly feel my skin being ripped open upon impact. I don’t have time to lick my wounds. I push myself up off the ground and take off running.
Where the fuck can I go?
I can’t really run to the police. I am trying my best not to draw attention to myself, even though I’m on Main Street in broad daylight. Stoney slams on the brakes of the van a block down the road. He must’ve just realized I jumped out. I take off in the opposite direction.
The shop is at the end of the block. Worst-case scenario, I can lock myself in there and gather my wits. This would be so much easier if Driller wasn’t missing in action. I wouldn’t even be in this position to begin with. I got in the van with Stoney because I wanted answers.
Now, I’m more confused than when I started, and running for my life, and these flip-flops are definitely not appropriate shoes for the situation, and I can’t remember the last time I ran, but if I make it out of this situation alive I’m going to make a pledge to myself that I start doing a little more of that.
My lungs are burning as I fumble with my key ring. I’m not sure if anyone changed the locks, but it’s definitely worth a try. Before I can even get the key in the hole, I tug on the door and it swings open.
Goddamn, these people are careless. For one second, I’m pissed off that all my tattoo equipment is inside there unprotected, ripe for the picking. Then again, that carelessness might be the only thing that saves my life right now.
I lock the door behind me. The blinds are down, and there’s not much sunlight creeping in, but I stay close to the ground just in case. Before I can even make my way across the room, the sound of glass shattering rings through the building. I feel the floor shake as Stoney’s white van comes smashing through the front windows.
I wonder what kind of insurance these people have? I know it’s not funny. The van is smoking, and I realize Stoney’s probably seriously injured. It’s my fault he’s even out on the town like this. I can’t let him bleed out, even if he is trying to murder me. Maybe the impact jarred some sense into him.
I rush over to the door of the van, and he’s hunched over the steering wheel.
“Stoney!” I shout, prying the crumpled-up metal open. “Are you okay? Stoney, wake up!”
His eyes pop open and the glare he gives me makes the hair on my neck stand up. He’s bleeding from his head, but he flings himself out of the seat and on top of me.
“Get off me!” I scream, but my frame is no match for his two hundred fifty pounds of rage. “Stoney! I am not who you think I am! I’m not Lucy. I’m Pearl! I’m Vinnie’s daughter.”
For one second he stops flailing. I don’t wait around to figure out if he’s had a change of heart or if he’s just tiring himself out. I grab on to the legs of a chair and pull myself out from under him, taking off for the steps.
“Vinnie!” he screams. “What the fuck were you thinking letting her come back here. Where’s Pearl?”
Even with all the blood, he’s got this superhuman strength as he flips over the couches and smashes the glass countertop up front. “Where the fuck are you you dumb bastard! You can’t hide!”
I take the steps two by two, but he quickly catches up to me. He’s got me by the hair, and he’s trying to drag me down the steps with him. I use all my strength to kick, flail, punch, whatever I can do to try and shake him from my body, but it’s useless. Maybe I can scream some sense into him.
“It’s 2020. Vinnie is dead. He’s not here, Stoney, please! Get off me! It’s me, Pearl!”
The door to the apartment swings open, and to my relief and surprise Driller is standing there. I swear there’s a halo of light around him. My salvation. His arms are wide open but his face is blank. I soon realize he’s got a gun pointed directly to his head.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
Stoney seems stunned enough to stop wailing on me at the sight of his nephew.
“Driller?” he asks. “Driller, what are you doing here?”
“Pearl, are you alright? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” I don’t know if “fine” is the appropriate word, but I know I’m better off than he is. I’m trying to stay as calm as he looks. I know we’re both faking it. “Are you alright?”
“Just the man I wanted to see,” a strangely familiar woman’s voice says. She steps out from behind Driller, still brandishing her gun, and my jaw damn near drops. “And you brought my sister! How convenient. Come on in, guys. Take a load off!” She waves the gun around, beckoning for us to join them in the apartment.
“I don’t think you know who you’re fucking with, Miss,” Stoney says. “What are you trying to pull here, kid?”
He pulls his gun out of his waistband and points it directly at her, pushing me down the steps so he’s standing in front of me.
“I will fill you with holes, old man. You and your nephew both. Fucking try me.”
She pops a shot into his leg and quickly ducks behind Driller. Stoney falls to the ground, clutching his leg, toppling me over in the process. “You bitch. You barely grazed me,” he growls.
“Who are you?” I ask. “I’m so confused.”
“Don’t play dumb. You know exactly who I am.”
“I don’t,” I plead. “Are you Lucy?”
She begi
ns to cackle. “Now you’re just being offensive, Pearl. I realize we all haven’t got to live the life of luxury you have, but you surely don’t think I look like your mother.”
Stoney is struggling to get up off the floor. “I’m sorry, kid,” he says to me. “I don’t know what got into me. I shouldn’t have fucking dragged you here.”
“You weren’t right. You were confused. I just humored you because I figured you could give me some answers.”
“You know what they say about curiosity,” the woman with the gun says. She steps out from behind Driller, her gun trained directly at me. I gulp and put my hands in the air.
“You’re going to kill me? I just found out about you. I can help you. I swear. Whatever you want. Just put the gun down and talk to me.”
I start walking towards her cautiously, hoping that maybe I can defuse the situation. Surely if this girl is my sister she has to at least have some compassion for me. Surely she at least wants to have a conversation before she shoots me dead.
“You’re right, I don’t want to kill you,” she says. Before I can take another step, a bullet whizzes by my head. “This dumb motherfucker, though. He needs to die. He’s the one who orchestrated this bullshit. Hated my mom so much he cast her off to live with a bunch of criminals.”
Stoney’s body rolls down the steps with a violent force, and I start to scream. This time wasn’t a warning shot. Driller tackles her to the ground, and the two begin rolling down the steps towards me.
There are so many gunshots going off, everything feels like it’s moving in slow motion. Ransom is backing out of the apartment, firing a gun at three masked men. As the woman’s body falls to the floor, I pick up her pistol and toss it to Driller. He continues to fire shots at the masked men as I run to the bottom of the steps to check on Stoney.
His skin is so pale. He’s bleeding from his shoulder, and I can see the hole where the second bullet went in. His teeth are chattering and I run over to the mess in the shop, finding a blanket and draping it over his body. “Stoney, you gotta stay with me,” I plead. “Please, not here. You’re gonna pull through.”
