Hey everyone...how's it goin? So here we have the next little fic from me. This one is classified as a short story because it's longer than a one shot but shorter than my chaptered fics. So here you go...enjoy reading! And thanks to my beta reader Styx. Toodles
Spot Conlon drudged to his apartment late one night after working all day in the sweltering heat. Exhausted from the days work, he decided to take a shortcut down an alleyway. As soon as he turned down the dark, narrow passage he regretted the decision. A dark figure loomed at the end waiting for him. He swallowed hard and continued on his way. About halfway down the alley another figure materialized out of the blackness that engulfed the alley.
"Conlon, we hear you got a lot of money stashed away somewhere." The voice told him.
"It ain't any of your concern Delancy." Spot said.
"I say it is."
"It's my money and I say no." Spot said trying to continue on his way.
"Are you sure?" Morris asked.
"What are you 5, yes I'm sure."
"You might wanna rethink that decision." Morris threatened.
"Uh…no."
"We'll see if you change your mind later." Morris said signaling to the other figure to let Spot pass.
"Whatever Delancy." Spot said exiting the alley. Spot finally made it to the small apartment that he shared with Trey "Blink" Parker. He opened the door to find Blink on the couch eating cereal in front of the TV.
"Hey." Blink said absently.
"Hey." Spot said laying his keys on the Formica topped counter before walking into the kitchen. He dug through the refrigerator only to find half a gallon of milk, Coke, and cheese Whiz.
"Hey Blink, do we have any actual food?" Spot asked.
"We've got cereal in the cupboard." Blink called.
"Great." Spot mumbled. Note to self, go grocery shopping tomorrow. As he sat down to eat, his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, which read Angel Cell.
"Hello?" Spot answered.
"Hey handsome." His girlfriend's voice greeted.
"Hey baby, what's up?"
"Not much just got off work and thought I'd see if you wanted to do anything."
"Uh not tonight Angel, I'm exhausted."
"Oh okay, that's cool."
"But how about tomorrow night?" Spot asked grinning.
"Sounds good to me." Angel said.
"Okay, say about 7?"
"Okay, oh I've gotta go, traffic is getting bad."
"Bye Angel."
"Bye Spot."
Spot hung up the phone and picked the bowl of cereal up off the counter. After he finished the cereal, Spot went to be thinking about everything that had happened that day.
Spot's cell phone rang loudly on a cold February morning. Blearily Spot answered it, just to silence the ringing.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Yes may I speak to Sean Conlon?" an overly cheery voice asked. Sean, nobody called him Sean.
"Uh yeah this is him."
"My name is Maria Diablo, I'm with the law offices of Denton, Hearst and Gordon."
"Yeah…"
"It seems that you have been listed as the sole beneficiary of a Richard Conlon. We were wondering if you could come down here tomorrow for the reading of the will."
"Yeah, sure." Spot replied.
"Thank you Mr. Conlon." The next day Spot went in to meet with whoever it was that wanted to meet with him. Come to find out, this long lost uncle had just died and left his parents a million dollars, however due to the fact that his parents were deceased, he inherited it.
Why did Morris need that money anyway? He had a good paying job, come to think of it, he worked at the law offices of Denton, Hearst and Gordon. That explained how he knew about it, Oscar worked on the police force so they weren't hard up for money. Whatever the case, he wouldn't give into their threats. Soon he drifted off to sleep and woke up to his alarm clock blaring.
"Negh" Spot groaned as he got up. He rushed out the door to his job at the docks unloading the barges that docked in the bay. It wasn't a glamorous job, but it paid a decent amount. Spot worked through the day until he got off. He was in a dead run to get home on time to get ready for his date with Angel. He had just gotten out of the shower when the doorbell rang. Spot rolled his eyes as he answered the door towel and all. He opened the door to see Angelica Moran, a 21-year-old raven-haired beauty whose green eyes could send a grown man running, despite her 5'2" petite frame. However those same green eyes held a passion and tenderness almost unknown to the human race. Spot opened the door wider to let her in.
