Chapter 9-Paybacks
"Brian, let me go back to him so we can find him." Jordan said. It had been two months since all had happened and Johnny and his friends had seemed as though they had disappeared without a clue. Jordan walked in on the guys' conversation and offered them her own solution.
"Hell no." He shook his head.
"You can't, Jordan. Too dangerous." Roman said, agreeing with his best friend.
"Don't tell me no or 'I can't'." Jordan replied haughtily. "I am the only way you'll find him," She said staring down her brother.
"We're not using you for bait. It's too damn risky." Tej folded his arms. Jordan looked at him in anger. He usually defended her.
""You seem to forget I was with him for two miserable years. I've put up with his crap before. He's too smart to get caught. You'll be waitin a damn long time." Jordan rolled her eyes. She looked at Tiffany for help.
"I won't help you on this one, J." Tiffany said. Brian was shocked but relieved she was on his side.
"Ice?" Jordan asked, sighing.
"This is Brian's call. My hands are tied." He shrugged apologetically.
"FINE. He can keep trying to knock us off, one by one. He can keep at you guys till he gets you all put in prison, the hospital, or in a coffin." Jordan said, yelling.
"Well, as long as we keep you alive." Brian replied smartly, making his sister angrier.
"Well, if I have him stalking me for the rest of my life, then I wouldn't want to stay alive." Jordan stormed outside, her cheeks flushed. The group was left stunned and speechless.
"She does have a small point." Vince said meekly. Brian glared at him. "She can't run from him for the rest of her life." Vince tried to explain his reasoning.
"I'm gonna go talk to her." Ice said, getting up. He walked outside to see her wiping her tears away from her face furiously.
"I don't want to talk." Jordan, sniffling, held up her hand before Ice could utter a word.
"Well, I do." Ice said, opening the passenger door to his car. "Get in so we can talk." He ordered, his voice firm. She didn't object or speak, but got in quietly. Ice had that authority that no one bothered questioning.
"About?" She finally asked as they drove on the interstate she had become familiar with. "What is that you want to talk about?" She asked, her eyes staring out the window.
"You sounded like you had a plan." Ice said, watching her expression from the corner of his eye.
"Maybe I did." She shrugged, expressionless.
"Tell me then." He said. She was quiet. "What was your plan?" He asked, knowing he'd have to wrestle it out of her. He was good at getting people to talk. He decided to piss her off. He figured this would make her talk. He exited the interstate and turned into a fast food restaurant.
"Why are we going here?" She asked curiously.
"Roman's hungry." Ice explained.
"Like always." They both said at the same time and laughed.
"How does my brother know my plan wouldn't work? He didn't even give me chance." Jordan complained as they waited in line.
"You're not old enough to come up with one that would work." Ice said, trying to keep a straight face. He could see from her reddened face his plan was working.
"Excuse me? You'd like that to be the case, wouldn't you?" She folded her arms.
"It doesn't matter to me. I was just going to try to help you." Ice said as he paid for the food.
"You would help me when even your sister refuses to help me?" Jordan asked skeptically.
"Yeah, but your plan is probably so good you don't need my help." Ice taunted as he headed back to the interstate.
"Ok, I'll tell you." Jordan sighed, acting as though Ice was making her leak privileged information.
"I'm waitin." Ice said, digging into the bag of food and eating a french fry. Jordan slapped his hand. "What?" He asked.
"I thought you said the food was for Roman." She raised an eyebrow. "You lied." She accused.
"Not the first time." He grinned. "Tell me, Girl, or I ain't helpin." Ice threatened with a smile. He had become quite attached to her. She was like his sister, although way more innocent and naïve, something his little sister had never been.
His phone rang. "Hello." he said.
"You guys all right? You just took off." Tiffany asked, concerned.
"I'm just driving her around till she cools down. Seems she has a temper a lot like yours." He laughed. "We're fine." He promised as he saw Jordan rolling her eyes at him.
"Jealous hater." Tiffany hung up, only to see Vince glaring at her. "What the fuck do you want?" Tiffany asked, her body stiffening.
"I'm just wonderin why your ass is still here. You've never stayed this damn long." Vince griped.
"Let's put it this way, I gotta keep an eye on things." She stated matter of factly.
"See, I figured we could…." Jordan had started to tell Ice her plan when Ice's car was rammed form behind. The car sped up, swerving and forcing them off of the road. Ice's car was pushed to the edge of the highway and the car rolled down the bank. The car's front end crashed into a tree.
"Jordan, you okay?" Ice asked, coughing.
"I'm fine. Are you?" She asked, her heart racing as she climbed out of the totaled car.
""I'm great." He replied flatly. "Good thing it was a rental." He said so seriously that Jordan started laughing hysterically. "Have you gone insane on me, Kiddo?" He grinned, relieved she was taking what had just happened lightly.
