Dante's Way (2 page)

“Are you sure? This kid looks pretty harmless to me. Can’t you just give him a stern warning and let him go. Maybe all he needs is a little fear put into him not to come back to the bar.”

“No, I’m tired with looking the other way when it comes to my property. Someone needs to show him there are consequences for his actions and tonight is the time for it to happen.”

Panic took over the person’s body.
God! I can’t go to jail. I won’t make it there. I need to find a way out of this,
the person thought as Dante led them over to a metal chair across the room.

“Sit your butt down here and don’t you dare get up. You may not like what happens if you do,” Dante warned and then he stormed off.

Why didn’t I stay within the shelter of the alleyway
?

Nodding, the person fell down into the seat pulling the sleeves of the wet hoodie over cold hands. Tonight was turning out worse than any other night had in the past two months. Anything was better than the situation going on right now.

“Dante, come on man. We both know from the looks of the kid, he’s been living on the street for a while now. How is locking him up going to solve anything?” Griffin asked him. “I seriously doubt this boy is the one who has been stealing parts off your bike. Did you catch him with any parts in his hands?”

“No, I didn’t catch him this time with any parts from my motorcycle,” Dante snapped, angrily. “He was running away with my bag of food, but it still doesn’t mean it can’t be him. Why can’t you see this my way? You know I usually let things slide, but when it comes to my most prized possession I can’t do it.”

I have to get out of here
! Glancing back at the door, a pair of dark brown eyes widened noticing it was slightly ajar. Yes...yes...yes...They could make a run for it

However, Dante and Griffin were pretty close to it. Without a doubt, time was of the essence for them to get up out of this chair and through the backdoor before either one of them caught on. This might be the only chance that presented itself tonight before Dante went through with his warning.

The person eased their body to the very edge of the cold, metal chair and then took a deep breath before getting ready to make a run for it. Cautious eyes slowly darted from one man to the other one as they continued arguing over the motorcycle incident.

Okay it was now or never
. Jumping up from the chair, it crashed loudly to the floor as the person raced for the cracked back door.

“Stop,” Dante’s angry voice shouted. “I wouldn't think about running out that door, if I were you.”

The person’s stained tennis shoes were inches from the threshold of freedom when a strong hand grabbed the back of the hoodie pulling it down and causing the individual’s thick black hair to tumble free. “What the fuck!” Dante cursed, surprised as he took a step back. “You’re a damn girl.”

Amara Langston’s startled eyes glanced back into a pair of stunned gray-green ones before she dashed out of the doorway and down the alley praying the tall, gorgeous pissed off man didn’t follow behind her for a second time that night. She was too exhausted and too famished to go another round with him.

Chapter Two

Amara’s heart pounded in her chest like the beat of a drum as she distanced herself from the club and Dante. After running through dirty alleyway after alleyway, she still didn’t feel safe enough to stop trying to get away from him and his obvious anger towards her. Of course, the first time she tried to steal something her bad judgment would pit her against a guy who was built like a NFL football player.

God, how stupid could she be
?

Ducking around the corner of the closed cleaners, Amara kept running until she came to her usual hiding place behind a pile of boxes stacked there by the owner. She crawled into the dirty sleeping bag she had found left in the park four months ago.

She dragged several semi-damp boxes around her body placing herself in her own little cocoon. So far, she’d been able to keep this spot a secret from everyone else because a majority of the other homeless people was scared shitless of the owner, Mr. Lee. He was in his late sixties, about five feet, seven inches tall with salt and pepper hair and a thin mustache.

Most of them believed he would sneak back here and do something horrible to them. Which wasn’t true at all, but she wouldn’t tell them any different. However, he did have one look that literally could stop a person in their tracks.

Amara knew an absolutely different man, and how deep down, past all of the evil stares and harsh words, hid a man with a heart of gold.

She’d sensed something was different about Mr. Lee when she first noticed him watching her from his cleaners’ window as she panhandled on the corner near his business.

Two weeks had passed by before he finally came up to her with a sandwich and a drink. Usually she wasn’t interested in taking handouts from men because they usually wanted something sexual from her in return. However, she had been too hungry that day to care about what favors Mr. Lee might demand from her later.

She had snatched the fast food bag from him and practically swallowed down the sandwich whole. She would never forget the heartbroken look that had passed across his face before he walked away.

Little by little, Mr. Lee earned her trust by giving her a sandwich here or there; sometimes he would even toss money into her bag on the sidewalk. One day, he even gave her a bag full of clothes, so she would have something different to wear instead of the same dirty, old outfit she’d been wearing for a while.

Taking several slow deep breaths, she tried to get her racing heart back down to normal. Amara allowed her mind to revisit the terrifying incident in the alleyway that occurred with Dante. She’d never in her entire life felt such terror as when his fingers wrapped around her arm.

She felt his anger literally coursing through his entire frame when he dragged her back to the bar. Dante hadn’t had a clue she wasn’t a guy and honestly Amara didn’t think he would have cared either way.

He scared the hell out of her, but in the split second she looked back at him, she couldn’t deny how handsome he was. Nothing about his strong face was unattractive. Amara bet women found ways to be in the horrible man’s company instead of Griffin’s who was as equally good-looking but seemed a hell of a lot nicer.

Griffin tried more than once to talk Dante out of calling the cops and pressing charges over something she hadn’t done.
Why would she steal motorcycle parts when she wanted food
? Yet, as her mother used to say when she was growing up, Dante allowed the words to go in one ear and out the other.

She wasn’t about to test her luck again by crossing paths with him for a second time. She would try everything in her power to stay away from that part of town.

Why couldn’t he have understood all she wanted was something to eat? He’d probably never gone a day in his life without eating something.

