The Beginning

Nicky

The alleyway behind the bar was sodden beneath my feet. Remnants of the most recent snow edged fences and left ice on dumpster lids. Wet brick had begun to sparkle in the yellowing streetlight. Night had fallen and I had nothing but time.

Marcelo grabbed the heavy-set man by the front of his shirt. "You like to hit little kids?" He questioned. His forceful shove sent the man backward.

His head clanking off the metal dumpster.

Silas knelt to dig through his pants pockets. Withdrawing the man's wallet, he flipped it open with one hand. "Amadeus Valdillez." Silas passed the ID to his brother. Overlapping his index and middle fingers, Silas jabbed his chest. "What this about kneeling on rice?"

"I swear to you, he's lying." Amadeus held his hands up, palms out. "That's what he does."

Marcelo caught Amadeus in the jaw with his knuckles.

"Jesus Christ!" The man held his face with both hands.

"You said we get to abuse liars." Marc stared him dead in the eye. "Kneel." He ordered.

Amadeus jumped to wet gravel beneath his knees. His hands supported him on the ground.

"Hands behind your head." Silas ordered as he stood.

I cracked the back door to see Tess, behind the bar. She shared her sweet smile as she pushed a drink across the bar. Even when she wasn't on shift, she pushed herself to keep customers coming back.

My attention was drawn back to Amadeus when I heard the hammer on Silas's handgun click. "Too much." I informed shortly.

"You're going to the cops, you're going to tell them what you did to that little boy, and you're going to take your punishment." Marcelo laid out. "If you go home, we will come for you. If you try to skip town, we will find you. If you try to kill yourself, I will personally revive you. You can't get away from us, Amadeus."

Jerky, tearful, Amadeus only had the strength to nod.

"Go." He commanded.

Drunkenly, Amadeus scrambled to his feet and disappeared down the alleyway.

"What the fuck was that?" I barked at Silas.

"I wasn't going to shoot him." He disarmed the gun and put the safety on before he tucked it into his waist. "I just wanted him to think I would."

"You would've." Marcelo clicked his tongue and shook his head.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I checked the screen quickly before I answered. "Principal Palmer."

"It's not Noah." Her nervousness rattled each word. "I know what you think you saw, Nicky, it's not him."

I gave the two boys a look. "What are you taking about?" I put the call on speaker phone.

"Oscar told me about the texts. That wasn't him." Desi did her best at a firm tone but failed as her sob escaped. "Someone used his phone to send those messages."

"That's convenient."

Desiree hesitated. A shaky breath escaped as she tried to calm her emotions. "He's been cheating, Nicky." Distress had made her voice ragged. "I told Jessica that I was going to doctor's appointments, but we've been going to couples counseling for the last week. He won't tell me who it is, but he said it's been going on for the last two months."

Marcelo lifted an inquisitive brow.

"I'm going to need that name." I pressed her.

"Please, Nicky, my kids--"

"Get me a name?" I interrupted.

"It's done." She promised.

I ended the call.

"Why didn't you tell her that we weren't going to do anything to him?" Silas wondered.

"You weren't going to do anything to him." Marcelo corrected. "Someone needs to go slap the shit out of Ozzy." He yanked the door open.

The bar bustled with everyone who lived in town. Silas's offer of free drinks had spread like wildfire. No doubt his bill was over a few grand by now.

I searched for Tess's unmistakable curls among the crowd. My heart picked up when I didn't see her right away. I finally settled on her. She stood with a drink in one hand, the other gestured tamely as she explained something.

"I need you to get ahold of Sprouts as soon as you can." I instructed Silas.

"The place where Ava goes?" Silas clarified.

"Yeah, Javon's going to need someone to watch him while his mom goes to work." I thought for a second, then added, "We should go introduce ourselves, too. Let her know she can call us on when she needs it."

"Marcelo and I can handle it." He assured me.

"Don't show up looking like criminals." I warned in jest.

"No suits, got it." He returned with a wink.

Marcelo, more or less, dragged Oscar in our direction. "You should've kept your mouth shut." He spoke through clenched teeth.

"Desiree is a good person and so his Noah. I thought you guys were going to do what you always do." Oscar defended.

"We weren't going to do anything to their family, you little rat." Silas gave his youngest brother a shove. "This is your problem. You talk more than you listen."

"She's having a baby, Si. I thought--"

"We know what you thought." I clapped a hand on his shoulder. "But you needed to follow the plan. Now that Noah's been tipped off, so has the person who's supposedly been using his phone. You don't think he's going to get ahold of Uncle Dom? Where was your head, Oz?"

"It's going to set us back." Oscar observed, dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Or open us up for an attack." Marcelo pointed out. "You dumb--"

"Enough." I waved Marcelo away. "What I need you to do, from here on out, is stay away from all of this."

"Nicky, it was a mistake." Oscar pleaded.

"One we can't repeat." I shook my head at him. "You're going to go home, you're not going to answer your phone unless it's Uncle Dom, and when he calls, you're going to tell him that everything is as right as rain."

"You can't kick me out. I'm still family."

"That's the only reason you're walking away." Silas informed him. "If you weren't one of us, we'd take you out to the alley."

Distressed, calling out for help, I heard Tess from across the room. "What the fuck?"

My head snapped to the last place I'd seen her. No longer there I searched wildly. She had stepped back behind the bar. A man gripped her forearm with such ferocity that his fingers warped her flesh. A spilt drink had tumbled over between the two of them. Her shirt, wet, exposed the outline of her bra.

My vision narrowed. Jaw clenched, I zeroed in on the back of a dirty flannel shirt. I didn't remember taking the strides nor did I recall the pace at which I'd taken them. I only felt the rough material clenched in my fist and the weight of him thump off the floor. Unable to concentrate on anyone else, I reared back and threw my fist harder than I knew to be necessary. My knuckles scraped against his teeth, then found the pocket in his cheek. Another to his eyes socket. Eventually, I only swung to make myself feel better, not for the way he'd laid hands on Tess.

I felt two small taps on my shoulder. Ready to fight whoever had come to his aid, I whipped around with my fist cocked.

Gentle hands on my face stilled my next action. "You're done." Tess informed softly. "You win, be done."