Take it All (Blinded by Love) (38 page)

“Get what you needed?” Joy called as she started her cash out.

“Yeah, thanks Joy, see ya later,” Lennox waved as she walked to the door, pushing it open. She hurried to the car and climbed in, slammed the door behind her. She buckled her seatbelt then put her purse on her lap. “Fuck, let’s go,” she told Caleb, ignoring his questioning look.

He reversed then put the car in drive, speeding out of the parking lot. “What’s wrong?” he asked, taking glances at her as he turned on the main street.

“Dad took the deposits, I could only get...” she trailed off as she counted the bills in her hand, “one twenty, we need fourteen twenty and I told Raine we needed a grand.” She stuffed the bills in the holder, sighing.

“It’s okay; we can figure something out,” Caleb offered. “Where am I going now?”

“I’ll talk to Raine when we get there– just head straight towards my place but turn onto Fairfax Court.” She ran her hand through her hair, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt in her gut at what she just did to her mom and dad, having no idea how she was going to tell them when they noticed the money missing.

Caleb turned onto Fairfax Court and drove until Lennox told him to pull into the driveway behind Raine’s car. “Stay here, I’ll go talk to him,” she told him, worried about seeing Raine knowing he wasn’t going to be happy.

“I’ll come with you,” Caleb said unbuckling his seat belt as he opened his door then climbed out.

Lennox didn’t have a good feeling about him going with her. Knowing Raine, he would want to slam his fist into Caleb’s face but she wasn’t going to try and talk Caleb out of waiting for her when she knew she could keep Raine calm enough not to hurt her boyfriend.

As they walked up the driveway, the door banged open and Raine stepped out in a pair of black workout shorts and a white muscle shirt. “You wait– Lennox a word,” Raine said through gritted teeth motioning away from Caleb.

Leaving Caleb by the car, she followed Raine to where he had stopped and was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest not looking the least bit happy. “What’s going on, Lennox?”

“Raine, I’m so sorry to be asking you for help, but I didn’t know who else I could turn to. Caleb owes his dealer two grand and all I had was sixty. He got four hundred from his parents and I thought I could borrow from the station but dad took the deposits in already and all I could get was one twenty, but we still need fourteen twenty by ten thirty or Snake’s going to come collecting it himself; who knows what he’ll do,” she paused only to take a breath, “and I know you must hate me right now for doing this and for being with him but I love him and I just wanna help him; I don’t know what else to do. I feel like I’m suffocating from fear right now,” she rushed out, taking another breath as she looked away from Raine’s eyes that had softened and looked back at her with kindness.

Raine pulled her into his arms where she collapsed against his chest as she chocked back the sob that so desperately wanted out. “Cupcake, I don’t hate you, I could never hate you,” he began, his hand rubbing her back gently. “I don’t like what this whole thing with Caleb is doing to you. I can see it tearing you up little by little and I gotta tell ya, I’m not liking the state you’re in right now.”

“I know,” she whispered as she pulled back, crossing her arms over her chest tightly as she tried to hold herself together. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Have you given him an ultimatum, drugs or you?”

“No,” she scoffed, like it was the craziest thing she heard.

“Why not?”

“Why not? Because... because...” she trailed off not saying what she was thinking.

“Because you’re afraid he would pick the drugs over you?”

Lennox bit her lip and kept her head turned away from him as she nodded, admitting one of her biggest fears. “Cupcake,” Raine said sympathetically, tilting her head to the side, his eyes swimming with hurt for her.

“It hurts Raine, it hurts at how much I love him when I shouldn’t, but the thought just...” she shook her head, unable to finish her sentence.

“You don’t get to pick and choose who you fall in love with, Lennox, it– as strange as it sounds– picks you, and it’s never easy; if it was then the world wouldn’t make sense,” he reached for her chin and turned it so she was facing him. “Some people are worth the fight; you just have to ask yourself if Caleb’s one of them.” Lennox sniffled and blinked away the tears. She knew what Raine was saying and she knew he was right; some people were worth everything in the world, including the worst of the worst. “Love ya, Cupcake, you’re like a little sister to me and I hate seeing you in so much pain.”

“I know, and I love ya too, bro,” she said, smiling at him weakly.

