I'd Kill You First: when bad meets bad

Chap. 21

SODA:

"Hey Kyle," I said into the phone as I entered my room.

"Well hello beautiful," he replied cheerily over the noise of an engine.

"Where are you?" I asked to make light conversation, although I really didn't care that much where he was.

"Oh, I'm at my brother's garage, I work on the cars he brings in."

"Well that's hot," I slipped out, mostly on purpose. I never hesitated to flirt with guys if I knew they liked me and I was alright with them.

He seemed to freeze up at my bluntness, finally letting out a laugh and saying, "Uh, well thanks. Not to sound rude, but why did you call?"

I walked over to my closet and looked around for a suitable outfit for the fight. It had to be just plain eye catching since I was supposed to be there for Keenon and I just couldn't resist teasing him all night long.

"Oh yeah, I remembered I said I would call you after I left that night at the party but forgot to, so now I'm calling."

He chuckled at me. "Yes, I see that. I was actually getting worried about you."

I frowned as I flipped through different clothing items. "Why?"

"Uh, because you didn't call or show up for dance practice," he said in confusion.

I gasped, scolding myself. "Oh man, I completely forgot we had practice today."

"Yeah, I noticed that too," he said with a light laugh.

"Anyway, I really do have to go, but I wanted to call you like I said I would," I said, trying to wrap up the conversation so I could dress.

"Oh okay, well I hope I see you soon," he said with a touch of disappointment, "Maybe we can grab lunch sometime?"

I thought it over quickly, noting that I needed to go ahead and give Kyle my regular speech about not doing relationships, but agreed anyway.

"Sure, sounds good."

"Great! See you around."

I hung up without another word and took a breath. Every now and then with guys like Kyle, my lifestyle made me feel guilty, but I couldn't afford to ever get attached, because in my line of business, an attachment was a weakness.

In any case, I could at least give Kyle the night of his life before I let him down.

Selecting white ripped skinny jeans and a black flowing shirt with no back and a hem that I tucked into the waist of my jeans, I pulled on my bright red converse and went to my bathroom to fix my hair, anticipating the fight.

••••••••

An hour later I was ready and very bored at the apartment. I didn't usually stay home a lot, but I hadn't had any assignments from Boss lately so I had free time. A little too much free time. Boss not calling me in wasn't a good sign. I had messed up my last job, and the one before that. First mess up, putting the client in the hospital, second, dropping my broken necklace at a client scene. Boss had to send in an 'expert' to get it out without being caught. I guess you could say I was losing his trust, and that meant punishment, and I already knew who would suffer for my mistakes.

I sat down on the couch, suddenly hit hard by the fact that my carelessness could cost Brody his life. I don't think I could go on knowing that my beloved Brody was gone because of me. I just had to do everything in my power to keep Brody alive.

My phone rang, making me jump out of my skin before I sighed and pulled it from my jeans pocket.

"Yep."

"Tell me you are not going to the fights without me!" Lacy yelled.

I gritted my teeth. "Did Toby tell you?"

"Yes, yes he did, which is more than I can say for my best friend," she pouted, I could hear it in her voice.

"Well then come if you want, I don't care. Just know that it's illegal and you could go to jail, but hey, what do I care?" I said with boredom.

"You might be the worst friend ever," she huffed, "I don't know why I stick with you."

"Because without me you wouldn't have cool rides to your lame parties and wouldn't have so many guys to hit on in my wake," I replied bluntly, not worried about her feelings. She knew she was my best friend, as much as anyone could be my friend since I didn't really stick to the same people very long. I realized suddenly that my six month limit for one place was coming up soon.

"You are so mean," she whined, "But pick me up for this fight, Lance wants to come too."

"Sir yes sir," I muttered, "Be ready at seven."

"Yay!" she squealed before I could hang up.

I was just getting up to grab some juice from the fridge when a hard knock came on my door, six knocks to be precise. I swallowed hard, knowing the only person brave enough to come to my home was someone I didn't want to see.

I stayed quiet and hoped he would go away, but after another six knocks he called in a deep voice, "I know you're there."

"Doesn't mean I'll let you in," I retorted bitterly.

"I can always break down the door," he said in an amused tone.

My blood boiled as I stalked over to the door and yanked it open. Just seeing Drake made me cringe, recoiling from the door handle and backing up a bit.

He noticed with an awful grin and walked past me into the apartment. "Good choice, Bree."

"Don't call me that," I bit out, clenching my fists. "Spit it out and leave."

He chuckled as he picked up one of Keenon's boxers off the floor and looked at me in surprise. "Bringing lovers home now, huh? That's really not smart. I doubt Boss would want you to be any more careless with this than you already have been."

"It's not anyone you should be concerned about, trust me," I muttered.

"That's just it, though," he said, leaning against my counter after getting a beer from the fridge. "I don't trust you. And more importantly, Boss doesn't trust you. He isn't happy with you, as you could probably guess, and I'm here to tell you to step it up because next time the consequences won't be pretty. This is your last chance warning. Tomorrow night, at the docks, you will meet your next client. Don't screw it up."

"Get out," I said forcefully, finding my courage again as I faced this monster of a man and looked him right in his dark blue eyes. "Get out and don't come back."

"Then don't give me a reason to," he said with a shrug.

"I won't," I said quietly while opening my door as a silent command for him to leave.

He smirked at me and sauntered past, pausing in the hallway as he slightly turned to me. "Brody, right? Your brother? Nice kid. It would be a shame for him to suddenly, I don't know, commit suicide, don't you think?"

"Get out!" I screamed, slamming the door. I could hear him laughing at me all the way down the hall.

I whirled around and put my back to the door, hating myself for ever taking his deal. Why was I so stupid? Now Brody would pay for it next time I messed up. That was it then. I couldn't mess up. Never again.

I grabbed my keys and basically bolted out the door, desperately needing to relieve some tension before the fight tonight. I ran to the elevator and waited impatiently as it dropped me at the first floor.

I speed walked to the parking lot and unlocked my Camaro, hopping in and revving the engine.

"Cameron."

The voice on the other end of the phone sounded surprised and groggy. "Huh? Soda?"

"Open up, I'm coming there."

There was the sound of a creaking bed as his voice came back. "Got it."

I hung up and squealed out of the lot and toward Cameron's, ready for a race. I couldn't go to Keenon's fight like this, I needed to vent.