Vi Keeland - Worth the Chance

“Trouble, what else is new,” I grumble a response, switching to alternating between leg strikes and punches.

“What did she do now?” Raising the pad higher, Nico motions for me to hit him with a series of jabs. We’ve been together so long, we can basically train like mutes, words unnecessary for most of our communication. Yet he always talks anyway, sticks his nose into my business. Been that way since I was a kid.

“Making bad decisions. Hanging out with losers that pull her down into their crap.” I hit Nico with a series of jabs and a strong right, the momentum forcing him back into the ropes.

“Don’t let her take you down with her this time. This is your chance Vinny. Chances like this don’t come around too often. You’re distracted, Lamaro’s gonna pick up on it, deliver you a beating. You’re focused, things gonna go a whole different way than the bookies are expecting.” Nico takes the pads off and stills, wanting all of my attention. “You can take this guy, Vinny. Your right hook and brushing up on your technique with Kojo. You’re ready. Just stay fucking focused.”

Hours later, I’m standing in a puddle of my own sweat, maybe even a few of my own tears, after the torture Kojo ran me through for three straight hours. I down a liter of water and peel my still soaked shirt from the floor.

On my way up from the floor, I catch a glimpse of long shapely legs sticking out from beneath a chocolate colored skirt that makes my mouth salivate even though I’m pretty sure I’m dehydrated from my water loss. Liv. I’m surprised to see her, but it’s a good surprise. I watch as Sal points her in my direction and she looks up smiling, her eyes taking in every rigid muscle of my chest, and she licks her lips unconsciously as she makes her way to me. I don’t move, instead waiting for her to come to me.

“Hey.” I wrap the towel around my neck.

“Ready for our road trip?” She lifts a bag I hadn’t even noticed she was carrying, distracted by the sight of those legs, my mind visualizing them wrapping around my back.

Titling my head, for a half second I think perhaps I’ve forgotten a conversation we had, but then she smiles. It’s mischievous and sweet, and makes me want to grab her and never let go. I squint, not letting her see I made up my mind she was coming the minute she smiled, pretending I’m deliberating her coming along for the ride. She stands her ground, hitching her shoulders back and readying for an argument. Her boldness turns me on. A lot.

Closing the two steps to stand in her personal space, I lean in, towering over her, my face still unreadable. Never wavering, she looks up at me through her long, thick eyelashes, the hazel color of her eyes turning deep green with conviction. Her eyes never straying from mine, I lean my sweaty forehead against hers and wrap my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her close to me. “Ten minutes, let me shower.” Kissing her chastely on the lips, she smiles up at me in silent victory.

Liv

It’s a four hour drive clear across the state from Chicago to Macomb, even at the speed that Vinny drives. The early evening sky is drenched in the last of the sun. It turns the horizon in front of us a deep mix of orange and purples. Scootching close enough to lean my head on Vinny’s shoulder, his arm wraps around me and pulls me even tighter.

“Do you want to talk about why we’re going wherever we’re going?” Tilting my head up, our eyes meet at a glance before his return to the darkening road ahead. Vinny exhales a deep breath, a long moment of silence before he finally answers.

“My mother’s a drug addict. Has been as long as I can remember.” My heart tightens in my chest hearing his low spoken words, even though he’s confirming what I already know. “Has a habit of getting herself into trouble. This time, it’s with a dealer that doesn’t screw around. Not a good guy.”

“What are you going to do?” There’s no disguising the worry in my voice, Vinny hears it too.

“Nothing. Don’t worry. I just need to find the guy who got her into this mess and drag him back.” His grip on my shoulder tightens. Realizing his words just aren’t doing it, he’s trying to assure me with his physical strength.

“Is he dangerous?”

“To himself. He’s a dirtbag. A loser. That’s who I was looking for the other night when I saw Krissy.”

My body stiffens just hearing her name from his lips. Vinny notices. “I’m sorry about that too. She knows him, I asked her to reach out to him. Nothing more.”

Inhaling a deep breath and exhaling slowly, I admit the truth, “I know.”

“You knew nothing happened?” surprised, he responds.

“Deep down I knew you were telling me the truth.”

“So why did you storm out?”