“Okay, well, I have fifteen hundred on me,” he pulled a wad of fifties and twenties out of his pocket and gripped it in his hand.

“Oh, my God, Raine,” she hugged him, hooking her arms around his waist, “I’ll pay you back, I promise.”

“No,
you
won’t,” Raine said, motioning for her to follow him as they started walking back to Caleb who flipped his cell phone shut and shoved it in his pocket, not looking happy.

Lennox walked to him, knowing who he was just talking to, and wrapped her arms around his side, and whispered, “We go it all.”

He looked at her relieved, then to Raine who was glaring at him. Caleb opened his mouth to thank him but Raine was quicker and held up a wad of cash, saying, “There’s fifteen hundred here, take it and pay your debt,” he held the wad out and Caleb took it. “I may be doing this as a favour for Lennox because I care about her and she’s like my little sister but she
will
not
be paying this back, you got it, it’s on you; just like this whole mess. It’s not fair man, she loves you something fierce and you’re taking her down with you. I support her– I always will– but wake the fuck up.”

Lennox’s arms tightened around Caleb and his arm slid around her shoulder and pulled her into him more. “I know, thank you for this,” he said, gripping the money tighter.

“Thank her,” Raine said, nodding to Lennox. “Anything happens to her though, your face is mine.” Caleb nodded in understanding. “Be careful,” he said to Lennox and she nodded then turned with Caleb and walked to her side of the door; leaving Raine watching them.

Lennox folded in the car and put her seatbelt on then looked up at Raine who raised his hand and waved. She smiled at him and waved, mouthing a thank you as Caleb backed out of the driveway then sped off as Raine watched them go. Lennox looked at the dashboard and saw it was ten twenty; they only had ten minutes to get to wherever Snake wanted to meet or who knows what happened. “Where are we meeting him?” she asked fidgeting in her seat.

“A place on the east side,” Caleb looked at the dash as they turned onto the highway and sped off down the highway

“We won’t make it for ten thirty, Caleb, there’s no way,” she started to panic as she leaned forward and took the mickey out of her purse and tossed a shot back.

“I know, we’ll have to try– oh fuck– you have gotta be shitting me,” Caleb yelled, his hand pounding the steering wheel as he looked in his rear view mirror.

“What– shit,” Lennox started but saw the bubble gum lights in the side mirror belonging to the cop who was pulling them over.

She took another pull from her mickey as Caleb parked the car on the side of the road. “That’s open liquor, put it away,” he said through clenched teeth as he watched the cop get out of his car in the mirror.

Lennox screwed the cap back on and tossed it in her purse then set it back on the floor. “And how many balls of coke do you have on
you
?” she retorted sarcastically before the officer approached the car.

“License and registration,” the burly officer said as he bent over and looked at them through the open window. Caleb reached across Lennox’s leg and popped the glove box open and pulled out his papers and handed them to the officer. He then pulled his wallet from his back pocket and handed him his license. “You know how fast I clocked ya back there?” he motioned with his head.

“Sorry officer,” Caleb said.

The cop looked from him to Lennox then over to her bag by her feet. His hand tapped the car before he said, “Hold tight,” he said as he walked back to his car.

Caleb’s cell phone started ringing in the cup holder with all the money, “Put the money in your purse,” he said lifting his phone and looking at the incoming call, “Fuck, its Snake.”

Lennox grabbed the money and lifted her purse onto her lap, unzipping it. “Can’t you just tell him we’re running behind and we’ll be there soon?” she suggested as she placed the money in a pocket on the inside.

“Doesn’t work that way, babe,” he said dropping the phone back in the holder when he heard the cops car door slam.

Lennox dropped her purse to her feet, thinking how they were going to get to the east side quick without pissing Snake off. The cop handed Caleb back his registration and license then held out a ticket to him. “Slow down Mr. Kingston, you have someone else’s life in your hands,” he tipped his chin towards Lennox, “Have a nice evening.”

