AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Point taken because here I am, and trouble just arrived.
“Mack, get out of 4B ASAP!” Ophelia’s warning has me sitting up straighter as I listen to what she has to say.
My inner caveman is pacing back and forth, moving swiftly into protective mode after the two-month job I’ve just come off where Phoenix got shot.
“Hey, Mack, a hot pink Jeep just rolled up with two females, and Mario’s name is on their lips. The older female, who could be her mother, is trying to stop the heavily pregnant one from storming past into the back entrance of Diamond’s.”
“Shit! Tucker, that’s the client, Mrs. Diamond, and Celeste. They shouldnotbe here. On the backseat are a shirt and hat. Put them on quickly and your sunglasses. I can’t risk anybody recognizing you as the sometimes guitar player for Hudson Raine, then intervene with any excuse you can make up. Neither of those ladies is to enter the caf—Shit, Ophelia just used the code words ‘mac and cheese,’ and that means—”
“I heard.” No way I’m babysitting these ladies. “I’ve got Ophelia’s back, Mack. These women don’t know me. Get your ass out of 4B now!” I’m already getting busy disguising and arming myself with multiple handcuffs and a taser gun.
“Shit, boy. Let me handle—”
“Got static… can’t hear you. The older female has her daughter under some control, but not for long. I’ll tap them on the shoulder and tell them you are coming and not to do anything stupid but get out here and smooth that shit over before somebody gets hurt. I’m going to head through the front door of the café and role play.”
Mack grumbles, “Christ, boy, don’t go Maverick on me.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Not really.
Sixty-Nine
THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG AND SHE IS HISSING
Mack
I have everythingI need and burst outside 4B, rushing over to Celeste and Mrs. Diamond, who thankfully have listened to Tucker.
“Move it, ladies, not another word out of either of you. We need to get behind my SUV. You are about to blow my investigation.” I start herding the ladies, gently hooking them each by an elbow toward my car.
The ladies calmly assist in walking as fast as they can.
Once out of sight, I open the back door. “Please, get in.” Manners will hurry up the precarious situation.
Mrs. Diamond looks at me helplessly. “I may have let the cat out of the bag too early,” she admits.
“Mother!” Celeste Diamond hisses like she’s itching for a fight.
Yeah, good luck me, with calming an enraged pregnant woman who got told her fiancé is up to no good, and I’m holding the condemning proof in my hands.
“Enough, ladies. You will both shut the hell up. My apologies, but I have no time for polite chit-chat. If you head inside the café, looking to go head-to-head, all you will achieve is endangering my partner and yourselves. And that isn’t going to happen.”
Both ladies silently get into the back of my car. There’s not much I can do about the hot pink elephant in the parking lot. I can only hope the females inside don’t recognize the Jeep, which is practically wearing a flashing neon sign saying: Pay Attention To Me.
“Psst!Mack! I need assistance. I’ve got two chicks handcuffed to each other and a parking signpost with Diamond’s takings for the day. They are unarmed, and they say the other chicks are unarmed, but the jury is out on Mario. I am now going inside the café.”
I move a few steps away from the SUV. “Okay. Watch Ophelia’s back,” I mutter to Tucker, and then I step back to the women, looking at them through the open car door. “Ladies, you should not be here. For God’s sake, stay put until I come for you. I can’t risk your safety with you intervening and causing me a headache. Let us handle Mario. Celeste, I need to know if your fiancé owns a weapon?”
“Not that I know of… no, Mario wouldn’t, I am sure. He’s a lying, cheating asshole, but he doesn’t carry a weapon.”
“I’ve never seen a gun in the café anywhere,” Mrs. Diamond confirms.
“Let’s hope so,” I mutter before I’m off at a sprint even though he has a kitchen full of weapons at his disposal.
Everything runs like clockwork…
… Until it doesn’t.