"Setting a new style?" Angel asked grinning.
"Yeah it's the straight from the shower look." Spot smiled before kissing her.
"It fits you." Angel giggled.
"I'm almost ready, uh have a seat."
"Okay." Angel said sitting down on the couch. A few minutes later Spot was ready and the two headed out on their date. Throughout the course of the evening Angel noticed that Spot seemed distracted, but she figured that if he wanted her to know, he'd tell her. Later that night Spot drove home and stood with Angel as she tried to find her keys.
"Where are those little buggers?" Angel asked digging through her purse.
"Did you leave them in the apartment?" Spot asked.
"I don't know, but it never hurts to check." Angel shrugged. Spot led the way into his first floor apartment and paused a moment to unlock the door. As soon as they walked through the door, they were met with a disaster area. Everything had been tossed around and was now lying all over the floor.
"What on earth?" Angel asked stepping over a pile.
"Blink?" Spot called turning on the lights. No answer. "He's messy, but he's not this bad."
"I don't think this was Blink." Angel said.
"Why's that?"
"Why would Blink come through the window when he could just open the door with the key?"
"Okay…so it's not Blink-" Spot stopped suddenly and ran to his room. Angel took this opportunity to walk around a little bit, though it was difficult to navigate through random piles of stuff. She got to the opposite wall from where she was standing. She turned around taking in the scenery. When she looked at where she had been standing, she froze.
"Pay up or die Conlon!" It said in blood red "ink" dripping down the wall. As soon as Angel saw it she screamed. Spot heard the scream and came running just as Angel passed out. He caught her before seeing what had caused her to pass out. He gently set her down on a clear patch of floor before investigating the writing. The fact that Blink was missing and the message was written in blood red made him uneasy. He walked over to the message and instead of the sickeningly sweet smell of blood; he smelled the undeniable smell of paint. Spot sighed with relief as he leaned against he wall and sank to the floor. As he sat against the wall relieved that it wasn't blood on the wall, his cell phone started to ring. Spot didn't even bother to check the number before answering it.
"Hello?" He said.
"Welcome home Conlon." Morris Delancy taunted.
"Delancy, what the hell?!" Spot fumed.
"We want that money."
"It's not gonna happen!"
"Watch it Conlon, or it's gonna get worse."
"And what if I call the cops?"
"Then we'll make good on the die half of that threat. Click." The line went dead. Spot sighed in frustration before hitting the wall. He heard Angel groan and walked over to her.
"Angel baby, are you okay?"
"Yeah." She said sitting up. Just then the door opened as Blink and his girlfriend Leighanna walked in.
"What happened?" Blink asked.
"It's a long story." Spot told him.
"Well, we've got plenty of time." Angel prodded.
"Uh, can we flip the couch over?" Leighanna asked as Spot began to tell his story. Spot and Blink flipped the couch back to where it was supposed to be when Spot began to tell his story.
"Well remember a couple months ago when my uncle died?" Spot asked.
"The one that you didn't even know existed?" Leighanna asked.
"Yeah that one, and remember that he left me a bunch of money?"
"Yeah…" The group replied.
"Well yesterday on my way home, the Delancy brothers stopped me and said they needed it."
"Why do they need YOUR money?" Angel asked.
"I don't know Angel, but they're the ones who did that!" Spot said pointing at the wall.
"Wow." Blink said staring wide-eyed.
"Why don't you call the cops?" Angel asked.
"Because they said they'd kill me."
"That puts a damper on it. But you know the Delancy's they never hold up on their threats."
"I have a feeling they will on this one." Spot said.
"Did they say what they would do if you didn't give it to them?" Blink asked.
"No they just said it would be worse."
"Okay, well all we can do really is just wait, right?"
"Yeah, I'm just kinda worried about what worse entails." Spot said.
"I don't know, baby, but sooner or later they'll give up and it'll be okay." Angel said not even believing the words that came out of her own mouth.
