Page 11 of Fire
It was important to Davian that we meet there, so yeah, it was important. “There is some shit going down. So yeah, I’ll make time.”
Patton shook his head and looked my way. “Good. At least you know where your priorities lie.”
I sent my last text to Wilkerson, letting him know I might lose cell service. It was a lie, but I had to end this conversation. Hopefully, telling him that I was out of city limits and I would meet with him in an hour would give me enough time to meet with Davian and make it to the coffee shop in time. Van Wilkerson wasn’t a man to mess with, but being loyal to Davian was more important, and so was protecting Kenzi. I just wanted to get this meeting with Wilkerson over and move on. One more job, and I would end our arrangement once and for all.
Ignoring Patton’s comment, I pulled up to the front of the warehouse and turned off the engine. Time was ticking away, and getting into an argument with Patton wasn’t an option. Davian’s Mercedes pulled up beside us as we both got out of my truck. At Davian's request, we were all to meet at the warehouse, but seeing Lorenzo get out of Davian’s car was a surprise. Lorenzo was the kind of man to stay in the shadows and not be actively involved in Davian’s dealings.
I tucked my thoughts away and greeted Lorenzo and Davian. “Good to see you, Lorenzo,” I said as I held out my right hand.
“Always a pleasure, Axe.” Lorenzo displayed his pearly whites while squeezing my hand to show his strength.
After our greetings, we headed inside the warehouse. Memories of what took place here swept through my body as I remember seeing Kenzi tied up. It was months ago, but it seemed like it happened yesterday. Following Patton into the computer room, I tried to shake off the memory of Kenzi bound and completely helpless. Marcus and Calvin were seated in front of computer monitors typing away. Some things never changed. If fingers hitting the keyboards couldn’t be heard, there was something wrong.
Marcus turned his head and looked toward us. “Hey, guys. I didn’t think you would ever get here. I’ve got something to share with you,” he said as he pushed his chair away from the table and walked over to the printers lined up against the wall behind him.
Grabbing a stack of paper from the printer, Marcus made his way toward us. By the time he reached our little group, Calvin had already joined us. Marcus handed the stack of papers to Davian. It made sense that he let Davian see what he had found out since he was the boss. I tried to gauge Davian’s reaction, but his expression remained neutral as he flipped through the sheets.
After reviewing the sheets of paper, Davian handed the stack back to Marcus. “I think there is more to Levi McBride than what is on these sheets. See if you can find out what he has been up to the last six months.”
Nothing peeved me more than to be left in the dark. “Who the hell is Levi McBride?” I asked, my eyes in direct contact with Davian’s.
“We need to talk,” Davian said as he separated himself from the group and began moving toward the doorway.
That was my cue to follow if I wanted to find out what the hell was going on. Davian wasn’t the kind of man to leave his men in the dark. He also wasn’t the type of man to have a private conversation. There wasn’t one time that I could remember that we all weren’t aware of what was going on.
“Can you tell me what the hell is going on?” I cursed as he headed out of the warehouse.
“Call Kenzi. She needs to be included in this conversation.”
I had no idea what this was about or what this conversation had to do with Kenzi. Instead of arguing, only because I wanted some answers, I pulled my phone from my back pocket and brought up Kenzi’s number. I placed the call on speaker and waited for her to answer.
When she said, “Hello,” I let her know that she was on speaker and Davian was standing beside me.
“Hey, babe. I’ve got Davian here with me. He has something to tell me, but he wanted to make sure you were in on the conversation. Do you know who Levi McBride is? I think this conversation has something to do with what Marcus found on him.”
When the line went silent, and all I could hear was her deep breaths, I knew that Kenzi knew this McBride fellow. All I could think about was how she knew him and what the hell he had done to her. “Kenzi, what did he do to you?”
“Kenzi, I’m sorry for putting you on the spot, but you need to tell Axe about Mr. McBride,” Davian took control of the conversation. It should have pissed me off that he knew what was going on with this McBride guy, and I was clueless.
“Axe, please don’t be angry with me. I know I should have told you, but I didn’t know what to do,” Kenzi began. “I know Levi McBride. He and I dated in high school.”
“Okay… so what’s the deal with him?” I asked, a little harsher than I wanted to.
“He… he made me….”
“Just tell me, Kenzi. I promise I won’t get mad. Whatever it is, we will deal with it together.” I had to reassure her that I was here for her. “Whatever it is won’t change how I feel about you.”
There was a deep sigh before Kenzi spoke. “Levi knew about my ability to count cards. I told him about it when we first started dating. He got into trouble with this man named Dice. I don’t think that was his real name. Anyway, Dice ran an illegal gambling club. Levi thought that my talent would be a perfect way for him to get out of debt.” Kenzi stopped for a moment, and I could tell she was upset. “I killed him, Axe, and now Levi wants me to do him a favor, or he will use it against me.”
Kenzi was rambling, and half of what she said didn’t make any sense. “Wait, you killed this Dice guy? How? Why?” I asked, more confused than ever.
“He found out that I was counting cards and took it out on Levi. He almost killed Levi. If I hadn’t grabbed the letter opener and stabbed him, Levi would be dead. Levi took the blame for killing him. He went to prison for me,” Kenzi choked. “Now he’s threatening to expose what really happened. I’m really scared, Axe.”
At that point, I didn’t know what to say. Thankfully Davian intervened. “When Kenzi told us about this Dice character and how there was never any information about his death in the newspaper, I had Marcus do some digging. Levi McBride was never charged with killing this Dice fellow. He was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. This wasn’t the first time he had been in trouble. When he was fifteen, he was sent to juvie for theft.” Davian paused for a moment before he continued. “If I had to guess, Dice, or whatever his name is, is still alive and breathing.”
All I could grasp from this conversation was that Levi McBride played Kenzi and was using what happened when she was a teenager for his own personal gain. If I didn’t have my own shit to take care of, I would look for this son-of-a-bitch myself and hang him by his nuts. The funny thing was, I could see Kenzi putting herself in danger for him.
“I’m on my way to the apartment, baby. I don’t think you should be there alone,” I said, looking toward Davian for approval.
