Thanks for the reviews! I got ahead on this story, I have the next two chapters done...lol. But it was worth it. Now it's just the question of 'To kill or not to kill Jack.' ;) Thanks!!
I woke up the next morning, after Jack had gone to get in the shower, and smiled at the ceiling. Last night was utterly amazing. He sang to me, he told me he loved me and he gave me a night I'd never forget. Everything felt like it was falling into place again. It's just the only thing shadowing that was the whole drama over Evelyn's death. I knew why they wanted to find her killer. Especially, since they found out it was planned. I totally understood that. What I didn't like, though, was them going out every night chasing down bad guys with guns and knives. They could get killed and I often wondered if they knew that or not. And if they did, why they didn't think of how everyone else would react if the died. Leave it to bunch of men to not think things through and go out to get themselves killed.
I crawled out of bed and grabbed a pair of Jack's pajama bottoms. I rolled the top hem down a few times to get them to stay on and opened the door. I smiled when Angel opened his door and gave me a tiny glare.
"Morning, Angel." I grinned and he shook his head. He walked in front of me to the bathroom and held his hand up at me.
"Stay there. Bobby's on the toilet." he warned me. I furrowed my brow at that. Wasn't Jack in the shower? Angel stood in the doorway and I leaned on the wall outside of the bathroom.
"Hey, Bobby." Angel called to him.
"Yo." was the low reply from Bobby. This was gross; they used the bathroom, talked and took showers with the door open.
"Hey, man. I gotta ask you a question." Angle said and cast a worried look my way. I rolled my eyes and pinched his arm.
"What's up?" Bobby asked. Angel looked over at me and took one more step into the bathroom.
"You know me and Sofi did a lot of making up last night." he started. I rolled my eyes and leaned my head back onto the wall. I wish they'd hurry. I need to brush my teeth.
"You gave her that ring, huh?" Bobby asked and Angel chuckled.
"Gross!" I yelled.
"Yeah. But it seem like I got a little rust on the tools down here." Angel mumbled slowly. Even though he was in the bathroom I could see him undo his robe.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Bobby exclaimed as I laughed to myself. Guess their not that close. "Ask the cockologist in the shower, man."
"Watch it, Bobby!" I warned.
"Thanks, Em. How the hell would I know, Bobby?" Jack asked from the shower.
"You're the expert." Bobby told him.
"Bobby!" I yelled again. I heard all three snickers and then the shower curtain move.
"Rug burn." Jack said after a moment of silence.
"You're gonna live." Bobby declared.
"Thank God, man. I thought my luck ran out." Angel sighed and tied his robe back. He looked over at me and nodded. "Hey, listen, man. You know, Jerry ain't been straight up with us about that redevelopment project. Found out his dream's dead. Jerry got involved with some bad people. City got on him about fraud and whatnot. Cut his loans off like a month ago." he explained. I didn't hear anything for a second and turned my head to the door to speak.
"Technically, Jerry's really broke." I clarified for Bobby. I heard the paper crumple and Bobby's chuckle.
"Thank you, Diddle." he laughed. "You think this had something to do with what happened to Mom?" he asked Angel.
"No, I'm saying that it's something that we should look into. I need y'all to go down and visit this city official named Douglas. He'll know who Jerry got mixed up with. I'm gonna go check on some other shit." Angel told him.
"What are you talking about? Why don't you just tell me what you know, Angel?" Bobby asked, sounding annoyed.
"I know you need to stay your ass on that porcelain. This is gonna require a little finesse. And given your prior reputation as a hothead-" Angel told him and Bobby yelled in the middle/
"I wrote the fucking book on finesse." he yelled.
"-you gonna be the first to fuck up." Angel finished. I heard the shower stop and smiled. Angel glared at me as he walked by and I gave him a sweet smile.
"I'm gonna kill him." he muttered as he walked into his room.
"Wait for me to wipe my ass, Angel." Bobby yelled. "I'm coming with you. Angel! Get me some fucking toilet paper, Jack." he yelled. I laughed and smirked when Jack left the bathroom in a red towel. He grinned at me and grabbed my hips.
"Morning." he whispered as he pushed me backwards to his room. He reached behind me to open the door and pushed it open. He kicked it closed with his foot and pushed me onto the bed. I grabbed the towel as I fell and he smirked.
