My Funny Valyntine: Book One - The Pull

Chapter Seventeen - From This Moment On

i.

"...which is why you need to drive normal, dig?" an effeminate, man's voice says.

Valyntine hears but doesn't open her eyes. Her head is throbbing. She feels the thick vinyl of an auto's seat, along with the cold wind blowing through the cabin. She hears the engine, and the sound of asphalt passing beneath tires.

"You didn't complain 'bout my drivin' when I got us out that chopper fire," says Sugar Plum.

"Oh, you mean earlier when you lost the girl?"

"Fuck you, Lark! Ain't she or ain't she sittin' right fuckin' there?! No thanks to-"

"Do the two of you ever stop spittin' at each other?" Skylark and Sugar Plum's voices came from the front seat. This voice is in the back, next to Valyntine. Taking the risk, she lets her eyelids flutter open a fraction to see a full, round afro, and a chinstrap beard in profile.

Wondering why they had their windows open after sundown in October, Valyntine remembers the back and front windshields being blown out earlier that morning by chopper fire. Flashing in her mind's eye, she watches Latin drop to the ground in slow motion, his head snapping forward. It takes considerable effort to keep her emotions suppressed. Valyntine remains stone still, so as not to let anyone in the auto know she's regained consciousness.

"You can suck the jam out my ass, Mingo," Sugar Plum snaps at the man in the backseat. "I'll talk to who the fuck I wan' talk to, and how the fuck I wan' talk to 'em. And that includes your skinny ass."

"Now-now," Skylark says, the voice of reason. "Ain't no reason for any y'all to get blood risin'. Ain't no reason t'all. That hundy kay gon' still split three ways. Plum, calm down. Flamingo, this is how we do."

"Listen to you," Sugar Plum says, going from rigid to sweet. "Talkin' all strong."

"Deliverin' her and gettin' this gold gon' take us to the next level. Got a place in the Hill I've had my eye on."

"Sounds good, Baby," coos Sugar Plum.

"How far is Holloway?" the voice next to Valyntine asks.

"We ain't going to Holloway."


"We ain't? I thought that's where the Good Man is?" Backseat says, and Valyntine's breath catches in her chest.


"He wants the bitch brought to Apple. Don' know why."


Valyntine wonders what would happen if she tries jumping out of the moving LongShore. The odds of getting away even if she manages to survive are minimal. They'd get her back in no time. She felt the man next to her shift in his seat but doesn't dare open her eyes again.

"Hey Plum," the man asks, sounding worried. "How far 'til Apple?"

"Got a ways yet. We just crossed into Lafayette. Should be another twenty minutes till we out of the East."

"Then we better take care of this problem now," Backseat says. Valyntine thinks he must be staring at her, must know she has woken.

"Whatchoo mean?" Skylark asks. Valyntine hears him turning in his front passenger seat. Whatever he sees must worry him, because he shouts, "Who the fuck is that?!"

"Don't know, but they're gaining."

"Step on the gas, Plum!" Skylark commands.

The LongShore surges forward as Sugar Plum guns the engine. Staying limp becomes difficult as the auto weaves and swerves all over the road. They must have been running red lights, as Valyntine hears blaring horns and screeching tires coming from every direction.