Page 21 of Scarred King

“You didn’t cut down on the price,” Scarface replies and swallows his drink quickly. “So you either give me some money back or I leave with two extra packages.”

The Frenchman rises and signals his friends to join him. They stand in the corner of the room, talking in French. I quickly exit the game and start messaging:

Let’s take that little shit down now.

Are you crazy? We’ll start a world war.

If we don’t give him the merchandise now, he’ll talk. and we'll end up with a lot of whiners coming our way.

If we don’t give it to him he could turn the Poles against us.

We should finish this quietly.

Give him two packages from the Italians’ delivery. It’s cut powder. The idiot won’t notice.

I glance at Scarface while he’s reading my messages and see an expression of total indifference on his face. I continue typing:

Make him leave the whore here.

Yes, if he came here to screw us, we should screw this bitch.

I’m doing her first.

You keep quiet and let the big boys decide.

I comprehend what I’ve just typed and turn pale. Scarface doesn’t look shocked by the last messages. On the contrary, he looks strangely calm.

“OK,” Pierre turns to us with a smile. “We decided that our cooperation with you is very important to us. We'll give you two more packages.” He goes over to one of the stacks, takes two packages and puts them on the table. “But this has to stay between us.”

“Sure,” Scarface fakes a smile. “But as you’re in such a generous mood, I’m sure you won’t mind if I choose what to take.” He stands up and takes two brick-like packages from a different stack. The Frenchmen’s faces twist in anger and I go back to jabbing the silver ball.

“Is there a problem?” Scarface asks innocently, and one of the Frenchmen lets out a curse. “Great. So if everything is settled, I think we should go.” He whistles shrilly and I realize that that's my cue and I stand up.

“Not so fast.” The Frenchman pulls me to him. He is standing behind me, holding me by the stomach. I let out a weak moan and immediately fall silent. “We have been very generous, now it is your turn.” He puts his hand on my breasts and feels them roughly. The only thing I can do is jab that silver ball. My body is stiff, I can’t breathe. The walls are closing in on me.

“Tommy won’t allow that,” Scarface says apologetically. “But come over to us and we’ll make it up to you some other way.”

“I want you to make it up to me this way.” The Frenchman’s other hand is on my ass and he is shoving his pelvis against me. My vision blurs and the silver ball goes dull.

“You know he’s crazy.” Liam shrugs his shoulders. “But if you want to take the risk of blowing up everything between us over a hooker, good luck to you.” He turns around and my finger freezes on the screen. The door opens and he already has one foot out the door, the Frenchman’s pelvis is still pressing against me and I’m on the verge of collapsing. I look away from the screen for a moment and see the towers of packages. The stacks aren’t the same height and my head starts to rearrange the asymmetry. My finger can’t press down on the silver ball again and I realize that my panic has paralyzed me. A second before the door closes behind him I’m thrown forward. I’m sprawled on the filthy tiles and a familiar hand reaches out to me. I grab it and the only thing I can do is try to press the silver ball again.

“Good decision,” Scarface says to the Frenchmen and pulls me outside. He helps me onto the motorcycle and when my finger won’t stop pressing the screen, he pulls the phone away gently and sits in front of me. He doesn’t say a word and I can’t move. My head falls on his shoulder.

I raise my head from his shoulder and see the familiar building. I don’t notice that he’s started driving and I don’t notice when he stops. The only thing I can see in my head is the uneven stacks of bricks in the dark room and I can’t get my mind to restart. He takes me off the motorcycle, holds me close and hugs me tightly.

“You were just amazing,” he says and gives me a big kiss on my lips. I manage to get out of his grasp just in time, a fraction of a second before I turn my head and vomit.

11

“You’re fucking crazy, that’s what you are!” I scream at him. I push past the bouncer, open the door and run inside.

Charlie is standing behind the bar. Some of the girls are sitting around with new customers. Mike, Tommy, Carly, and Ralph, the German guy, are sitting at the round table. Everybody in the room is looking at me. The Knights of the Round Table stand up as I pass by them into the restroom. I lean over the sink and vomit again. Nothing could have prepared me for the terrifying experience I just had. I’ve never felt so filthy and cheap as I do right now. I splash water on my face, which still has heavy makeup, and try to find the bag with my clothes. It’s not there. I curse myself and my body is on fire, this time with anger.

I go back out to the bar, ignoring everyone's looks and walk straight to the round table. Scarface is sitting with them, and in front of him are the two packages that he managed to get. He looks so smug with success and it drives me crazy.

“You were going to leave me there!” I scream at him. “You were going to go and leave me with those perverts!”

“Elena, relax,” he answers quietly. “That would have never happened.”

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