Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
“Well, it’s a good thing we got it back, baby girl. Family is important, no matter how big or how small, if you’re born into one or if you choose one yourself. I got caught up thinking I was choosing a better family for what I thought I wanted back then. I already had the family I needed. Roy was always into theft, and he gave me something to hold onto for him. I didn’t know that he’d given me stolen property and then told the cops I was the mastermind.”
“Seems like he’s always been a snake and this has been a long time coming.”
He shrugs, “I got off with a few weeks in jail and community service after a lawyer argued my case for me. If Roy never got me tangled up in his mess, I would have gotten myself into deeper shit, and who knows where I would have ended up? On the other side, he can rot in hell next to a baboon’s ass for messing with people I care about. He’s not going to get away with this, baby girl. That I promise you.”
13
HENDRIX
There’s nothing inside of me that wants Roy to get the easy way out after stealing from Havana.
We decide to put my plan into action. She moves through the apartment, setting things out that look worthy of stealing, and making sure to box up everything else.
I check the angles of the cameras and make sure our video from last night isn’t stored in the history, but it is on my phone. I’m getting hard just thinking about it, watching it with her later while she gags on my sturdy rod.
It takes a few seconds for me to remind myself I have work to do, and I can’t spend this time fascinating about all the ways I want to make Havana come. After making sure the cameras are in position, we make our way downstairs to speak with her landlady.
Miss Lucille steps into the lobby wearing her anxiety on her face. She pulls out her phone and puts it on speaker. She wants to be sure I can coach her through the call in case Roy does anything to derail what we have set up.
The phone rings a few times before Roy answers. “Who is this?”
Her voice is jittery as she says, “Um, Roy. It’s Lucille.”
“Oh, right, right. I love Lucy. You got something for me?” He sounds like he’s in a good mood, but that can obviously change at the drop of a dime.
“Yeah, um, remember that apartment on the third floor, the one with the young girl?” she starts.
Roy groans. “Yeah, she was a tasty little piece. You calling to give me her number or something? She come around?”
This motherfucker. If he was here, I would’ve slammed his head to the ground. Without batting an eye. Nobody talks about my girl like that. Especially not a useless piece of shit like him.
“Uh, no,” Lucille huffs out a sigh of exhaustion. “Actually, we had a blow-up because there was some sort of emergency and she didn’t tell me about the repairs she did. I told her I’d have to add the costs onto her rent.”
“Okay,” Roy says with apprehension. “What do you have for me? Come on out with it. I don’t have all day.”
Lucille continues, “Well, she’s threatening to skip out on the rest of her lease. Can you come by and take a look at her apartment again? If there’s anything wrong, or if she’s undone any of your repairs, I want to be sure I add it to the list of damages for when I take her to court.”
I nod at Lucille. She plays the landlady very well.
Roy sounds giddy as he tells her, “Oh, nice. Yeah, let’s take that stuck-up bitch to court. I can actually tack on some additional repairs if you want to inflate the bill.”
I’m clenching my fists, knuckles white. I can’t wait to do serious damage to this scumbag. I have to breathe slowly so as not to lose it. We’ve gone this far.
“Let’s just see what’s going on and take it from there. How soon can you get here?” she asks him.
“Give me an hour,” Roy replies and ends the call.
Miss Lucille looks at me with worry in her eyes.
I assure her, “Just let Roy do whatever Roy does. You don’t have to do anything else but be yourself. Okay? I’m going to be in my truck until you guys head up to the apartment. Just stand by the door while he heads inside.”
“Okay, and this is going to work?” she asks.
“It’s going to work,” I tell her even though there’s no way to predict Roy’s behavior.
Outside, Havana is standing beside my truck as my brothers arrive. Hayden decides to wait in his car, and I take my truck with Havana in the passenger seat down the street. I don’t want Roy to see any of us and get spooked to the point he doesn’t go inside.