“Whatever is going on, don’t let it tear down everything you’ve built. You’re better than that. You’re better than those funky-ass bikers,” Jazzy said. He heard the hitch in her speech and he figured she was a few seconds from crying.
“I won’t, Jazz. You tell Marcus he better treat you right or I’m coming to see him,” Ike said.
“Oh, boss, he’s fine. I guess I better get up. I need to go look for a new job,” Jazzy said. Ike chewed at his bottom lip. Jazzy had been with him since she’d graduated from high school five years ago. He had not only come to depend on her but he had grown to like her. If he squinted real hard and prayed to God, Allah, and Krishna, he could sometimes do the books on the computer. Jazzy knew the system backward and forward. It would take time to train a new person on the computer. It would take even longer to train them to be compatible with his particular circadian rhythms.
“Hey, if you ever change your mind, the door is always open,” Ike said. A lump was doing its level best to form in his throat.
“I hear you. Hey, Ike, be careful, okay?”
“I’m as careful as a long-tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs,” Ike said.
“I think that’s the first joke I’ve ever heard you tell. Well, the first funny one, that is. I guess I better go,” Jazzy said.
“Okay. Bye.
“Bye,” Jazzy said. She ended the call. Ike tapped his phone against his forehead. Jazzy wasn’t exactly like a daughter to Ike but she was damn close.
“Goddammit,” he said. He got up and put on a pot of coffee. He didn’t even feel like going to the shop now. He’d just take another personal day and go in early tomorrow since he’d be writing up the work orders and working accounts payable and receivable.
An hour later, as he was on his third cup of coffee, there was a knock at the door.
Ike put his cup down and went to the closet in the hallway that led to the stairs. He grabbed the piece of rebar he’d hidden there the other night after his run-in with the Caprice. The fourteen-inch piece of iron was only an inch around, but it was as heavy as a hammer. Ike went to the door and peered through the diamond-shaped window.
“Aw, hell,” he said. He opened the door. Buddy Lee stepped into the house with a Hardee’s bag.
“Glad I caught you before you went to work. I brought biscuits,” he said.
“You should call first,” Ike said. Buddy Lee gave the rebar a quick once-over.
“Damn, you really must hate Jehovah’s Witnesses,” Buddy Lee said. Ike thought he must be getting used to Buddy Lee’s attempts at humor. He didn’t even roll his eyes this time.
“Had some visitors Saturday,” Ike said. Buddy Lee stopped in his tracks as Ike closed the door.
“Breed?”
“Yeah. Two guys in a big yellow banana boat followed Mya home,” Ike said.
“Did they see you?” Buddy Lee asked.
“Yeah. I busted out their windows with a bush axe,” Ike said. Buddy Lee slumped against the wall as Ike shut the door.
“Didn’t you tell me you pulled a machete on them the other day?” Buddy Lee asked.
“Yeah.”
Buddy Lee pushed off the wall and went into the kitchen. He sat down at the table and Ike joined him.
“You got a thing for sharp objects, huh? Jesus. I’m surprised this house is still standing,” Buddy Lee said. He pulled one of the biscuits out of the bag and put it on the table in front of Ike. Ike grabbed it and took a bite. He spoke as he chewed.
“I sent Mya and the girl to stay with her sister for a while. Until this is over,” he said.
“That’s good. That little girl don’t need to be mixed up in none of this. How did your wife take it? Leaving her house and all,” Buddy Lee said.
“She won’t say it but I think she wants us to make it right. Whatever that means. You know, seeing them at the shop was one thing. Seeing them at my fucking house was another. It ain’t like it wasn’t real before that. I mean, I guess it was like if anything went down it was on me. But seeing them on my road…” Ike let the sentence fade away.
“You got something else to lose,” Buddy Lee said.
“Yeah.”
“If you want out, I get it. I ain’t gonna think less of you,” Buddy Lee said.
Ike shook his head. “We in too deep now, homie. The only way out is through.”
Buddy Lee chuckled. “My mama used to say that.”
“I used to hear my granddad say it. Him and my grandmama raised me. At least they tried to. I gave them some early gray hairs,” Ike said.