“Thanks officer,” Caleb said before the cop backed away and made his way back to his car. Caleb popped the glove box and tossed the ticket inside and closed it. The cop was still behind him as he signalled over and got back on the highway doing the speed limit. They traveled down the highway doing a hundred, not above or below, until he knew the cop wasn’t following them then he punched the gas and took off; the needle moving passed a hundred to one twenty

Caleb’s phone rang again and Lennox looked down at it and without a second thought grabbed it, “Maybe I can talk him into giving us more time?” she wondered, looking at Caleb, the phone burning in her hands.

“Go for it.”

Lennox, taking a deep breath, flipped the phone open and said, “Hello?”

“Who’s this?” Snake asked, sounding surprised.

Lennox looked at Caleb, who was stealing quick glances her way as the car slowed and he turned down a back road. “Lennox, Caleb’s girlfriend,” she said not letting the panic she felt show through.

“Put King on,” he said impatiently.

“He’s driving; we got your money and we’re on our way now, we’ll be there in fifteen, twenty tops.” She looked at Caleb for confirmation to make sure they would make it there by then; he didn’t look her way, only nodded firmly once.

“I gave him till ten thirty sweetheart, it’s ten thirty five now,” he said and she could only imagine the sly grin on his face as he said it.

“I know, we’re on our way now, I got you an extra eighty. Will you give us until eleven?” she pleaded with him.

Snake didn’t answer, she only heard his deep breathing floating through as he thought about her proposal, “Well, looks like King has his girl coming to his rescue with the money; you got until ten fifty five, no later sweetheart.”

“Okay, we’ll be there,” she said relieved as she melted into her seat.

“Looking forward to it, sweetheart,” he said then disconnected and the line went dead.

Lennox flipped the cell phone shut as a shiver rolled across her body, “Got us until ten fifty five.”

Caleb nodded as the car shot forward and everything around them went by in a blur. Lennox looked over and saw the speedometer needle was just passing over one forty and not stopping. Her body tensed as she pushed into her seat and gripped the handle on the door and closed her eyes tightly; she had never been in a car moving so fast and all she could picture was Caleb losing control and them dying in a fiery car crash.

It had been a long night full of nothing but her being mad at Caleb and them running around, trying to come up with money; she didn’t like it, not one bit. She wanted the night to be over, to be back at Caleb’s and in the safety of his bed where nothing could touch them. Her mind was working overtime as the car picked up speed and she refused to open her eyes to see just how fast they were going. The voice in the back of her head told her not to worry, that it would all be okay and to just take a few deep breaths. Doing so, she couldn’t stop thinking about Raine and what he had said to her about some people being worth the fight, and the question of whether Caleb was someone who was worth it or not. She didn’t know if things would change or if this kind of life would be theirs and if she had it in her to live the life; standing next to a drug dealing addict.

Lennox felt the car slow and she opened her eyes to see they were coming to the turn off for the highway. They were on the home stretch now. She looked at the clock and it flashed ten forty three and she started praying they made it on time because she didn’t like the sound of Snake on the phone.

“We’ll make it, Dove,” Caleb said, as if reading her mind.

She closed her eyes as the car took off and said, “I hope you’re right.”

The car sped down the faintly lit highway towards the place where they were to meet Snake. There weren’t many cars out and whoever was out driving, Caleb whipped by them without a second glance. The red numbers on the dash changed as they came to the turn off for the exit they needed. Lennox watched as Caleb sped down the main street until he turned into an empty parking lot of a strip mall and parked at the end across from a black four door sedan.

Three doors of the black car opened and Snake, along with the guys Lennox had seen that night at Caleb’s; Tank and Slim Jim, got out and started walking towards them. Lennox reached into her bag and pulled out the money and handed it to Caleb before they opened their doors, got out and walked towards the guys; Lennox gripping his hand tighter than she ever had.

“Cutting it close hey King, you had three minutes to spare.” Snake looked at him with a wicked grin then turned it on Lennox and took a step towards her. “This must be Lennox,” he said, putting special meaning to her name.

“Here’s your money, we gotta head.” Caleb held the large wad out to him, waiting for him to take it.

Snake, not moving from Lennox, waved his hand, and said, “Slim, count it.”

The bigger one stepped forward and snatched the money from Caleb’s hand and retreated back as he started counting. “King, you got yourself a pretty one,” Snake said, reaching out and stroking his finger along the length of Lennox’s face.