Bittersweet Chronicles: Pax (7 page)

“Yeah, I can.”

“And if I say that won’t cover Carly’s debt?”      

Carly tenses at my side, and I rub a thumb along her shoulder, feeling the smooth skin there under the edge of her T-shirt sleeve.

“Why don’t you explain that to me,” I answer, noticing the minions smirking behind Lagazo.

He steps forward, coming almost nose-to-nose with me. He’s not as tall as I am, and he’s a few decades older, but that doesn’t seem to faze him. He’s tough as hell, and I imagine he fights damn dirty.

“I don’t explain myself to punks with rich daddies,” he snarls.

I’m about to say something far less polite than what I’ve said so far, but Carly must sense it and interrupts me.

“Mr. Lagazo. I’ve told your guys—my dad didn’t leave me a thing. Honest. I had to borrow money from my aunt to pay for his funeral.”

He looks her up and down, a disgusting leer on his face. My fingers on her shoulder tighten, and I hear her squeak as if I’ve hurt her.

“Sorry,” I whisper.

“But see, little girl, it’s not that I don’t believe you, just that it doesn’t matter. You still owe, and now, you owe more because of the trouble you’ve caused me. I’m running a business here, and when you force my guys to chase you all over town for days, that’s an expense. When you make us take a risk like grabbing you out of some chump’s house in the middle of the night, that’s a cost.”

He keeps talking to her, but he looks at me, his lip curled up on one side. “These kinds of costs can’t be put into dollars, Carly.” He grins, walking away from us and then pausing before turning back. “The only way you can repay this debt now is to go to work for me.”

“Oh hell no,” I say before Carly can answer.

The mere thought of her up in front of all those dirty, old men has my blood boiling. An image of us touching at my condo flashes through my mind and the one thing I feel is ‘I’m not sharing’. She might not know it yet, but when all of this is over, she and I are going to spend some time together—quality time, time without so many clothes.

Lagazo raises an eyebrow at me before jerking his head at one of the minions nearby. The big guy lumbers over and pulls out a gun, which he lodges between a couple of my ribs. It’s not too comfortable, and I hear Carly’s quick intake of breath. It matches the sharp throb of my heart, which is now in my throat.

“Maybe I haven’t made myself clear enough, son,” Lagazo growls. “You’re not in a position of power here. Carly will do what I say when I say to do it, and you don’t have any choice in the matter.”

This is the moment at which a smarter guy might shut the hell up and just let things play out, but I can’t. I’ve never been able to stand by and let things happen. It’s just not who I am.

“You may have the guns, but I can promise you, if something happens to me, there will be things raining down on your head that you can’t even imagine. I
am
a rich guy’s son, and more than that, I’m a rich guy’s very well-loved son. If you hurt me, or any of my friends, my family will hunt you down. They’ll never stop, I promise you that. And they aren’t just rich. They have connections to anyone and anywhere they need.”

It’s all true, and maybe that’s why Lagazo seems to take it seriously. He’s not scared, but he does seem thoughtful, and he calls off the gun-toting freak at my side.

“Well, we seem to be at an impasse here. I can’t put a dollar amount to what charming Carly has cost me. But I am willing to propose a compromise.”

I nod at him, but my heart is racing in fear of what he might suggest.

“What is it?” Carly asks, her voice trembling a bit.

“If Carly doesn’t work for me,
you’ll
need to.” He looks pointedly at me.

Carly shivers under my arm, and I open my mouth to protest yet again.

“Hold on there, Romeo,” Lagazo says, putting a finger up.

I clamp my mouth shut.

“You want to protect the girl or not?” He smirks. “I have some extra errands that need to be run—some trips up to Birmingham, some local stuff. My guys have other things to keep busy. You’ll do just fine. I get you for thirty days.”

“No way—” Carly interjects.

“Deal,” I say, putting out my hand to Lagazo.

“What? Pax, are you crazy?” she squawks at me, her eyes wide in disbelief.

“Carly,” I grit between my teeth. “Just be grateful that the man is willing to compromise with us. We don’t have much of a position to negotiate from here.”

All that keeps cycling through my head is that I’ll do anything to keep Carly from working in a strip club. Somewhere deep inside, I know that this is a huge mistake, but I just can’t bear the idea of her being humiliated like that. If someone has to be destroyed over this, better me than her.