"Good morning." I smiled. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him down on top of me, our lips meeting immediately. I felt his hands move to my bottoms and that's when he pulled back.
"Hey, those are mine." he stated. I rolled my eyes and nodded.
"Yes, they are. Would you like them back?" I asked sweetly. He was about to open his mouth when a knock came at the door.
"No need for you two to make up! Diddle, stay dressed. Fairy, get dressed. Now!" Bobby yelled. I dropped back onto his bed and pulled a pillow over my face. I let out a scream and heard Jack laughing. I looked from underneath the pillow and frowned when he was dressed.
"We need to stay at my place from now on." I told him seriously. He chuckled and sat on the bed to put his shoes one.
"We can arrange that." he smiled. "You want to come with us? You won't be in harm's way, I swear." he asked. I pouted and shook my head.
"I can't. I have a final today. I put it off as long as I could but winter break is coming up and if I want to get classes for next semester, I gotta take it today. Plus, I gotta do a few errands." I told him and he nodded. I moved to sit on his straddle his legs and snaked my arms around his neck.
"But you can come by my place when you get done." I smiled.
"Really?" he asked.
"Yes, but bring some clothes. I just might keep you." I winked and leaned down to kiss his lips.
"I can live with that." he whispered as he pulled back. I slid off his legs and pulled him up. He gave me a quick hug and pulled back.
"I'll see you tonight." he smiled as he walked out.
We drove to the parking garage outside of city hall and waited. We broke the back window of his car and poured gas all over it. Bobby had a thing for gas and fires. We waited off to the side so he wouldn't see us at first.
"So you and Emilie, huh?" he asked. I smirked and nodded.
"Yeah, me and Emilie." I confirmed. I looked over at him as he smirked.
"Angel's gonna kill you." he told me.
"Thanks, Bobby." I laughed. I heard a door open and we looked around the corner.
"There he is." Bobby mumbled. We walked from our spot and rushed to get to him before he got to his car.
"Councilman Douglas." Bobby greeted as we stepped in front of him. "Sorry to startle you. My name's Bobby Mercer. I believe you know my brother, Jeremiah? Apparently, you were the one who got his business shut down, right?" he asked, not wasting time.
"This is not the proper venue for an appeal." Douglas told us and started to walk away.
"Look, we're not really concerned with that, councilman." Bobby said, as we closed the gap between us so he wouldn't go. "I heard my brother got mixed up with some hoodlums. You know what I'm talking about?" he asked.
"I can't help you. Excuse me." he said and walked away. We smirked watching him walk to his car, not even noticing the broken window or smelling the gas at first. We didn't move until he froze and smelled his seats.
"Councilman!" Bobby yelled pouring gas on the hood of his car. "Now I gotta light your ass on fire! All I wanted was a name! You're gonna make me turn your ass into the black gingerbread man now!" he yelled. I leaned down to look in his window and lit a cigarette.
"It's all right. I'll have my little brother here suck your burning dick." he yelled after throwing the gas can down. "Give me the fucking cigarette." he said and snatched it from my fingers.
"Roll down the window." he demanded and held the cigarette out to the car. He reluctantly rolled his window down.
"Victor. Victor Sweet." he told us.
"What about him?" Bobby asked. We waited patiently as he started to spill on his boss.
By the time I had brushed my teeth, using Jack's tooth brush, and gathered my clothes, angel was already gone. I made sure to leave quick incase Sofi woke up and wanted to harass me. It felt weird going back to school even though it was for one class. They had given me a few days off for personal reasons and then it was already Thanksgiving holidays so it wasn't too big of a deal. But I missed one final test and I needed to take it before the rest of our winter break or I'd have to take it over again.
"Hello, Miss. Ravin. How are you doing?" Mr. Roberts asked as I walked in the near empty classroom.
"I'm fine. Thanks." I smiled and took a seat up front. I looked around and saw a few people from my class but none that I talked to. I looked at the clock and sighed. 12:32. I needed to get this done.
"Okay you are here to take or re-take the Advanced Adult Psychology Final. Some of you failed and some of you missed it for other reasons." he told us and picked up the stack of papers.
"You have an hour to finish." he said and started passing them out. "When you finish bring it up to me and you may leave. They will be graded sometime next week. I will either e-mail you your results or mail them out." he said and gave me the last stack.
