“No need to be sorry,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. “It makes sense.”
“We’re the real deal now,” he said, between pecks at my neck.
“Yeah,” I said, sitting on the bed.
“Aw, damn, Cass,” he said, running his fingers through my hair. “We’ll try bathroom sex again.” We lay together, Toby draping his arms around me. He pulled me tighter. “We’ll have plenty of time,” he whispered.
Luke
Once Cassie left for Toby’s, I asked Rita if I could borrow her car, and drove to where Johnno used to live, hoping he would still be there. I knocked on the puke-green door, a gym bag full of cash hooked to my cane. Bass pounded from inside. Empty cans of Monster Energy and Lone Star littered the stoop. Under the peep hole, somebody had ground the letters I C U.
Yep, telltale Johnno markings. I pounded harder.
Kaz opened the door, a blunt hanging from his lips. I had forgotten how huge he was. I was six foot two and came up only to his nipples.
“Here,” I said, and lifted the bag. I’d been saving every penny I could of my paychecks since I deployed, and I’d cashed my savings, but I finally had twenty-five hundred dollars. How I was going to find twenty-five hundred for the final payment in a month was a problem for another day.
Kaz took the bag.
“Tell him to come in here and count it out,” I heard Johnno yell.
“It’s all there,” I called. “You know how to reach me if it’s not.” I was borrowing Rita’s car. I had to get back so she could go to her hair appointment.
Kaz grabbed my shoulder and ushered me inside.
Three minutes later, Johnno confirmed it was all there. He lounged on the futon with the gun sitting on his belly, stockinged feet resting on the coffee table next to the pile.
When I stood up to leave, Kaz blocked my way. “We’re not done yet.”
“You’ll get the rest in a month, like we agreed.”
“We have some new información,” Johnno said, picking dirt out of his fingernails.
“What now?”
Johnno picked up the gun, aiming it at me like a teacher’s pointer. “How would you explain your situation with Ms. Cassandra Salazar, in your own words? Go.”
I swallowed. My hand started to fidget on the cane. “Married.”
Johnno waved the gun. “Go on.”
I said nothing. I looked around the room for an answer, a weapon.
“We’ve been keeping tabs on you, bro. Making sure you’re not going to ghost. And here comes Cassie’s hot ass, so natch we’re gonna follow that.”
I was clenching my bum leg, hoping the pain would distract me from the fear rising up. “Do y’all just sit in the Bronco all day spying on people?”
Kaz was on his phone, muttering, “Sometimes we go to Buffalo Wild Wings. That’s some good shit.”
“Shut the fuck up, Kaz,” Johnno said.
Kaz glared at Johnno, then back at me, and continued, “We found out where she works, and where her mom lives.”
“I said shut the fuck up!” Johnno yelled. Even in the midst of dishing out threats, Johnno was such a child. “We also found out that she goes home with some other dude all the time.”
Kaz commiserated. “Why you gonna let her play you like that, bro?”
Johnno held up a finger. “No, he knows.”
Kaz looked at me. “You know?”
“You and Cassie are medieval-times married, aren’t you? You just did it for the extra army cash. Confirm or deny.”
I pounded a fist into my palm to keep from swinging my cane across his pocked face. If I did, Kaz would be on me like a bull rhino. “You didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“Okay, here’s a choice,” Johnno said, suddenly sitting up, gun swinging in his bony hands. “You either pay us fifty thousand dollars, or we report you to army police.”
I stood. “You’re out of your mind!” Kaz was in my face in a second, chest to chest. “I couldn’t get that kind of money if I wanted to.”
“That’s what you say every time,” Johnno said, pointing to the pile. “And then there it be.”
I pointed to Johnno. “You can fuck off.” To Kaz, I said, “Please move.”
With a nod from Johnno, Kaz stepped aside.
“Fifty K, magic man!” he yelled after me, erupting into a cough. “Make it appear!”
“Not gonna happen, dude,” I called, and slammed the door.
Once outside, my breath caught in my lungs. My vision zeroed in and out. I C U. I leaned on my cane, hoping I wouldn’t pass out.