“Smart boy.” Lagazo grins. “I’ll also need some extra cash to offset the loss of Carly’s
assets
in the club.”

My stomach churns. “How much?”

“I think twenty K ought to do it. That’s in addition to the original one hundred.”

“Fine.” I try hard to keep my voice steady. “I’ll have it to you in twenty-four hours.”

Lagazo smiles. “Well son, looks like you got yourself a deal. Boys, take Carly and her friend here home. And make sure he has Nicky’s number so he can call in to get his assignments.” He looks me over one last time. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “This oughta be fun.”

**

By the time we get back to my house, Vaughn is halfway to crazy town. I scowl at the broken lock on my front door as I walk in.

“Pax! What the hell, man? God, where have you two been? Did they hurt you?” He takes Carly’s arms and holds her still so he can inspect her. “I’ve been on the phone with my buddy at the Portland P.D., trying to decide what to do.  I didn’t call the local police because you was so opposed to getting them involved, but if you hadn’t shown up in the next hour, I was heading straight to the downtown station.”

I flop down on the sofa, exhausted, the last of the adrenaline draining out of my body so quickly that I feel a little faint. Carly looks pale and like she might vomit.

“Carly?” I ask in a gentle tone. “Why don’t you go climb in bed and rest? Everything’s fine now.”

Vaughn looks at her, then at me. He nods like he sees where I’m going with everything.

“Yeah. Go ahead, Carly. You’re home safe now. Pax can fill me in, and you and I can talk later. There’s no rush.”

I watch as she considers it. I know she doesn’t want to admit she’s tapped out, but she’s so tired that her stubborn side finally gives up the fight.

“Okay. But no matter what Pax says, that stupid agreement he made with Lagazo will never work. And, Vaughn?”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“You can’t let him do it.”

Vaughn looks at me, his expression serious. “Pax.” He shakes his head. “What did you go and do this time?”

“Nothing, man.” I press my lips together, refusing to discuss this any further while Carly is standing here.

Vaughn sighs, and Carly shakes her head.

“I’ll see you in a while,” she mumbles before she wanders off toward the back bedroom.

Once she’s gone, I lean my head back against the sofa. I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired in my life.

“Dude,” Vaughn says, sitting down on the adjacent armchair. “What happened?”

I tell him the basic facts, including the one hundred twenty thousand dollars I need to get Lagazo in the next twenty-four hours.

“Holy hell,” he mutters.

Then I get to the part where I agreed to work for Lagazo.

“You what?” Vaughn’s voice is quiet, and that tells me that his reaction is worse than I expected. “You didn’t. God, Pax, tell me you didn’t agree to that.”

I nod my head. “It was that or he was going to put her to work in the strip club. You know he could do it. Keep her locked up except to work. I can tell you the guy’s the real deal. He has no qualms with kidnapping, extortion, murder, whatever. And Carly’s right—going to the cops wouldn’t have stopped him. He has a whole warehouse full of stuff that I’m sure is illegal, Vaughn. Guns and drugs I’d guess judging by the crates. He must have police on his payroll.”

“Which is why you can’t do this, Pax.” Vaughn’s voice is approaching desperate. “My God, your old man will never forgive my family for getting you mixed up in this.” He puts his head in his hands and yanks at his hair. “This can’t be happening.” Then he looks up at me, and I feel terrible. His eyes are tortured, and his face is tense. “Does he know who you are?” he asks in a quiet tone, his eyes darting toward the back of the house where Carly is resting.

“No,” I reply. “He knows I come from money but has no idea who I really am. I changed my name legally and the records are sealed. This house is in my new name and my dad paid cash. There shouldn’t be any way to trace me.”

“Do you know what kind of risk you’re taking here?” he hisses. “You get arrested doing some illegal thing for this guy and it could ruin your life, Pax. Not to mention your dad and the band.” The muscles in his jaw flex as he grinds his teeth. “This is your whole future you’re putting on the line. You just can’t do it.”

I take a deep breath, pushing aside the part of me that’s afraid of just what he’s describing. I think of Carly’s pretty lips, her perfect ass and big eyes, her tragic childhood and her hopes for the future. I think of Lagazo’s hard, cruel face and the gun his guy dug into my rib cage. I think of how easy it was for them to get to Carly and me—breaking down the door to my house like it was cardboard and taking us without so much as a squeak from the neighbors or even from Vaughn, who was sleeping twenty feet away.