"Thanks Angel." Spot smirked.
"That's what I'm here for, to cheer you up." Angel smiled.
"Is that so?" Spot asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yep." Angel giggled.
"And here I thought it was because you liked me."
"Well, that too."
"I can handle that." Spot said.
"How about I take off tomorrow and help you clean?" Angel said gesturing to the trashed apartment.
"Well, since I'm off, that sounds like a good idea. Do you just want to stay here?"
"Um okay, let me call Erin and let her know." Angel said walking out into the hall. She returned a few minutes later and sat next to Spot. Spot, Angel, Blink and Leighanna talked until the wee hours of the morning before turning in. Angel followed Spot to his room where the two continued talking.
"So is this what you were stressing about over dinner?" Angel asked as she snuggled into Spot's arms.
"You noticed that?" Spot asked holding her tight.
"Yeah, I saw that."
"I was trying not to worry you."
"Babe, don't worry about it."
The two continued talking until they both eventually fell asleep. The next day Spot and Angel cleaned the apartment and put everything back where it needed to be.
"Now all we have to do is cover up the writing on the wall." Angel sighed looking at it.
"Well, let's get some paint." Spot said as they walked out to his car only to find that his tires had been slashed.
"Aw man!" Spot exclaimed.
"Okay, so we'll take my car." Angel said digging out her keys. The drove to the Lowe's and picked up a gallon of paint before heading back. While they were driving, Spot's cell phone rang. He looked at the ID before answering.
"Heya Mush!" Spot greeted.
"Hey Spot, this is gonna sound weird, but can you give me a ride to work?" Mush asked.
"What happened to your car?"
"The damn Delancy brothers slashed my tires!"
"Me too on top of trashing my apartment." Spot said still fuming.
"Oh, well then, never mind."
"Sorry, did you try Jack or Skits?"
"Jackie Boy's at work and Skits won't be in till next week. By the way are you going to the race?"
"Have I missed one yet?"
"No."
"Then there is your answer."
"Okay, see you there. Bye."
"Bye Mush." Spot said hanging up the phone. Frustrated, Spot punched the dashboard.
"Lemme guess, they slashed Mush's tires too." Angel said calmly.
"Did you develop ESP on me?" Spot smirked.
"No, your phone is really loud."
"But yeah, they got Mush."
"And you're blaming yourself."
"No." Spot said bluffing.
"Yeah you are."
"So what if I am?"
"Spot, you didn't know they would get Mush."
"They said they'd do something."
"But they didn't say to who." Angel pointed out.
The two arrived back just as the phone started to ring.
"Hello?" Spot answered.
"So Conlon, you ready to give up?" Morris asked.
"Go to hell!"
"Are you sure Conlon, I'd hate for something to happen to one of your other friends."
"Look Delancy, leave me, my friends, and my money alone." Spot growled.
"Don't say we didn't warn you. Click." The line was dead. Spot put the handset back in its cradle, he really needed to punch something. He looked around and when he didn't find anything, he growled in frustration and sank into the couch.
"What did they say?" Angel asked putting her hand on his back.
"They're gonna do something to one of my friends, something bad. And I get to sit here and wait."
"Spot mulling over it won't help. They didn't say whom, when or where they would strike but they did tell you that if you went to the police they'd kill you. Now I for one think that the Delancy brothers are about as smart as a haystack, but I also don't want to find out right now. They've probably got everyone you've ever associated with under stakeout as well." Angel said.
"I hate feeling helpless!" Spot said.
"I know."
"Sorry Angel."
"Come on, help me paint. At least you can be productive while feeling helpless." Angel smirked.
"You are a strange one." Spot said taking her in his arms.
"Yeah but you love it."
"Yeah I do." Spot said kissing her.
"Good."
Spot and Angel painted over the red words scrawled across the wall. Soon they finished and Angel went back to her apartment. A week passed by with no signs of an attack by the Delancy's. By this time, Spot was beginning to think that they had given up; little did he know that he was about to be proven wrong.