He wouldn’t know how it felt to wake up during the middle of the night with hunger twinges so severe it truly felt like you were going to die right then and there without anyone you cared about around to watch you take your final breath.

Sudden tears pooled in Amara’s eyes and she brushed them away with the back of her hands. She noticed how dirty her fingers and nails were. It had been almost three weeks since she had gotten to wash up some place safe.

Living on the streets had taken a toll on her mind and once happy soul. Nothing out here was meant for a single, young African American woman to experience. Trying to stay away from pimps wanting to force you into selling your body was hard enough, but fighting off the other homeless men who wanted to share more than a sandwich and a liquor bottle was ten times worse.

Only once had she gotten caught in a situation that she almost wasn’t able to get out of. Luckily for her that particular day, her best friend Liam had come looking for her through the park tunnel underneath the bridge and scared her attacker away before he could do more than rip the sleeve on her shirt.

After that incident, Amara worked on making herself less feminine and as unattractive as possible. She dressed in discarded oversize clothes found inside dumpsters or by going through bags of clothing left at the back doors of clothing drive centers.

Every time she took something, Amara experienced another pang of guilt that she had lost another piece of the outstanding values her loving parents had raised her to cherish.

Blinking past fresh tears at what she had lost through no fault of her own, she snuggled deeper into the sleeping bag praying sleep would come soon. She tried blocking out the noises lurking around her because it would be another distraction to keep her from catching a few hours of much needed sleep.

All of her senses were now in overdrive making her jump at every unexpected thud. Amara was amazed at how much louder things sounded around her since she started sleeping on the streets.

Suddenly, off in the distance; she heard the shuffle of feet making their way closer and closer to her perfect hiding place. Holding her breath, she slowly inched her hand towards the yellow baseball bat that she kept hidden away in her sleeping bag for protection. She wrapped her fingers around it.

She would put up one hell of a fight against any assailant hopefully making the character think twice before putting his hands on her again. Amara slowly pulled the weapon against her chest ready for battle when a familiar voice called out to her.

“Amara, are you underneath there?” Mr. Lee asked, moving right next to the side of the sleeping bag. “I have something for you.”

Amara breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God, it was him and not anyone else.

“Yes, I’m here,” she answered, placing the baseball bat back where it belonged, pushing the garbage bags and cardboard boxes off her body.

Amara poked her head out. Instantly, her gaze zoomed in on the two bags of food Mr. Lee was holding in his hand not ten feet from her growling stomach.

Food!!!

Was that for her? God, she hoped so! Amara prayed that it was as she wiggled out of the sleeping bag and stood in front of Mr. Lee.

“I brought you something to eat. I was worried about you finding something edible out here in all of the rain,” he said, handing her the two white bags that smelled like fried chicken and hamburgers.

Amara could barely stop herself from snatching the aroma-filled bags out of Mr. Lee’s outstretched hand. She couldn’t believe it after everything that had happened tonight. She was still actually going to have a warm meal tonight and maybe even something for tomorrow morning.

“Why are you doing all of this for me?” she asked glancing away from the bags up at Mr. Lee’s face. “Is there a reason you’re being so nice? I’m not going to have sex with you. So, if you think that then you can take your food and leave me the hell alone. I can find another place to sleep at night.”

Surprised by her outburst, Mr. Lee took a step back from her. “Amara, I don’t want to have sex with you. I can’t believe you think that about me,” he told her. “I only wanted to give you something to eat and a restful place to sleep for the night.”

She sensed, for some odd reason, that Mr. Lee worried about her, but it wasn’t something for him to lose any sleep over. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. She had been out here long enough to know the ins and outs of how this kind of survival worked.

“Mr. Lee, you don’t have to worry about me. I swear I won’t let anything happen to me.” She swore wanting to ease some of his anxiety.

“Will you at least do me a favor,” Mr. Lee asked, “so, I don’t have to worry about you out in this weather tonight?”

Amara almost told Mr. Lee no instantly, but he didn’t deserve her disrespect. He had helped her out way too much in the past for her not to at least listen to what he had to tell her.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Follow me. It’s getting damper out here,” he said.

Amara held her dinner against her chest and thought about it for a few second before she answered. “Where are we going?” she asked.

“Come with me. I know the rain has finally stopped, but it could start back up at any minute. You can eat your food inside of my car. I parked it at the side of the cleaners and while you are eating I want to run an idea I have by you.”

Spinning around, Mr. Lee headed for the black Lexus she noticed parked a few feet away from them. Amara didn’t doubt that Mr. Lee expected her to listen to him which is the only reason she followed him. There might have been a time that she would have turned around and gone back to her sleeping bag, but not tonight. She wouldn’t let her dignity stand in the way of her having a nice, warm place to eat her food.

Waiting for her by the side of the passenger door, Mr. Lee opened it when she got next to him. “Thank you for following me. I hope you agree with what I want you to do.”

“I’ll listen to what you have to tell me, but I’m not agreeing to anything you might have running around in that head of yours,” Amara answered honestly before she got into the car and waited while Mr. Lee closed the door behind her.

Opening the bag of food, she pulled out the container of French fries shoving two inside of her mouth savoring the salty taste of fried food. They weren’t super-hot, but they were still lukewarm enough to make her usually dead taste buds sit up and take notice.

From the corner of her eye, Amara watched as Mr. Lee got into the car and closed the driver’s door behind him. She knew it would be only a matter of minutes before he got right into what he wanted her to do.

“I hope you will give this some thought before you blow me off,” Mr. Lee said, turning on the heat inside of the car and directing it towards her.

The warm air blew through the vent against her damp skin warming her body as she reached into the bag and pulled out a thick, juicy double cheeseburger. The sight of the food made her mouth water even more for a taste. The urge to rip it open and dive right in ate at her, but Amara tried to have some kind of manners despite the fact she was starving!