"Now eyes on your own paper and-" he looked at the clock. "Begin. Time's up at 1:45"
I sighed and opened the first page. I was afraid I wouldn't remember anything because I hadn't been studying and honestly, almost forgot about school. The only thing that had been on my mind was Jack and all the things surrounding Evelyn. But my I guess I was just underestimating myself. The answers came to me easily and when I set my pen down I still had 35 minutes left. I smiled and handed my paper to Mr. Roberts.
"Thank you. You'll get them as soon as I grade them." he smiled. "I'm sorry about Evelyn. Is there anything I can do?" he asked.
"Pass me? It would make her happy." I joked to show him I was doing okay. He understood and laughed.
"I'm glad you're okay. I'll see you around campus, Emilie." he smiled and I walked out. I pulled my keys out and got into my car. I sat down and let my mind drift to the tiny piece of paper in the cup holder. I hadn't forgotten about it but whatever it was, it was big. And right now I didn't need anymore surprises. But my curiosity was getting the best of me as I pulled into the police station.
"Yes, can I help you?" the lady at the desk smiled. I walked over to her and looked around.
"I was wondering if Detective Green was here." I asked. She smiled and pointed behind me. I turned to see him walking over to me.
"Emilie, how are you?" he smiled. I smiled back and nodded.
"Pretty good. Caught up on some school today." I told him trying to act casual.
"Those Mercer boys staying outta trouble?" he asked, grinning.
"Only in my dreams, Green." I laughed.
"What is it, Emilie?" he asked getting serious.
"I need a favor." I started and before I could say more he lead me over to a corner cubicle and sat me down.
"Right after Evelyn died we went to her lawyer's office. He had a few papers for the boys and she had one paper for me." I told him. "Mr. Bradford said it was a big surprise that Evelyn was waiting to give me. But it's just an address." I said and handed him the address. He looked at it and nodded.
"Want me to look it up for an owner? See if that helps?" he asked. I let out a breath and smiled.
"Yes, please." I nodded and he logged onto the computer. He typed it in and got its information.
"It's owned by a Clarence Morgan. No word on if it's rented or what. Said it's been his for six years now. You know that name?" he asked me.
"No. I don't recall it." I sighed.
"Do you even know anyone is Salem?" he asked.
"I used to live there before Evelyn got me. I lived all over Massachusetts." I smiled.
"I almost forgot you weren't from here. You fit in quite snuggly." he smiled. "Think it could be someone from your past or that knew Abigail?" he asked.
"Maybe." I shrugged.
"You gonna find out soon?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.
"I might. I'm a little nervous on what it could be." I confessed.
"You want me to do some digging? Find out who lives there?" he offered.
"No, I'll see for myself. Not sure when but I will." I smiled as a man walked up holding a video tape.
"Here's the tape you asked for." he told Green. Green looked at me and took the tape.
"Did you know anything about Jerry's financial situation?" he asked me. I felt my heart race.
"No, what's wrong?" I lied. He sighed and put in the tape.
"Apparently, he was having some issues and Evelyn found out. Filed a report against some people but I never knew about it." he told me.
"You think this has something to do with her murder, don't you?" I asked. He smirked and looked around.
"I know you know more than I do. But it might." he told me. He pushed play on the tape and fast forwarded it.
"There she is." I pointed to the screen. He paused it and looked closer.
"So she got in there at 6:05pm." he mumbled and nodded to me. "Fast-forward that." he asked.
"Hey, look. That's Fowler." I told him and he looked up.
"Wait, pause it, pause it." he said and I paused it. "He didn't say anything to me about talking to her." he said looking at me.
"Fast-forward to when she leaves." he asked. "Okay, stop." he said and I looked at the time.
"So she was here until 7: 11pm." he mumbled looking behind him at Fowler/
"He spent more than an hour with her." I told him. "Why wouldn't he tell you that?" I asked.
"I don't know, Emilie." he said, sounding a little antsy now. "Listen; do me a favor, okay?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"Stay at your place as much as possible. Stay away from the Mercer's house. Stay out of the loop as much as possible, okay? And don't tell anyone about this." he told me.
"Okay." I nodded. "This is getting bad, huh?" I asked, getting scared. He pinched my chin and smiled.
"No need to be scared. You got me and Mercer's looking over your shoulder. Just stay low and try to get the boys to do the same." he told me.