“Look, I appreciate it, Vaughn. I do. But this is the only way. Lagazo doesn’t know who I am. He’s not going to find out. And whatever he has me doing, I’m not going to get caught. If guys as stupid as the ones working for him can do that stuff without getting caught, I can for sure. I’m smarter than the average gangster, dude.” I grin at Vaughn, who rolls his eyes.

“If anything happens to you, your dad is going to have my ass,” he says matter-of-factly.

“You’re right, but nothing’s going to happen to me, so no worries. Now, I need to call my dad so we can get this under way. It’s just a month. And then we’ll be in the clear.”

“What are you going to tell him?”

“As close to the truth as I can get without making him too worried. I got this, Vaughn.”

I see his expression waver. He wants to accept it, but he knows there’s so much that could go wrong. I need him to believe in me though. It’ll help me convince myself.

Finally, he gives a sharp nod. “Okay. You got this, and I got your back. I’ll call Portland and arrange for someone else to take over my jobs for the next month. I’ll stay here to make sure you’re okay. And I’ll get Carly settled. Help her set up something more normal than she’s used to. I got your back, Pax.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it. Now toss me my phone.”

**

It’s ten a.m. in Portland when I reach my dad. I can picture him sitting in his office, where he starts most days, reading the industry news, drinking a cup of espresso my mom made him, and maybe eating a chocolate chip scone from Portland’s best bakery, The Flour House.

“Pax?” he answers, his voice upbeat and sounding wide awake.

“Hey, Dad. How are you?” I ask, trying to sound as normal as possible.

“I’m doing fine, son. Did you have a gig last night?”

I take a deep breath, pushing away the urge to spill the truth about the sordid mess Vaughn, Carly, and I are in. But I’m twenty-two years old. I need to handle my stuff, and I chose to make this
mine
.

“Nah. I have a couple of nights off this week.”

“But the bookings are still steady?” he asks, trying to sound casual but not quite pulling it off.

“Yeah, they’re very steady. No worries, Dad.”

“Good,” he answers, not questioning about my work further because he knows how much I hate to have him involved. “What else is happening? You have a girlfriend yet?” He chuckles.

My mom has been after me to get serious about someone for the last couple of years. I’ve tried explaining to her that people my age don’t get serious, but since she met and started dating my dad at fourteen, she just can’t grasp the concept. For some reason, she thinks that, if I get a serious girlfriend, it’ll improve the odds that I’ll come home sooner.

“Well, actually, I have met a girl,” I begin.

“Wait. Let me get your mom on the speakerphone. Otherwise, she’s going to grill me about the whole damn thing and you know I’ll forget some detail that she and Mel think is crucial.”

“Hey, Dad, it’s not like that. Can you wait just a minute? I’ll talk to Mom later, but I need you first.”

“Okaay…”

I hear the concern in his voice. He probably thinks I’ve gotten someone pregnant.

“I met this girl, Carly, at the beach a couple of weeks ago, and it turns out—you’ll never believe this—but she’s Vaughn’s cousin.”

“No kidding? Vaughn told me he had a cousin down there when he asked for your new number last month, but you met her before he got there?”
      “Yeah. Imagine that, huh?” I laugh, hoping it sounds normal. I feel anything but normal. “She’s great and everything, but that’s not why I’m calling. See, her dad died a few weeks ago. That’s why Vaughn is down here—to help her out. She doesn’t have a mother or anything either, and she’s just eighteen.”

My dad is quiet for a moment before his voice comes through the airwaves. “Poor kid. She got a bad deal, huh?”

Dad is a softy, always has been. He’s the happy-go-lucky guy in the band, the tenderhearted one. A girl just a year older than my sister with no parents pushes his buttons, and as crappy as it makes me feel to manipulate him, I need those buttons pushed all the way before I drop the one-hundred-twenty-thousand-dollar bomb on him.

“It gets worse. I guess her old man was a real lowlife. Gambling and stuff. He died owing the local loan shark over a hundred grand.”

“Holy hell.”

“Yeah. He, uh… He used Carly as collateral.”

There’s a longer pause this time. Then my dad’s voice comes back at me, low and rough. “What?”

“If he defaulted on the loan, the loan shark was supposed to get Carly. He owns strip clubs—you can imagine the scenario from there.”