Hey everyone. I know, kind of dropped off the face of the planet over the summer, but hey. It usually happens that way. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter and those who enquired as to when I was going to get off my butt and get on this - sometimes everyone needs a kick. And, as always, to Zickachik who is so my hero for getting to this around her own crazy life.

Disclaimer: The usual.

On with the show...

Chapter 7

"So, Mickey Flannigan is dead?"

"No, he's serving five to ten," Switch replied. "I thought you knew that."

I sighed and shifted my grip on the phone, scratching his name off the pad of paper Calligher had given me when I had finally felt alright enough to move around. I'd been laid up for two days and it was time to get moving again, albeit slowly. A phone call to Switch was a start there.

"No. Chet never liked him. How about Don Edgars?"

"Now that son of a bitch is still hanging around," Switch sighed. "I recommend you avoid him, kid. He'll eat you alive."

"He used to give me candy when he came to talk business. I couldn't have been more than four years old."

"That was when you were cute. Now you're definitely not cute and almost old enough to get in on Chet's gang."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He never knew me when I was a kid. I could have looked like a little goblin and he wouldn't have known shit all about it. Luckily, I was more than cute when I was a kid – I was adorable. And Chet used it, too. If the people he was doing business with were at ease enough to give me candy, he knew how to really work them. Sadly, that was a good memory.

"So…no candy?"

"Quit being a smart mouth. I'm surprised you've made it this far with every other word since I met you being sass."

"I've heard that one before," I brushed him off. "So Fontanne, Walsh, Edgars, and Cobb are all possible people to deal with. That's pretty much all I need in Chet's territory. What about across the river?"

"Don't you even think of spreading this into Tiger territory. You think Edgars will rip you apart? They'll mail you back to Chet in a shoe box."

"Alright. At least it's a start, Switch."

"More than enough of a start. When do they want you to make contact with everyone?"

"When I'm up to it."

I hadn't bothered to keep it from Switch that my Pop beat me good this time. He'd noticed I was quiet, which led to explaining the ribs. I wasn't even sure I could trust him not to tell Chet, so I hadn't bothered asking. My brother was pretty tenacious when he wanted to know something as it was. One way or another, he was going to know whatever Switch did.

"If you need out, kid…"

"Thanks," I sighed. "Three and a half more months."

"I'm surprised you don't have the hours counting down," Switch sighed back.

"C'mon, Switch. You know I can't do math for the life of me."

"So, how do you plan to deal?"

I tensed a little at the voice and offered the slightest of shrugs. Any movement of my back pulled the skin tight around the stitches and it hurt. Dull ache was my constant level of pain when I was still, so I didn't do a lot of moving. Maybe I should have just said something, but it was kind of rude to talk to Tim when I was on the phone with Switch, after all.

"Thanks for the info. I'll pay you for it on Friday," I said evenly.

Switch snorted. We'd agreed that he would be my contact up north, supposedly feeding me information Chet didn't know about in case Tim got curious. The front was that I was paying him for the information, but I wasn't about to give him shit. I never paid my babysitters – that was Chet's job.

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen. Take care of yourself, kid."

"You too, Switch."

I set the phone down and shifted as little as possible so I was looking at Tim out of the corner of my eye while I finished making notes from the conversation beside the list of names. If he wanted more than that, he could come over to where I was.

"I can manage dealing," I told him. "I even have a few buyers lined up."

"Good."

Tim circled the room until he was standing in front of me. The window was behind him and I squinted to make out anything more than Tim's outline. It was another one of Tim's tricks to show he was the boss and I was the lackey. I was tempted to tell him to give it a rest already. He was my stepbrother before he was my boss, and he was only my boss because Chet said so. So, long story short, Chet was in control of everything and Tim was still small time.

"I'm thinking next week or something, I'll start in on them," I offered. "By the time they're ready to deal, I won't look like a close relative to Frankenstein's monster."

Tim gave me a long look that told me the reference to Mary Shelly was lost on him. If it hadn't been for a teacher threatening to flunk me unless I read the book, I wouldn't have known the reference, either. In the end, it was a waste of time since I dropped out anyways, but you have to give Mr. Syme some props for trying.

"Or you could call them now, so that when 'next week or something' comes around, we'll be handling business and not arranging things still," Tim suggested and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"They won't like doing business with me if I can't even move," I pointed out. Image was everything with these people. "If they think I can't handle myself, they won't let me handle their business."

"Who said anything about you going?" Tim challenged and I resisted the urge to chuckle.

"Tim, they've heard of you. They know what you're all about and they obviously don't want to do business with you."

Tim's glare sharpened, but he knew it was the truth as well as I did. If he didn't need me, he wouldn't even be entertaining this whole situation.

"Your job is to make it so they will do business with me," Tim countered.

"No. My job is to get them to do business with me. You supply the product and you get a cut. I wouldn't complain since it's much bigger than the one I can expect."

"You're not helping your case any, Blake. I should just take your notes and go my own way."

"Good luck," I offered with a shrug, biting back a wince. I had to stop forgetting about those stitches.

Tim knew just as well as I did that I was the only ticket he had to the King's territory. The buyers either dealt with Chet or went across the river for whatever the Tigers could sell them. This was mostly because they knew the two dealers well. Druggies didn't like change because you never knew who could be the fuzz looking to make a bust. Not that they'd ever think Tim would work for the fuzz with his record. His record was the problem, though. He was ten times more likely to be in trouble than Chet and buyers didn't need their suppliers in jail, or worse, leaving a trail right back to them. Me, I was just Chet's kid brother. They'd think he was finally making me earn my place in the gang. And with Chet in on it, it wouldn't be hard to convince them that was the case.

