Ricky Noir
I've ignored every single call Vince has thrown my way. Whatever he wishes to say to me is something I'd rather not hear.
"Are you gonna answer that?" Alice asks me casually.
"Why should I?" I truly wanted her opinion.
"Might be important," she says.
"It might not be."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Have you spoke to him recently?"
"No, not for awhile now." I answer her just as the ringing stopped. I shut my phone off, "problem solved." Before anything else occurred, he called again.
"Fuck," Alice scoffed. "Just pick it up and put it on speaker, I wanna hear."
I hit the green button and put the phone on speaker for Alice. "It's been awhile, huh?" I voice and wait for Vince's reply.
"Wouldn't have been so long if you learned how to pick up a damn phone."
"I've been busy," is my best excuse.
"I heard. I also heard that you've been bust with my daughter."
"That's a past thing." I lie without panic.
He paused, "really?" He asked and clearly didn't believe me.
"She wants nothing to do with me." I say and look to Alice who's giving me a look of encouragement.
"For the best, son. She's a mad woman." He says and I know Alice takes that as a compliment.
"The maddest." I reply and see Alice grin form the corner of my eye.
"I brought her in for a job awhile back." He announces knowledge that I already know.
"Oh yeah? How'd it go?"
"Brooks said it went well. She came back a wreck," he chuckled, "but he took real good care of her."
I turn over to Alice and she cringes. "Sorry," she mouths to me.
"She slept with Brooks? What a fucking bitch." I say over the phone and Alice glares at me.
"Get over it," Vince says insensitively. "I need you on a job soon."
I sigh. "What is it?" I was hesitant to turn off the speaker so Alice couldn't hear.
"Brooks," Vince says. "I need you to kill Brooks."
My eyes widened, "his one of our men."
"He fucked my daughter."
I looked over to Alice, her fingers rubbing at her temples. I played along with Vince, "when do you need me in Chicago?"
"Soon." He said without giving me an official deadline.
"Can't you just do it?" I ask. "It's your daughter."
"I could but don't you want to?"
"Of course I do, Vince." Telling me what he wants to hear.
"Perfect," he said satisfied. "I'll see you soon, son."
I ended the call and eventually looked over at Alice. "Brooks Walker?"
"Whoops," she said.
"You're kidding me."
"It was my revenge," she says. "And you called me a bitch, bitch." The small smirk on her face didn't go unnoticed.
"I was just telling him what he wanted to hear," I leaned towards her. "You're not a bitch, just- just a man woman." I twirled her hair between my fingers before kissing her.
"The maddest," she quotes me. "And I don't mean to pry but you aren't actually going to hurt Brooks, are you?"
"I'm not going to hurt him. I'm going to kill him."
"Ricky-"
"I'm kidding," I tell her. "I've got it handled don't worry."
"Well I'm worried," she says with more force in her voice. "Don't repeat history."
"Yeah I'll make sure I finish the job this time," I scoff.
"I'm serious." She gives me a deadly look. "I won't fucking forgive you."
"Okay," I say in a quiet tone.
"Seriously, Ricky, I'm done with all this shit. I don't want any part in it."
"Alice this is my job, I can't quit or I'll-"
"He'll kill you. I know, Vince told me"
"Right. So what do you want me to do?" I ask her desperately.
She struggled to look at me, her eyes holding sadness and frustration. "I don't know." She said and dropped her head, rubbing her forehead.
"I'm sorry." I tell her, an apology I owed.
"I know you are."
"I'm gonna try to get out of it. But I need you to know how hard it's gonna be, all of the things I'll need to do."
Alice looked ahead out the windshield. "Vince said that even if you could leave that you wouldn't because you love it too much. Is he telling the truth?"
"Look at me, please." I told her and she listened, I continued. "I don't need any of that, I just need you."
She didn't speak and her silence told me that she was having a hard time believing me.
"I promise, Alice."
She let out a breath, almost like relief. "So are you gonna tell me what your plan is or what?"
"Do you really wanna know?"
"Not really, no." She let out a dry laugh.
I had something in mind that was either brilliant or bound to fuck up. It would solve problems but had the potential to create a lot more. I was never an indecisive person but this was screwing with me. It would come down to a damn pros and cons list I bet.
"You won't get hurt, will you?" She asks in a caring tone.
"No, I won't. So sweet that you care though." I pinched her cheeks jokingly and she swatted them away.
"Shut up, let me care about you once in awhile."
"If you insist."
Something about her was off, it just suddenly happened, like a light switched off in her. She stayed quiet, still facing me with her head down, she began to cry. She immediately lifted her head and wiped her tears. "Fuck," she let out in a shaky voice.
"It'll be okay-"
"I don't want it to be okay!" She exclaimed and confusion filled me. "I don't want okay anymore. I want great, I don't want to have to settle for just okay! I want great. I want a life, I want my life to be great, not okay."
"I do too. It's just harder for us."
"Well it shouldn't have to be." She stated angrily. "It's all him, it's fucking Vince. He- he ruined everything for us and we let him do it. He took everything from me, from you, from us. It's fucking unfair and I'm sick of it, I'm sick of having the worst luck. I fucking hate him. I wish he were dead."
We'd get what we deserve and it would happen soon, because she just gave me permission.
A/N
Man, what's gonna happen next?