"Okay. Thank you." I whispered.
Not too long after the councilman spilled, Angel was calling saying he had something. We were already heading home but he asked us to meet him at the bowling alley. It kind of ticked me off because I wanted to go see Emilie but it was only 2pm so I had all day.
"What do you think he found?" I asked Bobby as we walked through the bowling alley parking lot.
"I don't know, but it's something big." he told me quickly.
"How can you tell?" I asked him. He sent me a glare out the corner of his eye.
"By the sound of his voice. I know my brother." he told me simply and we walked into the building.
"What's going on, Angel?" Bobby asked as we took a seat next to him at the bar. We ordered a beer each and looked at Angel.
"Was that councilman helpful?" He asked sipping his beer.
"Oh, yeah. A real public servant. You remember a punk named Victor Sweet?" Bobby asked.
"I remember a Malcolm Sweet." Angel said.
"Victor was his nephew. Used to deliver things for his uncle. Like firebombs and beatings. You remember. Malcolm used to love to humiliate him all the time." Bobby reminded him more.
"Yeah, I remember that dude." Angel nodded.
"Apparently, little Victor got sick of the ass-whippings and sunk his uncle into the river. He owns the whole neighborhood now." Bobby explained.
"No shit?" Angel asked and shook his head. He looked down for a minute and then back at us. "Hey, Bobby. Word around town is that Jerry owed a lot of people some money." he started.
"What are you talking about?" Bobby asked as I leaned in closer to hear.
"Recognize that dude over there with the fat head?" Angel asked pointing to guy with a few kids by a lane.
"Yeah, that's Evander Pearson." Bobby nodded. "He used to be all right, that guy. Jerry and him used to hang during the union days." he recalled.
"He goes by Evan now. And he's working for a guy named Victor." Angel told us.
"You guys are coming up with this pretty quick." I sighed.
"Yeah, we should have been cops. What are we doing here, Angel?" Bobby asked getting annoyed now. I looked back over to Evan and my mouth nearly dropped.
"Holy shit." I gasped and my brothers turned to see what I saw.
"I found out Jerry got a big insurance check for Mom's death." Angel said looking away. I watched as Jerry talked to Even for a few minutes and then casually slipped him a manila envelope.
"Forget Jerry. We're gonna find him later. Come on." Bobby growled and started towards Evan and his family.
"Yo, Evander! What's up?" Bobby called out walking up to him. Evan looked startled and started to gather his family up.
"Muriel! We leaving. Game's over. Let's go. Put your jacket on. It's time to go." he ordered. "It's nice to see you, boys, but we was just leaving." he told us quickly.
"You ain't going nowhere. What was you talking to Jerry about?" Bobby demanded.
"Nothing. Just saying hello. Me and Jerry go way back from the union days. You know that, Bobby." he lied. I shook my head and looked around. In the middle of a freaking bowling alley, great.
"Angel tells me you're one of Victor Sweet's boys now. Hear he's running shit like his uncle. Treating you like a house bitch." Bobby smirked.
(A/N I don't use and will not use the 'N' word. It's not me. So I changed that word.)
"What are you thinking about, Evan? The dude's a punk." Angel scolded.
"You been gone a long time, fellas. Times change." Evan tried to explain.
"What's in that envelope?" Bobby asked.
"What envelope?" Evan asked. Yeah, play stupid and piss Bobby off more.
"You wanna play that fucking game with me right now?" Bobby growled.
"Y'all gonna do this here?" Evan asked looking around.
"Right here. Right now." Bobby told him, standing his ground.
"Give me the envelope and take a walk. Now!" Angel demanded.
"Go ahead, Evander." Bobby nodded. Evan reluctantly passed the envelope to Angel.
"Take the kids home. We'll see your ass again real soon." Bobby told Evan. "Let's go."
We walked to the car in silence and it was like that until we pulled into Jerry's neighborhood. We had already looked in the envelope and counted 20,000. I was ticked off because I couldn't go to Emilie's earlier but now it seemed like my own brother was paying gangsters. The same gangster's who killed our mother. This just kept getting better and better.
"I ain't playing no more." Bobby spoke up, looking at Jerry's house. "I'm gonna go in there and bust that melon and find out what he's thinking." he threatened and opened the car door.
"Whoa, hey!" Angel yelled and grabbed his arm.
