Chapter 9: New Friends, New Enemies
The next few days passed quickly. Between her regular job, some extra hours at the tattoo parlor, and finally getting her living room painted, Jessie didn't have a lot of time to do anything else. She did, however, frequently find herself daydreaming about Bobby. A few times she allowed the daydream to evolve into a full-blown fantasy.
The Mercers also kept themselves busy, continuing to follow up their own leads despite the fact that the police were standing by their gang shooting scenario. Based on some information they'd gotten, Jack and Bobby went to see Councilman Douglas, the man who'd gotten Jerry's construction project shut down. Angel, without anyone else's knowledge, followed Jerry. He hadn't wanted to believe that Jerry had taken out insurance on their mother… but when he saw Jerry go to the local credit union to collect the money, he knew it was going to get ugly.
"Jesus Christ, Jerry. What the hell have you done?" There was no one in the car with him to hear the question, and – truth be told – Angel wasn't sure he really wanted an answer. He continued to follow Jerry and eventually called Bobby and Jack to meet him at the local bowling alley.
"What did you find out?" Angel asked them.
"We got a name. Victor Sweet," said Jack.
"I know that name…" Angel tried to think of where he knew Victor from.
"Malcolm Sweet used to run a pretty bad crew. Real charmer. Used to get off on humiliating people. Victor learned a lot from him and then dumped old Malcolm in the river. Now he runs the crew." Bobby had done his own investigating.
After they discussed Victor, Angel told them about Jerry and what he'd seen. Bobby didn't believe him at first but then they all saw Jerry come in and give a brown envelope to Evan, one of Victor's crew. After their brother left, the other three Mercers went to see Evan. When he saw them coming, he told his wife to get their kids and go, but there was no time.
Bobby demanded the envelope and put his hand to his hip, a clear sign that he'd pull his gun if he needed to. Evan didn't have a choice, but he looked at all three before they left and said, "You have no idea who you're messing with…"
If Victor wasn't out to get the Mercers, he would be after this.
While Jack and Angel sat in Bobby's car outside of Jerry's house, working very hard to talk Bobby out of going inside and beating the crap out of Jerry, Sofi took a detour on her way back to the Mercer house. It was Friday. Bobby had invited Jessie over to have dinner with them the next day, and Sofi had an idea.
"Hi Sofi," said Jessie when she answered the door.
"Jessie, hi. Bobby said you are coming for dinner tomorrow? I'm making paella…"
"I'm glad you're cooking," said Jessie with a laugh. "I'm not sure I would trust any of those boys in the kitchen. Come on in for a minute." Sofi laughed at the comment and came in.
"You have a beautiful home," said Sofi as she looked around.
"Thank you." Jessie smiled. "I just finished painting this room the other day; tonight I'm putting up the new window treatments."
"Well, it looks wonderful. I stopped by because I was wondering, well…" She hesitated. "I don't really know you that well and I thought we could maybe cook together tomorrow. Get to know each other a little better…"
"Sure. I'd like that." It was an unexpected request, but not an unwelcome one. Sofi might be La Vida Loca, but she had a good heart and Jessie liked her. "I've never made paella but I've had it. Maybe you could teach me how to cook it?"
"Of course! Could you come over a little after noon?"
"I'll be there."
Across town, another conversation was happening at the same time. In the basement of his luxurious house, Victor Sweet was listening to Douglas complain about the visit he'd received from Bobby and Jack. Victor sighed. He was getting tired of hearing the name Bobby Mercer.
Growing up, Bobby had been a big man in the neighborhood, but he'd been gone for a long time. Victor had expanded his influence in Bobby's absence and he had no intention of letting a Mercer – any Mercer – screw up his plans. Evan had also just finished telling him how Bobby had taken back a payment that Jerry Mercer had owed Victor.
Yes, he was getting very, very tired of Bobby Mercer.
He leaned back and fixed a contemptuous look on Douglas. "Evan and I were just talking about this Bobby Mercer. He'll be handled…" He gave Tyrell an evil smile. "Now, I'm not done with my game. Go sit at the other table."
Douglas looked around. The only other table was the kiddies table where several children were playing Go Fish. For a moment, Douglas hesitated but moved quickly enough when Sweet screamed, "I SAID GO SIT AT THE KIDS' TABLE!"
As they got ready to deal another hand, Victor leaned back in his chair. "So, Charlie. I hear you're marrying that fine piece of ass of yours."
Charlie chuckled as he dealt. "Yea, next spring in fact." He nodded. Andrea was a beautiful woman; he wasn't sure what she saw in him, but she obviously saw something because she'd said yes when he proposed.
"Maybe I'll send you out of town on a little business and while you're gone, I can teach that woman of yours something. A new trick or two." Victor licked his lips, thinking of Andrea. Charlie briefly hesitated as he tossed the next card.
"Maybe you can teach her how to cook," he joked.
"Oh, I bet I can teach her better things than that. She's too much woman for a guy like you, Charlie. You're going to have to share her around a little. Right, Tyrell?" Victor rubbed his hands together, delighted at the prospect.
"I think that's a fine idea." Tyrell had a few ideas of his own about what he might do with Andrea.
Charlie, on the other hand, was not delighted. He glanced at Evan who gave a subtle shake of his head. Charlie knew he was right, if he said anything, both he and his fiancée would suffer. Victor had gone too far, but Charlie knew he wasn't strong enough to do anything about it.
"So, what do you have in mind for Mercer?" asked Tyrell.
"No need to discuss details." Victor looked smug. "But he won't be our problem for long."
-a-a-a-a-a-a-
Author's note: It wouldn't be a Four Brothers fic without some sort of appearance by Victor. This is more of a transitional chapter, but I hope you still enjoyed it. More from Bobby and Jessie soon.
Disclaimer: the usual stuff – Jessie is my creation (as is Tyrell) but almost all of the other major characters are the brain child of the movie writers or others. Dialogue from the movie is paraphrased in many cases, but any matching dialogue is used for story continuity and character authenticity only.