"When you do start talking with these guys, I'll need amounts," Tim continued like he was still the boss and I shrugged.

"You set the prices lower than Chet and they'll be curious. As for product, I wouldn't stock up. These guys are going to be slow on the draw as it is."

I wasn't kidding when I said these guys didn't like change. They'd try out the product, slowly building up their orders. It could take months to get to where Tim was hoping.

Tim let out a long breath, probably wondering if it was really worth it. I hoped that he would just forget the whole thing. Chet wouldn't be in trouble then and I really could head up north. But I knew Tim too well. A moment later, the look passed and he was determined again.

"I have to get going. You want anything?"

I shook my head. Either Tim or Calligher had been bringing me meals or things to do for so long I was starting to feel like an invalid. I could do things for myself. I even wanted to go back to work as soon as possible. Mostly, I wanted out of this clubhouse and back into the thick of things. I had far too much time to think with so little to do here. That was probably why I never did bother to think before I charged into things.

Speaking of charging, before Tim could even open the door, it flew open and a finger was jabbed into his chest by none other than Lily Dawson. And boy, did she look mad.

"Alright, buddy. If you tell me to leave, I swear you'll be singing soprano for a week," she assured him and Tim glared at her.

"What the hell are you doing banging open doors in my place?" He demanded. "And who the hell are you?"

Calligher was standing behind her, looking apologetic, but I noticed he wasn't trying to manhandle her. You had to hand it to Jake – he sure treated women well. Comes from having a mom and sister to take care of on top of multiple female cousins.

"She's demanded to see Blake. Won't take 'no' for an answer," Calligher explained.

"Of course not!" Lily snapped at him, still staring Tim down. "You kidnap him –"

"Let's get one thing straight. I do not kidnap people. You go shouting that and I may make an exception."

Tim wasn't backing down an inch. I knew Tim wouldn't hit her. He'd seen too much of that from my father and his own father to last a lifetime. But he wasn't as nice as Jake when it came to manhandling them. Lily was sure tempting him, though.

"Lil," I called, earning her attention. "I haven't been kidnapped."

"My stars." She pushed past Tim and came straight over to where I was sitting beside the phone still. "What did he do to you?"

Tim glared at her and stalked out of the room. I opened my mouth to tell her what happened, but she gave me a look that caused me to stop before I even started. She knew exactly what had happened because it had happened a thousand times before. And every time, she gave me the same pity look.

"I keep telling you. Every time you come to work all black and blue," she paused, softening as she studied the bruises on my face. "Why do you put yourself through this?"

I blinked. It wasn't like I walked up to my Pop and asked to be beaten. But I knew what she meant. I should have run away from the situation a long time ago. My mother had family in California, Chet had family in Virginia, and I was willing to bet there would have been space for me somewhere. But it wouldn't have been in Tulsa and that just wasn't an option when I was growing up. Now, I was too old to be shoved off on family. I needed to figure out this mess and carve out my own space in the world or I wasn't going to be long for it.

"So, you come to rescue me or something?" I asked, changing the subject with a smirk. "'Cause usually the chick is the damsel in distress."

"Funny," Lily replied, not looking amused. "You don't come into work for three days, you're not at home, no one I run into knows where you are, and you think I plan to rescue you?"

I shrugged. She had a point – I'd be ready to throttle me if I were her, injured or not.

"How did you find out where I was?" I asked and she rolled her eyes.

"Curly. He came by looking for a free lunch."

"And he folded?" I asked.

"Like a cheap suit." Lily nodded.

I grinned, ignoring how sore my face still was when I did that. "Sounds like Curly."

As tough as the little punk was, Curly couldn't hit a girl either. He talked tough with the boys all the time and even managed to make the girls blush with his dirty mouth, but he never hit a chick as far as I knew. In fact, most females walked all over him, completely controlling the relationship if it got past a one-night stand. The only girl he ever told off was Angela. So it would have surprised me if Lily had gotten nowhere with Curly.

"And for the record, if you ever just disappear of the face of the earth like that again…" Lily threatened, not bothering to elaborate, and I nodded. "Well, now that we have that settled, my dad wants to know if you ever plan to come and pick up your pay. I think he misses you. He was muttering back to his own comments yesterday to fill the void."

I smirked. Yeah, it was nice to be missed. "You should be picking up the slack there, Lil."

"Are you kidding? I have to live with my dad," she snorted, obviously not bothered by that at all.

"Me too," I replied.

I glanced down at the counter then. Lil had nothing nice to say about that, so she didn't say anything at all.

It was a few hours later before she left and I was sitting at the bar with Jake Calligher going over numbers while the gang 'kept it down' in the background. It was all happening and it was happening quicker than I thought. If I was lucky, it would all be over before I even knew it. Knowing my luck, that wasn't going to happen. But as I sat there, feeling every stitch in my back like a written reminder of what was waiting for me at home, I was more than willing to go along with this crazy plan. Chet owed me one. I'd said it before, but this time, he really owed me.


Ok, there you have my sorry excuse for a filler chapter. Coming up are the more central plot chapters. I even have the next one on the go. How's that for being more-ish on the ball! Oh! And I am officially boycotting Microsoft Word 2007. Piece of shit, I'm telling you. I make more formatting edits on here than ever. Damn thing...

Any comments at all are welcome and Flames accepted.

See ya in the funny papers!!

Tens & Zickachik