Unable to keep the truth from him when he’s being so open and honest, sheepishly, I come to terms with full disclosure. “I was jealous.”

“Jealous, huh?” I don’t have to look to know he’s smiling, but I glance up at him anyway.

“What are you smiling at?” I nudge him in the ribs playfully.

“You like me.” His smile widens.

“You’re just figuring that out now?”

“A lot.”

Rolling my eyes, even though he can’t see me with his eyes on the road, “You’re full of yourself.”

“Maybe. But you’re hot for me anyway.”

Isn’t it the truth?

Hours later we pull into a parking lot of a small hotel. “He’s staying here?”

“No.”

“Do you need to rest?”

“No. I’m checking us in so you can stay safe while I go find him.”

“I want to go with you.” I loathe the sound that comes from my mouth, whiney and grating.

He parks near the main entrance and reaches into the back and grabs our bags. “You’re staying here where I know you’re safe.”

“But…”

“Liv, these people are drug addicts and dirtbags. I can’t be distracted with you there and keep us both safe while I find this loser.”

“So I’m a distraction?” My voice rises higher.

Hooking his arm around my neck, he pulls me close to him. “You’re a big fucking distraction,” he says without remorse to my face.

Insulted, I try to pull back from his grip, but my effort is fruitless. “Not so fast.” There’s an edge to his voice. He waits until he catches my eyes before continuing. “I’m fucking crazy about you, so yeah, you’re a big damn distraction. So how about you give me this one. Cut me some slack. Because the faster I find him, the faster I can be back and show you just how much you distract me.”

A strong sense of feminine satisfaction rolls over me, making me forget what I was even fighting for. Everything that came after ‘I’m fucking crazy about you’ unnecessary, he already had me convinced.

Vince

Slipping the baseball bat I keep tucked underneath the seat of my truck out, I’m careful to keep quiet as I walk around the perimeter of the boarded up house that Jason’s supposed to be in, assessing my new surroundings. A rancid, plasticky smell wafts through the air and confirms I’m in the right place. The unmistakable smell of crack being smoked billows from a broken window, the only one not boarded up and covered in graffiti. Squatters den. A place that people wind up when they think they’ve hit rock bottom, only to find there’s a whole new level down they didn’t even know existed.

The door creeks as I try to slip inside undetected. It’s not the drug addicts I worry about, it’s the trigger happy dealers desperate to protect their stash. A few candles burn lighting the way, electricity likely turned off a long time ago. There’s three or four people sitting around a table with some folding chairs in the kitchen, none of them give a shit I’ve come in.

Two women lie half-baked on a ratty couch in the living room. One’s useless, eyes rolled back into her head, she couldn’t find a door in a fucking fire. The other notices me, gives a halfhearted attempt at a come-hither look and props her head up in her hand.

“You looking for something, honey?” She’s probably only in her late twenties, yet her teeth are rotted brown and it looks like she hasn’t had an easy life. One too many times around the block.

“Jason Buttles. Supposed to hook up with him. You see him?” Scares me how I can drop back into this life, communicate so easily.

“He’s gone. Left yesterday. Said something about a sister up north he was gonna stay with. Some scary dudes came looking for him this morning too. Guess he got out just in time.”

Fuck. “You know where up north?”

“Didn’t say. But if you see him, tell him he still owes Felicia a pack of smokes.”

Yeah, that’s what I’ll do when I find him…deliver your message.

I rummage through the house anyway looking for Jason, learning early in life to never trust the word of a junkie. Unfortunately a few more losers confirm Felicia’s story. Reaching the last closed door on the second floor, I use the flashlight on my cell phone to guide me through the darkness.

An electronic something illuminating in the corner of the bed takes me by surprise. A boy no older than ten looks up, grabbing a long pipe resting on the bed next to him. Holding up my hands in mock surrender, I quickly scope the room looking for any other signs of danger.

“Your mother live here?” I ask, seeing garbage bags in the corner with clothes spilling out all over the floor. Suitcase of the junkie.

Putting down the game he’s playing, but not the pipe, he keeps his distance, but not his manners. “None of your fucking business,” he scowls, foul language rolling from his tongue like it’s an ordinary occurrence.