"His family's in there." I told him.
"I don't give a shit, man." Bobby yelled and gripped the wheel.
"You're gonna have to calm down." Angel told him, trying like me to keep him I the car.
"Oh, I'm calm. I'm calm." he breathed.
"Let me just call him." Angel sighed picking his phone up.
"He thinks I'm an idiot. He thinks I don't know what the fuck is going on." Bobby vented and I shook my head.
"Jerry." Angel called into the phone. "It's Angel. Look, man. We need to meet up first thing tomorrow at Mom's house." Angle spoke into the receiver.
"I'm gonna kill him." Bobby spoke again.
"Calm down, Bobby." I repeated and leaned into the back seat.
"We still family, right?" Angel asked. "Yeah, man. Okay." he finished and hung up.
"Is he coming?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah." Angel nodded and looked out the window.
"Good." Bobby muttered and drove off.
"Drop my off at Emilie's." I told him before we turned to go to our house. They looked at me from the front and I sighed. "Just do it."
"Why?" Bobby asked still pissed.
"Because I want to think and cool off and there is no way I can do that with you two storming around all night. And I might want to spend one last normal night before my whole family finishes falling apart, okay?" I yelled at them. They looked away from the mirror and hushed. We drove a few minutes and Bobby nodded.
"Okay." he told me softly. I nodded and leaned against the window as we drove to her apartment.
I finally made my way back to my place around 8pm that night. I was tired. The test and then the whole Fowler thing got me worked up so I met Paisley for a late movie and a walk around the park. I pulled into my parking space and wondered if Jack was here.
"Jack?" I called into the seemingly empty apartment. I frowned when I didn't get a response and set my purse and books down. I shrugged my jacket off and walked to my room. It was then that I smiled. I heard the shower running in my bathroom and slipped out of my shoes. I peeled my shirt and pants off after that and slowly creeped my way into the bathroom. I bit my lip seeing him through the glass door of the shower. I slowly opened the door and thanked god he had music on so he didn't hear it open. I slid inside the shower and closed the door behind me.
I snuck my hands around his waist and pressed a kiss to his back. He stopped rinsing his hair and grabbed my hands. He pulled me around him and looked down at me. I thought he was going to kiss me but instead he pulled me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around him again kissed his chest as he ran his fingers through my hair. He lifted my chin up to look at him and I smiled. This time he kissed me.
I never knew kiss could get better but it did. The water wetting our lips made them move even more gracefully than any other time. Our tongues dancing as he pushed me against the wall of the shower. My hands slid down his slick chest and he pulled me up to wrap around his waist. And as if I didn't know it before, the shower proved me right as he slid himself into me. He fit perfectly, filling every inch of me. It was then I knew I could be with him forever. Not because of the sex. But because he completed me in every way. He made me whole again. After all the torment life had put me through, he made me whole. He put me back together when I thought it couldn't be done.
After our shower we found ourselves in the kitchen.
"What are you making?" he asked from the table.
"Smothered chicken. My mom used to make it." I told him. He smiled and nodded. I finished dinner and set his plate in front of him.
"Hummm, looks good, babe." he mumbled as he cut into the chicken.
"So what happened today?" I asked him as we ate.
"Not much." he said shortly. I looked at him and he sent me a sad smile. "I don't wanna talk about it. That's mainly why I wanted to come over here." he told me.
"Oh so it wasn't to see me?" I teased. He laughed and picked up my plate as he took his to the sink. He set them down and walked back over to pull me out my seat.
"I came over here to get away from the tension at the house, yes. But I also came over here to spend time with the most beautiful girl in Boston." he smirked down at me. I touched his nose with mine and smiled.
"Suck up." I whispered and kissed his lips softly. He leaned his forehead on mine and was silent of a minute.
"It's getting bad, Emilie." he whispered. I nodded and looked at him.
"I know. I can feel it. I can feel something bad, Jack." I cried and rubbed his cheek with my thumb. "I'm scared. It's all got out of control."
"I know." he whispered. "But it'll be okay. I promise."
"Promise you'll never leave me." I asked him. He kissed my eyes and pulled me into his arms once again.
"I promise I'll never leave you." he told me. "I promise that I will love you forever. Even after death."
"I love you too, Jack." I whispered and opened my eyes to look I his. "Even after death, I'll never stop."