Bad Boys

s i x ~ Nightly Gamble

I swallow back my emotions and rub my hands back and forth across my black jeans. Glancing at the clock, I find I only have twelve minutes left. With a sigh, I tug my fingers through my hair and stand up. I inhale deeply before walking over to my closet, and the action doesn't feel any different than when I was small and having to check my own closet for monsters. My breath still seems to catch in my throat and, even though I've done this a million times, my hands shake as I slide open the door of my closet.

I dig out the gray backpack, left over from the days when the system still cared enough to at least provide me with a bag to carry the school stuff I barely used, from the bottom of my closet. I head over to the bed, and toss the backpack on top of the covers. I kneel down and pull out three shoeboxes. I stand back up, placing the boxes on the bed. I take another deep breath, then empty the contents next to the back pack. Hundreds of dollars in cash spills out. The money from each deal rolled together with a rubber band.

            Grabbing handfuls of the rolls, I shove them into the bag. Shoeboxes might be the most obvious hiding spot, but it's not like there were any other options, especially in this crappy apartment. Besides just making the deals was like strapping a neon sign on my forehead saying, 'I'm right here, Death, take a swing.' At least whoever killed me this way, would get some cash out of it. Unless of course it was them. Then they'd just being adding buckets of blood to their stash.

            I zip up the bag and pull on the black sweatshirt. I really only ever wear this one on nights like tonight. Then I sling the bag onto my back and head out to the main area of our apartment. Ryder and Jax are already there, each with their own hoodie and bags. Ryder is rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet and Jax has a white knuckled grip on the counter top. We've done this so often over the last four years, it's become a routine, but that doesn't begin to steady the nerves associated with being caught. Sure if the cops caught us, there's no way any of us could pull off a lie with this much cash. But if someone else caught us, and took the money. We'd better do the honors of taking a bullet to the head faster than their footsteps fade out of earshot.

            Bash walks out of the room he shares with Ryder, tugging on the straps of his backpack. And when Dominic finally joins us, we flip our hoods up. It may be night but the street camera's still have decent resolution. Jax is the first one to open the door and slip out. The rest of us follow suit. We move quietly down the stairs of the apartment building and immediately turn in different directions once we get outside. The meeting place is the same, but if one of us goes down it's best not to take the others.

            My footsteps seem to echo down the street, even though they barely make an indent in the silence of the night. There are no cars on the street, which isn't surprising considering it is indeed one in the morning. And there isn't much wild life to speak of for this part of town. Aside from the occasional stray dog or cat and a few birds nothing roams the streets in the daylight, let alone at night.

            I walk through Haven Park and my eyes linger on a certain tree. I force my feet to keep moving and my head to look straight ahead of me. I walk down the hill and stop at the cement wall. In the day time, the wall is only a side of the maintenance building for the park. But at night, it's a dark corner in easy access to a parking lot and the car. I stand there and wait, not bothering to look around. After a few minutes the "delivery boy" comes out of the shadows.

            "You got all of it?" he asks.

            "Yep." He drops an empty duffle bag on the ground and then steps back. I slide off my bag and unzip it. Then I tilt it and let the cash fall. I straighten up and hear the faint click of a gun a few paces away. I don't bother to flinch. As I step away from the bag, the guy quickly zips it off and carries it to the car. Another guy comes out of the shadows, holding a backpack of his own. He opens it and pulls out a new batch of drugs. I hold my bag open and he drops them inside. Then he digs around in the bag and pulls out two stacks of cash. He drops them into my bag too before backing away. Once he does, I zip up the bag and slip it back onto my back.