Mess Us Up – Jaxson Kidman Page 0,2

and he shows his hands.

I grab Les’s arm and pull it down.

I throw my shoulder into his shoulder.

“That’s the guy,” I say to him. “Fuck, that’s the guy…” I gasp for a breath. “We’re good here, Les.”

“What?” Les asks.

I look over my shoulder again just to make sure.

I’m sure.

The guy standing outside the SUV is the guy who’s here for the car.

We’re good.

We’re solid.

Nothing bad is going to happen.

At long as Les doesn’t do anything stupid like shoot his gun…

I push at Les. “Go, bro. Go. Turn around go to the SUV.”

“You said it was going to be green,” Les says.

“I know what I fucking said,” I say.

We both start to move away from the car.

We pick up speed and run toward the SUV.

When Taz sees us running, I give him a thumbs up.

I get into the front passenger seat.

Les gets into the back passenger seat.

“Good?” Taz asks.

“Yeah,” I say.

“Why doesn’t it feel that way right now?” he asks.

“Just get us the fuck out of here,” I say. “Right now.”

Taz hits the gas pedal and the SUV flies backwards. He cuts the wheel and puts it into drive. The tires throw up dust and rocks and we’re out of there.

But we’re far from being in the clear.

The crew breaks up back at the warehouse.

Ado takes off without saying a word.

Fuck him.

Trust me, I’m sorry about his mother. I really am. She’s going to die. He can’t stop it. But it’s not my job to feed him cash whenever he wants some.

Aric and Raf leave to go collect on a few nighttime payments that are due.

That leaves me standing there with Les and Taz.

“You need to tell him,” Les says to me.

“Tell me what?” Taz asks.

I sigh. “The drop was a little tense. The SUV was a different color.”

“What the fuck?” Taz asks. “I thought that meant…”

“It was blue instead of green,” I say. “The guy that got out was the guy though. The deal went down fine. Everything’s good.”

“It’s not good,” Les says.

I turn and step toward him. “What are you getting at here, Les?”

“Whoa, whoa,” Taz says. He steps between us. “Everyone chill out.”

“I’m not going to chill out,” Les says. “Something went wrong today. I want to know what and why. So I can fix it for next time. Someone fucked up.”

“Nobody fucked up,” I say.

“The SUV was late and a different color,” Les says.

“Late?” I ask. “Come on, bro. It was thirty seconds.”

“Late,” Les says.

I throw a fist at his shoulder. “Watch where you’re going with this.”

Les tries to swing at me.

Taz turns and hugs Les to keep him away from me.

Taz walks and I follow.

“What are you thinking, Les? That Jolie’s got my mind fucked up? Huh?”

“Stop it,” Taz says.

“Yeah, that’s what I think,” Les calls out. “Maybe she’s fucking everything up for good now.”

“I’ll fucking kill you,” I say.

Taz throws his left hand behind him and hits my chest.

I knock his arm away.

“There’s no room for mistakes,” Les says.

I stop walking.

“Then it was Mama,” I say. “Okay? Then it was her. She fucked up.”

Taz let Les go and looks at me. “What?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “It wasn’t me. I know what she said. Maybe something got fucked up. It wasn’t on my end. And we survived.”

“Why would Mama not know the information?” Taz asks.

“I don’t know,” I say. “Just let it go. Let it go right now.”

“Mac, we have to talk about this,” Les says.

I point to Les. “No. We don’t. I’m out of here. I have somewhere to be.”

“Where is that?” Les asks.

“I’m going to find Jolie.”

2

JOLIE

I can’t breathe.

It’s too dark and I can’t breathe… because I can’t see.

For all I know I’m stuck in a box. A metal box, right?

I put my arms out and feel around.

There’s nothing in my way.

I kick my feet.

It’s the same.

I wiggle my toes.

I can move freely.

But I don’t dare to move.

Outside the metal walls I can hear banging.

I can’t tell if it’s footsteps or fists.

But that’s all I can hear.

It’s consuming me.

Just like the darkness has consumed me.

Once when I was a kid I went into the ocean and a wave grabbed me and took me under. I started spinning with the wave, unable to kick myself free.

I had no idea what to do to make it all stop.

Then out of nowhere my father had his hands on me.

He picked me up from the ocean water and carried me to the beach.

I’ll never forget the way I clung to him, coughing and gasping for air.

He sat