"Just make sure they give me the good drugs when they lock me up." Jordan giggled, still laughing hysterically at random times. Ice rolled his eyes and fished around in the car to find his cell phone.
"Yeah, Ice, what's up?" Dominic asked. He always looked at the caller ID before he answered.
"Dom, my car is totaled. Come get me and Jordan." Ice said.
"What the hell happened?" Dominic asked, wiping grease off of his hands.
"Some asshole pushed us off the road." Ice muttered. Dominic got in his car and headed to get them. He looked at his ringing phone. It was Tiffany.
"Gee, lets guess who did it." Jordan, pretending to be thinking hard as she scratched her chin mockingly.
""You are crazy." Ice shook his head.
"Is he coming or not?" She asked, walking over to a small pond nearby.
"What the hell are you doin?" Ice asked as she sat down on the bank of the pond.
"Skipping rocks. You got anything better to do?" She asked, throwing a medium sized rock in the pond, causing a loud splash.
"That's not skipping a rock. That's called throwing, Blondie." Ice teased, showing her he could make a rock skip.
"Very good, Mr. Tough Guy, I applaud you." Jordan said, clapping very slowly.
"So sarcastic, so corrupted. Damn my sister for rubbing off on you so well." Ice laughed. Jordan, hearing what sounded like Dominic's car, got up.
"Damn." Dominic shook his head. Tiffany was trailing behind him. She had convinced Dominic to swing by and pick her up when he told her what happened.
"Hope ya took out the insurance on this bitch." Tiffany said, inspecting the car. She smiled at the sight of Jordan, who was kicked back on Ice's wrecked car,
examining her nails, as though she was bored. "You poor girl. Let's get you outta here." Tiffany said.
"I was just chilllin." Jordan replied, jumping off of the trunk. "Does Brian know about this yet?" she asked curiously.
"Nope." Dominic answered, putting his arm around her as they walked up the hill.
"So, J, since your bodyguard isn't here, let me hear your thoughts." Ice said once they had made it to Dominic's car.
"I just wanted to go to his garage and check it out." Jordan shrugged. "He'd have a cow if it 'accidentally' burned down." Jordan smiled devilishly. She knew Johnny had put his fortune in those garages and figured it would hurt him in some kind of way.
"Sounds like we got an insane pyromaniac on our hands." Ice joked, making Jordan bust up laughing. "She's been laughin crazy style ever since we hit that tree." Ice explained with an amused grin.
"Maybe it was the tree." Dominic joked. Jordan was still laughing and was laughing so hard she had tears in her eyes.
"She must be seriously stressed." Tiffany whispered to her brother when Jordan and Dominic had gotten out to look at the garage.
"It's closed down, J." Ice said, leaning his head out of the backseat window.
"Doesn't mean anything. He'd still loose money if it burned." She said, her facial expressions proving she wanted revenge, any kind of revenge. She threw the largest rock she could find into the window and smiled as the window busted with satisfaction.
"This'll do the job." Dominic said, taking out his rag and a lighter. "And yes, this one does have grease on it." He quipped. She laughed, remembering the night at the races when he'd tried to clean her bloody face with one of his rags.
"Well, I couldn't deal with blood and grease." Jordan shrugged, explaining her reasoning. Dominic lit the rag and handed it to her.
"Do it, Girl." He encouraged. He knew it would at least make her feel better to be able to have some form of retaliation out of her system. She threw the rag in the window and watched happily as she watched the garage slowly burned up in bright orange flames.
"Let's get outta here, guys." Tiffany said after a while. Dominic looked at Jordan, who seemed rather happy. Dominic swore he could see the ocean in her eyes. He could stay there all day. He forced himself to come back to reality.
"Thanks, Dom." Jordan said quietly back at the house. The two were alone in the living room watching a movie.
"For what? I didn't do anything." He said modestly.
"You let me do what I wanted. Besides, I defied my brother with your help." She smiled, settling back on the couch.
"You are officially a rebel." He said, humoring her. She slapped him playfully. Before long they were rolling around on the floor and wrestling.
"You officially won my affection. Hmp…" Jordan said, pretending to be exasperated. Dominic couldn't tell if that was a joke or not. He pinned her down and tickled her. "I give! I give!" She yelled, surrendering.
"Yeah, cause you know I'm the real rebel." He laughed, still on top of her. He stared into her eyes and they both became quiet. Jordan smiled at him sweetly, making his heart melt. He leaned down and kissed her as he pulled her into his arms.
"I say we call it a truce." Jordan murmured, kissing him back. She laid in his arms and rested her head on his chest.
"Truce it is." He said, wrapping his strong arms around her.
