Hot For Sensei

Chapter Eight

The next morning, Ivy accompanied Robby to the mall so he could take care of something. She was skeptical, suspecting something illegal, but he promised he'd be quick, so she agreed.

When they got to the mall, they went to the back of an electronics store where two guys that looked to be in their 20's were waiting. One was black with tight braids, and the other could have been Latino or white, with long, dark brown hair and a bushy mustache. Neither looked very nice, or worth a shit for that matter.

"About time." The black one said to Robby, "Who's the chick?"

"My girl, Ivy." Robby answered defensively, "This is Trey and Cruz."

"She ain't a snitch, is she?" Trey, the black one, asked.

"She's not going to say anything, so just leave her alone." Robby warned.

"Hey, if she keeps her mouth shut, we don't care." Cruz brushed him off, "Now get going, time is money."

"Yeah." Robby said before turning to Ivy, "I'll be right back."

"Hurry up." She mumbled, clearly uncomfortable.

"I will." He mumbled back.

He gave her a quick kiss and disappeared into the building.

Ivy hopped up onto a nearby wall to smoke a cigarette as she waited. She observed both Trey and Cruz, who were having their own conversation. Trey was clearly the leader, his movements and voice both exuding confidence and dominance. Cruz was weaker, twitching and stuttering and only adding less than intelligent things to their conversation. Ivy shook her head, wondering how Robby got mixed up with these morons. She wasn't going to speak, but she couldn't help herself.

"Aren't you guys a little old to be hanging out with Robby?" she asked as smoke trailed from her lips.

"Aren't you a little young to be so brave?" Trey mocked her.

"Ever heard of Ed Gein? Jeffrey Dahmer? Walter E. Ellis?" Ivy paused and they both shook their heads, "They're all serial killers from back home. The top horror movies are based off of serial killers from Wisconsin. You guys ain't shit."

"Listen, bitch." Trey moved forward as Ivy glared at him, but before he could say anything else, Robby returned.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Nothing." Ivy and Trey answered together.

"Okay..." Robby gave them both an odd look.

"So, Robby, what'd we get?" Trey asked as he moved to him.

"A fifteen incher!" Robby held up a laptop proudly.

"Nice." Cruz came over and took the laptop.

Robby paused to slide off a red, long sleeve shirt that he wasn't wearing before. Ivy looked to see that there was actually another guy standing behind Robby, who he handed the shirt and some sort of badge to.

"Thanks, Eddie." He said to the guy with a wink, "We'll get you your cut."

Eddie nodded and went back into the mall. Ivy felt sick, what a scam artist.

"Come on, Ivy." Robby motioned to her as he slid his flannel back on.

She hopped down from the wall and followed the group to a nearby underpass. Robby sat down on an abandoned cart to open the computer as the goons paced around him. Ivy kept her distance, disgusted.